Bush and Clinton receive Philadelphia Liberty Medal 2006

Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton received the Liberty Medal tonite in Philadelphia down at the Constitution Center. Yours truly was there to record the event to his best ability, given that he didn't have a ticket to get inside. They'd actually been setting up for the event for a few days, but as of yesterday you couldn't get inside for security reasons.

I had to come down Market Street, because the police--although surprisingly friendly after my run-in with the bastard cop who wouldn't let me get close enough to take photos of a West Philadelphia house fire a couple weeks ago--wouldn't let me through on Race.

There were surprisingly few protesters. Well, I say surprisingly few, but really, what's to protest? No matter what you thought of these two guys when they were president, they've been doing undeniable good since then, raising money for the Tsunami victims and the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There were a couple guys at 6th and Market who were protesting the media (who was nowhere to be seen, btw, because they had nice comfy seats inside the event). I took their photo, and then as I walked past them, one of the guys kept shouting at me, "Who are you with? Who are you with?" wanting to know which media organization I was covering the event. I just kept walking.

Later on in the evening I saw a couple young-ish people carrying hand-made posters protesting our current president and protesting religious zealotry, but they were just holding them down at their sides. I later found out there was some sort of protest earlier in the evening at Rittenhouse Square, so they must have come from there.



I walked around the outside first, trying to figure out where the presidents would be driving in from. There were really only two possible entrances, so i stood more or less between them, about a half block from each, so I could get some good photos when the big-wigs arrived. First an ambulance came in, and I took a picture, wondering if maybe they were sneaking them in that way. But not too much later, there were some dark-colored cars with lights and sirens moving quickly down Race Street, turning onto 6th. Dammit! I got a few photos, but nothing great, and certainly no sightings of any men who were formerly the most powerful in the world. I was going to leave, but I decided to wait a few minutes longer. And then a bunch more vehicles, from a motorcycle escort to SUVs packed with a cadre of secret service agents (you could tell they were secret service because they had that coiled wire going into one ear like they do on the West Wing). I took photos, but no presidents got out of the cars, so i figured they must have been in the first group of dark sedans. Turns out that the first group of vehicles was Bush, and the second group was Clinton. Smart thinking, Secret Service. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (or all your presidents in one sedan), after all.

It was still 20 minutes before 7, when the event was scheduled to start, so I walked around to the side where I could get a view of the stage (yes! the ceremony was taking place outside, so i'd actually catch a glimpse of something!)

Along with me in the crowd out by the fence at 5th and Arch, I saw Dave Schrattweiser (Fox News - you'll remember him from his coverage of the Philadelphia mafia and those corrupt trashmen) although he wasn't there in an official capacity. You could tell because he was dressed all normal, and there was NO news media outside the event. Everyone was in there with the big wigs. (That's right folks--PhillyHappening is the only place to go for coverage of the stuff happening AWAY from the actual excitement.) Interestingly, Dave was eventually let through the fence by some cops. Clearly he has friends where it counts. I also saw basketball legend Dr. J. -- Julius Irving. I just barely managed to get a really lousy photo of him before he turned away. It doesn't totally look like him, but it's him.



Lots and lots of security, from city police, to park rangers, to secret service. I kept hearing the philly police joking with each other, saying things like, "So you actually decided to work a little bit for a change!" or "Why don't you try wearing your uniform once in a while." They all seemed to find it very humorous and laughed a lot at this sort of joke.

Everything started on time, and the introductory speakers went fairly quickly, although there were quite a few of them, plus two singers. (the first singer, who sang a song I didn't know, did a good job. The woman who followed, singing "America the Beautiful," was fairly awful from where I was standing, but admittedly the sound quality wasn't quite optimal at that distance.) Two guys you've never heard of spoke first, and then came Mayor John Street, and Governor Ed Rendell (We miss you, Ed! Come back to Philly!) and a woman who partly talked and partly sang. I didn't catch her name. Then came Senators Specter (yay!) and Santorum (boo!). Then Charlie Gibson from the Today Show (or is it Good Morning America?) who introduced a short film about Bush and Clinton. And finally the presidents themselves. I took as many photos as I could throughout the event, but my view was very narrow. I had a small shot of the stage through some trees. Plus it was very dark by that point, so I had to ramp up the ISO on my camera to capture any shots at all, let alone good ones. There was also a projection screen set up on the lawn beyond the fence so that the little people could get a better view of the stage.

I headed out not long after Clinton started talking. I wanted to stay for the whole thing, but I was getting colder and hungrier, so I took a few parting photos, and walked to Walnut Street to catch the 21 bus home.