Day 2 at the DNC

This is Cheryl, Cirian’s wife. Cirian is busy consuming his first meal in twelve hours, so I have been assigned the duty of cataloging today’s events. We began the morning with a 7:30 stop to pick up Cirian’s credential – they give them out day by day. He also put in a request for me to receive credentials as well to be able to access the events in the Pepsi Center that night.

From there, we parted ways. He went to a breakfast where Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be attending, while I picked up something from a corner café. According to Cirian, Nancy gave a rah-rah speech about how cool Obama was and the need for the party to unite. He was also pulled aside by a Filipino news crew, who followed him around and asked him questions. After they left, a superdelegate friend pulled him aside and gave him some pointers about how to respond to media questions: 1) you should be able to summarize 3 points with 27 words in a total of 9 seconds, and 2) prepare any messages you want to make or think you will have to make before-hand…it saves the necessity of backpedaling when the media spins it wrong. He also gave something equally valuable – his extra guest credential for me! After the breakfast, Cirian took pictures with 45 other delegates who were 30 years or younger, making it the largest youth delegation in California history.

From there, we met up together and Cirian presented the special guest credential to me, which was just like Christmas in August! These things were the hottest tickets in the world at that point, and I felt very humbled to receive one. I had spent the morning walking to the US Mint, which had closed for the week due to concerns about protesters. I’d also found a treasure – the only postcards printed for the DNC. I bought 10 for starters, but later went back for another 30 for souvenirs to friends and family. We walked to the Convention Center together and with our respective credentials, we were able to pass a horrendous line of security without being stopped, only for a credential check. I made a pit stop at the NEA office and Cirian went to the Asian American Pacific Islander caucus. There, he got photo ops with Congresswoman Doris Matsui, BOE member Judy Chu, and Congressman Mike Honda, the Vice-Chair of the DNC…since I was the one taking the pictures, you won’t see me in any of those.

We attended a lunch with members of the Filipino National Delegation and discussed issues concerning the Filipino community, including Filipino veteran’s issues and general grassroots organization for the Obama campaign. Well, Cirian attended the lunch, and I ate quickly and booked out to get more postcards and get changed. Ladies, a word of advice if you plan to attend a convention: Pack at least 2 outfits a day; one for casual walking around and caucuses, one nice outfit for the evening meetings and galas. And FLAT SHOES ONLY. A morning walking in nice sandals will only give you blisters for the whole week…not worth it. We rendezvoused at the Pepsi Center where we took our nose-bleed seats for the proceedings. Thanks to binoculars and large screens, the height didn’t prevent us from seeing anything.

For those of you who watched CNN, you missed out. There were several short talks by various platform committee members and various delegation representatives. We got a performance from a Colorado children’s choir who sang the National Anthem and John Legend who did a great soul piece. Also missing was the sheer energy running through the hall. During commercial breaks, a fabulous band played songs, the Florida delegation bounced beach balls to each other, and I swear there was a crazy hat contest going on between several individuals. The greatest highlights were, of course, the big speakers of the night. Ted Kennedy made a strong showing despite his pain and made several cry with quotes from his brothers in obvious support of Obama. Jesse Jackson Jr. delivered an eloquent tribute to Dr. King, stating that “this night, freedom has never rung from a higher peak”. Finally, Michelle Obama’s key note address truly rang home to the American people how both her parents and Barack’s sacrificed to give their children higher dreams and how she was now working to give her children a greater dream as well. It moved many delegates, myself included, to tears with how touchingly she spoke. You could truly tell she cared about her family and the people she served through her life. What was really cute was when her daughters came out and Barack surprised us all with a live showing from Kansas City. He told us, “Now you know why I asked her out so many times, even when she said no.” It was really sweet seeing the family interact with each other, even from a distance.

After the convention was over, we made our way back to the hotel and Cirian freshened up for yet another gala for the AAPI community. First, however, we stopped at a dessert reception held by Diane Feinstein. She had broken her foot a while back and couldn’t attend, but the reception went on anyway. Between ice cream sundaes, cheese, and fruit we were able to connect with yet more delegates from around the state and exchanged yet more business cards. Poor Cirian wasn’t able to fill up with the snacks, though, so we decided to ditch the gala in exchange for finding more hearty fare. In the lobby, we ran into Steve Westly, who had just arrived from walking the entire way from the Pepsi Center – we had taken public transportation and thus had arrived much earlier. At the same time, Mayor Gavin Newsome from San Francisco walked in and Cirian stopped him for a photo op. I explained our plans, and Steve shooed us away merrily, saying “Go feed him”. Between the exorbantly priced clubs and restraints that were still open, we chose the elegant Subway and Cirian walked away with a nice 6” sub. Hey, not everything about this week is going to be glamorous. There is such a thing as real life.

Speaking of real life, sleep is also a necessity. Good night and we’ll talk to you tomorrow!