Obama's Speech

So, The Man was in town today to speak to the city. And I had decided to attend it, thanks to two people - my father who urged me to go. And to Maylia who allowed me to leave, despite the fact Ella and her friend Sasha had a sleep-over, leaving Maylia alone with not 2, but 3 kids. Thank you again, honey!

The local news said security gates would open at 7am and it was advised to come early. So, I planned to get to the gates by 6am, which made my day start at 5am. (The Man's speech started after the scheduled 10:30am)

After shower, breakfast, coffee, I was out by 5:30 and walked over to the castle.

Normally from our place, we walk to the castle through the gardens, but that entrance was closed off. Instead I walked down to Malo Strana and up Nerudova street. I was not alone. There were police in every crack and crevice of the district, like ants on sugar.

I knew I wasn't the first to get there, but I was surprised to see there were already a few hundred people waiting before me. Some folks were really excited.

So, me and 300 of my closest friends waited until security process happened closer to 7:30. The list of no-no items included bombs, banners, and meat cleavers.

Finally, we wait until Obama came out to speak.

The speakers played rock music and large screens showed Obama and his wife being greeted by Czech President Klaus. The crowd went wild.

Obama's speech started with a few minutes of how closely tied Prague and Chicago were and how much both cities meant to him. He dedicated a few minutes more to history of Czech Republic. Obama's main theme was definitely nuclear non-proliferation. He made a couple statements to the effect of "And I'm declaring today, here in Prague, ..." or along those lines that would remind an older generation of Kennedy declaring we're going to the moon. He even threw in a couple of his taglines "Yes, we can."

In short, Obama spoke appealingly to the crowd/Czechs/Europe and with a focused agenda on securing nuclear weapons. After 15-20 minutes, it was "Thank you," and the crowd again went wild while he started to shake hands.

I'm not convinced it was entirely worthwhile being shoulder to shoulder for 3 hours for that brief a speech. But catching glimpses of Obama at a podium maybe two hundred meters away was a cool experience.

I had also planned to attend an anti-radar demonstration later in the afternoon, but the selfish father in me decided to go to the zoo with family and friends instead.