Obama's Barack and Roll crowd in Portland

I have no idea whether the 75,000 people who attended Obama's rally in Portland, on the first warm Sunday after an unusually long and cold winter, were there to see him, to have fun on a nice day and flirt with all the other promiscuous liberals, or to see the free rock band. It was probably a combination of reasons. Someone who was there wrote:

I saw the crowd in my city. It was the single largest number of people I've ever seen. No doubt a few thousand came to see the 45 min rock band, but the other 70,000 came to see Obama. You ask anyone in the crowd why they came. It was free, the weather was perfect, and Obama was in town. Portland showed up for Obama when it counts in the end. May that never be forgotten. Portland is progressive--we don't want to recycle old presidents, Clintons, and Bushes, for another 20 years!! Revolving dynasties turn rotten after a while.

I sympathize with the sentiment concerning the revolving dynasties in the Presidency. However there are more important things in the world than the last name of the candidates. Platform is one of them. The personal history and character of the candidate is another. Their skill at drawing rock-show sized crowds is secondary at best.

Anyway, before BO spoke there was a free concert by the Decemberists, an up-and-coming crypto-communist rock band from Portland. Rolling Stone loves them. Watch "O Valencia" for a taste of Tarantino-style paranoia from the band.

The juxtaposition of BO with Portland's own Decemberists, who play the National Anthem of the Soviet Union before their concerts, is interesting enough, and also interesting in what it says about progressive Portland.

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