Obama comes to Ann Arbor

Regardless of politics, it is an honor when the President of the United States comes to your city. The excitement here began at 8:30 a.m. when rally-ers came to the park next to us. Armed with signs, a stage, microphones, etc., the crowd of mostly undocumented workers were against deportation and the bill in AZ. We took off to see Ava play soccer (although she was too sick to play) and then came back. Suprisingly traffic was not bad at all, much less than a football game.

Back to the story. After listening to the rally we went toward the stadium looking for some more action. Really we wanted to see some Tea Partiers. I did not want to run across any abortion protesters because those pictures are terrible. We didn't see any Tea Partiers, but we did see some AWESOME helicopters flying right over us. It was even windy and dirty they were so close. There were 4 in all, and one carried the President. Air Force One had flown into DTW, and then he was escorted by helicopter from there. Secret Service and police were everywhere and pretty much blocked any view of the President, but we did see the motorcycle-cade, and the general area where you knew he was going to be.


You can barely see the propellor over the fence here.

So close!

Very exciting.

Here's the rally!


The rally-ers then walked to the stadium in a huge group. It seems like one could get addicted to going to rallys and protests for various causes. Much like the daughter on Arrested Development. Doesn't matter the cause, it is exciting to get a huge group of people energized about something and state your opinion.

We did watch Commencement on TV, and Obama's speech wasn't nearly as politicized as our Governor's. He talked about learning about the opposing side's viewpoint and supporting democracy instead of becoming so polarized it prevents you from participating politically. If you are not prone to writing letters or calling your representatives, he encouraged community service and doing good. It was really neat. I hope we get the chance to see another President or be near another President again.