Barack Obama in Medford. Â March 22, 2008. Â Photos by minnersthecat.
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Presidents and those soon-to-be are distant sorts of characters, especially for someone as small as me. Â Bush Jr. famously came to Medford during the last election, sparking off some unpleasant events (also called “rioting,” but whatever). Â Imagine my surprise when I heard Barack Obama would be at Kids Unlimited in Medford today. Eager to bask in the madness that follows cultural (cult of?) personalities, I packed up my camera and hitched a ride with some friends.
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Demonstration outside of Barack Obama’s Kids Unlimited appearance.
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Of course, none of us had tickets to the speaking engagement, but addressing overflow crowds is standard practice on the campaign trail. Â True to form, officers of the Transportation Security Administration guided me through the metal detectors and carefully inspected my camera, bag, and keys. Â They wouldn’t allow me to photograph their security checkpoint, but were no more invasive than the airport.
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Obama briefly addressing the overflow crowd.
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A crowd of several hundred supporters and at least one detractor filled the front room, while the ticketed guests were whisked away to the back of the complex. Â After some “Obama! Obama!” chanting (much easier than “Barack! Barack!”… go ahead, try it) and a few false alarms spooked the crowd, the man of the hour appeared with dozens of body guards.
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He spoke very briefly to the crowd, mentioning how Oregon usually gets left out at this stage of presidential elections, but this time we really counted. Â He thanked us, he shook some hands, signed an autograph or two, kissed a baby, and skedaddled to address the folks at the back of the house.
ÂBarack, on his way out.Â
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His speech was projected onto a screen in the front room, a courtesy to the non-ticketed crowd, but my friends and I looked at each other with the same notion: We’ll catch it on YouTube later. Â We’ll probably never get any closer to this Presidential type, and though only a few rooms away, he might as well have been in Kansas. Â A projector screen is no more personable than a computer.
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On the way out, a vendor in the parking lot rapped about Barack:
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Tell your Momma/We gonna vote for Obama
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Then he tried to sell us $3 campaign buttons.Â
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ÂThe parking lot of Kids Unlimited.Â
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Meow.Â
