I was in the same room as President Obama! 

I paid for that privilege, of course. That’s not the surprise.

An aside: remember how, for most of 2008, we got to see Barack Obama debating Hillary Clinton?? And remember how, if you were a coastal liberal, it seemed so ho-hum to have two brilliant candidates in the mix? And how, like the Dow hitting 14,000, we totally took it for granted and assumed everything was just going to keep getting rosier??? 

Damn us.

Here’s the surprise—I’ve never seen anything on Broadway and felt like I’d gotten a bargain. I love that Broadway exists, but normally shows are ridiculously expensive, like 20 times the cost of a movie.

And yeah, you can dig up deals and maybe get a ticket to Wicked for $145 instead of $239, but on the other hand …. Fandango.

At $100, I thought this was a steal. 

I was expecting to hear Presidents Clinton and Obama speak, and nothing more. 

But I was also treated to speeches and performances from Jessica Fletcher Angela Lansbury, Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Stockard Channing, James Earl Jones, and Tony Kushner. And others.

There were lots of theater metaphors about how we’re in Act 1 of the Administration and there’s still an Act 2. 

I don’t know what your Broadway stereotypes are, but you can guess that this crowd roared loud and often when reminded of Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage.

Lots of heartfelt numbers. Afterward, the performers sat in the balcony with the rest of us and watched the Presidents.

It’s the first time I’ve left Broadway thinking, “Wow, I would have paid so much more for that!” 

Be glad you’re not my future child, because that poor kid is going to be hearing (and hearing and hearing) about that night in 2012 when mom heard Bill Clinton and Barack Obama speak. 

When Obama took the stage, I felt like one of those teenaged girls seeing the Beatles. You know those ones you always see in old black and white pictures—who look insane because they’re screaming and practically crying?

Yep, that was me.

I didn’t know I had it inside; I never went through a rockstar-infatuation-phase. 

Also, I’d been tired. It was a Monday night. Of course, they saved the Presidents for the end. 

But when I saw President Obama take the stage, knowing he was only a mezzanine and a balcony away, I screamed my face off. And the fact that he was sitting next to President Clinton?!!!

AAAAAAAAH. 

Obama thanked Clinton for his legacy. As someone who graduated from college at the end of the Clinton years, when jobs were practically tossed at us, I clapped for that. 

I wish I’d taken notes to share with you the facts. But I didn’t and I don’t want to misquote POTUS (POTI?) so instead I will give you the world’s simplest overview. They reminded us of all the administration’s accomplished and how they’re not done yet.

That the auto bailout saved the American auto industry. That the Obama administration is moving manufacturing back to America. That bin Laden is no longer with us. That 2.6 million young Americas have health care. That since Obama took office we’ve de-escalated the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

My biggest takeaway of the night was the realization that I took 2008 for granted, and I don’t want to do that again with this administration. 

Oh, also: when Presidents speak in a theater, they turn on all the house lights and two Secret Security stand on either side of the stage, staring at you.