Obama Rally in Denver Today

[Rohirrim]

My wife decided to go down there so I'm getting cell phone updates. She's been in a line near the library for two hours and says that the flow of people going back to the end of the line has not slowed in that time. Waaaaaay more people than can fit in the Civic Center Park. Looks like the City of Denver underestimated the crowd by a very great margin.

[gunns]

Especially since it's a bye week. ;D

[Paladin]

that has been the pattern for Obama. He draws massive crowds wherever he goes. It is phenomenal how he has energized people of all stripes and ages. It is a refreshing change from the depression and suppression of the last 8 years.

Again, let me say that I do not see Obama as some kind or "Messiah". But he does represent a new page, if you will, and a break from the unbalanced economic doldrums we've seen since Reagan.

Like FDR's theme: "Happy days are here again, The skies above are clear again...."

[enjolras]

The wife and I just got back (it was pretty close to our house). Huge crowd, but the speech was pretty..well.. boring. Obama is completely into "for the love of god, don't say anything controversial" mode. He's playing defense really. Just refuting whatever new charge McCain decides to throw at him...

The energy in the crowd was really good. It was interesting when he asked the crowd who had voted yet... like 50,000 hands went up in the air.

[barryr]

"Change, change, change" as the people faint like idiots.

[Paladin]

Bitter, are we?

[frerottenextelway]

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/october%202008/october%2019/denvercolorado3.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/october%202008/october%2019/denvercolorado4.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/october%202008/october%2019/denvercolorado9.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/october%202008/october%2019/denvercolorado11.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/october%202008/october%2019/denvercolorado27.jpg

[peacepipe]

Heard on news,a crowd of 100,000.

[Miss I.]

"Change, change, change" as the people faint like idiots.

Okay well first the people fainted because the "change, change, change" was being said by Raiders fan who needed money, who by nature stinks really badly. Therefore people fainted due to odor. As for fainting like an idiot, what does that look like, is it similar to when Rivers gets sacked?

[scttgrd]

I was at the rally today, there were at least 100,000 there. We saw people everywhere, civic center park was full and they were all the way up to the capitol building. I even saw people hanging off the lamp posts and in the trees. The energy and excitement was great. We stood in line for about 2 hours to get through security and there were no complaints from anyone.

[baja]

Can you imagine what will happen in this country if someone were to somehow able to shoot Obama, God helpus it that were to happen.

[Miss I.]

Can you imagine what will happen in this country if someone were to somehow able to shoot Obama, God helpus it that were to happen.

I don't want to imagine it. Though the unfortunate truth is there are a lot of hateful, fearful people out there and the President of the United States is a vulnerable position, regardless of who it is actually. I can't actually describe the email my sister in law sent to me the other day. Suffice it to say, it was ugly, ignorant and repugnant. It did invoke that same scenario, though I guess she thought it was funny. I asked her to no longer discuss these items with me if she could not be rational. Oddly my email has been happily silent ever since.

[Paladin]

60,000 at the rally in Fort Collins. No pictures yet. Many happy faces. No Republicans in sight........

[Garcia Bronco]

Can you imagine what will happen in this country if someone were to somehow able to shoot Obama, God helpus it that were to happen.

No one is going to shoot Obama.

[Rigs11]

"Change, change, change" as the people faint like idiots.

the mccane camp even stole the change message from obama.talk about idiots.

[theAPAOps5]

"Change, change, change" as the people faint like idiots.

http://images.620wtmj.com/images/620wtmj_030708favrecryjs.JPG

[frerottenextelway]

60,000 at the rally in Fort Collins. No pictures yet. Many happy faces. No Republicans in sight........

http://cmsimg.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=G2&Date=20081026&Category=NEWS0301&ArtNo=81026006&Ref=V1&MaxW=550&Border=0

http://cmsimg.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=G2&Date=20081026&Category=NEWS0301&ArtNo=81026006&Ref=V3&MaxW=550&Border=0

http://cmsimg.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=G2&Date=20081026&Category=NEWS0301&ArtNo=81026029&Ref=AR&MaxW=550&Border=0

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

"Change, change, change" as the people faint like idiots.

F@ck you.

Nine days until you crawl back under the rock you came from.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Again, let me say that I do not see Obama as some kind or "Messiah". But he does represent a new page, if you will, and a break from the unbalanced economic doldrums we've seen since Reagan.


Yep.

He might very well represent our last hope to save this country.

[enjolras]

I don't know how ANYONE can look at those pictures and not be excited to see our youth engaged in the political process.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I don't know how ANYONE can look at those pictures and not be excited to see our youth engaged in the political process.

Well, almost anyone...

Colorado Republican AG Sued Over GOP Voter Suppression Efforts 10/27 (http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=102565&catid=339)

[SoCalBronco]

I don't know how ANYONE can look at those pictures and not be excited to see our youth engaged in the political process.

This is a good point. I am glad to see young people taking a bigger part of the political process, regardless of who they are supporting.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

The Moment Obama Grabbed 100,000 Coloradoans

by David Sirota (http://www.smirkingchimp.com/user/david_sirota)

I just got back from the Obama rally at Civic Center Park here in Denver. The Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10821877) estimates the turnout was 100,000 people, which is really just astounding considering the total size of the city is about 550,000 people and the total size of the metro area is about 3 million. Here's a shot that gives you a sense of the crowd - and let me just remind you, it's not a short distance between City Hall, where the speech was, to the steps of the state capitol:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/2975087909_79dd6bf106.jpg?v=0


Here's an up close photo from the speech:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2975944084_e839e1f63e.jpg?v=0


Most Americans have seen Obama speak, and millions at this point have been to his events, so I won't bore you with my opinion on the details of his promises (pretty progressive) or of the energy at the event (high). But what I will say is that while most of the rhetoric was standard Democratic stuff, what really seemed new and "transformative" (to admittedly use a cliche description of Obama) - what really seemed to capture those 100,000 Coloradoans (including me) - was his discussion about struggle. I may be an old seadog from the many campaigns I've worked, and I may have learned enough to not be easily mesmerized by politicians, but I will admit right here: the flash I saw from Obama at the end of his speech really blew me away.

Indeed, as he was closing his remarks, he touched on how making change is incredibly painful and incredibly grueling - and how it always has been throughout our history. And the best part - the part where the audience was most silent and rapt - was when Obama veered off his prepared remarks (http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/amandascott/gGgD2c) and made it personal:"Maybe some of your parents or grandparents, they were born in another country without freedom of speech or freedom of worship, but they said, you know what, we know there's this land across the ocean called America, where it's a land of opportunity and a land of freedom, and we're willing to take the risk to travel to that place to create a better future for our children and grandchildren. In this audience, there are people whose parents or grandparents couldn't cast a vote, but they said to themselves you know, maybe my child or grandchild, if we march, if we struggle, maybe they may be able to run for the United States Senate, maybe they might run for the Presidency of the United States of America."
Those references to the courage of immigrants and the civil rights movement are clearly personal to Obama, and they are rarely voiced in Colorado politics - an arena that has often been about bashing immigrants. That he departed from his prepared text to talk about those issues, and tied them to a discussion about how difficult change is - well, it suggests that very "transformative" possibility of the Obama candidacy.

Whether you believe Obama represents real change or not, I came away believing that he understands the challenge of actually making change, should he win. That is, he understands that if he really attempts to fundamentally alter the status quo on major issues, it is going to be a very tumultuous and difficult process - one that only begins on election day.

I'm not 100 percent sure, knowing how hard this will be, that Obama will move into the breach. My heart hopes he will, and my gut tells me its more than likely he will, because Republicans are helping create an even bigger mandate for an Obama presidency than Obama ever wanted (http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008104325/bush-joins-mccain-helping-build-obamas-new-deal-mandate). But we will never know if he will unless he gets a chance - a chance which, since early into the Democratic primary, I have believed he deserves (even though I stand by my concerns/objections to some of his specific positions). If he wins, I am sure we will have a president who grasps how tough it will be to make progress - and I am becoming more confident we will have a president who will try to make that progress a reality.

UPDATE: I fiddled with one of my pics from the rally, and made it into an artsy kind of image for my desktop. You can download it here (http://www.davidsirota.com/images/desktop-obama.jpg) if you'd like to do the same. It depicts not just Obama, but the massive crowd - and in that, it is more a picture of democracy, than of an individual candidate.