I am back. I have been away from my blog for some time for several reasons: I have been very tired (still). Almost three weeks since my last chemo, I am still physically weak. I have been napping a lot. In addition, even though I have been tired, I have pushed myself to attend several political rallies. Texas felt like the center of the world before the Texas primary on March 4. Both Clintons and Obama made appearances in Austin. To me, this election feels historic and I wanted to experience the events. Needless to say, all this political activity has wiped me out, yet provided plenty of material for my blog and now my latest Internet activity, YouTube videos.
The night before the Texas primary, I attended yet another rally. This time I went to see Hillary Clinton.
I arrived at the Burger Center for Hillary’s “Solutions for America” rally 30 minutes early in hopes of getting a good seat. It was cold and windy. I immediately made friends with all the other people standing in line around me. We were all suffering out there, but it was fun to kvetch with everyone.
I made special friends with an older African-American couple standing in line ahead of me. They have been Clinton supporters since 1992 when Bill first ran for President. The gentleman (who was a judge and big Clinton donor) showed me a picture of himself and Hillary from 1992. I guess they liked me because just as we entered the building, this nice man gave me his extra “special seating” ticket. For the third time in a week, in yet another serendipitous turn of fate, I was given the opportunity to see a political figure up close.
This “special seating” ticket was a mixed blessing. This ticket meant I got to stand ‘mosh pit’ style right next to Hillary’s platform in the middle of the stadium. Everyone else without tickets sat in the bleachers. And stand I did. I got in the mosh pit a little after 6 PM. Hillary didn’t come out until about 8:30!
Since I attended both Obama and Hillary rallies, I think a little ‘compare and contrast’ is in order.
THE MESSAGE AND DELIVERY.
So much for the simple characterization that Obama is the one that stirs passion and optimism while Hillary is the policy wonk. Based on my little 2-event sample, the roles were reversed. It was Obama who stood behind a lectern and read a speech heavy on policy statements. Hillary was the one who just held a microphone and worked the audience into a frenzy with lots of applause lines and talk of optimism and the future.
Obama’s delivery was contained. He used little arms movements and stayed behind his lectern. Hillary was more physical. She waved her arms and moved around the stage like a southern preacher. After each applause line, she would smile, nod her head and survey the crowd until the cheers and clapping stopped.
THE ATMOSPHERE.
I was struck by the quiet energy of Obama’s “Town Hall Meeting.” You could tell the crowd was willing and ready to whoop it up, but the event managers contained all that energy. Before and after Obama spoke, I could hear music, but it was played softly. No banners or posters were allowed. There were no warm-up speakers and Obama came on stage in a timely manner. Certainly, the crowd went wild when Obama entered the auditorium space. People were falling all over themselves to shake Obama’s hand as he left, but overall the energy level was muted compared to Hillary’s rally.
In contrast, Hillary’s rally was a rally by every definition. First of all, we all had to wait over 2 hours before Hillary showed. Perhaps the late 8:30 arrival time was intentional, a public speaking technique to create a crazed, euphoric sense of anticipation. During the waiting time, various guest speakers warmed up the crowd. It felt like a high school pep rally. Official and homemade Hillary posters were everywhere.
The event organizer (the same young guy that I saw at Bill Clinton’s rally at UT) came on stage and started throwing T-shirts into the crowd. He would tease the crowd by faking throws. The crowd loved it. Then one of the UT “Hillary for President” campaign leaders led the crowd in several Hillary cheers. Just like a football audience, we followed her cheer…”When I say Hillary, you say Texas…Hillary, Texas. Hillary. Texas.” When they left, we all continued to entertain ourselves by doing several rounds of waves.
THE CROWD.
The Obama crowd looked like an Austin crowd…people you might see at Whole Foods or at REI. It was mostly white with a heavy contingent of black folks. I saw very few Hispanics, yet the crowd broke into several rounds of “Si se puede” just before Obama appeared.
In contrast, Hillary’s crowd was about 85% Hispanic and the majority women. The only African-Americans I saw at Hillary’s rally was the nice couple in line ahead of me that gave me their extra ticket. Overall, Hillary’s crowd felt a bit down scale, more of an HEB grocery store or even Wal-Mart crowd. When Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” song started to play, all the 40-plus Latina women around me sang the song in unison. The song is like a hard working gal’s anthem. I think Hillary knows this.
It was quite amazing to see the actual faces of the demographic descriptions of each candidate’s voter base.
Quite frankly, both my inner Whole Foods and Wal-Mart (I often deny my inner Wal-Mart) were at home in both crowds. Perhaps my comfort level in both rallies is a reflection of the conundrum currently facing the Democratic Party. Both candidates touch the same core values of a progressive’s heart and mind: optimism, hope, and idealism for such things as education, the environment, and health care. Yet they split the segment that shares these values based on gender, age, education, income, ethnicity, and location of residence.
Below are my two YouTube videos from Hillary’s event.
HILLARY IN AUSTIN 3.3.08
THE LOVELY CHELSEA CLINTON
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