Obamarama
Image by heblo from Pixabay ….which is what an Ottawa newscaster called the new President’s six hour visit to the Nation’s capital, one month after his inauguration. Montreal , where I grew up, had its parties . Ottawa , where I settled, had them too but for different reasons. When President Obama came to town, so did bus-loads of people along with corresponding bus-loads of policemen. I have been known to purposefully join the festive crowds that occasionally inundate Ottawa over significant foreign visitors (which is why I’ve seen the Queen three times); but this February day was not to be one of those times. I had other reasons to be downtown as my oldest daughter and I set out to obtain a visa for her from the South African High Commission, something that was proving to be difficult and required a couple of stops. So, armed with the “Obama Visit Survival Guide,” which I had printed off the CBC website, we launched ourselves into the ...