There I was standing on a flatbed trailer on the tarmac of the Des Moines airport, waiting for Air Force One to land.

Off in the distance the plane circled around for its approach. All other airport traffic had halted for this one airplane carrying the President of the United States of America.

I served in the 82nd Airborne Division for three years and was in the Persian Gulf for eight months. During all that time I never once met the President; back then it was George Bush.

Back at Fort Bragg, the Prez never visited. Hell, most of the military were Republicans anyway so he didn’t have to worry about getting votes. I think the highest ranking person I have ever seen in person was former General of the Army Carl Vuono.

So there I was on the tarmac, about to see the freakin’ leader of the free world. The big 747 taxied closer to us. The secret service folks were pretty nice to us media people. The four of us, Keesia, Erin, Mike and I from ethos and the Daily had wandered into their security office. Oops. They simply told us whom we needed to look for.

Before getting to Gate 10 at the airport we had to stop and ask some Des Moines cops where to go. One cigar-smoking cop said, “Did you see those cops back there sitting around doing nothing? That’s Gate 10.”

The door near the back of the plane opened and people poured out. A staircase truck from Offutt Air Force Base “Home of the Fighting 55th” drove up to the door near the front of the plane. The door opened.

There were secret service people in front of us, behind us, and snipers on top of a building. The President appeared in the doorway, walked down the stairs and waved to us. He shook hands with Senator Tom Harkin and a number of other folks.

Suddenly shots rang out. They seemed to come somewhere from the grassy knoll. Maybe it was the Book Depository. Blood spurted from the President’s backside as he stood in front of Tom Harkin, but a magic bullet made its way from Clinton’s knee to Harkin’s shoulder.

OK, I’m lying. I kept thinking, “That’s the President! Wow!” We all had questions prepared for the man, but he and Harkin got into a Chevy Blazer and drove away with a huge caravan of minivans.

We walked away disappointed. We felt like we had just wasted our time. Now we headed out for the 19th Annual Harkin Steak ‘n Chop Fry in Indianola.

We arrived and some union guy was telling people where to park as he guzzled a Pabst Blue Ribbon. His black shirt said “security.” I thought, “Yeah, right.” We asked him if there was a special place for press parking. He said, “Park over there by that blue car.”

As we walked down to the rally we listened to Tom Arnold finish gabbing and some country music singer began twanging for the hick in all of us. We wondered what kind of Iowa hick hell had we wandered into as we passed by the press parking area. Even the stage for the speech was made of hay bales.

With the dance music they played and the “Are you ready to rrrumble?” crap, I couldn’t tell if had arrived at a barnyard wrestlefest or a Presidential campaign speech.

Mike Peterson, president of Iowa Demo-crats, was dancing around like a moron, shakin’ his booty for votes or something, to “I Got the Power” or some techno song like that.

Finally the speakers blasted “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and I knew this wasn’t just a greased pig chasing contest. What are campaigns coming to these days?

But I forgot all the dumb stuff after listening to Harkin’s speech. He spoke before Clinton, but Harkin definitely gave the better speech. As glad as I was to be about 30 feet from the President, I was really amazed with what Harkin said.

He said the ladder of success should be open to everybody, but he didn’t want it to be an escalator. I don’t want the government to give hand-outs to anybody who doesn’t want to work, but I want the opportunities to be there for people to work. If they don’t want to work, I say tough cookies.

That’s almost Republican-sounding, but, instead, the Democrats have been smart enough to find the middle ground while the Republicans are fighting with their right-wing extremists on the Christian Coalition.

Also, of course, the Democrats are the party that wants to improve the economy without destroying the environment and that, above all, is most important. The environment of this planet is more important than any one of us.

I didn’t actually get to shake Clinton’s hand and meet him because we had to get back and put out a newspaper for you.

At any rate, being a reporter and actually writing down direct quotes from the Prez was pretty exciting. Be a reporter, meet the world.

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Tim Frerking is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Pomeroy. He is the Daily’s University News editor.