Howard Dean at Netroots Nation

Here is the video I took of Governor Howard Dean at the Netroots Nation inaugural party, January 19, 2009, the night before the inauguration.

It's a beautiful morning in America

Netroots Nation Party

Tonight I attended the Netroots Nation Party, which is a gathering of progressive blogs. I didn't know what to expect. When planning my trip I wanted to make sure I booked a few events just to avoid being here and not having anything to do. In retrospect I don't know how that would have been possible since there seems to be no shortage of events (sadly I did miss my day of service to nurse a hangover today). I'm not well connected enough to get into any of the official balls or parties, so I instead searched through the dizzying number of other events being thrown by outside organizations. Out of all of them, this one looked the best. I owe a big thanks to Kevin who reads these blogs much more than I do, and who is the one who told me about it. My biggest fear was that it would be a bunch of nerdy, unsociable web geeks. This was not to be the case. The party turned out to be such an eclectic mix of people. The only common factor was everyone loved politics and had read or wrote a blog at some point. I spoke to a couple of different people there who told me that out of all the other parties they'd been to, this one had the best food and best music.

But what made this party really fun was that fact that most people came because, A: we could get in and B: they loved politics. I actually didn't meet one blogger. They were all fans of the blogs. I met an engineer, a PBS writer, an ethics teacher turned soon to be Illinois politician, someone who worked in government intelligence (she couldn’t tell me which department), a teacher, and the list goes on. Everyone was just there to celebrate with like minded people. One of the highlights of the evening was an appearance by Governor Dean. He was there of course to support his online organization Democracy for America, which is what his campaign(one of the first to truly use the internet) morphed into after his presidential bid. He gave a great speech, most of which I recorded and have posted below. Sorry I missed the first few minutes which started with him yelling out states names and screaming(I assume this has become his opening line for most speaking engagements). It was so great to hear him speak. I can’t thank him enough for leading the DNC back out of the wilderness.

At one point I found myself in a conversation with an 18 year old and her 54 year old mom who had drove all the way from Illinois, a 26 year old from Virginia, a 50 year old from South Carolina and me a 29 year old from LA. We were deep into a political conversation and it was great to have so many different people from so many places. I also spent the end of the night with a table full of people who all worked for the Carter Center in Atlanta. They were amazing to talk to. Such smart people doing such good work. They had all just come back from Ghana. One of the women who was only 23 helped craft agenda's for Carter's meetings with foreign leaders along with preparing other official documents. How cool is that! I also asked all of them what they thought of Carter as a person. Each one said separately that they had met him many times and they couldn’t rave enough about how caring, intelligent and down to business he was. I have to admit, I’m sold. He has my vote in 2016! All-in-all, the conversations were great and I left with a renewed sense of hope for America that really extends far beyond Obama.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

From Inaugural concert

The concert pretty much went off without a hitch. Aside from one technical glitch early on, where we had no sound. For a second there it felt like things could have gotten ugly as the crowd started chanting, “Turn it up, turn it up!” Of course it would have been the world’s friendliest riot. Everyone was in such a good mood. Once it got rolling though the star power was incredible. It seems everyone who is anyone and even a few people who still aren’t really anyone turned up(I mean, Kal Penn at an inauguration?). As they announced star after star someone behind me commented, “This feels like the Academy Awards®.” At one point I though, if anything were to happen to this place we’d not only lose the President and Vice President elect, we’d also lose the majority of Hollywood. Below is a video of the crowd.

From Inaugural concert

For the most part everyone was pretty good. Jamie Foxx even did an Obama impersonation in front of the man himself. The crowd loved it.

A couple of people made brief political statements. Queen Latifah called out the Daughters of the Revolution for their checkered history which got a few people in the crowd choking. Bono was the only person who briefly mention Israel and the Palestinians, pretty standard fair for a concert, especially for Bono. But then the screen flashed Obama’s face and I realized that unlike any other concert I had been to, the soon to be President was sitting right there listening to everyone. I know in the bigger picture, a concert and a few political words from a musician is meaningless, but it was still a good feeling.

Of all people, Tom Hanks gave one of the worst speeches of the event. He droned on for what seemed like forever with a soaring and, frankly, over the top score accompanying him. But all and all a good show. The acts included Bruce Sringsteen, Usher, Mary J Blige, U2, John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Beyonce, Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, and Will I.am

From Inaugural concert

At the very end Obama said a few words, but I'm sure he's saving the good stuff for tomorrow. If you look closely, Obama is the little speck on the right.

And after all that talk of freezing cold, the weather really wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t the 80 degree weather LA has been having, but it was not bad at all.

From Inaugural concert

For most of the day the city didn’t feel nearly as crowded as I thought it would. I even read that a lot of people dropped their plans to attend after hearing all the dire reports about crowds and freezing weather. But this calm was not to last. It seems everyone was mostly just staying in doors until the concert. The number of people that crowded in front of the Lincoln memorial was astonishing. I’ve never seen so many people in one place. The crowds easily beat Coachella, not to mention the line-up(take that Coachella). However, just as I expected, the crowds were very orderly and friendly. Everyone was there to celebrate. The only downers were the anti-gay protesters outside the concert. I’ve included a picture of the non-homo guy who I somehow doubt he sees the irony in protesting gay sex while wearing all leather. But the crowds even treated them with respect. There were boos and other comments, but at least while I was there no one was vulgar to them or got in their face. Everyone just let them stand there.

From Inaugural concert

Other than those few folks everyone else seemed to get along wonderfully. It was a surreal experience. Most of the streets were closed to cars and were instead filled with people walking in all directions. It felt like a giant festival had taken over the city of DC. Even this humvee and the “Yes we can live in peace” van got a long fine.

Everywhere you turn there are signs of the big event to come. All of the networks are busy setting up their press booths while row upon row of porta-potties line the mall. I heard the metro broke a world record on Sunday. I expect they’ll break it again on Tuesday. I can’t wait!

From Inaugural concert

From Inaugural concert

If you’d like to see more photos I’ve posted them here:

Inaugural concert

Waiting for the opening concert

We're all here waiting for the concert to begin. The weather is not that bad. If you want to watch I think HBO is offering it for free.

Change has come

On the flight to DC I had plenty of time to read. And read I did starting with a copy of Rolling Stone which I picked up at the airport. The cover story is a fictional interview in which the rolling stone writer tells Bush what he really thinks of him and Bush apologizes through tears. It’s the reason I picked up the magazine, but what really caught my attention was the next article about the state of the nation and what Obama has to face as our incoming president. When it came to describing how screwed up Bush is leaving this country it didn’t mince words. It’s the article I would have loved to read years ago. I don’t want to say too little too late, but I still enjoyed it. There’s something cathartic about finally reading what you’ve thought for years in a major, national publication. Although, I took it with a grain of salt, knowing that Rolling Stone is considered to be somewhat left leaning and has always been out ahead of the curve when it comes to politics. I then opened the New Yorker. The surprising thing was that the article was almost identical in its condemnation of Bush and his failed policies. They didn’t even attempt to shed a favorable light on the failed Presidency of number 43. The next magazine on my list was the Economist, a magazine that is well respected, intelligently written and, I think, fairly even-handed. The lead article in this issues starts with the line, “George Bush has left a dismal legacy, but Barak Obama can do much to repair the damage.” And that’s just the beginning. Never before have I witnessed such open contempt of an outgoing president from main stream publications. He hasn’t even left office and already it has become common place to list him as one of if not the worst President in American history. I know what you’re thinking, how could I be surprised after all that has happened in the last eight years. And you’d be right. But I’ve know this for a long, long time. So when the war failed and the economy went down the toilet I wasn’t the least bit surprised. It was just more of the same on a bigger scale. I guess I figured the reaction would be the same, partisan bickering. But somehow, somewhere along the way the rest of the world decided to join us in our loathing of the Pres. There’s no longer any beating around the bush(haha). It’s out in the open, Bush has failed miserably and I don’t even have to argue that point anymore. The American people have truly had enough of politics as usual. Everywhere I turn there are signs that this is a time like no other that I have witnessed. Something fundamental has shifted in American politics and in the American psyche. And, wait for it, it’s shifted for the better!! To top it off, America has found it’s change in a smart, eloquent, even tempered, African American! After the election of 2004, not in my wildest dreams did I think America could have made such an abrupt and commendable change in direction. And even if that weren’t enough, for the first time in my life I boarded a packed plane full of smiley, happy people. That’s when you know it isn’t business as usual.

I leave you with a picture of a kid from our flight, who donned an Obama mask and spoke over the PA system announcing, “Change has come!”

Road to the Inauguration

Here I sit in a Fox sports grill in Phoenix airport waiting for my flight to DC to watch the historic inauguration of Barak Obama. I’ve decided to try blogging about the event. I figure I have the equipment and it’s a good way to keep me busy while I’m traveling. I’m pretty new to blogging so please bear with me a little. My goal is to write about me as little as possible and more about what I see and hear in DC. And, since I always love pictures more than words, I promise to always include a picture, starting with this entry. There really isn’t anything impressive to show you in Phoenix (trust me, the whole city is the same shade of brown) I’ve included a picture of the Dell mini I’ll be using on my trip. The coolest part about this picture is that you can see me taking a picture of the computer in the computer. Now that I’ve blown your mind, see you inDC!