Yes we were

Over the weekend enough people asked me--"Were you there?"--that I thought a post was warranted.  So, to those of you wondering, to those of you not wondering, and even to those of you who would rather not know:  Yes, we were at the Obama rally Thursday in Dayton.  ("We" is defined here as Greg, Alisa, and Mary.  David was at preschool.)

I do have pictures of Barack himself, but, especially if you are in CO, FL, IN, MI, MO, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, PA, VA, or WI, you probably see his face more than enough.  So how about some pictures of Mary instead, at her second (yes, second) Obama rally?

In our rush to get out the door in the morning, we forgot Mary's jacket, and, as it was a very crisp fall morning, we wrapped her up in a blanket David had left in the car.  Here she is, all toasty-roasty, waiting to go through security.  (And her hair?!  We were in a hurry.  I can't even blame it on her dad this time, darn it.) 

 

Here is Mary watching everyone arrive.  As you can see, we didn't get the best seats--but when you have a squirrelly one-year-old, you have to choose your seats carefully.  And they were great for Mary, and good enough for me and Greg.
Mary's clapping skills came in handy during the rally.  She also played with the little flags and sucked her pacifier (which you can see below), as well as attempting to escape from Mom and Dad with her speedy crawl.  (The little flag made it home, where David has claimed it as his own.  He asked where it came from, and I told him, a little concerned he would feel that he had missed out.  But he felt that going to preschool and playing with Joseph and Caleb afterwards was definitely preferable to seeing Obama.  He is happy that Obama gave us a flag though.)

For those of you worried that my children are being brainwashed, this is what Mary thought of Obama's speech:
I, however, liked it.  I admit that, with the increasingly negative nature of the presidential race, I was worried that the rally would have a negative tone.  It didn't.  Obama's speech, which focused almost entirely on the economy (not a surprise), was constructive and positive.  His overall message was much the same as it has always been:

Together, we cannot fail. Not now. Not when we have a crisis to solve and an economy to save. Not when there are so many Americans without jobs and without homes. Not when there are families who can’t afford to see a doctor, or send their child to college, or pay their bills at the end of the month. Not when there is a generation that is counting on us to give them the same opportunities and the same chances that we had for ourselves.

We can do this. Americans have done this before. Some of us had grandparents or parents who said maybe I can’t go to college but my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but my child can. I may have to rent, but maybe my children will have a home they can call their own. I may not have a lot of money but maybe my child will run for Senate. I might live in a small village but maybe someday my son can be president of the United States of America.

Now it falls to us. Together, we cannot fail.

It's not a bad message.