The Faithful at the Fairmont

The bacon-wrapped scallops were tasty and the cabernet was full bodied. But the real treat was Barack Obama live and on stage at the Fairmont Sunday in SF where the campaign says he took in $7.8 million, apparently a San Francisco fundraising record. I was lucky enough to snag a few tickets for me and my mom (age 69) and we vied with each other for "most likely to shout out a response to something Barack said." I could tell we were on the radar of the Secret Service for a few moments, and I regretted having let my afro out in full wildness because I was sure it wasn't helping, but they've been with Barack long enough to know the profile of the crowd, and it wasn't long before they'd trained their life-saving gaze elsewhere.

I'm always a bit out of place at a well-heeled event. Most in the crowd were not used to yelling, not used to showing emotion, at least not at this kind of thing. At first the people around me thought I was some kind of freak, so I told a few of them I was a delegate so as to seem more legit, but then they started nodding in encouragement and venturing a whistle or two, a "Yes We Can" here and there. By the end, after Barack had discussed health care, the war in Iraq, education, and clean energy, he pretty much had everyone going. And then, just as quickly as he started, he was gone.

He seemed tired -- who can blame him -- but he was no less inspirational on that night than he was 18 months ago when I first saw him speak, when Hillary was the presumptive nominee. As he made his way off the stage my mother braved the crowd and got to shake his hand, and that was the whole purpose of being there, for me. She's been around long enough to have written hundreds of letters to presidents, senators, congressmen and the like. She's been around long enough to be skeptical of mere talk. She's been around long enough to know that Barack is who we've been waiting for. In the few seconds she had his attention she simply said, "We need you." And when she turned back to me busily munching my last bacon-encrusted scallop, she was grinning like a little kid at Christmas.

He makes us feel like it's patriotic and American to be that optimistic again.