Kumbaya around Obama

On October 23^rd, 2010 President Barack Obama visited the University of Minnesota campus, amongst huge crowds, excitement, and a growing political environment. Despite political polls describing a net loss of seats, or power, in Washington, over 11,000 people waited in a line that expanded to over a mile in length, that snaked through many buildings on the East Bank of Minneapolis. I, fortunately, had the time and patience to wait through such a line – which caused me to camp on the sidewalks outside the Recreation Center for over three hours – and then wait another two or three hours to watch Obama’s appearance and speech in the Field House. I took pictures (the black and white picture was taken by a friend of mine) and witnessed the history created by the fourth visit of a sitting president in the University of Minnesota’s lifetime.

The environment of the DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Laborer or MN Dem’s) Rally was clearly supportive of President Obama and the platform of the Democratic Party. Volunteers handed out all the “Dayton for a better Minnesota” signs, very few in the audience brought their own signs, and those that did had much different signs – the anti-war protestors, the Tea Party activists, and a medley of Green Party and other third-party members. The place was completely packed with people, shoulder-to-shoulder, in the incredibly packed space of the Field House, which could not hold some 4,000 people who waited hours in line, because of the 7,000 person fire code limit.

The speeches of the event were inaudible – the acoustics of the building allowed every noise bounce off the high walls and create an incoherent babble that resulted in half the attendees to start crying “We can’t hear you!” during the speech of a University of Minnesota student. The event started out with the attorney general, senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, the gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton, and finally the President himself.

MPR’s take on the event presented the event somewhat accurately, but some slants are noticeable (see article: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/23/obama-campaign/). The article only includes University of Minnesota students that are “leaning toward Dayton,” and their views on the current political environment that we find in the 2010 elections, which makes Minnesota seem like a state full of people voting for Dayton. There is no mention of the anti-war activists that yelled and interrupted the speeches, even the Republican/conservative supporters that lined the streets outside the event are described as “a few dozen College Republicans” that are “ridiculing Obama.” This represents Republicans as the minority opinion, compared to the thousands of Dem supporters that showed up, and that the Rep’s that showed up were rather rude and angry compared to the majority.

The article even mentioned a local event – the termination of Coach Brewster – and the “Obama 4 coach” t-shirts worn by some University of Minnesota students, which represented Obama as a local figure, someone who is familiar, and someone who appeals to many of the young people, whom of which “People underestimate his ability to excite people.”

Overall, compared to the actual event that I witnessed, the MPR version represented Obama as a popular figure amongst Minnesotans that appeals to the masses, much different than the few, rude Republicans and the voiceless third-party protestors.