Need your Barack Obama fix? I got mine from my Occidental College alumni magazine with this fabulous cover (only click on it if you want to see the image way, WAY too big for your screen):
And yes, among other choice words in the article is a description of Obama at a campaign stop in Ottawa, IL, where the author notes that
The candidate who takes the stage is more relaxed, low-key, and conversational than the figure who electrified the Democratic faithful, prompting Heinz Kerry to predict, "He will be president someday."
More below the fold....
In the six-page paean to the Oxy alum (yeah, I know he didn't finish out at Occidental, but he
did start there), freelance writer Pete Hisey tells of Obama's early start in politics:
[financial consultant and classmate Hasan] Chandoo notes that Obama first became politicized at Occidental, where the two became involved in the anti-apartheid movement and attended rallies for causes like Citizens in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). "He could have made a lot of money, become an investment banker. But it was clear that he was taken with politics. he was always reading a book like Ralph Ellison's
Invisible Man, and it took over his life."
"I got into politics at Occidental," Obama says in an interview between campaign stops. "Occidental was still investing in South Africa. I made a conscious decision to become involved in public policy."
The article goes on to describe Obama's work and speeches on the campaign trail all over Illinois. In DePue:
"There's nothing partisan about giving people a living wage, a decent education for their kids, real healthcare that won't send them to the poorhouse, and the chance to retire with dignity." following an explosion of applause, Obama concludes, "People are tired of politicians attacking each other instead of attacking problems."
In Monmouth:
This is an ideologically driven foreign policy that never lets facts stand in the way," he says. "We have to regain the respect of the world and regain our standing in the family of nations." The audience of academics and students goes wild.
In Oquawka:
When I went to school, we all took music and art and played sports, and today in Illinois, too many kids have to pay for that privilege," Obama says, calling it "profoundly un-American. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars for a war that didn't have to be fought."
Finally, in the "that must've been
some dinner!" Department, Hisey writes:
One question remains. How did he get that keynote speech gig? The answer is almost prosaic. Shortly after his primary win, he toured with Durbin through downstate towns to thank them for their vote. Upon their return, Kerry was in Chicago, and spoke at one of Obama's fundraisers. The next day, Obama returned the favor and the two couples had dinner that night.
A few weeks later, in late April, Obama heard there might be a speaking role for him at the convention. "I never expected anything like the keynote speech," he says, "but I was aware that they were interested in me."
Maybe it was Heinz Kerry, who thinks Obama might be president someday, or it might be Kerry's staff, who saw a rising Democratic force. But someone spoke up, and three weeks before the convention, Obama got the word. And the rest is history in the making.
Indeed.