Field Trip to Obama''s Health Care Speech in Philadelphia- UPDATED

Scroll down for updates - Videos added of protest Thanks to Donald Douglas American Power for linking.
Update:  Many thanks to Professor Reynolds the Instapundit for linking.  Welcome to Instapundit readers!
Also thanks to Lonely Conservative for linking as well and welcome to Lonely Conservative readers too!
Thanks to The Real Revo for linking  Reactions and comments at Potluck

Thanks to a lovely accomplished senior at Arcadia, I was able to get a ticket to see Obama's health care event in Philadelphia today.  Big thank you to Kelly for giving us a heads up and some help getting tickets for my daughter Jessica, who is home on college break, and myself.  Kelly is a smart young woman and a proud conservative voice in a liberal college.  I hope Kelly will give her reaction later, she seemed to want to voice her opinion on today's speech and I must say I loved when she said to me after it was all over, "I got some great shots of the SEIU people lining the first three rows on the floor beneath the podium.  Go Kelly!

When I arrived at approximately 8:30 protesters organized by Teri Adams and Kitchen Table Patriots were already busy setting up for the protest just outside the University.  There were a number there with signs ready and were "fired up and ready to go"

In the photo directly to the right the top sign reads: "ObamaCare Sick Joke" and "Hey Axelrod, We are not the Peanut Gallery.  I think all other signs here are not hindered by my photographic skills, or lack thereof.  The protest rally was not expected to start until 9 AM and featured guest speakers such as  former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick who is currently running for the GOP nomination in the PA8th Congressional District.  Though I would have loved to stay for the entire protest, the line to get through security was long and I was unsure whether we would actually get in to see the rally.  As it turned out I could have stayed longer but this was a tough call.

Here we see a friendly woman in a purple HCAN jacket handing out hot chocolate to people waiting in line to see the President.  So helpful.  This was still early in the wait.  By the time we reached the door a man in a SEIU jacket was busy making calls to a group who had not shown up for the event. Could it be the Cadillac tax kept them away?

When I got just to the door a group of VIP Dems were ushered in just ahead of me.  I of course set off the metal detector and then had to be wanded by security.  Can it detect conservatives?



When we were through security, we were told to move to the floor beneath the podium.  I had an unbelievable view of the stage.  I must say that in person, Obama looks more like Fred Armisen than  you would think.   Here is Kelly's picture of the SEIU people directly in front of the President.  The group was in a roped off area and they weren't all dressed in purple but they broke out in a chant together while we were waiting for the arrival of Obama.  This was the only group that was able to shake hands with Obama at the conclusion as well.

My daughter took the two previous photos of Obama speaking. Though he didn't use him, TOTUS was there too. A few interesting points. First, I overheard discussion that about 1200 of the 1700 tickets for the event were given out by the White House. That left 500 or so for the school and the community. The vast majority of the students there were there to see Obama and were just giddy. I had to laugh, however, when the President said he had to be honest the health care plan was not going to be free. You should have seen the students looking at each other. The room got quiet, which was notable since at most other times it was very loud and very hot. The audience had a fair share of people who were not in favor of the plan but as they spoke out they were drummed out by noise. There were a few rather large people with booming voices who seemed to be there specifically to be the Greek Chorus. This is notable when you are in the room but is not noticeable to any degree on television.

My first impression was how about mentioning that mandate to these kids who will likely be most affected by it. The President focused on telling them they could stay on their parents plan until they were 26. A Canadian gentleman noted how unlikely it would be they actually were going to be able to stay on their parents plan. He added that in Canada there had been a budget surplus until the extension of health care and now there are huge deficits. There were students there who will never hear of the mandate or know what this will do to their future until it hits them. I found that very sad and was glad my daughter was there along with Kelly and her conservative friends. Spread the news girls.

I was impressed with how smoothly the event went but overall felt it was much more staged than I had even anticipated. I was very glad I went, if only to see how it feels to be there. My son had wondered if Obama would win me over. Dear boy has a Reagan calendar in his bedroom. He need not worry. Those who were there were props and those who opposed health care were not persuaded. I will add more when I upload other pictures. I wanted to get this post up first and then look for reactions from the girls and more on the protest outside. Stay tuned

Update: Thanks to Jill at Pundit & Pundette and Fishersville Mike for linking.  Thanks to Obi's Sister for linking too.  Linked by Thomas Jefferson Club Blog who has more coverage of the event. Thanks to Chris at Wyblog who wonders, "Does anybody from Chicago really care about time?"
Be sure to read Michelle Malkin's post on the Slacker Mandate.
Kelly sent me her reaction to the speech read A Young Conservative's Reaction to Obama's Health Care Speech

UPDATE: Coverage of the protest by FoxPhilly

More than 200 Tea Party activists were waiting for President Barack Obama outside Philadelphia on Monday before his big health-care speech.

200 is a great turnout. I had a feeling there would be a strong showing and I wasn't wrong. Signs visible in the following news clip “Obama Here’s Your Pink Slip,” and “Obamacare Is A Debt Sentence.” Here is a slideshow of signs seen at the protest.  FoxPhilly news report:







H/T: Facebook

Protesters greet the President's motorcade:

Latest Update:  New Photos
Mariann Davies has a fantastic photo album of the protest on Facebook.  Here is a sample: