The President's Here!

LBJ, back when I was little girl.

Yes, Heard President Obama speak.. Awesome.

And Lady Bird Johnson, used to be one of my clients before her stroke.

It really is an honor. Living history.

I agree that it is exciting to get close to a sitting President, regardless of how you vote.

President George W. Bush came to my city and the hubs and I went to listen to him speak and it was awesome!

Gotta respect the office!

I have seen Obama speak twice. Once in the freezing cold and once in a gym in extreme heat. I think it's interesting to see all the walks of life that come out for these type of events.
I saw George W Bush speak once. It started off great, but then he pretty much ruined the atmosphere when he said he was happy to be in South Carolina (when in North Carolina). That's about all I remember from that event.

I am a Democrat, but would love to meet any President of the US, no matter how much I disagreed with his politics. I did go to see Ronald Reagan one time, but wasn't close enough to him to say I met him. In other words, no one said, no metal or no camera :( Too bad!

What I can't stand to hear is people spew poison out of their mouths about how they would never want to meet one, or they'd say nasty things to them, all that childish, crappy behavior that just makes them look like they were born with a corn cob up their arse. We are supposed to respect the office. If we can't respect the office, we need to go live in Libya or somewhere that we LEARN how lucky we are to be Americans.

That's my piece!

Dawn

I guess the President was in Boulder a few days ago and I had no idea. I was bummed as I would love a chance to meet him. :-(

When I was in college getting my undergrad Bill Clinton came to our campus - but you had to be a member of hte Young Dems to get to hear him speak. However, - our campus is fairly wooded and some stoner kid was walking through the woods back to class and was literally attacked by several secret service agents - that story always makes me giggle.

Dude was just trying to burn one between classes and was almost taken out by the secret service.

When my sons made validictorian and salutitorian, we got to go through a reception line and I got to shake hands with Clinton. I loathe Clinton's politics and his lack of respect for his marriage vows, but there is something to be said for the thrill of shaking hands with the President of the United States.

I got to see President Reagan speak and got with in 50 feet of him. That too was a BIG thrill. Much bigger than shaking hands with Clinton because Reagan was a man of honor. I was able to go on a tour of the White House before 911 and the tour was much bigger and longer than it is now. We also got to see some of the higher ups in the white house. That was a WOW!!! experience.

Good luck to you and yours.

I am not a huge fan of Obama on a political level but, he seems like a very likeable guy on a personal level. That aside, I think it would be an honor to be that close to any President. He is, after all, the most powerful person in the US.
I have never been fortunate enough to be close to any of our Presidents. I am glad your husband was able to expierence a once in a lifetime moment like that. Super cool. :)

Not an Obama fan.

However, I completely agree that it is an honor to see the President (no matter who you voted for)

He was in our school a few years ago. (Our HS gym...which is very close to our elementary school) I had no issues/worries except it did make me nervous to have all that attention focused on/near my kids' school while they were there IN school. There were some protestors across the street, which didn't help.

Like Laurie A said, regardless of politics, it's a big deal because it's living history! Period.

I agree with the comment the reporter made, it IS exciting to be close to a president regardless of who you voted for. Bill Clinton wasn't a fave of mine, i voted for him the first time and not the second, but when he was close by at an outside event I made an effort to go see him. And, though our family mostly voted against President Obama, when he was elected I took pictures of the grandkids holding the front page of the newspaper with the announcement, this was history and i wanted to make sure I captured it for later generations to see, and posted the pics on our Ancestry.com pages.

Oh, and to answer your question, I got to see President Clinton but didn't attempt to get close enough to take a picture.

Its nothing but annoying when the president comes here. Shutting down highways...really?

Respect our President (whomever it is) and Respect our Country, or go live in the country Dawn mentioned........

ETA: I didn't get to finish my post; I have had many opportunities to see Obama, but no thanks. It is hard to even say I *respect* him. It's hard to respect anyone that blatantly lies.

The first Lady was at my husbands base last week. He didn't even know, I saw it on Ellen. LOL

I've never been close to one, but since I have lived in two big cities, they are always in the vicinity. I am detest huge crowds, so I am not sure I would brave it, even for the president.

I think it would be an honor to meet any president. However, I would be much more excited to meet President Obama than I ever would have been Bush. Yuck.

