After Party

The Dubois Center hosted an after party to celebrate both the visit of President Obama and the life of Michael Jackson. I met friends there, including the one who'd had the ticket for the president's airport departure ceremony, and was pleased to learn that she'd really enjoyed the program. The excitement in the crowd at the airport was both palpable and infectious. From what I could see in my part of town, Accra was a pretty happy place that evening.

We grabbed beer and grilled sausages and took our seats just as the first musicians got rolling. There would be a dozen different groups that evening, each offering one or two special songs or dances of tribute, all members of a local performing artists association. The crowd was small at first, but filled all the chairs by the end of the evening.



My driver came along for the party, in case I decided to drink too much, and he quickly got in on the act. Everyone was in pretty good spirits, and the performers didn't have to work hard to get people on their feet.



It was a bit risky sitting in the front row, easy targets.

Yes you can!

We made it to the airport in record time, the last bit thru a police barrier on the bypass road, waving our VIP badges. Of course the real VIPs didn't need badges. We were just the people helping out with the VIPs.

It was nearly an hour, 3:30pm, before the press finally arrived. Thru security and onto the tarmac, Air Force One towered above us as it was towed into position next to the stage where, a mere three hours later, the president would say his farewells.




It took maybe fifteen minutes to escort the press to their spots. Roughly half set up cameras on a small platform to one side. The rest climbed up onto a flatbed truck and sat in folding chairs to take notes and still camera pictures. I found a folding chair for myself and settled in for the wait, chatting with colleagues.




Text messages kept me abreast of the latest happenings. One friend was in the airport proper, finding out that her departure to Amsterdam that night would "only" be delayed an hour. Another was standing in line outside the VIP area with a ticket, hoping to make it inside for the president's speech -- she did. Another was out at Cape Coast, signaling when Marine One finally headed back on the 30 minute flight to Accra.

Uniformed Secret Service stood on various trucks scattered around the tarmac, scanning with binoculars. Ghanaian military ringed the entire area. Police lined the barricades. The crowd filed in slowly as they cleared the security check at the main gate.

Marine One showed up around 5:30pm, and there was an audible stir in the crowd, turning to puzzled chatter as the president and first family were escorted off the tarmac and back to their hotel -- an unscheduled short break for freshening up before the final speech.



Ghana's military band marched into place. The barricades had been set up too close to the stage, and there wasn't enough room for them, so they extended the barricades a bit, but this closed off the passageway between the video and print press sections. This was eventually sorted out. The president of Ghana arrived to loud cheers, and accompanied by other senior government officials. There was a section of barricades for the diplomatic corps, for the Peace Corps, for other VIPs, and for a traditional drumming group.

For all of these, there was no shelter from the sun, and the public was not allowed to bring umbrellas for shade. Fortunately, there was a thin overcast, and it had to be one of the coolest days of the year, no more than 25 C (75 F). Even in my suit I was comfy. It had rained fairly steadily for the entire seven days before the president's arrival, and today was the very first day with no rain. All were astonished. There was talk of a "blessed" visit.



Stage lights mounted around the tarmac were switched on. The motorcade returned at dusk, around 6:15. The drummers began their drumming. The dancers began their dancing. The two presidents made their speeches. Loudest applause was when the president offered homage to the Peace Corps.

After the speeches, the departure was swift. A quick working of the rope line, then President and Mrs. Obama mounted the steps to Air Force One, gave a wave, and disappeared inside. Within 15 minutes, the plane taxied off and they were airborne.

7:15pm. Plenty of time left in the day for the After Party.

Without a Picture, It Didn't Happen

At 7:30 we hopped in a van to the Accra International Conference Centre. I'd volunteered to help out with the press pools, Ghanaian and White House. By 8:30 we'd made our way through security and into the hall, checked out the press "hold" (the room where the press could relax while waiting for the event to begin), and assigned jobs to the half dozen on our team.



Three buses arrived by 10 with the main press pools, and they settled in for the two-hour wait before the event itself. I was posted in the hall to escort reporters back to their holding room for snacks, but nobody seemed hungry. Chip Reid of CBS News survived a faulty chair and a soft landing on the floor. Chuck Todd of NBC News sat off to one side, lost in thought. No sign of CNN's Anderson Cooper, but he was rumored to be in the neighborhood.

Job 1 was to guard the seven out of 60 or so special press chairs reserved for the reporters traveling in the motorcade itself, who would be rushing in at the last minute at about the same time as the president himself. All the chairs in the adjacent diplomatic section were taken, so two ambassadors jumped the rope and planted themselves with the press, refusing to be budged even by a Ghana Government protocol official. Two White House press would be moved to a spot on the floor by the cut riser up front.



Job 2 was to deal with a dozen or so uncredentialed local press who only had tickets to the main hall yet managed to slip into the press area. There were no chairs for them, so about a half hour before the event, they began congregating in the aisle just by the front "no go" zone established by the Secret Service. A Secret Service agent asked me to "be a bit more militant" about keeping the area clear.

I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. I tried simply standing in the aisle with my hand on a chair. A reporter would come up to me and ask to pass. I'd offer a sad look and say, "I'm so sorry, only credentialed press beyond this point." To my enormous surprise, that seemed to work. Of course, just behind me about 10 steps down the aisle and in plain view was a very large Secret Service agent. After the event, an agent came up to me, actually, and offered me a job, so I guess I passed the test.



Video of the speech is all over the net. NBC had the press lead for the event, and here's their live coverage: NBC Coverage

The president headed for Cape Coast and a tour of the slave castle. After wolfing down a candy bar, I rejoined the team out in the corridor to find our car for our next event in Accra, which would be the departure ceremony at the airport.