Before we commence with the Nevada festivities, I 'd like to share some pictures and thoughts from a rally I attended at the Lebanon High School gymnasium this Monday. The local newspaper, The Valley News mirrored the national media with a focus on the horse race:
Obama Aims Directly at Clinton
Tells Valley Crowds He's The Leader ‘She Can't Be’
But the event was much more subtle than that article leads on, and I hope below to give a picture of the evening. Some highlights from his speech follow and then I will recap the Q&A.
He began by talking about how he moved to Chicago to organize laid-off workers after a steel plant had closed. The coalition of church groups that hired him didn't have much money so they could only afford him! He learned quickly that organizers are underpaid and underappreciated, so he wanted to take a moment to show some appreciation for his local organizers. He introduced them to applause and then said we could show our appreciation by filling out a donor card.
Then he talked about the size of the crowds he's drawn-- 10000 in Boston, 6000 in Hanover, 20000 in Atlanta and Austin. He said the make up the crowd was also something to be proud of, all ages, races, religions, and even a few Republicans. He said he knew that because sometimes someone will come up to him and whisper "Barack I am a Republican but I support you" To which he whispered back "Thank you for your support. Why are we whispering?"
He discussed his visit to a homeless veteran's shelter in Nashua earlier that day. That visit reminded him of why he got into politics in the first place-- not simply to be against something, but to work to improve people's lives. He seemed to be implying that his opposition to the Iraq War from the beginning was an affirmative act. He then shared how Dick Cheney had sat down with oil and gas executives 40 times when drawing up the administration's energy policy, and only met with conservation and environmental groups once. He reminded us that Cheney had tried to block release of the documents related to those meetings. In summing up how different his approach would be, he said:
We don't need to play the game better, we need to put an end to the game playing
He described why he likes campaigning across the country and shared an experience he had in Oakland CA where SEIU organized a day where the candidates were paired with one of their members. He went at 5am to the home of a 61 year old home care worker who first had to get her 2 foster children off to school before going to assist an 86 year old amputee with daily living tasks. He spent the day with her helping to clean the man and his apartment. He talked about how such experiences reminded him of who he worked for and acknowledged the jading effects of Washington.
He said he's been accused of being a "hopemonger," that he can be inspiring but he doesn't have enough experience. He understands this to mean that he hasn't been in Washington long enough. He then discussed the value of his non-DC experience and got a huge cheer when he talked about his time as a Constitutional law professor:
Your next President will actually believe in the Constitution
Insiders want to let him stew in Washington for a while longer --- "boil the hope out of him." He then gave Cheney and Rumsfeld as examples to show that a long Washington resume does not make for good judgement.
He discussed his co-sponsorship of Feingold's ethics reform bill. He told how his commitment to health coverage is personal, as his mom died at 53 of ovarian cancer and she wasnt thinking about getting healthy as she had to argue with her insurer about preexisting condition clauses. She mentioned Senator Clinton to recount their disagreement over talking to our enemies and quoted JFK's line about never negotiating from fear but never fearing to negotiate. Then "let's have some fun" -- time for questions
He took a question about the youth vote and then someone said she was actually asking her question for her father who had died 18 years ago and had told her how to judge a someone by the people he hires. She asked him who he would have in his cabinet. He demurred, saying he did not want to alienate anyone, but mentioned people like Anthony Lake and Bill Clinton (!) who have advised his campaign.
Next was a question about globalization that he ended up apologizing for as he realized he had gotten to wonky and too windy. Memorable from his response was his explanation that Japan sends its inspectors to China to test the food and toys, and nothing goes on a plane to Japan until Japanese inspectors have done their inspections on Chinese soil. He emphasized that our trouble with tainted imports isnt China's fault, we need to be responsible for what ends up in our markets.
Then Obama got the "could you explain in plain English why you do not support gay marriage?" He explained that he was for vigorous civil unions and that individual churches could definitely honor gay marriages, but that he did not see the government's role as defining marriage for churches. States and congregations could decide whether to use the term "marriage" and he noted that his church, UCC, does honor gay marriages.
The final question of the night came from a woman who began by talking about her memories of Robert F. Kennedy's assasination. I was dreading that she was asking an "assasination question," but then she moved on to discuss the movie "The Candidate." Obama looked relieved that he would not be fielding the "assasination question." The photo below captures his intensity when she was discussing that June night in 1968. He appeared to be staring death in the face and contemplating how to convey the existential and historical meaning of such a comparison.
He brightened up considerably when she talked about "The Candidate." He said he loved that movie so she asked if he remembered the scene when Robert Redford was in the back of a limo going "blah blah blah blah blah blah" in self-mockery of his own stump speech. She talked about how giving the same speeches over and over must exhaust the words' meaning. Obama acknowledged that campaigning can take its toll, but that he always asks himself why he is in the race. He talked about the improbability of his candidacy, "I'm not supposed to be here".
In some ways his last answer sounded to me like an acknowledgement that he had made peace with the low odds of winning. In the course of the evening he had talked about the difficulty of going up against "a name brand like Clinton." He had also used the verb "should" when making policy proposals-- not confident rhetoric like "when I'm President, we will..." He even said in ten years he will still be younger than the others who are running, giving a sense that he realizes it may not be his turn. Though this was a rah rah campaign rally, Barack Obama showed a depth and range I wasn't expecting. Contrary to the spin of "Obama goes on the offensive," he talked about how media questions were often little more than invitations to attack one's opponent. I know this recap does not do justice to the emotional range of the evening, but I hope maybe the pictures help.
Barring any unforseen troubles, I will vote for Barack Obama in our little meaningless VT primary. But I am really pleased with how all of our candidates have conducted themselves in the face of inane horserace questions from the media. C'mon Wolf, let's talk policy, not Rudy Guilliani's standard of electability!
Even more heartening is the decency that I see in all of our candidates. These are people who are trying to do right within a system that is structured to reward avarice. I hope to see our candidates underline their areas of fundamental agreement, criticize as opposed to answer stupid horserace questions, and relentlessly enumerate the disasters the Republican Party has visited upon our nation in the past decade.