Gail from Burlington, Vermont, proudly displayed her rally ticket, while Linda Brown of Sandown, New Hampshire, looked on.
“I support Obama because I sincerely appreciate the fact he’s willing to say he inhaled,” said Gail. “It’s refreshing to hear a leader tell it like it is, not just what what we want to hear. Being a woman, I’d like to support Hillary. But I think we need change, not the same thing over again.”
“I’m leaning Obama; I’m here to hear what he has to say,” said Linda. What issues brought her out today?
“The economy is a big issue — the credit crisis. Plus, Oprah is supporting him. I think a lot of Oprah; she wouldn’t be supporting him if he didn’t have good values.”
Amy and Brittany, two students from UNH-Durham, shared a pizza while waiting in line. What kind of pizza?
“Pineapple and mushroom,” said Brittany. (Really?) “But it’s not mixed together; it’s half and half.” (That’s a relief; for a moment there, it seemed that worlds that should remain forever separate threatened to collide.)
“I’ve loved Obama ever since his speech at the Democratic National Convention,” said Amy. “But to tell you the truth, Oprah’s a good pull. I came to hear her. Otherwise, I would have waited for Obama to come to me.”
What issues are on Amy’s mind? “Opposition to war, the economy — especially the subprime mortgage crisis, and gay rights.”
Bhavani Brown and her husband Richard traveled from Windham, New Hampshire. Bhavani, whose name means “Giver of Life” in Hindi, said that she supports Obama because “he’s straightforward.” “He will address health care, and get us out of an unjust war,” she added.
The Hilson and Ross families (Florine and Rev. Arthur L. Hilson, their daughter Antoinette, and Benny and Marra Ross) journeyed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. What’s their number one reason for supporting Obama?
“Health care!” said Marra.
How do they assess Obama’s character? “Marvelous,” stated Rev. Hilson, who preaches at New Hope Baptist Church in Portsmouth. “Senator Obama has a sense of integrity and a love of his family. He’s also an eclectic listener. I mean he listens to a variety of people and he’s open to all sides before he makes up his mind.”
Inside the arena, dozens of still photographers and 23 video cameras recorded the events. While C-SPAN and other major media provided coverage, the Obama team also granted access to bloggers and student press from colleges and universities across New England.
The crowd energized itself while waiting for the speakers. Ralliers began doing “the wave” — standing and stretching their arms over their heads in an undulating rhythm that coursed around and around the arena. One of those waving an Obama sign was Linda Brown, who had been leaning Obama.
A number of other women and girls also caught the wave of excitement. Among them, a Latina mother — a Mama for Obama — and her daughter, who clutched an Obama ’08 sign.
New Hampshire Governor John Lynch welcomed the crowd, asked them to give a warm welcome to Oprah Winfrey, and then introduced Michelle Obama.
Michelle, a gifted attorney who frequently campaigns for and critiques her husband, seemed relaxed and fired up at the same time.
“Are y’all ready for some change?” cried Michelle. The crowd roared. “Are you hungry for leadership that can inspire us to be a different kind of nation?” New Hampshire voters responded that they were ready for change.
Michelle then introduced Oprah Winfrey, who conveyed her own genuine enthusiasm and fired up the crowd even more.
“I feel blessed to be a part of the Obama movement,” said Oprah. “I started out last night in Iowa. I was a little nervous. I’m beginning to like this. I’m beginning to like this. I’m beginning to like this because I feel that you are ready for change.”
Oprah lauded Senator Obama in her introduction, saying, “I have done my homework and I know for sure that he is going to lead us with compassion and conviction.”
“If you keep doing the same thing in the same way, you are going to get the same result,” said Oprah. “So now is a time for change we can believe in.”
Ringing out again on the theme of clarity and conviction, Oprah said, “Long before it was popular, he was standing with clarity and conviction against the war in Iraq.” The crowd’s applause was thunderous.
When Obama joined Oprah and Michelle, he began by welcoming, as his special guests, members of the AFL-CIO.
“Verizon Wireless Arena does not have stage hands who are union workers,” said Obama. “We should get some unions in here to make sure stage hands are getting a fair shake. Because I believe in working people.”
