Obama Rocks the Showbox

Last night there were tons of Ron Paul's people outside the Showbox Sodo. Before, during, and after Barack Obama's fundraising event/rally, the Paul supporters waved their signs and interacted with anyone who would give them the time of day. Too bad they couldn't afford tickets to the event due to the current tax structure--if only someone would abolish the IRS and the Federal Reserve....

Meanwhile, inside the venue was a crowd of teens, twenty-somethings, young professionals, parents with kids, and longtime Dems already pumped to hear Obama give a boilerplate campaign speech. But first they'd have to sit through bands and speakers attempting to get them even more hyped. Billy Joe Huels and the Dusty 45s and Brad each got thirty minutes to play some songs and profess their love for the candidate. The Dusty 45s did their rockabilly thing, also touching on Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly, while Brad "proudly endorse[d] Obama" as an "inspiring leader" and "the way of the future" before Stone Gossard provided the vocals on a Woody Guthrie cover ("Deportees") and played one last song ("Mind Your Own Business") that got all the musicians onstage.

And then, after an introduction by former Mayor Norm Rice, it was finally time for the man of hour, who took the stage with a "what's up, Seattle?" Obama spoke for about twenty-five minutes, giving a pretty standard stump speech. He broke out some of the same jokes (see our video above) we've heard him make before, and he definitely knew how to get the crowd going. A little Bush-bashing or anti-warmongering was guaranteed to get big cheers, as well as referring to any of the liberal Dem touchstones--instituting a living wage, protecting the environment, closing Gitmo and restoring habeas corpus, raising teachers' salaries, etc. He made vague pledges (without providing specifics) to do something about Darfur, nuclear proliferation, HIV/AIDS in Africa, other disease pandemics, and improving America's education system. Probably the most concrete pronouncements he made related to the biggest issues of the upcoming election, claiming that he'd ensure Americans had access to healthcare as good as members of Congress by the end of his first term, and that he'd have the troops home within sixteen months. That latter assurance was made in passing, so as not to anger those who want them home sooner than later.

There's already been a mention of the lack of racial diversity at the event, which didn't shock us, since this is, y'know, Seattle. What's more telling is that when Obama mentioned the plight of the young urban black man, about three people in the crowd cheered--and from what we could see, they were all African-American men. We also made note of the language in the speech that was thinly veiled Hillary references, terms like "textbook Washington campaigns" and "triangulating," while also noting that he never supported the war or any saber-rattling against Iran, and that the presidency isn't "owed" to him.

Still, Obama's got charisma to spare, and the crowd ate it up. After all that, the show even managed to get out fifteen minutes early. If Obama can deliver on his campaign promises (lofty goals and all) ahead of schedule, he's got our vote.