Written by a woman who just resigned from her 15 year career in ad sales to work for the Obama campaign:
As anyone who has ever attended an “important show” knows (think Marc, Oscar, Calvin), there is a certain pre-show ritual: What are you going to wear; who are you going to see; and when is the show going to start? Will it be better or worse than the last?
I have to confess I felt a certain shame that the dress I wore—a bright-red Prada number from next season that my former boss, Carol, insisted I buy the day before—cost more than the $1,000 ticket to the event itself. After surveying the large crowd, however, I quickly realized that this dress was a big standout in a sea of black, brown, and grey. How this paid off I’ll share in a moment.
The town-hall style staging of the event meant that, during the delayed start, I was compelled to work the room, mixing and mingling with my new friends on the campaign—all of whom I’ve come to fixate like a transfer student in a new high school might on the cool kids in class.
As I was chatting with my new BFF, Steven Newmark, the founder of the New York Chapter of Young Lawyers for Obama, and his wife in front of a wall of waiting photographers (very familiar), an announcer declared that Caroline Kennedy was taking the stage. As there was no “show is starting” signal like at fashion shows—blinking lights or the peeling away of the runway’s protective cover—I found myself on the opposite side of the huge ballroom with no time to rush back to my seat. I made it halfway there but found myself barricaded by guardrails.
It reminded me of the ridiculous moment at the February Burberry show in Milan when my colleague Dan and I spent so much time schmoozing and ignoring the warning signs that we got caught between the aisles and were ordered to sit on the stairs in a near fetal position. Now, at least, I was on my feet as Senator Obama entered the room. Fate had blessed me in this moment, as I realized that the aisle that was keeping me from my seat was created for him and his secret service escort to make their way to the stage. Within seconds, he was a few feet from me. Cameras were flashing, everyone was cheering, and I knew this was my moment. I pushed my way up to the barricade as he shook hands with as many people as time would allow. I squeezed up front, but Obama was moving quickly and just passed me by. Then, in a moment of divine intervention, he saw me, clad in my red stop-sign of a dress, back-tracked ever so slightly in his procession, grabbed my hand, and gave that brilliant smile of his. I literally said out loud to the woman next to me who witnessed my good fate, “I’ll never wash this hand again.”
*ponders* I might have to try a similar tactic at the next Obama event I attend. That is, if they don’t figure out I’m a Republican, first 
Bonus quote:
Figuring that my efforts were best spent raising money for the campaign, I have thrown myself into a new world—one in which fluffy chatter and frivolous praise are replaced by a get-to-the-point directness and disciple-like devotion. It’s intense and intoxicating.
I think I’m about ready to get intoxicated just reading this puffed up nonsense.
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I remember acting like that at a U2 concert once–I loved Bono but I wouldn’t have voted for him. What’s weird and scary about that piece is that so many people are acting the same way–rationality is slipping away–a large portion of the population is turning into some kind of pod people
Do you suppose that slowly before November we will all succumb to Obama madness? Just like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers–one by one we are taken over and become Obamafied
Comment by lee @ 7/21/2008 - 11:32 pm
“It’s intoxicating.”
Yep, and just wait for the hangover
Comment by aunt ralph @ 7/21/2008 - 11:43 pm
And yet this entire piece is fluffy and frivolous…
Comment by Great White Rat @ 7/22/2008 - 12:23 am
“Disciple-like devotion”.
Folks, you cannot make stuff like this up. No one would believe it.
Waiting for the black beret to go along with the red dress. Maybe she could give Monica a ring….
Comment by Mwalimu Daudi @ 7/22/2008 - 12:40 am
“Divine intervention.”
This is beyond parody.
Comment by Steve Skubinna @ 7/22/2008 - 1:43 am
I would assume a red dress with a Che stencil would get him quicker.
Comment by Don L @ 7/22/2008 - 7:34 am
Could it be that Obama is simply drawn to that which is Red?
Comment by Proof @ 7/22/2008 - 8:02 am
Do these people actually think that this sort of stuff impresses us?? Hell, I would rather gaze a the latest John Deere tractor than see this woman dressed in red. I would definately rather look at a 2008 Shelby Mustang or a 2009 Challenger, and I am a single male. This is the exact sort of ridiculous behavior that is going to turn the common folk away from BO, and thank you God this woman wrote about her idol worship, even if it does make one queasy.
Does this mean BO is lusting in his heart??
- Lorica
Comment by Lorica @ 7/22/2008 - 11:43 am
Obama’s trying to draw a distinction between himself and Bill Clinton, who as we all know was drawn to BLUE dresses…
Comment by Great White Rat @ 7/22/2008 - 7:01 pm
You’ll never pull it off, S.T. As soon as you don’t swoon like a 12 year old girl, babble incoherently like an idiot, and when you start quoting facts and truth in your arguments, they’ll know right away you’re not a democrat.
Comment by NC Cop @ 7/22/2008 - 7:41 pm
A German who lived through the Third Reich (well, most of it–he was eventually killed but his diary survived) said that at Nazi rallies, some women became so Fuehrer-intoxicated that they ate dirt and gravel on which Hitler had walked.
This doesn’t quite sink to the same level, but it’s getting too close for comfort.
Comment by david foster @ 7/23/2008 - 12:06 pm