You could not pay me to go to an event like that. And I don't care what political persuasion . . .

I'd be wearing a "when are gas prices going to come down?" T-shirt.

Ugh.

PS: And my "ugh" does not come from a disrespect for the office; it comes from disrespect FOR the American people BY the Presidency. When are we going to put a stop to the abuses of the 4th amendent and the Constitution? When are we going to stop treating peope like criminals first, and ask questions later? When are the Executive Orders going to slow down?

Again, I feel that way about D's and R's.

I just wonder if you were trying to flame the board with your comment "unless your dislike is extreme". Are you really trying to say that if we don't wet ourselves at the chance to meet the President we must by proxy have extreme dislike. Not normal dislike, not acceptable dislike, no you chose extreme dislike.

Five years ago I stood five feet from him, he is a likable guy. I dislike his policies and what they are doing to this country. So no, I am not going to go out of my way to get close to him, I no longer want to hear what he has to say.

Just for the record I would not have gone out of my way to see Bush up close and personal.

Edit: I just thought it was an odd choice of words. Actually more than odd, unnecessary. Exactly what did it add to the question? I agree with the reporter as well, I don't agree that the only reason someone wouldn't feel that way is extreme dislike of the President.

I have never seen any president, but I agree that you would be lucky to catch a glimpse of one, even if you don't like him!! This year over spring break, a friend of my sons went to Chicago for the weekend. They were staying at a really nice hotel. They get back to the hotel after sight seeing all day, and wonder why there are tons and tons of people all over the place. So they go ask the desk clerk "why are there so many people in here?" she says turn around, and there was the President. He says that was the most cool thing ever. He said he couldn't wait to get back to school to tell everyone.

The first lady came to Dallas a while back and she was on the opposite side of the highway from me, I forgot she was coming, till i seen like a million police cars, and big SUV's... Does this count??? lol

BTW.. since people can display their hate, I voted and will again Vote Obama.. IJS.

I saw George W Bush....yup let the hate begin. He came to a center 2 minutes from my work. I went with my dad and brother. I was standing about 5 yards from where he spoke. The line to get in was indescribable - he came to campaign for his reelection.

AND Joe Biden ate at a restaurant a couple years ago like a half mile from my house. One I frequent often enough - for ice cream. :) But I was at work while this all happened...that was kinda cool too. I guess they shut down the surrounding streets around the restaurant.

The President was in Orlando and even stopped at Disney's Magic Kingdom. It creates such traffic and puts innocent people at risk if someone really wants to take a shot at him.

I understand your excitement but I don’t think I would be as excited unless I could drill him with questions and shut down his teleprompter. I would feel this way about any President not just Obama.

I have not been close to any of them but my youngest got to shake George W. Bush's hand and I think he patted my son on the head. His daycare had gone to great the troops and he was there.

Your post wasn't flaming at all. I see nothing controversial. You set a great tone.

The closest I was to a president was at my brother's Air Force Academy graduation, which was attended by President Reagan. I was annoyed the president was there because his presence made it such a pain to get into the stadium. There were serious security lines. Some families didn't even make it into the stadium in time to see their child walk the stage.

I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't care about people and their "celebrity" status, even the president. To me, everyone is just another human like myself trying to hold down a job and keep their family safe. Either your job is more public or it's more behind the scenes but either way, everyone is trying to survive so I have no desire to "idolize" anyone or go "goo goo ga ga" over a "celebrity" figure.

I’ve never actually met any president, but back on 2000-2003 I lived in Miami on a main street that leads to the airport, and on several occasion during that period I got to see the presidential and vice presidential motorcade. Even though the President and Vice President were in one of the cars, I couldn’t see them because of the tinted windows. That did not stop me from being out there and trying every time, although I didn’t particularly liked President Bush.

That's really cool! When I was in college, I majored in Communication and a lot of my classmates were news interns who spent quite a bit of time on the 1996 campaign trail. They all said that even if they didn't care for the president and first lady (or the other candidates and their wives) it was really cool to see them up close and see the whole spectacle right there in front of them. I also heard, even from staunch republicans, that Bill Clinton was incredibly charismatic and magnetic in person. I would imagine that in person, either Obama has quite a presence.

