Meeting Barrack Obama

Okay, so I didn't exactly meet him, but I did shake his hand, along with a crowd of other people. He came to Baghdad as part of his tour of the Middle East and they scheduled an appearance at the US Embassy in the Presidential Palace.

I got there about an hour and a half before he was scheduled and there were already about 300 people in the main lounge. There is a small permanent stage there and people were jockeying for position. No one knew which entrance he would use. It's not like there is a "backstage" or anything. The room doesn't even have a front or back but it is HUGE. There is a Green Bean cafe (like Starbucks) in one corner, a large customer service desk for MWR on one wall, a computer lab with 24 stations in another corner, 2 dedicated chess tables, a small library of books, newspapers and magazines, an wood-enclosed cardio room that will fit about 30-40 people in another corner, as well as about 40 round tables and chairs, and about 30 sofas.....a very large room.

As te crowd waited, more and more people gathered and I found myself situated in front of the stage, house-right, kind of in front of one of the big doors where I thought he might walk in. There are two long corridors running inside the palace, each connecting at opposite ends of the room and I though mycurrent location would be a good choice. He was scheduled at 9:00pm and as time drew near, the crowd grew to approximately 600 and most started to push towards the stage half of the room. We waited some more and 9:20 rolled around. Then I saw many people out in the hallway starting to take pictures aiming down the long corridor. We knew the appearance was imminent.

As soon as he approached a view where you could see him in the corridor, cameras went up over the heads of everyone there. It was like a media circus....only without the actual media. There was one camera crew with him and I assumed it was part of the media team traveling with him. There were digital camersa and camcorders everywhere. Flashes and flashes and flashes. I managed to use my digital camera as a video camera since it was going to be hard to get a good snapshot. The lighting was not the greatest for cameras and the delay with the flash in my camera would mean I would lose the shot or I might get a part of an arm or head in the photo.

He shook some hands on the way in and got to the stage. He spoke for about 7-8 minutes and gave an opportunity for th etwo senators traveling with him. The U.S. Ambassaodor to Iraq also appeared and said a few words. Obama thanked everyone for being there and serving the country, from soldiers to airmen to sailors to marines to state department employees to contractors. Afterward, he shook hands for about 25 minutes. It was madness after he made his remarks. Everyone rushed the stage. The Secret Service had already set up some stanchions around the stage to help keep the crowd back. People were pushing forward, reaching over others while some people got caught up in the chaos and just wanted out. I remember a lady who started to have a panic attack as she tried to retreat against the surge of people. She was okay. I made my way towards the middle and was able to catch him. I caught his eye for a moment as he grabbed my hand. He repeatedly said "Thank you, thank you for your support. Thank you for being hear." Not everyone was so lucky....security was a big issue and he also had another scheduled apperance or meeting.

As he made his way around, people cycled to the stage and then backed away. He slowly made hs way back to the door from which he came, which, by the way, was the door I chose (yea me!), and he walked down the hallway...the Secret Service right behind. The room was loud from people talking about the encounter. People were sharing pictures from their cameras, what the got and what the missed or blurred. Many people exchange e-mail addresses to get more of the photos, presumably ith them in the photos.

I sat down and with a few of my co-workers to take a breath. The experience was invigorating yet exhausting....and it only lasted minutes! Obama made many stops in Baghdad and Iraq for that matter. We'll see how things end up.