Barack the Vote Part II: Barack the Book Signing

As soon as I posted my previous entry about Barack Obama I found out the Senator had a book signing event scheduled at the Union Square Barnes and Noble. As I mentioned in the earlier post, I had been to an Obama signing at the very same store a couple of years ago, and it was a thrilling experience. But at that time I had only found out about the signing the day of, so by the time I arrived at the bookstore I was crammed pretty far in the back. In addition I had already purchased the book he was then promoting (Dreams from My Father) at another bookstore, so I was unable to get my book signed. This time I was determined to get some “face-time” with the Senator, so I took the day off from work last Thursday to attend.

The book signing was scheduled for 12:00 noon. Barnes and Noble opened at 10:00AM, so I decided to get to the store a little early in case there was a line. Of course there was, starting at the door on 17th street and stretching all the way around the corner and up Broadway -- probably about 100 people. At 10 on the dot the B&N opened and we were slowly ushered into the store. I quickly purchased my copy of The Audacity of Hope and rejoined the line. The event was held on the 4th floor, a great deal of which had been cleared out to make room for seating. All of the attendees were issued color-coded bracelets which would be used to determine where you were allowed to sit, and thus the likelihood of you getting your book signed. Lucky I got a green bracelet, which entitled me to a seat close the podium, and guaranteed me getting Obama’s autograph. I had thought only Star Trek conventions worked this way.

The signing had been advertised as having a Q&A session. I settled into an aisle seat (figuring that would increase my chances of getting near the roaming mic-person) and spent some time composing my question. Now everybody has been asking Obama if he is planning on running for President. I assumed it would be the first question somebody in our audience would ask him, so I decided to take it from there, but word my question in a way that would leave room for the Senator to maintain his “I’m only focused on the 2006 elections” stance. If called upon I was going to ask a 2-part question, worded thusly:

1) Do you think a so-called Apollo program for energy independence could serve as a viable centerpiece issue for a Presidential campaign -- especially since it would directly touch on other vital issues such as national security, jobs, and the environment?

And,

2) What do you think General Wesley Clark's chances are of securing the Democrat’s 2008 Vice-Presidential nomination?

I expected the second-part would get a huge laugh from the audience and the Senator himself, and I patted myself on the back for my Tim Russert-like cleverness. But then a Barnes and Noble coordinator took the stage and announced Obama would be foregoing the Q&A so he could sign as many books as possible in the time he had. I guess that was nice of him. But screw those orange bracelet people; I wanted to ask my question!

Noon quickly arrived and by that time the entire 4th floor of the building was packed like a Dave Matthews concert. Some lady who was the head of Barnes and Noble or something took the stage to formally introduce the Senator. She got about half a sentence in before she was interrupted by applause and cheers coming loudly from the back of the store. Obama had started the walk from the back to the podium and instantly everyone turned away from the lady and all eyes were focused on the Senator. I sort of felt bad for how quickly the lady was dismissed, but it's not like the hopes and dreams of the Democratic Party are riding on HER shoulders.

Obama strolled casually and confidently across the floor, accepting the adulation with humility and a smile. The newsmagazines aren’t lying when they report that Barack is greeted like a rock star. The way people were crowding the man I figured he was about to be lifted up and body-surfed Eddie Vedder-style up to the podium. If indeed Barack is ever to become President, I hope they give the Secret Service a raise.

The crowd kept on cheering when Barack took the mic, and it was only his prodding that got them to stop. He spoke only briefly, for about ten minutes or so, and mostly about the book itself. A couple of people screamed out “Obama ‘08”, which got the crowd applauding again, but he deflected it all with a smile, and stuck to talking about the book. Soon he was finished and took his seat at the signing table. We lined up in orderly fashion and were ushered slowly up to have our books signed.

Barack was very cool with the crowd, taking time to shake everyone’s hand and ask them there name. I noticed that he was actually answering the questions some of the attendees were asking, so I decided that when I got up there I would ask him my Q&A question (but probably omit the Wesley Clark part for time).

A quick aside: my father has a funny anecdote about “meeting” President Truman. Dad was a Truman man, and one day while taking care of some business in New York City he rounded a corner to find an impromptu Truman re-election campaign event taking place on Broadway. Truman was waving to the crowd and gestured in the general direction of where Dad was standing. Dad got swept up in the excitement and feeling a personal connection was made with the President called out “Hey, Harry!” -- the way one would call to an old friend.

I would uphold the Morton tradition of composure in the presence of political stardom when I stepped up to the table to meet Obama. Up close Obama is one of those guys who looks so much like himself on TV that it throws you. And he’s really huge. He extended his hand for a shake, and it swallowed up my hand like a baseball glove. “Thanks for coming out today” the Senator said to me.

I froze. I was completely star-struck. This doesn’t normally happen to me. I grew up in a town populated with celebrities. I visit L.A. often and live in New York City -- running into famous faces is really nothing new to me, and most of the time I am able to keep myself together just fine. But I am so taken with Obama, and the sudden realization that I wasn’t just standing in front of some guy signing a book, but rather quite possibly our next Commander in Chief, I felt the sudden weight of history on me. This was no time for clever questions -- I needed to make a respectful statement:

“Hi. My name is Andrew.”

Do you remember in the movie A Christmas Story, when Ralphie gets up to the “real” Santa Claus to ask for him for the toy gun, but get so flustered that he loses his ability to speak, and finds himself muttering about wanting a football instead? It was exactly a moment like that. Later, I would convince myself that I was being respectful of the Senator’s time constraints by forgoing the inclusion of my last name in that sentence.

Obama speedily signed his name in my book. As his aide handed the book back to me, I my words returned to me, and I was able to blurt out “I may never meet you in person again, sir -- so let me just say ‘thank you, Mr. President.’” Lame, I know, but it was all I could come up with. It didn’t seem Barack was paying much attention to me at that point, but I did get his aide to laugh, so that was something.

But, hey, in the end I got to at least meet the guy, and if he does someday become President, I now have a pretty cool family heirloom that I can hand down. Just don’t look for me to be making the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.