My husband, son and I went to a rally for George Bush. He wasn't president yet, so it wasn't such a hassle as your husband had. It was fun, first because it was on my alma mater campus, SMU, and the other speakers, like Chuck Norris and our state senators were great
I probably would not go if I had to wait in crowd for hours, unless it was a our first woman president!

Not close at all. I'd love to meet Obama though.
Mitt Romney was about 10 minutes away a few weeks ago, but I wasn't motivated to see the Ken doll! LOL

On another note, Obama has been in Pittsburgh many times and I've gotta say, with the exception of O. time, the traffic has been very well handled. To the point that if you didn't know about the event, you wouldn't be aware unless you were right "there" at "that" time.
They do a great job of scouting & preparing the routes for minimal disruption!

i met truman! don't remember it. he came to bermuda, my mom saw him and stalked him until he talked to us for a few minutes<G>. i was a babe in arms.
my friend lynda saw obama earlier this week in CO. she and her friends yelled out, he turned, grinned and called out 'there's one for me!'
i find that charming.
:)
my aunt, a staunch republican, saw clinton and chelsea at the bellagio when she was having high tea with her gfs. she says this man, whom she feels absolutely degraded the integrity of the white house and is a total sleezebag, about knocked all those ol' gals onto their butts with the force of his sheer sexual charisma, and that was from across the room.
i'm a clinton fan but i think he's physically unattractive. i'd love to get close enough to feel that 'it', if it had that effect on aunt linda!
my brother is in the foreign service, and got a pic last year with hilary clinton. i'm so jealous.
i think bush was the worst president of the modern, and perhaps any, era. but i'd still be thrilled to have met him when he was in the white house. i'm an american, and i have enormous respect for the office, and the overwhelming difficulty and responsibility that devolves on anyone who takes it on.
khairete
S.

Some people read too much into things. Or they are just naturally cynical. Your question is quite interesting and in no way provokes anti-presidential sentiment imo.

I respect the Office of the President and will never speak of anyone in that office or running for that office with disrespect like some people do, but I have no desire to see our current president in person or meet even the slightest requirements to stand in his presence.

I hope your husband enjoyed his time listening to him. I'm sure for anyone wanting to meet the president it was a very thrilling moment!

I'm going to (gasp) answer your question and not turn this into a giant political debate! George W. gave the commencement speech at the university my hubby graduated from his junior year (2006). I am NOT a W fan, nor would I ever have entertained the idea of voting for him. I still went to hear him speak, if for no other reason than to giggle at his mispronunciations and be able to tell my grandkids someday that I saw him when they are learning their US history. My hubby (who was a W fan and voted for him) and I had a lively debate as to what history will teach our grandkids about the only president we've seen in person.

None and no desire. You couldn't pay me enough to look at bo.

I guess the closest I came was when my plane had to stay in the air and cirle over an hour until the president at the time, no idea who, finished the visit and left the city. Not so fun.

I also hate the traffic horrors the motorcades cause as well. I tend to stay away, as far as I can because I am just not interested. It is not just the President, I don't care for any celebrity big to do. It is not all that to me... they put their pants on the same way I do.

This has nothing to do with extreme feelings either way except for wasting my time, no matter who it is.

I think it would typically be an exciting moment to see the President of the United States regardless of what party. Although I am a republican I would still like to have seen Bill Clinton however I have no desire what so ever to see Obama. I think history will show he, along with Jimmy Carter, are the worst presidents in our history and I simply can not believe a word that comes out of Obama's mouth.
So to your point... My dislike is "extreme" enough that I would surely pass up the opportunity to hear him speak even if he was in my town. I simply don't believe a word he says. Having said that, I still watch the televised State of the Union addresses as well as any other televised appearances Obama makes.

I'm down at HAAF, so yeah, it was interesting. The soldiers down here weren't allowed outside for most of the day. Lots of sitting in the office playing Angry Birds. It was kind of silly.

But since it's not my first tango with shutting post down for Presidential appearances, I'm used to it.

Bush used to show up at Hood all the time, sometimes unannounced. Which made things very interesting. lol

Unfortunately I'm not an Obama fan, and would not endure all the crazy madness it would take to stand around to see him. I've never done it for any other president either.
They are people just like you and me.
I am not into the hype.
I think it's dumb.