Cut, Sew and VOTE!

Now, I no it's not proper to discuss sex, religion or politics in polite society - - - Well here's what I say to polite society!!!

Now let’s go!!!

Yesterday evening I made a half-hearted, if not lame, attempt to attend a Barack Obama rally held here in New York City at the legendary Washington Square Park. I was aware of this rally only because I had received at least 20 emails/text messages throughout the day announcing this monumental event and how it was incumbent upon all of “us” to support Barack Obama. There was something extremely presumptuous in several of the emails and/or text messages in the assumption that all of “us” were Obama supporters.

Senator Barack Obama

Now For those of you whom aren’t familiar with Washington Square Park it sits directly across the street from my old alma mater, New York University in the heart of Greenwich Village. To be quite honest, I hadn’t seen this many people gathered in the park since my own graduation many years ago. It is important for you to know that back in the day, Washington Square Park was where some of the most creative, intelligent and provocative people in New York City gathered to commune and exchange ideas. Today it seems to be more known for the shenanigans of petty drug dealers, scam artists and hustlers. Now that I think about it, very little has changed. Anyway, when I heard that Barack had chosen Washington Square Park for his rally, I immediately gave him cool points for selecting this location instead of one of the more expected venues around the city... But would this be enough to earn my vote?

PROOF PHOTOS THAT I DID SHOW UP!!!



When I first arrived at the park at around 5:00 p.m. I noticed that there were several very dark and ominous clouds lurking above… Of course, rain – I had found my out. But then all of sudden there was a ray of light that burst through the late afternoon sky that made a rain date impossible and only added to the excitement of the evening. So further into the park I frolicked (okay, gay alert – frolic). There were barricades, scanners and checkpoints everywhere. There were enough cops to police an entire small city and surprisingly they were all extremely polite and helpful. The event, like most of these huge productions, was a bit disorganized with most people bearing useless color coded tickets and invites. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have informed the NYPD as to the classification of each colored ticket and therefore they simply shifted attendees willy-nilly across the park. I must admit, however, there was even something energizing in witnessing the event turn out was even better attended than perhaps expected.


Then I heard the voice of an angel… In reality I found myself eavesdropping on a young lady’s cell phone conversation that she was having with a friend. Needless to say she was not using her “library voice” and judging by other bits and pieces which were revealed in her conversation - she was no angel. However it wasn’t the messenger or the form of delivery in this instance that was of great importance – instead it was the simple message that made its impact as she uttered the following: “I just heard that Obama won’t be taking the stage for another two to three hours.” Bingo – there it was – my out… No one could damn me for not being willing to wait around for three hours to hear Barack speak. Now I had the perfect excuse to bolt.

It was in this moment of ecstasy that I became washed with shame. In my heart of hearts I knew that had Barack Obama been Lauryn Hill I would have waited another two to three hours for her to take the stage, but for the man that quite possibly could be the next Leader of the Free World, I was not willing to wait another second… This proves that I still have some serious issues…

The Wait

In my defense, I will say this… At this same exact point I also knew that within an hour of Barack taking the stage, I would be able to see his entire speech broken up into convenient 10 minute intervals on YouTube. After all, we were just across the street from NYU with its wireless dormitories and high tech computer labs, and let me tell you - the park was chock-filled with video cameras and phones. Besides, it only took them a full 13 minutes to upload Beyonce falling down an entire flight of stairs in concert – so I knew that Barack was a shoe-in to be uploaded in a few hours…

Well, as I predicted by the time I arrived home from dinner there it was, uploaded and ready for public viewing on YouTube, “Barack Obama at Washington Square Park”. So I settled in to see what I could have possibly missed…

Barack Obama Electrifies the Crowd

As soon as the video began I immediately realized that what I had missed was Barack Obama in all of his glory, vigor and floodlights and delivering one of the most powerful speeches I have heard from him to date… I was thoroughly impressed. There was even a bit of me that wished I had hung around. But as I sat in my favorite chair in my perfect space, I knew that I had made the right decision. You see I am not the sort that needs the mob to dictate my decisions, so I also knew that my solitude would force me to clearly focus on Mr. Obama's message.

By the end of Obama’s speech I could feel in my pit that there was something about the delivery and excitement of this speech that bothered me. I couldn’t quite figure it out… Then it hit me… It hit me hard in the form of a question: "What does it take to get this version of Barack Obama to always show up???"

Barack Obama Live at Washington Square Park in New York City

Democratic Debate New Hampshire September 26, 2007

You see I had just seen Barack the day before in the New Hampshire debates and felt like he never really took it to them… He gave the same old lackluster answers that we have all become accustomed to hearing from him, especially under pressure. It reminded me of the week before when he was asked about his opinion on the Jena 6 situation and instead of him giving his honest opinion he gave us a juiced up version of “No Comment”. That bothers me. That bothers me – Big Time. So needless to say after watching Barack in several debates I am always left feeling, in the famous words of Michael Kors on Project Runway, a bit “under-whelmed”.

Barack leaves the crowd with a mission - TO CHANGE THE WORLD

What I have realized thus far about Barack is this: Barack Obama is truly the man (for my own selfish Oprah-like reasons) I wish could be our next President. This is a man that truly cares about making real changes in the world today… This is a man I believe if allotted more than 30 seconds in a debate scenario speaks from his heart and is lead by his conscious and convictions. This is a fair and decent man. This is a man that I believe can motivate and inspire people all over the world to greatness. This is a man that I believe should be President…. Okay, wait hold-on a second… Do I believe my own eyes??? Did I just write that I believe that Obama should be President??? Now I am really confused. I guess what I am saying is that my heart and soul believes in Barack but my hardwiring may believe a bit more in Hillary Clinton. And I won’t even get started on those other Democratic hopefuls that read more like Democratic doubtfuls; especially as I would like to end this post on a good note…

THE CANDIDATES

At the end of the day, no matter how pissed off we may get at some of the crap the U.S. pulls around the world; no matter what stupidity comes out of the mouths of some of these useless politicians; or no matter for whom we ultimately decide to cast our vote… We all know for a fact that we live in one of the greatest and powerful countries to ever exist. The fact that we get to freely be “undecided” as to who will vote for and to openly discuss this matter is something that we should never take for granted… Therefore the one thing that I would encourage you all to do is to eventually decide and then VOTE!!!

Have a wonderful and glorious weekend!!!