I attended President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting Thursday and, despite the fact that I nearly froze to death in that bone-chilling Miguel Contreras Learning Complex gymnasium, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even though the place was teeming with the usual suspects — both private gadflies and public officials — I got a chance to meet some new people, which is something I’m always excited about doing, since I get so tired of seeing the same old people everywhere I go. I’m bored. I need to meet more people and make new friends.
 
Obama preached to the choir when he presented his campaign-like pitch for his administration’s programs and priorities, as I and about 1,000 others in the room wholeheartedly agreed with everything he said. It was good to hear him reaffirm the reason we elected him.
 
In my opinion, the town hall had three, maybe four, high points, the first being the singing of the national anthem — it was awesome! It was sung by a deep voiced, warm-toned contralto who rocked the place. She sang it like she was in church. She sang it like a gospel hymn. She sang it like it was “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” And the audience responded in kind — whoopin’ and hollerin’ like they were in a revival meeting and, even though I didn’t see her do it, I’m sure Marguerite LaMotte was shouting because she’ll shout in a minute.

I believe this wonderful singer was Amy Giese, or something to that effect. I didn’t quite catch her name when she was introduced and her name was not repeated after she worked the crowd into a soulful tizzy. I have to get her name. I must meet her and interview her and learn everything about her so she can become my new friend.
 
The second high point of the town hall was Obama’s dialogue with 8-year-old Ethan Lopez. This, too, was awesome. After taking questions from the audience, Obama was finishing up by taking a question from a young person. Little Ethan, dressed in a white shirt and tie, raised his hand and the president picked him. He gave his name, his age and said he was in the third grade. He told the president about the devastating effect budget cuts are having on his school, resulting so far in the firing of 25 teachers there. He asked Obama for help to save his school.

It was amazing to see this little boy standing up in front of all these people and talking face-to-face with the president of the United States and telling him his troubles. (It makes me tear up as I think about. And yeah, I’m a softie.) But wait. Obama asked Ethan if he’s decided what he wanted to be when he grew up. Ethan said, “Yes.” Obama said, “What?” Ethan said, “A cop.” The place went up. When was the last time you heard a little kid say he wants to be a cop? I want to meet him and interview him and learn everything about him so he can become my new friend.
 
The third high point was something new and specific that Obama said and something that’s been bugging me. You know how everything Obama proposes and/or does is immediately greeted with criticism and denouncement by whining Republicans and nay-saying political analysts and the White media? Obama said we members of the choir need to ignore that stuff and to tell our friends to ignore that stuff. He talked about how one politician gained publicity by criticizing Obama’s appearance on Jay Leno’s show.

“They act like I can’t handle being on a TV show and working to solve our economic problems at the same time,” Obama scoffed. “They say I’m tackling too much at one time. So, which problems should I ignore? Which solutions should I postpone?” he asked. “We need a government that will take on all our problems at the same time, just as you must handle all the problems in your lives at the same time,” Obama said, to a rousing ovation from the crowd.

As to his niggling (that’s a perfectly good word) critics, Obama said we must not be affected by them because “we are not always going to be right and I don’t want everybody disappointed if we make a mistake here or there. The important questions are: Are we moving in the right direction and am I keeping my main campaign promises.” Hell yeah! And I say his critics need to shut the — up! Republicans, political analysts and the White media let Bush ruin this country and they didn’t say a word for eight years. Obama’s been trying to fix it for less than three months, and they can’t shut up. SHUT UP!!!
 
The fourth high point occurred when Obama dealt with a question related to catastrophic cuts in school funding here in California. He reminded us that public education is a state matter and the overwhelming total of the funds for schools come from the state. He said the feds will try to help, but they could only increase their contribution to our schools from like seven percent to nine percent, which isn’t much. Then he did some truth-telling about the need for American parents to instill a sense of academic excellence and a thirst for knowledge in their children to make them more academically competitive with children in other countries, like China, for example.
 
Anyway, it was a grand day. In the press section, I sat beside Lisa Richardson of the L.A. Times and was surprised to learn they still had a Black writer there with experience and talent. Lisa, who has been at the Times for 17 years, is a member of the editorial board so she doesn’t get a byline. She’s my new friend. I interfaced considerably with Kelli Bernard, the director of economic development and planning for City Council President Eric Garcetti. She is his only African-American staff member and she is my new friend. I’m on a mission to get some more.