Missing Obama

We got up at 6:00 this morning to go see and hear Barack Obama speak at Boise State Univ. in the Taco Bell Arena, scheduled to begin at 8:30. We left home at 7:15 and drove through the cold winter weather. The temperature was 24. The traffic became heavier as we approached the BSU campus. Driving slowly down University Blvd past the older campus buildings, we glanced to our left and saw the line of people waiting to get into the arena. It was past the library to the west and not moving very rapidly. At that point our expectations took a nose dive, especially since it was cold and four-year-old Zach was sitting in the back seat sniffling and occassionally sneezing and coughing from a cold. We decided to NOT join the line and instead circled the campus, going south to Beacon, then east to Broadway, and north to State St. On Broadway we noticed a similar line of people reaching from the arena the whole way around the east side of the stadium to the Greenbelt. We knew many would not get into the arena. So we listened to Obama's speech on the radio from the warmth of out home while Zachary played with the magnets Karen got him for Christmas. It was worth listening to. He didn't just promise change, but actually specified what some of those changes would be, and I found myself agreeing with many of them.