As I sat stuck in traffic at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Avenue of the Stars the announcement came over the radio that the race had been called for Obama. Yeah! But, already!? Dammit! Sitting alone in my car was not where I wanted to be for this moment. I naively thought that I could head out to what was supposed to be the biggest Obama party in LA an hour before it started and still walk right in. Me and 10,000 others. After the announcement, which occurred on my way there, I jumped out of traffic and found a spot about a mile away and decided to hoof it to the Hyatt Regency in Century City, the site of the party. Seeing the line winding out of site behind the building I knew I was never getting in, so I decided to at least walk around the back to see how far it went. On the backside of the building I joined a small crowd that was pressing their faces to the windows of the hotel gym to try to read McCain’s lips as he gave his concession speech. Dammit again. Then the hotel staff came out to say that the fire marshall was closing the party to any newcomers. Screw this, I thought, and after snapping a couple quick frames decided to race home to catch Obama’s speech rather than stand on the curb aimlessly. His speech, of course, began right after I got back to my car, so I listened to most of it on the radio, getting home just in time to see the last few minutes on the tube. I was glad I’d gone out and gotten a taste of the energy that was out there, but I wish I’d gotten to be a bigger part of it. Maybe next time.
Obamanoooooooooooooooooooooooooooosssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!