By Kristin Cook, 350 Montgomery County and NoKXL Montgomery County
On the beautiful night of Monday May 19th, Obama attended a fundraiser at a home in an exclusive suburban neighborhood miles outside of DC named Potomac, MD. Activists opposing the Keystone XL and favoring clean energy were there to greet his motorcade. Our group included local Montgomery County residents, a woman who traveled from Howard County, an organizer from DC, and high school students from Calvert County. What dedication and passion these people have to come out at rush hour from so far away!
Security included the Secret Service as well as a special unit of the Montgomery County police department that is trained to support Presidential outings. We had plenty of time to stand around and chat with these officers and were delighted to find out that they too are opposed to the KXL pipeline. These Montgomery County officers were the most enlightened and supportive group of policeman that I had ever encountered.
All in all, we were on the ‘job’ for a little over 3 hours and felt exhilarated when President Obama’s super large motorcade drove right towards us and saw us standing strong together with our message against the KXL.