Thirty thousand UW-Madison students and Madison residents gathered Thursday on Bascom Hill to bask in the glorious charisma of the President of the United States, and also to be under the scrutinizing eye of trained secret service agents who may or may not be legally allowed to kill them right then and there.
Preceding President Barack Obama’s speech, onlookers greeted local politicians who took the stage to hoots, hollers and waves, to which they waved back. Some attending also waved to the men on the Law Building roof, who were perhaps deep in thought over which guests presented a threat to the safety of the president. They were delighted when, instead of ending their lives the secret service agents instead put down the binoculars and waved back.
When Obama emerged from the School of Education building it seemed like nearly everyone went for their cameras or phones to catch a picture of his beautiful face. Multiple attendees caught pictures of the secret service agents carrying what could either be sniper rifles or cellos.
Obama’s speech enthralled and excited most in attendance along with the knowledge that maybe the dark stoic angels of death quietly observing the crowd had decided to spare their lives this time.
As the event came to a close, attendees shuffled towards designated exits with new-found appreciation that their status as a living being stayed quite intact.
