Yesterday, with an open but ever sarcastically libertarian mind, I went to experience Obama-mania and listen to Barak Obama give an economic speech.  The event was billed as a 'town hall' here at the Austin Convention Center. 

Texas, being a post-Super Tuesday primary state, is not normally courted by Presidential primary candidates who have usually locked their positions in the postseason electoral playoffs well before our primary.  So while I'm not usually inclined to vote Democratic, I felt the experience would at least be worth the time in traffic.  I hoped for, but knew better than to anticipate, an opportunity to ask Mr Obama some tough questions.  After all, it may be another 20 years before future Presidential hopefuls canvas this here red state.

Along for the ride was my "little" fraternity brother and Democratic-leaning roommate, Mike.  I promised him that as a reward for his early rising to embark on this historical adventure, there would be plenty of hot and easy liberal chicks at which to gawk.  I also made coffee.
 
I had suspected that with a limited pre-announcement and a scavenger hunt process for acquiring tickets to the event that this Town Hall would be heavily stacked with Obama supporters.  Regardless, we arrived an hour and half early - around 8 AM - to ensure ourselves a seat, but the place would never near it's capacity.  I estimated three to four thousand people showed up by the end.  Apparently, fourteen thousand folks had been out to see him in San Marcos the evening before.  I'm sure that San Marcos, a party college town about 30 minutes south of Austin, was the hot-spot last night and hardcore Obamatons were too hung over to fight Austin's notorious morning traffic for another dose of Change You Can Believe In ©.  Plus, normal people have day jobs.

As we attempted to take our seats, hoping for a decent, semi-frontal view, a young snotty volunteer with a popped collar and a New England accent (a combination most worthy of disdain if ever one was presented to a Texan) asked us to move 10 feet over to a less favorable and more crowded section.  He was too waifish for such haughtiness, and it was too early to be amused. 

"Why?" I inquired. 

"Because this section is background for the cameras and we need to fill it in." 

He presumed too much of my concern for Barak's camera angles.  I mumbled something about voting for Hillary if I couldn't sit where I wanted but then took my seat in the proper sheepfold.  Baaaaah.  As waif-boy continued to dart about, tripping over chairs to intercept and usher other annoyed spectators into our section, a teacher in front of me, reading a whitepaper on the potential for use of the Wii game system and brainwave interface devices in special education, turned to me and commented, "Somebody should take that guy out."  Even bleeding hearts in Texas are quick to draw blood, it seems.

As time dragged on, I was becoming more aware that the facility was going to be more of a believers' tent revival than a town hall.  A smartly dressed young lady to my right was arguing on her cell phone - at 9 AM in the morning, no less - with a Hillary Clinton supporter who had apparently made the comment that they would rather vote for John McCain than Barak Obama.  "How can you possibly mean that?" she shrieked.  "You know that's a myth, right?  Look it up on snopes dot com."  My roommate and I have run into enough Hillary supporters to know what that was about - another Democrat that actually believed Barak Hussein Obama was a dread Muslim.  I expect such unmitigated ignorance from right wingers, but Hillary supporters?  Maybe somebody should tell them that McCain has a negro baby.

The section behind Obama's podium filled more slowly and it occurred to me that it was reserved for the most dedicated supporters.  Folks in the choir that won't wince on camera when Obama preaches about establishing $10 billion funds to bail out speculators and ignorant mortgage buyers who didn't take the time to understand their ARMs or write out a budget before they "purchased" a home with no money down. (I'm sorry if I lack much sympathy, but I spent months researching mortgages and their relative pricing models before refinancing my FHA loan last year to a 15 year, 80/20, fixed rate mortgage.  I also watch too much CNBC.) 

At that point, I turned to Mike and told him about a blog posting I had read the evening before from a "former Obama volunteer" who claimed that while attending "Obama Camp" he and his fellow travelers were taught to avoid discussion of policy with potential voters and instead focus on their own personal experience and how they had "come" to Obama.  I asked Mike, "Is that a 'come to Jesus' thing or a 'come to Butthead' thing?  Have those folks sitting there in the choir section 'come to Obama' and accepted him as their personal Presidential candidate?"  As if on cue, a middle-aged Hispanic woman ran over to our section from the "choir" and grabbed another woman saying, "Hurry, he's calling us."  An altar call and an offering plate were on the agenda, I was sure.

