-----

SPECIAL EVENT PARKING IN EFFECT, flashed the road sign. It became readily apparent that this wouldn't be a typical tourist stop. So, I parked at Texas State University's Bobcat Stadium, and waited for a shuttle to ferry me the 2 miles to the rally.

As the bus snaked around the row of State Trooper cars, I saw the massive queue of students. Obama's website recommended arriving 90 minutes before the rally, which I treated as a bit of a joke. I'm not twiddling my thumbs for an hour and a half just to listen to some political hack. That said, I was still 45 minutes “early”, and there were thousands of people in the queue, snaked around 3 city blocks near Sewell Park, the site of the rally.

The bus let us off. Trouble is, this was still in mid-queue, so our bus-load gang walked to the end of the line.

And walked. And walked. And walked. We must have walked for nearly a kilometre, until we reached the “end” of the line. Funny thing is, we were closer to Sewell Park than many of the folks in the front of the line, as the line was curling back towards the park.

This was a little ridiculous, I thought. Apparently, so did an Obama volunteer, who promptly told us that there was “another entrance” just behind us. As a result, a throng of us sprinted toward this new entrance in this mass mob. It had the peace and tranquility of a metropolitan subway system.

But no matter. We were in a new queue, within visible distance to the makeshift park “entrance”. Of course, it begs the question, it's a bloody public park -- why do so many people have to stand in line?

Soon enough, the answer became apparent. There was only one formal entrance to the park, as that was where the metal detectors were located. They had a full airport-style security checkpoint set up in the area. It was actually pretty clever – Sewell Park borders both sides of a small river valley. They fenced off the entire park around the main stage on the west, and they set up the checkpoint on the other side of the river, in front of the only bridge. So, we waited.

--------

Then, all of a sudden, the entire gang started running for the checkpoint. What the hell? Pandemonium ensued. People started jumping over barriers, towards the bridge, while I just got caught in the wave, heading for the checkpoint. It was absolute madness. I suppose that this is how people get trampled near Mecca.

As we lemmings approached the bridge, it was evident why the surge of people moved. They closed the damn checkpoint! I guess that they had filled up the near side of the river, which was nearly 5,000 people. So, the rest of the mob was forced to camp on the far side.

------

No worries. We all were able to at least find a place to stand, or a treetop to climb. All 15,000 of us.

The row of speeches began with the head of the Texas State U`s Young Democrats. He was promptly booed, derided with chants of “We Want Obama!” Next up was LBJ's grandson, who was also booed at first, until the crowd got some sense of decorum into them.

Then, The Man came on-stage. The crowd was transfixed. They must have cheered for nearly 5 minutes, while Obama composed himself.

And delivered a hell of a speech. It's funny, I'd never seen Obama give a speech in public, not even on TV. Sure, I'd seen a few newsclips and watched him stammer in debates, and I had heard that he was an outstanding speaker. But he really mesmerized the crowd. It may not be like how he affects Chris Matthews, but he's a phenomenal speaker all the same.

“I'm convinced that in America, people want politics that isn't about tearing each other down, but about lifting people up.”

It can be said that Obama has been given a bit of a free ride in the mainstream media. The Saturday Night Live skits are certainly one indication of this. But he is a bit of a blank slate. For the moment, Barack Obama is the candidate of aspiration – he doesn't represent who America is, but who America can be. It's analogous to the Starbucks effect – most of us don't drink Starbucks because of the taste of the coffee. We drink Starbucks because (a) it's the trendy thing to do, and (b) it creates an aspirational self-image of who they wish to be.

“Every child is our child. Every child is our responsibility. Every child is the responsibility... of America.”

All of a sudden, a shrill cry is heard in the crowd: “I love you, Obama!”

Obama stops. I'm sure that he's heard that before. He smiles, then announces, “I love you, too.”

“We cannot afford to wait. We can’t wait to fix our schools, we can’t wait to fix our health care system, to bring an end to global warming, to bring good jobs at good wages. We cannot wait to bring an end to this war.”

Based on rhetoric alone, Barack Obama is a fine candidate for president. But what does he stand for? Moreover, can he ever get that over the “experience” argument? I have no idea. But I do know that if the mob of 15,000 in San Marcos is any indication, he certainly has the ability to transform the American people.