The Day I Saw President Obama

Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union when I was 7. For several years after that I wanted to be an astronaut. In the few years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated when I was 13, President Johnson was able to pass significant civil rights and voting rights legislation and I wanted to be President. In the subsequent 52 years, things happened, and I didn't make it, and the odds, which started at about zero and went down from there, of me ever being an astronaut or the President go down even further with each passing day. Today in Omaha, though, I saw the President of the United States. He came to Omaha the day after delivering the State of the Union Address in DC the night before. The crowd was estimated by police at about 11,000. Baxter Arena seats 7500 according to published info on their Wikipedia entry and was built in the last year and just opened. All around were hundreds, probably, of Omaha Police and Secret Service and arena staff and volunteers. One very Secret Service fellow had "SECRET SERVICE" in large white capital letters on the front and back of his coat. Some secret. * ** * * * * * * My journey to Baxter Arena began at about 11:45 am when I arrived at the UNO campus and got on a shuttle bus to the Arena. A half hour later we were disembarked and joined a very long line of people outside waiting for the doors to open. I struck up a conversation with the fellow next to me and it turns out he runs the Steve Hogan Golf Course at Miller Park and we chatted golf off and on for the next 90 minutes as the line gradually began to move. I sat with him and his family for the speech. I'm glad it was 20 degrees warmer than the day before. Everyone was screened through a phalanx of TSA search stations where my belt buckle and loose change in my coat pocket set off the warning lights and I was body searched and then cleared and we were ushered to our seats. By chance I was seated next to an old friend from my UNO undergraduate days. We visited and caught up a bit. It was nice to see her again. * ** * * * After about a 2 hour wait in the auditorium, President Obama arrived and gave what was essentially a redo of the State of the Union Address to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. It was a wonderful speech, inspirational and filled with hope and all the good that the American Dream could be, punctuated by cheers and "We love you" shoutouts and applause. And clearly it will rile and rankle Republicans to no end.

*** * * * * * After the event was over, we all exited the building and I watched his motorcade drive away, red lights flashing, going west on Center Street. And then after some more waiting, the shuttle bus ride back to UNO got me there. A grueling, exhausting, fascinating day. I noticed at least two medical emergencies where rescue staff were involved. But I can scratch another item off my "bucket list." Last year I rode my motorcycle to Sturgis, S.D. This year, I saw a President. I will put the ticket in my glass fronted bookcase with some of my other special memorabilia.