Barack Obama speaks at Progress Plaza, Philadelphia, October 11, 2008

In my lifetime I have seen only two presidents: Richard Nixon when he was vice president in 1959 and George Bush when he spoke at Independence Hall on July 4, 2001. There I got to shake his hand and he acknowledged my greeting with that smile-smirk of his and a nod of the head.

This morning, since Barack Obama was only five blocks away, I ran down to see him and arrived in the middle of his stump speach. I did it in memory of my dad who took the trouble to see Kennedy drive through Abington in a motorcade when Kennedy was running in 1960.