Written by I watched these videos with interest, and I would bet the fainting is authentic. Fainting would not be unusual given the long hot waits, the standing, the mixed-ages and health of the spectators, the sun (in many cases), and excitement.
Barack Obama has probably seen fainting enough that he takes it in relative stride, and he has probably learned it is safest, and he looks good, if he casually stops his speech and directs medics to the scene.
I’m curious to hear what you other Rentonites think.
Randy
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Here is Elizabeth’s posting, as she left it in my comment section:
I was out driving today and playing radio roulette. Ended up with Dori Monson on 710 KIRO. He was talking about how there have been a person, front & center, fainting at several of Obama’s rallies. When he started watching clips of each event, he said he thought it odd that the person was always front & center, and that he thought Obama basically said the same things each time and always had an unopened bottle of water at his podium that he’d give the person. (It wasn’t the same person at each event.) So Monson’s wondering if these individuals were plants. One caller was a security guy at concerts and he said inevitably someone front & center at concerts faints, and Monson shouldn’t read more into this than people faint.
For sake of objectivity re: Obama, here is Dori Monson’s website.
Click Here
He’s got several of these clips on there so people can watch and decide for themselves. Monson thinks this will show up in the press more and wonders if, after this becomes more public, we’ll stop seeing people fainting at Obama rallies.
I hope it’s just that it’s hot, folks aren’t eating, and they’re just getting caught up in the moment and getting light-headed. I keep searching for a politician who is genuine.
Elizabeth
I don’t buy it that it’s authentic. It’s away to generate publicity.
Yes/No
Given the facts are correct, there’s no way that this is genuine – Especially given the non-random distribution of people ‘fainting.’
*However* this probably reflects badly on one of Obama’s over-eager staff members, and not Obama himself. Any human endeavor with more that one person can get take on a life of it’s own; and sometimes individual people get a little giddy and do things that in hindsight are stupid.
So, that’s six incidents out of how many events Obama has spoken at? If that works out to, say, 1% or even 10% of the events, then I think we’re just dealing with a statistical inevitability. Does anyone recall seeing the clip of a woman fainting while Bill Clinton at a Hillary rally, and Chelsea rushed on stage to help? Conspiracy!! I’d imagine these things happen a lot more than we realize. Obama probably has a bottle of water at the podium for this very reason.
Obama certainly doesn’t need to manufacture any excitement at his rallies, and it’s not like he suffers from a lack of admiration. Therefore, it would be incredibly pointless, stupid, and short-sighted to try to manipulate such situations in such an obvious manner. Anyone who understands what Obama is all about can understand that concept. It actually sounds more like something James Carville would’ve done back in the 1992 campaign for Bill Clinton… especially if it provided Bill with the opportunity to fawn over a pretty co-ed.
Is this the sort of lame innuendo that we have to look forward to in the campaign? Thanks for elevating the discourse, Dori Monson.
Yes, I see the irony in the last three sentences of my post above (Bill Clinton fawning over a co-ed… lame innuendo). But let’s face it folks, Bill Clinton’s love of young women is not innuendo at this point. 🙂
I remember comedian Jay Leno commenting on Special Council Ken Star’s investigation of Bill Clinton. Jay Leno said something like “Ken Star spent forty-million dollars developing a case to prove two things…that Bill Clinton is a womanizer, and he lies. These were both things that Americans already knew when they elected him twice!”
Exactly!
Personally, I’d really prefer not to have to constantly defend my choice for president (before and after he or she is elected) against unsavory rumors (or facts, in the case of Bill). That’s probably why Obama appeals to me, given his apparent lack of skeletons. He’s already addressed his teenage drug use, for instance, and the “corruption” rumors about him are truly baseless. Unfortunately for Hillary, she’ll always be dogged by critics and conspiracy theorists, regardless of whether their claims have any validity whatsoever.
Don’t forget about all of the people that went to prison for breaking the law in Whitewater. Read about the facts of the case and you’ll see that it was a legitimate investigation. Jim Guy Tucker, Susan and Jim McDougal, Web Hubbell, and many more.
Oh, I forgot to mention about the front-and-center aspect. I think lining up to see a candidate, whether it’s Clinton, McCaine, or Obama, is a bit like standing in line for a Nintendo Wii. The people at the very front of the line will often have stood for ten hours, where-as the person in the 40th position might have only been in line for three. The more obsessive a fan, the more likely to be in line longer, and the more likely to be front and center. All this would roughly correlate with higher likelihood of fainting.
But, I can see why it would look staged when it happens repeatedly. I would suggest to the Obama camp that they hand out water, and/or take other measures, to try to prevent it. One person fainting can indicate that there are many at risk.
As a side note, last year I asked that we budget money for shade shelters or trees at the Henry Moses Pool for the the people standing in line. We had people complaining of ill-effects from standing in line in the sun for an hour or more, while waiting to get into the pool. While most people in a population can weather this, there are some with certain health conditions that can not (or should not).
Having to stand in a stuffy enclosed space or under the beating sun for a long time would probably send me over the edge, too. Don’t forget about all the excitement involved in standing front and center at a major political rally, perhaps with TV cameras pointed right at you. It’s a recipe for, well, fainting.
what about pre-sold pool tickets?
Why not offer tickets sold online? Then there’s no line to buy tix, you just show up when your session’s open. If there’s an undersold session, you can let in X number of guests without pre-sold tickets.
Maybe sell pre-sold tickets with a 5% premium attached for a “convenience charge” too?