* * Seeing the President of the United States

Friday was a special day, historic. My wife, Jane, and I, along with two old friends , went to Roanoke to see the President of the United States.

Just typing the phrase “President of the United States,” has a bold, proud feel to it. We don’t see too many Presidents out here in the provinces. In fact, the last sitting President visiting in Southwest Virginia was 33 years ago. We’re all fans of this one, so it was an event we didn’t want to miss.

The evening was overcast and light rain was forecast, so we carried raincoats; umbrellas weren’t allowed. The venue was the 1900 Church Street firehouse in downtown. While the backdrop was inspiring, I soon concluded that it was a poor place to host the 3000 or so folks who attended.

Former Governor and current Senator John Warner spoke first, followed by former Governor and current senatorial candidate Tim Kaine. I have met these gentlemen many times and know them well enough to be on a first-name basis. Both have been ardent supporters of Southwest Virginia and Kaine’s wife, Ann Holton, is from Roanoke. So they were clearly comfortable with the audience who greeted them warmly. At the same time, they spoke briefly, knowing whom we’d come to see.

By the time President Obama took the podium, many of us in the audience had been standing for over an hour, some much longer. But our enthusiasm wasn’t diminished by the wait. Every president has engendered strong emotions from the citizens, but it is hard to dislike this one in person.

Obama is a dapper, charming, charismatic man with a bright, eager smile, expressive hands, and an innate elegance of form and movement. He punctuated his speech with animated gestures and expressions. His speech was the typical stump stuff, focusing primarily on the economy and jobs. He said the opposition party continues to espouse trickle-down theories, saying “Their basic theory is if wealthy investors are doing well, everybody does well.” But, “we tried that for most of the last ten years and it didn’t work!” He added, “I believe that the way you grow the economy is from the middle out and from the bottom up.”

It goes without saying that I agree with him. Rich people don’t create jobs. Consumers create jobs by creating demand for products and services. Companies hire people to fill that demand. Channeling more money to the top just broadens income disparity. Obama added, “The top 2-percent (of income earners) are doing just fine.”

My guess is that the African-American population of Roanoke is greater than here in Montgomery County, and they were clearly delighted by this man. Obama’s story, I think, still resonates with minorities worldwide.

As enthusiastic as the audience was with the President and his messages, it was clear that lots of feet were hurting and lots of people who were elevationally challenged (like me) were unable to see what was going on. Most of us are limited in how long we can stand on our tip-toes, an act that was only marginally helpful anyway. In front of me was a boy of perhaps 10 or 11 who was too short to see anything. His grandmother held him up to see from time to time, but this clearly strained her physical skills. With my bad back, I couldn’t help. We were all jealous of the scattered six-footers in the crowd who got the whole show.

Obama made many references to the area, including our great schools “like VT” where his wife Michelle appeared two months earlier as a graduation speaker. But he acknowledged that this is not one of his strongholds. “The last time I came to this part of Virginia, all the political writers were like, ‘He’s not serious. He’s just making a tactical move.’ I’m serious. I’m going to get some votes down here.”

I assume the President of the United States can speak wherever he wants. So my advice to the campaign is this: next time, choose a venue that allows your audience some comfort. Everyone would appreciate it.

Reaching the car, Jane understood the historic personal nature of the event, saying, “It was an extraordinary experience to see the President and hear what he had to say. Kaine, Warner, and Obama make a good team.”

Our friend Sheila added, “The most amazing part of the evening was the crowd. The attendees were so diverse – by gender, age, ethnicity and race. Wonderful to see all those folks coming together. It represented the best of what America is.”

The Presidential departure back to the airport required that several downtown streets and the northbound lanes of I-581 were closed. So we weaved our way through different arterials to reach I-81. We reached home much later and more tired than I’d anticipated, but it was worth it.