Barack Obama

Obama Austin Rally Draws Over 20,000 Supporters

According to the Obama HQ blog, there were approximately 20,000 people in attendance at yesterday’s rally in Austin. There were folks from all over Texas there, not just the Austin area, and there was plenty of press coverage as well, both local and national. KXAN’s coverage can be viewed here (There is a link to a video of the entire speech from the KXAN page also. I have not yet found a transcript of the speech anywhere, but I will keep looking.)

Below is a short ’summary’ video of the rally. As I was watching it I noticed that there were several places where Ron and I appear in the background as they are interviewing volunteers during the rally setup. This is a nice little video that captures the highlights of the day, and the positive energy that the large, diverse crowd generated in response to this inspiring candidate.

Although there were intermittent showers the entire day, it did not seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. The day started out with music from Ed Jurdi & the Wednesday Night Supper Club, followed by Cyril Neville & Tribe 13. Obama’s appearance was preceeded by a rousing performance by a group of stompers, which got the crowd sufficiently energized for the long awaited speech. And the speech did not disappoint. I was extremely glad to hear the Senator spend time speaking about New Orleans, and the work that still remains to be done there, as well as the relationship between povery, oppression, and civil war and terrorism. Obama understands that the main reason that civil strife and terrorism exist is due to the hopelessness of empoverished and oppressed people, and that the solution to these problems is NOT A MILITARY solution, it is a social, political, and humanitarian solution. (Download the Brookings Institution Dec 2006 paper discussing the relationship between poverty and civil war.)

Below are some of the pictures we took at the rally.

Click here to see a slideshow of all of the photos we took at the rally.

© 2007 Life is an Ongoing Process.