Bill's Visit

Bill Clinton that is. So the former president made a campaign stop at good ol' Lincoln School on Monday (this is the school where I teach). All school staff members were allowed to bring guests and be in the VIP section. We debated for a while about whether or not to take the boys and finally decided that they should get involved in politics as early as possible. (See earlier posts regarding Owen's interest in the campaign).
My mom picked Owen up from Seedings (his play school) and reported the following conversation to me when she got home:
Annanne: Owen, we're going to go home and play for a while before going to Mommy's school to see former President Bill Clinton.
Owen: Who?
Annanne: Bill Clinton. He used to be our president.
Owen: Like Bush?
Annanne: Yes.
Owen: My mom doesn't like President Bush. (pause) How many other presidents have I not met?

Brady, Stan, my mom, Owen, Quincy, and I all arrived at Lincoln at 4:45 for Bill's scheduled 6:00 speech. We were let into the gym at 5:15. An hour and 45 minutes later, Clinton still wasn't there, and the temperature in the gym had escalated greatly. Suddenly the campaign organizers started ushering everyone out saying that they made a last minute change because so many people had shown up that there were more people waiting outside than there were in the gym, which was already past capacity. I was pretty upset, not only for ourselves, but for a number of our Lincoln students who had been standing in their front row spots waiting for an hour and forty five minutes only to be escorted out to somewhere in the midst of the crowd. Anyway, as luck would have it, we got ushered out and ended up right in the front row just a few feet from the bed of the pick-up that BC spoke from.
And how was the speech? Actually, it was really great. He spoke for over an hour, and it was so refreshing to listen to such an intelligent man and be reminded that I haven't always been smarter than our president (a feeling that I'm not at all comfortable with--feeling like our president is truly dumb, that is). I have to say that I have been loosely backing Obama from my perch on the fence for several months now, but I'm really seriously considering changing my vote now. I told Brady that it's sort of like tuning into a sports game and not caring who wins and therefore cheering for the underdog. I guess that's why they bother making these campaign stops, isn't it? Quincy got tired, and Owen got a little bored, but they were really great. BC made the rounds at the end of his speech. He shook both Owen's and my hands and then cupped Owen's cheek in his palm. Owen picked out a big pink button that says "Hillary Rocks!" afterward. We arrived home at 8:30!

Here's a conversation that took place in the car the next morning.
Owen: Mom, who did we meet this morning?
Mommy: Do you mean last night?
Owen: Yeah, who did we meet last night?
Mommy: Bill Clinton.
Owen: Yeah, Bill Clinton. That was a long day!

Here are some pictures that my mom got from her vantage point, which was behind the truck.

Here are Quincy and I listening to the speech:

Here are Brady and Owen listening to the speech:Bill making the rounds: