On Thursday, I saw a Seattle Times article announcing a Barack Obama rally was to be held on Friday (yesterday) at Key Arena. Since I live and work just a few blocks from Key Arena, I decided I should go. In the event that Obama is elected President, I thought it would be nice to be able to say I’d seen him in person.

The article and Obama’s website said doors were to open at 11 a.m. I left my office at 10:55, knowing it would be about a five minute walk, to discover that the arena was already two-thirds full. By 11:30, it was filled to capacity – people were being refused entry. Wikipedia states concert capacity is 16,641. Mayor Nichols said later that there were an additional 3000 people outside. Apparently they set up a monitor so they could watch from the outside plaza. I’ve never seen the Sonics draw this kind of crowd.

At first it was chaos, as everyone tried to find seating. I sat with some strangers one section over from a friend I had attempted to sit with. For a bit, it was pretty exciting. There was an energy to the crowd that was contagious. The Wave was done several times in the interim, a couple girls had a dance off in the bleachers. But then time dragged on. In retrospect, maybe they were setting up the video feed for the people outside. But in the moment, it just seemed like bad form to keep us waiting so long.

At around 12:30, three people came up on stage. Pastor Patrinell Staten Wright, founder of the Total Experience Gospel Choir; some guy whose introduction was not clear to me; and Matt Cameron, current drummer of Pearl Jam. Apparently, these three musicians and some others got together (on my birthday, as a matter of fact) and made a video for a song they performed together for Obama’s campaign. After a long-winded speech by the unknown man having something to do with his brother coming back from Iraq, the video was played on the monitors.

The stage was empty for another 10-15 minutes when Seattle mayor Greg Nichols came out. He talked for a while then introduced U.S. Congressman Adam Smith (of the 9th district, which includes Seattle’s south suburbs, Tacoma, and part of Olympia). Rep. Smith talked briefly then introduced Washington governor Christine Gregoire, who had just announced her support of Obama earlier in the day. She got the crowd really fired up, shouting out all the great things about Washington Obama would take away with him in his heart and mind. The Boeing plane that got him there! The beef! The potatoes! The apple pie! among other things (except salmon and geoducks – maybe the candidate is hydrophobic).

Finally, at 1:06, Ms. Gregoire introduced Barack Obama, and a minute later he was on the stage. He is a good speaker, I’ll give him that. And as he enumerated the ills of our country I thought, in the great words of GI Joe, “knowing is half the battle.” But in the time I was there, I didn’t hear any solutions. I know what the problems are, too, but I have no idea how to fix them. Does he?

At 1:36 I left Key Arena, and he was still going.