Obama

Late Wednesday afternoon my husband called to tell me that he had scored 2 tickets to hear Senator Obama speak in a Town Hall meeting at a school in my neighborhood. Hooray for me and DQ because we got to go see Obama speak. He was amazing!

Here is the First Lady of Virginia, Anne Holton introducing Obama. A woman who has raised three children while maintaining a successful legal career, she was a great choice to introduce him since the focus of his speech was Economic Security for America's Women.



He discussed the need for better policies on sick time (no less than 7 days for every worker) and allowing parents to attend school events for their children. Assistance for families to pay for day care and for school tuition were discussed but he also focused on helping people care for aging parents.

There was a question and answer portion of the program and I appreciated the way that it was handled. The questions were chosen at random and not prescreened. The only direction that he gave is that he would alternate answering queries from men and women. The subjects ran from his recent votes on legislation related to the administrations wiretapping policy, to encouraging writing programs, to improving our relations with the rest of the world. He answered all of them completely and clearly.



One of the big thrills was that this Town Hall meeting took place in the gym at DQ's school. What a kick to see him in such an incredibly familiar place! There were lots of young people there - some new voters and some, like DQ, who won't vote for many years to come. I have no doubt that when Obama is elected all of these kids will look back on the day and feel like they were a part of something great.



The only thing about the day that made me a little sad was that, although other local politicians had representatives there giving away bumper stickers and signs and stuff, the only Obama stuff there was for sale. The materialism was a little off-putting. Three dollars for a button or a bumper sticker seemed a little high. The day was still great though.

Go Obama!