Bob O’Leary

-photo by Peg O'Leary-Parsche

I took off of work early Monday to see Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton speak in downtown Orlando. Since I already work downtown, it was just a matter of catching the free bus to the Orena.

Of course, 50,000 people had the exact same idea. Despite arriving two and a half hours early, I had to wait in a winding line that ended blocks away. Disneyworld had nothing on this line.

The crowd was huge but polite. No one complained when people saved spots for their friends.Vendors moved up and down the line peddling T-shirts, buttons, and towels.

“Look,” one man said. “Barack’s already started getting people jobs.”

Many brought their children and grandparents. One other woman said that the crowd was like “a family reunion.”

It was if you had black, white, Asian and Hispanic cousins. Orlando is a pretty diverse city, but this was the most diverse by age and race that I have ever seen in Florida. Race did not seem to matter, but you could sense the pride in the African-Americans. After years of slavery and discrimination, one of their own was on the threshold of becoming the President of the United States.

Eventually we gathered together at the north side of the so-called “Amway Arena.” The “Amway” was covered up with an “Obama” – great move since Amway and the DeVos family are big Republican supporters.

Hillary spoke first. She was a great opening act, getting the crowd fired up. She gave the catchphrase of the night, “jobs, baby, jobs!” a takeoff on the Republicans’ “drill, baby, drill!.”

Then Obama spoke. He touched on many of the same points that he did in his debates and other speeches, highlighting the importance Florida has in the election. While he did not mention his sick grandmother, he mentioned the importance of the legacy many people leave for their children and grandchildren.  His remarks are in the YouTube clip at the end.

Some people said that seeing Obama was a life-changing experience. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it was one I will remember.

Growing up in Florida, I get a chance to see rockets send men into space. I watched the Apollo 11 launch with my own eyes, even though it appeared as a small flame in the Eastern sky. History was not something I saw on TV, but something I actually witnessed.

On Monday, I saw someone on the cusp of being one of the most transformational Presidents in U.S. history. I can tell my grandchildren that I saw men go to the moon for the first time and the first black President of the United States.

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