An estimated 80K people turned out yesterday afternoon in Cleveland, Ohio. Cloudy and chilly, with a little rain near the end. Given the delays to work our way through the line and go through the metal detectors (uniformed USSS agents in charge), plus speeches by various Ohio politicos, it was almost four hours before Bruce took the stage. He played solo; his set list was:
“Promised Land”
“Here in Youngstown”
“Thunder Road”
“Working on a Dream” (his wife Patti joined him in singing this)
“This Land is Your Land”
Then he gave a brief speech strongly backing Obama, and talking about restoring the American dream, before performing “The Rising.” Then he introduced Obama, who came on stage with his wife and two adorable daughters. Then Springsteen’s family came on stage, and they all greeted each other (some embraced), and Obama thanked him for his music and his support.
Obama’s speech was good, although mostly stuff I’d heard before (the best was when he zinged Cheney for endorsing McCain, quoting Cheney as saying he was “delighted” to be backing the GOP nominee. Obama said, “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cheney ‘delighted’!”). The crowd ate it all up and was hungry for more. My 11-year-old son and I were to the left of the stage, maybe 20 yards from the podium, and had a great view.
With all the “OMG! Socialism!” being bandied about by the other side, I’m surprised (but not at all disappointed) that organizers let a Woody Guthrie song anywhere near the Obama campaign.
As soon as I heard there’d be a rally downtown with Celebrities just one hour after kickoff, the only thing I could think was “holy shit it’s going to be a traffic clusterfuck.”
I read a comment on cleveland.com’s story about the event that there were a bunch of rowdy Browns fans “from the burbs” shouting not-too-nice things at Obama supporters. You hear any of that?
Drove down, and had no problems trafficwise. However, I intended to park in the Justice Center garage but it was locked up tight and my keycard didn’t open the security gate, so we parked in the Flats. Then as we’re walking past, not ten minutes later, the J.C. garage is open and several cars are going in. :smack: I guess we were just a little too early.
I heard no trash talk from Browns fans. One friend came to the rally after seeing the Browns blow the game, and was in plenty of time for Obama’s appearance.
Savannah, go on YouTube and search “Obama cleveland” then re-sort your results by “Date Added.” There are a lot of clips from people in the crowd and also one (or more) from Barackobamadotcom, the official site.
