Obama came to Richmond yesterday, and Sarah and I made it inside the Coliseum with about 12,000 other folks to see him. There were a few more thousand outside. The acoustics suck, and we were way up high, but it was absolutely a thrill to see the next President of the United States. The man’s electrifying. The energy on the streets afterward was giddy. I was reminded of when Lincoln came to the liberated city. There was dancing in the streets then. When Barack wins, there will be one joyful noise in this city, believe me. I remember Ike, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush II, but I’ve never actually seen a president in person. Here’s hoping I have now come November 4th. Vote. No excuses. You have to vote this time.
Dennis Danvers' Web Site
A blog about the writer's books and stories
What effect do you think an Obama win will have on Richmond’s annual Lee/Jackson Day ghost-tending?
Well, you know, the city’s going to need some job-creating help. Maybe we could make the Monument Avenue statues honoring the treasonous armed rebellion against the United States of America into a National Park. The worshipful who gather at the Lee statue every year could get government jobs re-enacting,explaining, for example, why they burned the still-populated city when they left. Other heroic upholders of states rights could be honored with statues as well. There’s plenty of room in Lee’s big circle. Maybe a statue of Jim Crow could go there. Lee was a loser, but old Jim, he kept black folks down for more than a century after the war.