An open letter to Barack Obama's handlers

We waited in the lobby of Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium for 90 minutes. We couldn't see over the crowd. We moved forward about 20 feet in that time. Bodies were jammed together like sardines.

We held in our hands the "RSVP" e-mail that you instructed us to print out and bring. We grabbed for the small piece of green paper that some Ya-hoo said we would need to get in. Yeah, right. All it was was a solicitation for volunteers.

Not once in that hour and a half did any official make any attempt to let the swelling crowd know what the hell was going on. No estimated time of entry, no information about security checkpoints, nothing.

FINally, at 5:45 (the time at which his event was scheduled to commence), someone did yell to the crowd in the lobby.

The announcement was something to the effect of: "We apologize, but the venue has reached capacity. The senator has just arrived at the airport and he's on his way here. We don't have room for you in the auditorium, but there is an overflow area in the plaza across the street. He will visit the overflow first, before he enters the auditorium."

So, he suggested we all move to the plaza - the Barney Allis Plaza, which, for those of you who don't know is OUTSIDE.

"He should be here shortly."

Okay, sweet. We'll just head over there and catch a glimpse of him, we thought to ourselves.

Sounded like a great idea until we realized that standing outside when it is 15 degrees outside is no fun. It wasn't just 15 degrees, either - the wind has been blowing here all day long. We thought we'd be there for 30 minutes, maybe.

We trudged across the street (in the snow, without proper footwear and socks). We jockeyed for position, and waited. And froze. And waited. And shivered.

About 25 minutes passed. Every once in a while, some jackass would start chatter that he was on his way. Nope.

Just when I was ready to tell Adam, "I don't care to see him THIS bad, let's get the hell out of here," three white guys in suits popped up in front of the crowd. Stupidly, I thought maybe we were almost there. These guys stood up there for about five minutes. I think they were playing odds or rock, paper, scissors to decide who was going to piss off the crowd. Finally, one of them manned up and approached the mic.

With resignation in his voice, he said: "Ladies and gentlemen - we're so happy to see you here and think this is just great. We wanted to let you know that the senator is here. But he's inside the building, and he'll be speaking for about 45 minutes in there. He will be out here after that, though."

CHECK, PLEASE.

That was it. I couldn't feel my feet, my back hurt from standing there like a schmuck for two hours, and we wouldn't have been very close to him anyway. We turned on our heels and made for the car like banshees.

Here's the deal. I realize that campaign schedules are tight, and the weather was crazy today, and planes can get delayed, and plans can get messed up. I could have forgiven all of that. Really, I would have - had Obama done one little thing differently.

If you KNOW there are more than 500 supporters (who've already been waiting all afternoon for you) freezing their asses off outside the arena - by God, stop and at least do five minutes with that group before you go inside. Blog readers - you can laugh at me all you want, or disagree with this logic, but to me, tonight's events illustrated something. If he wants to be a candidate for change, or a man of the people or whatever - take care of the people who obviously want to see you.

Have a little compassion for the freezing masses. Or at least get a new events manager.