Yes we will.

The weather could not have been more clement on this beautiful Sunday morning, and perhaps that had something to with the unexpected turnout of Portlanders to the Waterfront Park. But perhaps it was the same feeling that gave me an idiot grin when I turned the corner onto the park blocks and saw that I didn't stand a chance of getting inside the gates for the speech, nevermind that I'd left about three hours early.

The news claims there about 75,000 of us in total, only the first 60,000 of which were allowed in. I arrived at the massive throng of overflow that covered much of Naito Parkway (which I don't think they'd plan to shut down) just in time to hear Barack Obama begin his speech. Obama was great, of course, but it was still all a bit anticlimactic. This didn't seem like the main event. In fact, it really wasn't. The main event was the line. A group of people the size of a city lined up in a path more serpentine than the river they'd arrive at through the blocks so festooned with trees that hardly anyone had to spend much time not in the shade. Our city is unique, and this was a unique group of people. There were line-cutters and profiteers and the occasional bored child, but for the most part, we were all so proud and so happy to see that we weren't alone. It was a good day to be a Portlander.