We parked at a nearby airport where there were many many school buses to transport us to the Strawberry Banke Museum. What made this opportunity even more exciting to me personally is that this is the exact place where I got naturalized four years ago. I got naturalized a few months before my first presidential election and I voted for Obama. Now I was back here to see Obama.
There were long lines to get into the museum. Once we were inside we got a better idea of the crowd. I think there were about 7,000 people there.
The first speaker was Jeanne Shaheen. She is the first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both a Governor and U.S. Senator. In addition she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire, in the late nineties. I had never actually heard/seen her in person either, so it was quite interesting.
Kate made most of the pictures. Here she got a shot of the secret service? guys on the roof of a trailer at the other side of the field. So happy to have a good zoom on the camera, otherwise would have been much harder to get any kind of useful picture.
Joe Biden was up next. He definitely got fired up.
Followed by John Lynch, our current NH governor.
And then, the moment we all had been waiting for: Obama!!!
He had a great speech and it was interesting to see the crowd's reactions to his words. I am so happy that Kate and I got the opportunity to see him speak. It surely beat a day in middle school for her.
My favorite quote of his speech was about the republicans "That's because all they've got to offer is same prescriptions that they've had for the last 30 years: tax cuts, tax cuts, gut some regulations—oh, and more tax cuts. Tax cuts when times are good. Tax cuts when times are bad. Tax cuts to help you lose a few extra pounds. Tax cuts to improve your love life."
When I moved to the US I was so happy that taxes were much lower here than back in the Netherlands. It took a while for me to realize that the current US tax code adds to the growing wealth inequality in the US. And I feel it is ridiculous that most millionaires pay relatively a lot less taxes than their employess. Now I realize that something is seriously wrong with the way taxes have been implemented here in the States.
And even if Obama hasn't been perfect in addressing those issues, I totally do not believe Romney's plan is an improvement.
We saw many men in black.
At some point we got tired of standing in the middle of thousands of people so took a break to sit down on the grass and relax.
When the speech was over we all left the museum and waited for the buses to get us back to the parking lot. Remember all those school buses which got us there? Well, they had totally disappeared in to thin air
So we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
For two and a half hours before some buses finally showed up.
Oh well, we met interesting people but it still was a long wait!
One person actually called a taxi and I think 20 people ended up piling into that taxi. It was quite humorous.
The campaign people actually got us chairs and water, so it wasn't too inconvenient of a wait,but I was still totally happy when we finally made it into a school bus. Where I tripled up with two other women on a bench made for two just to squeeze in as many people as we could.
5 comments:
Love the photos! The camera does an excellent job. How far away was the podium?
Really? He is so worried about tax cuts? He needs to be focusing on his JOB and not worrying about tax cuts for the "wealthy". Our economy is in the sewer, our embassies are being bombed (due to his kill them with kindness policy that DOESN"T WORK FOR TERRORISTS), and Canada is now the leading importer to China. His presidency has been a disaster and all he can focus on our tax cuts to the wealthy?
Reality check is in order. Sorry, but a shmoozy speech doesn't touch my ears at all. I saw him fly to Vegas instead of going to a security briefing on the morning our Ambassador was murdered. Voting against him will never be more pleasurable.
Sorry for the rant, but I could not help myself. Pan back and look at the big picture. He is worse than Carter ever dreamed.
What a great adventure! Great even if it was just you, but you are providing such wonderful and memorable activities for the kids!
I wish I was closer so I could have gone with you.
Jody - please delete your rant. you come across as a troll - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet) - you are entitled to your opinion but this was not the appropriate place to express it.
Lynn, I've known Karen for more than 10 years. I'm not a troll, and I know that Karen would never take my post in the wrong way. I was speaking about Obama, not Karen. I am not happy with his job performance obviously. I know Karen's political views and respect them but focusing on tax cuts for the wealthy shows that our president is so out of touch with our economic reality it isn't funny.
Jody--did you know there were at least nine attacks on US embassies during the bush admin? Many people were killed.
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