Soon, with Barak running 20 minutes late, the crowd grew restless for raw meat.  They had to get to work or classes soon.  Chanting and bleacher stomping ensued.  All the standard Obama incantations were muttered but he failed to materialize.  A line of Hispanic supporters answered the English chants of "Yes, We Can" with Spanish tongue talking, ”Si, Se Puede”.  Befuddled East/West Coastal transplants, a familiar site in Austin, cocked their heads and wondered what the hell that meant.  They didn't understand that Obama's campaign had xeroxed Caesar Chavez's slogan and my Mexican friends were trying to remind them of that fact.  The irony was that we were presently meeting at an address on Caesar Chavez Street.

Eventually, a figure appeared in the doorway behind the stage and the crowd screamed.  Jumping to our feet we learned it was just some local politicians.  The opening acts, I presumed.  A few of us sat back down but were then quickly jolted from our seats with another roar from the crowd.  A nervous woman approached the stage and apologized for not being Barak.  She then proceeded to give a very nervous reading from a prepared speech about affordable health care.  It was painfully boring, but I had some empathy for her when a man from the other side of the auditorium screamed, "Where is Barak?"  It was just rude.  The poor lady hurried through the rest of her speech and introduced the star entertainment.

Amidst all the hubbub of Obama pressing the flesh on his way to the podium, a woman to my left said to her friend, "That guy is crawling towards him."  I couldn't see this curiosity but the Gospel stories came springing to mind of Jesus' healing of the woman who crawled through the crowds to touch the Messiah .  There is surely Change and partisan healing in Barak's wings.  If I might but touch the hem of his garment perhaps he shall bless me with affordable health insurance from which I can not be denied due to pre-existing medical conditions?

Barak's speech was patently inspiring. He speaks with a calm and easiness that imbues you with a sense of trust and, dare I say it, hope.  His tone is easily recognizable to any Southern church-goer.  It's just enough "black church" to actually elicit amens from spectators but not too much that "white church" listeners will find him to be overly emotive or manipulative.  The only disruption to this equation comes from amongst the audience as Obama girls call out "I love you" and toss panties.

It was an economic speech devoid of monetary policy.  That 800 pound, greenbacked gorilla in the room felt a bit slighted at being ignored, but it was a good speech, nonetheless.  My favorite line addressed the fact that the current fiscal mess was not a result of a natural business cycle, but was actually a result of a failure of leadership in Washington.  I began to applaud this because the rapid expansion of M3 money and a complete lack of banking oversight under Greenspan and Bernanke, coupled with political complicity in the schemes of risky securities and credit derivatives is exactly why there are whole sliced loan products that are failing, property prices are plummeting, all resulting in near frozen corporate and municipal bond markets, and maxed out consumers unable or scared to spend more borrowed money.  But, then Barak ruined the statement by blaming it on Bush's tax cuts on capital gains.  These tax cuts have indeed been deeply unfair to those who work, rather than speculate, for a living.  No doubt about it.  But, the 800 pound gorilla was looking increasingly peeved - making me a tad nervous. 

Nevertheless, after the speech I felt like Barak had a better grasp on the problems facing this country than either Hillary or McCain - a man whom actually admits to not understanding all this economic stuff and still wants to be President during such a time of crisis.

Next up were a half dozen, random questions before Barak had to skip town for Beaumont.  I'm not sure why he was in a hurry to go down to the polluted buttcrack of Texas, but six questions out of 4000 people would have to suffice.  Town Hall Revival Meetin' or not. 

First up was a question about software patents from a UT student.  As a temporarily self-retired specialist of such arcane IT arts, this caught my attention quick.  There is much debate in the world of software development these days about what should be truly patentable.  On one side are the open source and open standards advocates who argue for interoperability as the best way to facilitate open market competition.  On the other side are proprietary software vendors, like Microsoft, who view the open source movement as a form of techno-communism.  And it probably is.  Intellectual property rights retained and shared by the people who actually do the coding rather than the capitalist managers who force you to slave away in a cubicle for 12 hours a day is the essence of the early communist movement in Europe.  Barak's answer?  Pay the patent officers more money and implement a CIO position in the White House.  I don't know if that really addressed the issue.  Barak seemed rather unprepared to deal with it despite being in a development town like Austin, but I suppose with thousands of suspiciously missing emails during this current Cheney-Bush era, a White House CIO would be a commendable idea.  At least there would be somebody to haul up before Congress to explain, yet again, why a President that asserts unwarranted powers to search and archive every electronic communication in America can't get the NSA or CIA to forensically salvage those conveniently overwritten backup tapes at the RNC.  No wonder we can't find bin Laden.

