Presidential Hopeful

Today, President Obama is in Seattle. In fact, he’s in our next-door neighborhoods: the one just east and the one just south.  As I drove Zuzu and Will to school today, all the pieces suddenly clicked into place-That’s why there are "No Parking" signs all along 75^th! That’s why there are parking enforcement officers at all the intersections! That’s why there are clumps of neighbors in lawn chairs on all the corners! I made it about 9 blocks before I pulled over and parked. The kids looked at me like I had lost my mind, especially when I told them, “ You’re going to be tardy today.” Then, they looked like this when I told them why:

We hopped out of the van and waited. A moment later, a woman and her dog joined us. Ours was obviously not her native neighborhood-I detected an East Coast accent for sure-but here she was, just as excited as we were. Our numbers grew as the moments passed-moms with kids, a few folks from the houses on 24^th. Look! Now there are police officers directing traffic down at the stoplight. The stoplight up the hill has gone to blinking red!  There goes a police car. There goes a police car in the other direction. Is he really coming this way? Kids squirmed and moms checked traffic updates on iPhones. 9:30 came and went. Where was the President?

Then suddenly, here came the motorcade in all its glory. Lights flashing, flags waving. It was striking, to say the least. (I only have video, and am not sure if I can get it to work here, but trust me-it was some good stuff) And there, in the second limousine, was the President. He was about 25 feet from us, looking out the window. He smiled at us, and waved. Collectively, our little group of neighbors swooned.

Regardless of how you feel about the President (although we here in our house remain unabashed fans, in spite of all the hard knocks), there is something truly magnificent about the pageantry of the Office. I wonder if one ever gets used to it. Even more amazing though, is thinking about what would possibly bring together this random group of people, on a street corner, on a fall morning, when really we were all headed somewhere else-school, work, the store. All these people who have never seen each other before, waiting together with breath bated, all stunned by a split second of contact with something meaningful. That is powerful.

And then, we found out, Will had missed seeing Mr. Obama. Even though the President had been right there, right in front of us, Will had not been looking in the exact right place at the exact right moment.  The fraction of a second that had dazzled the rest of us had passed him by. Will was not happy.

We were already late for school, so what would a few minutes more matter? Maybe we could get near to the house where he’s meeting with folks this morning (that’s right, a little house right here in Wedgwood hosting the President of the United States-imagine that!).  So, we wound around a little back street, and got very close to the house. We saw police motorcycles from all over the area-not just Seattle Police and State Patrol, but King and Snohomish County Sherriff bikes, even Covington Police. It was impressive! Even more impressive was the sight of officers putting little kids on their bikes for photo ops.

                                                   

There was, however, no way we were getting anywhere near the house, or the crowd gathered across the street from it. We sighed and headed back toward our car. Parked at the intersection where we turned were two imposing SUVs: a white Tahoe, and a black something-or-other belonging to the Seattle PD. The passenger in the black SUV beckoned us over, hopped out, and asked, “Do you want to see something cool?” You bet we do! It turned out to be the Bomb Squad, in their “small truck”. So, the kids tried on their “lightweight bomb jacket”, and thought that they were the coolest kids in Seattle.

                                   

                                      

Then, we said hello to the white Tahoe, which turned out to be a couple of Coast Guard Officers, along with Thomas, the explosive-detecting dog. The driver opened the door, said hello, and asked if we wanted to meet Thomas up close. Absolutely! So out of the deluxe kennel in the back jumped the sweetest German Sheppard ever, who, much to Will’s delight, was happy to help him get any cinnamon toast remnants from breakfast off his mug. We came away from our interactions with these public servants just wowed by their kindness and openness.

As we climbed into the van to take Zuzu to school, we were all buzzing about the great experiences we had just had. And although Will was excited, he was still somewhat reserved. His sentences would begin with “And them we got to…” then end with, “but I didn’t get to see Obama”.  After we got Zuzu settled in her classroom, I asked Will if he thought that we should wait for the President to finish his meeting and see if we could catch a glimpse of him leaving the house. His little face lit up. And so, we headed around the corner and joined the crowd.

We waited and interacted with amazing police officers and serious yet smiling Secret Service agents. We were surrounded by news vans and excited neighbors. We were very, very hopeful about our chances of seeing the President. We saw the Governor and Representative Jim McDermott, which I found a little thrilling. But still no President. The press got into their vans, the Secret Service agents mobilized.  We heard a brief cheer from the crowd directly across from the house, and then the motorcade drove away. Gone was our chance to see the President.

I apologized to Will and we headed back to the van. He was so sad, and it was so late, that I could not bear to take him to school. On the way home, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him crying softly.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, “I just wanted to see him, Mom, not even talk to him, just see him. But I don’t have a lot of money to go to the White House and today was my only chance.”  Oh, the heartbreak.

Maybe when the days are especially hard for the President, he should just keep in mind that there are children out there like Will. Kids who dream of catching a glimpse; who would rather see him than “an awesome band like Kiss or Journey” (Will’s analysis). Kids who would love to be able to shake his hand and tell him that they got elected to the Student Council. And that those kids are connected to parents who gather on street corners on random fall days, also hoping to catch a glimpse or witness the majesty.  Maybe there is still hope out there, and maybe there’s a way to harness it.