Barack Obama was on fire at last night's Town Hall Meeting in Farmington Hills, MI. He took the campaign straight to the Republicans, calling them out on their lies and made a clear case for his candidacy of change vs. McCain's brand of "change-lite". With brilliant political analysis of the opposition, a precise assessment of the landscape in Michigan, compelling arguments for his own positions, and most of all great humor, Barack Obama energized a crowd of people who are determined to see him elected as our 44th President.
Farmington Hills is the largest city in what is according to Time Magazine, THE swing county in THE swing state. Michigan will be won or lost in Oakland County. If county residents (or residents anywhere) see or hear any part of last night's meeting, we can win this thing.
The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a roof-blasting rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Lachelle Griffin, the winner of a singing contest on Oprah some years ago. Wish I could post the video of her singing it, but I'm not too sure about the legality of that. After that the crowd didn't need much warming up. An invocation by a local pastor that was half prayer, half barnburner (when's the last time a prayer group did a call and response of "Yes We Can!" in your church?). Then my former mayor, Vicki Barnett, who is now running for State Rep spoke. We need a committed Democrat like her in that State Senate seat, so stop by her website and make a small donation, please?
Our local Obama Field Organizers, Erin Hughes and Megan Rao, came out to talk about the importance of volunteering and do the cell phone thing. They got the crowd going with Fired Up, Ready to Go! chants. I've been working with these two young women for months as a volunteer on the campaign and I wouldn't be surprised to see Megan running for Congress and Erin running the State Department one day. They are that impressive. Erin would run me over in her car if I posted their picture, however, so let's move on.
After that the crowd was ready and Barack Obama entered the building with an Oakland County resident who introduced him. The resident, who looked a lot like Al Franken, told the all-too-common story of living in Michigan's nowadays. He talked about how he was lucky to have a job until he had to lay the staff off, one by one. Finally the day came where he laid himself off. He talked about how he's struggling in our economy with record unemployment, foreclosures, and new layoffs announced constantly. Then he introduced Obama.
A Michigan resident introduces Obama to the crowd
As I said, Obama was on fire. His theme? It's the Economy, Stupid and my brand of change is the real thing, not something that I'm using as the strategy of the week. Obama called McCain out for adopting change as his new theme because with McCain's VP pick, McCain can't hit Obama on experience anymore. He ran down McCain's policies one by one and illustrated McCain's brand of change as "empty promises".
Obama in action
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Which of his [McCain's] policies different from George Bush's? Nobody can tell me. You can ask these reporters here. I hope they're asking him. Because if you're talking about change, then presumably there should be something different. There was a cartoon the other day, it was true. John McCain's standing there and he says, 'Watch out George Bush, with the exception of economic policy, tax policy, foreign policy, education policy, energy policy and Karl Rove-style politics, we're really gonna shake things up in Washington'.
There's a lot more in the video. See for yourself and tell me Obama wasn't spectacular.
Afterwards, Obama took some questions and he was great, if a little wordy. One thing he's not is master of the pithy soundbite - he might want to work on that for the debates. His answer to one question about the auto industry was masterful - calling out Bush and the Republicans who weren't even interested enough to meet with industry leaders for years. His common-sense approach to innovating new technologies is just what I love to hear as someone who is an executvie at tier-1 auto supplier. If you care about the manufacturing base in the midwest, you must view this video (3:36 in its entirety).
I have a LOT of video, all of it equally shaky, that I'll post on YouTube and link to later. It includes his brilliant answer on the civil liberties question that is referred to in a diary that made the rec list. I'll try to get that posted later tonight.
Tips to future authograph seekers: He signs his books with a B--- O---- where ---- is an illegible slash of black ink. But his ego must come into play when he signs his own pictures because the signature is unmistakably his, but much more legible! Just saying.