A motley crew for Obama

On the way to Springfield, Missouri, to hear Barack's stump speech, I thought, for a minute only, We might get lucky and be able to take our seats in a half empty stadium.
The part of our five-hour car trip in Missouri was through deep red country. Not an Obama sign in sight, a lot of McCain signs. Farming countryside, trailer parks, etc.

When we got to Springfield and caught sight of the one-mile line, I knew I had day-dreamed.

In the reddest of the red counties of Missouri, a county called "Republican stonghold" by the local press, in the very same county where Palin had addressed 15,000 people a few days earlier, Obama had managed to attract about 40,000.

And I have to admit, there was something striking about this crowd. I had heard, of course, how Obama was uniting Americans, how he inspired so many people, etc., etc. And I had thought these comments a tiny bit sentimentalist-American-Dream-like. However, it was rather remarkable how diverse the crowd was.

A lot of old people and a lot of young people. Some probably too young to vote. The local newspaper this morning told the story of the two first persons to get in line at the stadium on Saturday morning. One was 17. She won't vote. The other was an Indian immigrant, not yet naturalized. She won't vote either. But they were there.

There were a lot of African-Americans of course, many of whom, I am pretty sure, had not voted in a long while because they had lost total trust in their politicians.

A man who looked like a biker, shaved head, long ZZ Top beard, whom I would have been scared of had I met him in a dark alley, was here with his African-American wife and their three children.

A family that, again with all the prejudices I am guilty of, I would have imagined part of narrow-minded ignorant white trash Republican America, believing Obama was a Muslim and believing that Muslim equalled terrorist, this family was in line behind us. As it happened, the 16-year-old daughter was taking French at school, although she was too shy to speak French with me.

I saw bumper stickers saying "Rednecks for America," which I find really funny. They actually have a website. Check it out.

B., of the couple that I mentioned in my previous blog, with whom we socialized, was telling us that he was a Christian for whom such issues as abortion and gay marriage had been moral dilemmas four years ago. He had voted for Bush. On Tuesday, he will vote for Obama.

And there was a French guy, who did not even drive fifteen minutes to go hear Royal, the candidate he voted for, giving a rally in his town. This weekend, he drove ten hours so that his kids could be part of a truly historical moment, and so that he could write about it in his blog.

There is, truly, something exceptional in this guy who is bound to become the next President of the US. He draws masses. He inspired millions to register to vote. Millions have already votes, waiting hours in line.

As the paper reported this black guy saying of the Rednecks for Obama, "it is beautiful."