President Obama came to San Francisco today for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the SFJazz Center - and a couple hundred of climate activists welcomed him in their own creative way, by singing him sweet songs.
Even though we didn't get to see him outside his limo, he seemed to have noticed as several hundred of us tried to get his attention. At his fundraiser, he commented on the serenade he received.
I always have fun in San Francisco. (Applause.) There’s always something going on. Even in the ropeline -- (laughter) -- I had some folks sing to me; had a guy who took a photo with me with the shoes with the little toes in them. (Laughter.) I am sure that's the first time that's ever happened to a President. (Laughter.) And they looked very comfortable. But that doesn’t happen in Chicago. (Laughter.) There have been at least five protests that I don't know what they’re protesting, but they’re yelling something. (Laughter.) That's sort of par for the course in San Francisco. I knew it was something.Well, what we were singing was "Barack Obama, Barack Obama, stop Keystone right now" to Steams'"Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)."
It was all in all a very lighthearted affair, nobody hates the President and he has every right to poke fun at a bunch of protesters, seeing that he's probably the most protested man on Earth. And how could you possibly not smile when presented with this sight....
But of course, underlying all the silliness we all know that we are dealing with some serious serious trouble when it comes to climate change, and I can't help but think the President is aware of it. At least he's said as much in the past, and we were just out there reminding him about what's truly important as he was shmoozing it up with the Very Important People in San Francisco.
So 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, Credo Action, 350 Bay Area, OccupySF, and a bunch of others had organized this rally to disrupt "business as usual" and send an undeniable message to the president: STOP THE MADNESS: No tar sands! No Keystone XL! Climate Action NOW.
Because you know, as much as the rich and powerful like to laugh at those of us whose only way to exert any kind of influence is to go out into the streets and hold silly signs and sing silly songs, they tend to forget that we're ultimately all on this little round ball together.
My feeling is that President Obama ultimately gets that climate change is not a joke and that building the Keystone pipeline would seem like an insane thing to do for anyone serious about weening ourselves off fossil fuels. However, he probably has a lot of Very Important People whispering in his ear all the time, telling him that he can't just take away our god-given right to consume more and more oil. So that's why we were out there, gently reminding him about what's up.
Just in case he didn't hear us sing, some more impressions of how the day unfolded for those of us on the outside, below the orange melting ice cap.