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Last night I went to see Barack Obama at a fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer at the Westin St. Francis hotel in downtown San Francisco. I went with a couple of friends, both of which are big democratic party fundraisers and who raised a lot of money for Kerry in the last election. This particular event was the $150 a head event as opposed to the $$$ event held earlier that day for Boxer with Obama. We all agree and find that you get a much better "pulse" of things when you get to stand in room with the people who paid closer to "working wages" than the $2000-a-head hand-shaking events. We purposely chose to go to this one instead of the other - especially in trying to decide who we want to start raising money for.
The Grand ballroom was packed - they had originally been anticipating about 500-800 people - it was closer to 2000! They had to take out chairs so that they could accommodate all the people and meet fire code. We grabbed a glass of wine at the bar and stood there looking around for familiar faces. The room was packed with lots of familiar faces of local politicians, board of supervisors from both San Francisco, Marin County and the peninsula. There was an excitement in the room and a lot of people who have been long-time Boxer supporters and know her well were there to see Barack Obama. Most people had never seen him speak in person although many I spoke to had donated money to him in his Senate race in 2004.
In many ways, the anticipation in the room was like people were waiting for a rockstar to arrive...it was interesting to feel that energy when I compare it to when Edwards and Hillary have come to town. First, Boxer's son introduced his Mom - then after Barbara Boxer spoke, out came Barack Obama - and yes, it was a rockstar greeting and appearance.
I have to say - Barack is a very handsome man with great presence. He is very tall and has an amazing smile that is sincere and beams to the back of the room. I actually have to say I saw some women swooning. I'd even go so far as to say he has that "it" factor that many people, friends and foes alike, admire and hate about Clinton. Obama has "it".
Obama also has a great speaking voice - he speaks clearly and has a deep tone and can command the attention of the room. His presentation/speech was a lot of the same things we have all heard him talk about from his recent speeches and his book "The Audacity of Hope". The message is good, it resonates with people and it was very well received. The most thunderous applause and response came when he said that the Iraq War was a War that should never have been started and needs to be ended. He mentioned the outrageous news about the lack of care our wounded vets are getting at Walter Reed and in our VA system and he also talked a lot about Katrina and NOLA and how unacceptable it is that our fellow citizens had to suffer so and still are.
Obama is also a quick thinker and had a great response/line when just as he was talking about the lack of healthcare insurance in this country for a vast majority of Americans, a staff person at the hotel trying to clean up all the empty glasses dropped them and said he hoped that gentlemen had insurance.
Overall, I thought it was great seeing him, and I was impressed by the way he comes across and the energy he excites in the crowd. I do however have some observations which I think are going to be the obstacles/challenges that Obama is going to have to overcome and change if he wants to win the nomination. The first is that while he speaks well and excites people with his message, I found what it lacked (and so did the others with me and notably so) that his speech lacked a plan. He talked alot about what is wrong, why it needs to be fixed and painted a vision of where America needs to be headed, but he didn't offer his solution and plan for how he's taking us there. He needs to get that in his speeches more.
Second, I know that when a candidate is fundraising and going from event to event, they can get delayed. It happens. But at yesterday's event, people in standing room only had to stand for over an hour and 15 minutes waiting for Obama to appear. I personally don't think that's acceptable. The people standing there may have paid "only" $150 as opposed to the people writing the $2000+ checks in a suite somewhere, but the real fundraising opportunity and the victory and nomination lies with the people I was standing in the room with. Those people, myself included and the people standing around me may have only written a check for $150, but each and every single person there is a prospective Ambassador, a well-connected person in their community that is trying to decide if Obama's their winning ticket and where to put their energy and money. Those people can leave an event like that and decide to write bigger checks and also to go get lots of people in their communities to write checks too. I found that during the Kerry campaign, Kerry made this mistake a lot. There were the big donors, when we were fundraising for Women for Kerry, however it was the housewives who could only afford $25 that in quantities added up real fast and shouldn't be ignored and were the real driving force in getting out the support. I hope that Obama doesn't make the same mistake and I recommend that his organizers don't make those people for $25+ wait for over an hour.
Third, I have spent some time on Obama's site and unless I missed it, I have not seen him blogging, and when I tried to sign up for email updates and be on an email mailing list, it was unclear if it went through or not. I signed up again to just make sure. I also emailed the Obama campaign with a question and offer to assist in local fundraising. I still after a week have yet to receive any emails from the Obama campaign and I didn't know about his appearance in San Francisco from him, I got it from the Boxer camp. If Obama's campaign did cross-searches of names, they would see my name on lots of donor lists to the Dems and I should have gotten atleast one email or update on Obama - or even seeking a contribution. So far nothing....I think that his team needs to get on the ball there....Edwards and Hillary are way ahead there.
In conclusion, I think that the pack of candidates is going to narrow in the coming months. I predict that there will be some who drop off like Vilsack and Richardson, eventually Dodd and Biden by the end of the year. It's going to come down to Hillary, Edwards and Obama. My money so far if I had to choose is Edwards based on what I see from him and his campaign. But Obama has the opportunity if his campaign starts to address the three things I mentioned above: Solutions & Plans in his speeches, focus on the donors and not make them wait, more contact via the internet and blogs. I also would love to know how Obama is received in the South and Midwest in crowds. I think Edwards does well there and if Obama wants to win, that's where he needs to win. The big cities and cities like San Francisco is a no-brainer. But what the farmer in Iowa or areas of the South who are dissatisfied with the direction of the country feel when they see Obama, that is going to be the answer to whether he can win the nomination. As things stand now, I think that Edwards will get the nomination and my hope would then be that he and Obama could become the ticket. Is America ready for President Obama? I am...but the jury is still out if his campaign can get that same energy going everywhere. I hope he can, I hope his campaign is listening.
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