I arrived a bit early at the fundraiser last night. When I got there, the volunteers were busy checking people's names while other volunteers were busy handing out free bottles of water (I was offered three, I think, while still drinking the one I'd accepted) and ushered inside. The mood was "up" without being hurried.And Bruce Springsteen, of course, was playing on the sound system.
All politics aside, if you haven't been to the Church Brew works, you really should treat yourself. The building used to house the St. John The Baptist church and was built in 1902. It ceased being a church in the early nineties.
The menu is good and the beer is tasty.
A few minutes after arriving, I meandered around, bottled water in hand, greeting the few people there I already knew.
"Hey, have you seen the Hillary protestors outside?" I was asked.
I hadn't. I'd only been there a few minutes. When did the protestors arrive? In any event, here they are - all six of them.
I know you probably can't read the signs as the picture is too small. So out of fairness to the protestors as well as to make sure their views are represented, the signs the Hillary Clinton supporters were carrying read (roughly from left to right):
- With friends like Rezko, Kilpatrick, Wright, who has time for Russia?
- No voice no democracy Nobama.
- I am one of the 18 million of "those people"
- Honk for Hillary
- The associates of Barack Obama; Nadhami Auchi, Tony Rezko, M Marzook, Rev Wright, Quadaffi, William Ayers, The Woods Fund, Odinga, Allison Davis, Rashid Khalidi, Obongo Obama, Farrakhan, James Meeks. Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Obama)
- Equal pay for women starting with Obama staff
- FISA is not democratic
- Where is the Birth certificate Barack Hussien (sic) Obama
- Bitter Bullets N'Faith
- No vote no democracy
- Is this 2000 or 2008
- 18 million deni(ed) 18 million not hea(rd)
- Rise Hillary rise
There were considerably more people in the hall.
The place was crowded; enough to feel cramped not crowded enough to start obsessing about Soylent Green. Among the crowd was Patrick Dowd (all smiles fresh from a rousing few days on City Council) and Dan Onorato (bravely milling about in what is obvious enemy drink tax territory).
By 7pm the festivities started. Patrick Dowd introduced the celebrity of the evening, Kal Penn. For those who don't know the name, he was "Kumar" in the two "Harold and Kumar" movies. He told a story of a friend of his from Texas. A guy who was working minimum wage and was offered $90k by Halliburton to drive a truck in Iraq. Only in America, Penn said, can a guy be given the choice of making some nice cash (though in a war zone) or struggling on minimum wage in Texas. He said he became a fan of Obama after hearing the Keynote address the last Democratic Convention in 2004. He said he became a bigger fan after learning that Obama had taught Constitutional Law. He said that he remembers thinking that it would be nice to have a President who'd READ the Constitution.
That got a laugh.
Next up was County Executive Dan Onorato. When he was introduced, I thought I could hear a boo or two, but in a room of 2 to 3 hundred I might have mis-heard. Dan's big point was "party unity." "We're unified" he said. "If I can show up at Sean Casey's place" (meaning the Brew Works) "that means we're unified." He said that there's too much at stake to have any interparty tensions. No idea if the protestors outside got the message.
Next up was DNC Chair Howard Dean.
He gave a rousing talk to the faithful. It's time for a President who's President to all the people, not just those who agree with him, he said. He talked about the cost of the war in Iraq, the need for health care and why the $10 billion a month being spent in Iraq would be better spent here in America. He talked a bit about the battle ground states in the next election, but had to stop short as "he's not allowed to give a lists of states any more."
When he got to the election he said that Dan Onorato is not going to win this election, the state party is not going to win this election, Barack Obama is not going to win this election, "You," he said, "You are going to win this election."
He said that when Barack Obama is the next President, he'll have two different jobs;
- Healing America and
- Restoring America's moral authority
Healing America from the divisiveness brought on by 8 years of Bush disrespect and restoring America's moral authority so that we can work with other nations again. He said he was never so proud as when a few weeks ago when Barack Obama spoke to 200,000 cheering Europeans "all waving American flags." How long has it been since Europeans did that?
In the end, he said that he wants a President who stands for what's best about America not what's worst.
Could not agree more.
