So Close to Hearing Bill Clinton

I'm currently staying near Bend, Oregon. If you don't know where that is, basically think 'small town right smack dab in the middle of the state'. Yesterday, Bill Clinton came to Bend and spoke in the gym at Bend High School. I tried to go to the speech, but couldn't because a few thousand too many people showed up.

I think that is pretty cool.

Bill Clinton was scheduled to speak at 5:00pm. We got there at about 4:15pm but didn't get in because the line looked like this:





I didn't think for one second that we would encounter this many people when we were figuring how much time we'd need to get there- and when you think about it, that's pretty sad. I didn't think that enough people, in a city that has 77,780 of them, would go to see the former President of the United States of America whose wife is trying to claim the office of the most powerful, effective, and disastrous President in US history. I didn't think the interest would warrant more people than could fit in a high school gym.

Them's some low expectations.

But you know what? My American neighbors proved me wrong. They showed up by the thousands and behaved like civil, kind, and normal human beings. They proved me wrong in the best possible way.

That's pretty cool.

I'm not proud to admit this but I also not-entirely-secretly expected that when we arrived at the event, we would find a sea of middle-aged women, the majority of them being older than myself, desperate to have a woman President. Thankfully, I was again proven wrong. The people who showed up were high school boys, retired couples, little kids coming along with their parents, people who left work early, young couples, groups of college-aged guys,... definitely not the mob of rolling pin carrying lovesick puppies my MSM poisoned mind had me picturing to find at a Clinton event.

It was a lot of different people, there for many reasons, just like me.

I'm not proud of the stereotype I was picturing, but until being proven wrong by seeing it myself, I can't say that I was really aware of it. Now I am. Now I see clearly how ridiculous that idea was.

A smack in the face by reality. Always pretty cool.

Anyway, by the time we got there, it was quite obvious that we weren't going get in. I'm not going to say that I wasn't really disappointed. I wanted to hear what Bill Clinton would say. I wanted to see what looks were on the other faces in the room. I wanted to hear the real applause level and see what got the biggest responses. I wanted to feel what that event felt like. I wanted a chance to ask a question. I wanted a kick ass blog post full of insights into the campaign. I wanted some kool-aid, baby!

Didn't get it. I might actually be better off.

However, writing about it the next day, there are a few images related to the political conversation that are stuck in my mind:

• The way that I knew the line wasn't moving was that there was a group of about 8 people my age -or maybe a few years younger- all wearing military uniforms who didn't budge the whole time we were there. They were a good line marker. They were pretty easy to spot.
  

• The pretty girl standing behind us in line was holding a copy of My Life by Bill Clinton.

• There was a boy who reminded me of the kid from Two and A Half Men walking up to the high school as we were leaving holding up two Obama signs . On the local news last night, there was a picture of this kid smiling from ear to ear while holding up those signs as people entered the gym at the front of the line.
  

• A good looking guy about my age driving a huge white pick-up truck drove by us and shouted "Vote for McCain! He was a war hero! He was tortured!" as we were crossing the street.
  

Trying to figure out what to make of any of that would a) be useless and b) make my head hurt. So I won't. But I found it all kind of fascinating. Thought I would share.

Basically, there is only one real conclusion that I can draw from this whole experience, and I think it's a good one. It is this:

A lot more people than I thought actually care about what is going on in this country.

Don't you think that's pretty cool?