Obama remained loose and relaxed, but focused and in tune with his audience.
One of his biggest applause lines came when he criticized the Bush administration for misleading America into an unjust war with Iraq.
“The only mission that was accomplished was to use fear and falsehood to take this country into a war that never should have been authorized. It should have never been waged.”
Obama promised to tell America the hard truth instead of triangulating and poll-testing to generate spin.
“Telling the American people what we think they want to hear instead of what they need to hear — that just won’t do.”
Obama deployed his wry sense of humor effectively to brush off the myth that he had been planning to run for the presidency since his days in kindergarten.
“People are saying I’ve been planning to run since kindergarten. I was a pretty bright kid, but I don’t remember writing any essays in kindergarten. I could write my own name, O-B-A-M-A. I’m going to release my papers from kindergarten,” Obama said, to the crowd’s delight. “I was experimenting then, coloring beyond the lines.”
By the end of the rally, Obama held thousands of people, mostly women, spellbound with his eloquence, humor, and vision. If Oprah had lured most of the audience members to the arena, it was Obama who sealed the deal.
Thanks and kudos are due to Team Obama for granting generous access to bloggers and student journalists.
i haven;t gone to any rallies yet. it’s interesting to get a flavor of the ones i’m missing via posts like this one. thanks.
…a homophobe. But, what the heck. It’s her reputation that’s at stake.
Let’s see you substantiate that Raj. I have no doubt that you can, to your own satisfaction, but I’m still interested to see how you go about it.
…one is known by the company one keeps. Do I really have to remind you of Obama’s antics a few weeks ago with the homophobic “ex-gay” gospel singer at a campaign appearance in the American South? Your short term memory isn’t quite that short term, is it? It’s obvious that Obama was pandering to homophobes, and, as far as I’m concerned, a panderer is no better than or different from the people he or she is pandering to.
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p>I’ll put it another way. A leader leads. A panderer panders. There is a rather substantial difference, even if you don’t want to recognize it.
Somif I’m friendly with someone who is not comfortable with equal marriage, then I, by extension, am a homophobe?
the answer is “no”. there is a huge difference between being friendly and chatty with an acquaintance, and accepting major campaign assistance from someone who takes that opportunity (with no criticism from you) to spew bigot-talk about another constituency you’re courting.
…and avoiding the question of what “somif” refers to
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p>let me posit you the following. As far as I’m concerned, you can be buddies with whatever racists, anti-women and homophobes that you wish to be. But when you, like Obama, start inviting them to your campaigns, you are reponsible for them and their message. You would not be responsible if a racist endorsed you–you have no choice in the matter, the racist can blather on however he wishes. You are not responsible if an anti-feminist endorsed you–you have no choice in the matter. You are not responsible if a fag-basher (rhetorical or otherwise) endorsed you–you have no choice in the matter.
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p>But you do have a choice in determining who is going to appear at your campaign appearances. And therein, whether or not you wish to believe it, lies the difference.
What I love the most about that reply is that you totally jumped on “somif,” with all the frenzy of a ravenous dog to a bone. I bet your eyes just lit up when you saw that. “Awesome! An opening to totally put someone else down!”
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p>The other part I enjoyed was how much more reasonable Laurel’s response was than yours.
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p>You’re posting a lot lately. Maybe you just need to turn off the computer and go enjoy Germany.
… harsh about raj’s comment, other than maybe the misspelling thing, and even that is mild.
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p>Mild? YMMV
… comment on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 13:29:08 PM EST,… the one to which Edprisby made his response to.
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p>I just came across his objection, and reviewed what it looked like he was objecting to. I wasn’t engaging in a raj comment survey.
…you could have translated “somif” into English. Even American English. If you had, maybe your comment might just have made sense.
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p>If you noted (which I’m sure you didn’t) my response to your comment had little if anything to do with “somif” (I’ll be presumptuous and presume that you meant “some of”) but I will note that you completely failed to address the substance of the response.
