It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I have recently told Kelvin and/or Kel more than once (for example, at the KC Rally at Liberty Memorial), "This is the probably the last opportunity we will have to be this close to Barack Obama." Fortunately, I have been wrong.

On Wednesday night, January 21, the trauma associated with the Purple Ticket Disaster was significantly mitigated by the most intimate experience we've had with Barack since we talked to him at a fundraiser in May, 2007. Upon the advice of Josh Reed, we arrived at Wednesday night's Staff Ball early. Josh had been unable to get into the Youth Ball the previous night, due to tickets being oversold, and he headed back to KC in his tux. He suggested we arrive at the Staff Ball prior to the doors opening, to ensure that we could get in.

As soon as we got through Security at the Staff Ball, we looked around for the best place to position ourselves. We had been too far back at the Midwestern Ball Tuesday night to be able to see much of anything, so we instinctively headed for the stage. We stood right in the front, in the middle. We took turns going to the ladies and gentlemen's rooms, with one of us holding our spots in front of the stage. (Iowa Caucus night we failed to make that stop...it was a tense evening, smile). For half an hour or 45 minutes, there was essentially no one standing behind us, they were wandering around and socializing. Gradually, more people started gathering. By the time the program started, we were smushed up against the railing, and, as the night wore on, we were back into a body-crushing situation (despite the Secret Service officers' admonitions to people not to push).

Actor Kal Penn talked about his experiences riding around with unsafe-driving young field staff when he was serving as a surrogate in Iowa and several other states. He introduced David Plouffe, who (per Barack, who should know) managed the most brilliant Presidential Campaign in American history. Plouffe is/was an enigma. He seems to be significantly nonanimated, demonstrating very little fire and absolutely no charm or charisma. This may be partly why he avoids public appearances--that's not his strength. He is, obviously, a political genius, and, coincidentally, a perfect foil for Barack Obama.

While Plouffe was talking, some young staffers near the front, to the right of us, tried to tell him something several times. We couldn't understand what they were saying, either. Eventually, Plouffe realized that they were shouting that someone needed a doctor, because he or she had passed out (I had just been thinking that being crushed in cold weather, as while waiting for the Swearing In Ceremony, had some advantages over being crushed indoors, in a hot room). In most situations in which we find ourselves, there are plenty of doctors and Kelvin tends to hang back and allow others to go to the rescue. However, most Obama staffers were too young to have possibly finished medical school. So, Kelvin indicated that he would help, and he started making his way through the crush of standing bodies, in the direction of the fallen staff person. When he was about halfway, the medical person whose job it was to handle this kind of need came out from behind the stage, with a first aid kit, and Kelvin squeezed his way back over to where we were standing.

Joe Biden's sister, Valerie, who has run his campaigns, spoke. Then Joe, then Barack. Joe Biden talked about how he started out in politics at such an early age--he won his first election for U.S. Senate when he was 29 years old--that he has always felt like a young person in politics. Barack talked about how the success of the campaign depended not only on the strategies that he and his closest advisers laid out, but on the great work of the staff in Chicago and especially in the field. (We videotaped the presentations, and later I can check on the accuracy of my paraphrasing). Barack explained how David Plouffe is one of the few people whose mere presence can nearly bring him to tears...because Plouffe is just so all about business, and getting the job done, in a totally non-emotional way. Barack talked about how the super-talented young people who worked on the campaign will be able to take the skills and the values gained to their own political work--whether running for office or helping someone else--and to their community service, to their careers of whatever kind, and to all their relationships. Barack has clearly provided the best possible example of honesty, respect, and compassion. Although other candidates borrowed his mantra of "change," Barack's campaign was truly the only one that did things differently than the status quo.

When rope line time came, I told Joe Biden "we love you" (very original, huh) and he said something to me about the great work of the young people on the campaign (very funny, Joe Biden--I was the oldest person in the room of what was now thousands), and he gave me a kiss on my left cheek. I told Jill Biden that we'd met at the Neighborhood Leaders Training in Kansas City. I shook Michelle Obama's hand, don't remember if I said anything. I know from previous experience that the Secret Service guys like to see your hands, so I held mine up, pretty much like a crime suspect, except below my shoulders. I didn't realize until I saw a photo later, that I put my right hand on Barack's left shoulder, when I told him, "We won it for you in Kansas City."
After the leaders of the Free World left, we took some photos of Jay Z performing (guess he never heard Barack's advice to young men to pull up their pants, nobody wants to see their underwear). Then we got temporarily separated one from another while Kelvin made some purchases (good ones, like a CD/DVD with Barack's speeches and campaign theme songs). There were SO MANY people there that we could not find our "kids" who had lived with us during the primary and general election campaigns, or KC Field Organizers.

When we got back to the hotel, we felt like we'd come full circle. What a FANTASTIC end to a two year struggle...a victory achieved by millions, that will benefit billions the world over.