Diverse crowd looks for hope at ‘triple O’ rally
Sunday, December 16th, 2007
By Mark Schwenker
First Vote
Traveling on Interstates 80 and 380 in an ice storm, I was forced to pull over every couple of miles to scrape ice off my windshield as my squeaky wipers and empty washer fluid reservoir could no longer provide safe vision.
Although I drove an average of around 40 miles per hour, I managed to get to the Dec. 8 event in Cedar Rapids featuring Barackand Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.
An hour before the “triple-O-show” began, energy filled the U.S. Cellular Center. A college a Capella group sang pop songs on stage. Others acted out a mock-caucus skit that entertained the waiting audience (take note, other candidate hosts).
Another student started a wave that washed around the full arena five times.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama opened with a greeting to young and old, white and black, gays and straights. From what I noticed in the crowd, there was not one dominant group of people.
Michelle Eberhart, 18, of Maquoketa, noticed this, too. “I do think that Obama appeals more to young people than other candidates, but I’d also like to think that he appeals more to all Americans than his opponents do,” she said. “I know some older people feel that Obama doesn’t have enough experience to do a good job in Washington, but Oprah made the point that Obama has quite a lot of experience just from living and being the person that he is.“
Oprah Winfrey entered exhibiting an aura of majesty, enhanced by the sparkle of thousands of camera flashes.
When someone such as Oprah backs a candidate, you take notice.
Davenport West class of ‘06 alumni Adam Peters noticed. “Oprah is such an influential person, and I think to some, knowing that Oprah is behind someone will give a flag saying that they should be, too.”
Eberhart summed it up well. “I loved the combination of seriousness and humor from the speakers, such as when Barack said Oprah shouldn’t be the only person building schools in Africa and that we should be communicating with our enemies overseas, teaching children math and science and demonstrating that the United States isn’t one of the bad guys,” she said. “I’ve never seen such a large group of people so united for one cause, hope.”
Mark Schwenker attends Davenport West High School.