Obama Was Here: Student Photos at SF Lincoln

While judging debate at Sioux Falls Lincoln HS this weekend, I got to hear an interp round in Room 404, which appears to be home base of the LHS Statesman. I found this wall-size reminder of why last year's long primary season was so good for South Dakota and the country:


Lincoln HS journalists Lauren Thompson and Ellen Reinecke took these excellent photos at Barack Obama's campaign rally in Sioux Falls back in May. Great work, ladies!


Thanks to the primary season going the distance, kids all around the country, all the way to here in South Dakota, got to see history. They saw and heard and shook hands with historical figures like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.


And now, as Barack Obama prepares to swear the oath, take the reins, and lead the free world, there are that many more kids and adults for whom the President of the United States is not just a character on TV or a name in the headlines. He is a real person, whose picture they've taken, whose eyes they have met, whose hand they have grasped.


That kind of broader contact, thanks to the long primary season, was nothing but good for South Dakota and for democracy. GOP, bring us a campaign like that in 2012.