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p>I suppose that, in having done so, you believe yourself to be a consumate politician. But, as far as I’m concerned, that shows you to be a consumate jackass. And, by the way, I actually do believe that it is great that BlueMassGroup has given you a forum on which you can show your jackassieness.
This is the kettle! You’re black!
I thought it was pretty clear that “somif” was a typo for “so if”.
Likewise, if the Obama crtics on this thread actually provided a link or context rather than cryptic If-you-don’t-know-what-I’m-angry-about-then-I’m-sure-not-going-to-tell-you denuciations, the pissiness blow might not have been necessary.
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p>Long story short, Obama likes to invite gospel singers to campaign rallies. Some/all of these gospel singers are vocal opponents of gay rights. Obama confonted on their position; singers invited to campaign functions anyway.
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p>So, the commenters below are right that the incident in question is more than being friendly, but rather choosing certain people to represent the campaign.
folks can read up on the deal here.
Gay rights activist Kathy Belge summarizes Senator Obama’s support for gay rights on About.com:
This is rapidly turning into the real world showing of the movie “Ideocracy”. While Obama has been unable to define himself, perhaps because he has not yet figured out who he is, Oprah will have him dressed up in Ronald McDonald clown gear and shilling for their corporate sponsers in no time. Who could do it better.
And this is the dems alternative to the Shillary show?
No matter how hard you try to repackage the same tired old crap it just gets harder and harder to pass it off as some exciting new offering the more rancid it becomes.
I disagree: mushroom and pineapple pizza is excellent.
But anything with pineapple on it is no longer deserving of the name “pizza.”
There are many, especially in Hawaii and Japan, that would disagree.
They are referring to a baked dish that includes dough and pineapple. A “pie” maybe. But not pizza.
…but I suspect that more than a few people from Naples (Italy, not FL) would be appalled at what Americans call pizza. Including the “Chicago deep dish pizza” sold at Pizzeria Uno, which is nothing more than indigestion inducing.
dough baked with stuff, whether sweet or savory or, as with pineapple+mushroom, both! pizza? good! pie? good! pizza pie? well ok then!
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p>* with the exception of any pizza manufactured in new jersey. worst pizza i’ve ever had.
There is a street in New Haven (Worcester Street?) that has two restaurants: Sally’s and Pepe’s, both of which tie for the best pizza I have ever had, by far, and I grew up within shouting distance of Brooklyn.
Franco’s in Milford is the best I’ve ever had anywhere. Very thin crust. Mostly white pizzas (olive oil instead of tomato sauce, for those ignoramuses who will want to challenge me with racism). Enough cheese but not in quantities to choke a horse (that would be Chicago-style). Fresh veggies on top sliced thinly enough to mostly, but not completely, cook in the oven.
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p>Another favorite is a place in Chicago is Giordano’s – an Argentine guy’s take on stuffed pizza. The crust is flaky rather than elastic. And true to the city he lives in, he does provide enough cheese per pizza to choke a horse.
…literally, every time we went to Pizzeria Uno, I would get indigestion. That’s why we stopped going.
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p>Flat pixxas, with a bit of pineapple, not so much a problem.
From Vermont. Pizza with maple fennel sausage….delicioso.
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p>As for what Italians think of our “pizza”, I imagine I’d be displeased with what I’d see passing for hamburgers in much of the world.
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p>~~~~~
What I don’t say here, I say here.
… Williams’ annual pizza show on RKO during the early 90’s?
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p>Good Lord… how’s that monument to Oprah’s ego doing in South Africa by the way?
One extremely weird side-effect of the conservative tilt of the media — TV, talk radio, and print — is that lots of Americans have very little contact with a coherent, well-argued, well-presented liberal position. Colmes does not count as “well-presented”. There is one place where Americans do see a lot of liberals and those liberals are portrayed as total cuckoo clocks because they are creative and quirky liberals with money to burn.
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p>Those are the movie star liberals that grace the pages of People Magazine.
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p>If only, E.J.Dionne weren’t more glamorous.
Patriot Act renewal-Obama/yea
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p>http://www.usatoday.com/news/w…
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p>http://thehill.com/byron-york/…
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p>No there will be no change.