The second question was a real bombshell, though.  A young, black, single mother stood up from the Choir Section to demand an answer as to why she had to struggle to go to school and care for her child while working at a near minimum wage job whilst her neighbors were having a steady stream of children in an effort to stay on welfare and avoid work.  Heads were spinning like tops.  Black democrats are not supposed to talk about welfare moms like this.  Racist white Republicans maybe, but especially not those Democrats chosen to sit in the Choir.  Barak had to take a few moments and recalibrate.  He asked the young girl what she did and where she worked while he studied the carpet below his feet.  The look on his face indicated he was trying to remember his division by zero calculus.  This is why I came - to see the man think fast.  Bush never thinks fast in any complete way - he skips over thoughts and sentences, mangles words and spits out a commanding period to let you know his answer was supposed to mean business.  Barak, on the other hand, took his moment and came out with a sensible answer.  Bill Clinton, he said, did some sensible things as President in working with Republicans to reform welfare.  One such reform was to limit welfare to 60 months in a lifetime for the able-bodied.  But, the economy had failed to produce an increase in wages at the bottom of the scale to make up for the shortfall.  He would offer tuition credits so our young mother in the choir could afford school and increase her skills. 

It was about this time that I noticed a woman sitting near the podium waving her arms in the air.  Jazz hands, I thought.  No.  She was in a moment of praise.  This was church on a Thursday morning, after all.  I was certain a baptism would be performed soon.  It was almost as funny as the time I attended a Nader rally during the 2000 campaign here in Austin and watched a bald Krishna chick dancing in silent meditation at the foot of his podium for the duration of the speech.

Next up, in complete contrast to the single, black mother struggling to stay off of welfare, was a tall, rich, white man who admitted he had benefited from Bush's "tax cuts for the wealthy" and could afford to pay more but wanted assurance that Barak was serious about balancing the budget and reducing government waste.  Barak of course, is all for balanced budgets.  He's also apparently convinced that Progressives need to be more conservative about fiscal issues than Conservatives themselves or progressive causes would fail.  Bravo.  No mention of the Constitutional issues regarding said Progressive causes, but by then the 800 pound gorilla had already stomped out of the room and was desperately seeking a local news outfit to interview him during his fit of righteous indignation.

A few "questions" followed during which Barak asked the inquisitor to please stop making him blush.  It was almost embarrassing.  At long last the the sixth and final questioner was a nine year old girl who simply wanted to know, A) would the Senator please sign her book? I assume to prove to her teacher that she wasn't being completely truant from her civil responsibilities that day.  And, B) would Barak create jobs for kids so that kids could have health insurance, too?  It was almost too cute.  First we had a single black mother complaining about welfare moms, and now we had a nine year old demand the reversal of child labor laws.  Welcome to Texas, Barak.

And that was it.  Barak was rushed by the adoring masses as he exited and I went home to compare the sample ballots for both Republican and Democratic primaries.  On the right, I have a ballot offering Ron Paul's Constitutional reformation.  But, downlist on that Republican ballot, only a few local and state positions are being contested.  Besides Constitutional reformation, my other cause is kicking McCaul out of Texas Representative District 10.  McCaul, a wealthy CIA agent, was the uncontested appointee to the new Frankenstein District X during Tom Delay's gerrymandering projects.  Democrats are finally going to run some reasonable opposition to McCaul but no Constitutionalists exist on the Republican ballot.  My other electoral goal is decommissioning Senator Cornyn, but the only GOP alternative in that race is a literal Biblical Reconstructionist who is running on a secessionist platform.  That's not a joke.  There is literally a new Confederacy movement that has successfully put a candidate for Senate on the ballot here in Texas.  Otherwise there is nothing of interest on the Republican primary ballot.  With McCain all but certain to take all of Texas' delegates, what choice do I have but to vote in the Democratic primary where plenty of positions are contested with viable and experienced candidates?  Besides, with a total landslide predicted for the Democratic candidate, I would rather it be Obama than another instance of the Mena, Arkansas group.  A Bush or a Clinton has been running things since Reagan's assassination attempt in 1981.  27 years later, we could use new Establishment management.  With Brzezinski and Voelker on Obama's team, you can be sure the Empire is in good hands.

Depending on your viewpoint, Barak may either be the Second Coming of Bobby Kennedy, the Mehdi returned, or the Antichrist.  Perhaps all three.  But, despite the crazy messianic overtones in the Barak Obama campaign, it's hard to fault him personally for it.  People really are sick of the Bush-Clinton legacy and are ready to move into the 21st Century.  Here's to Hope, but please don't hold me responsible if Barak doesn't transfigure on a mountain top and converse with the ascended spirits of Hamilton and JFK within his first 100 days as President.  He's just a man.