Another evening with Barack Obama

Yesterday, my favorite presidential candidate visited the campus of NCCU in Durham, NC.
The Obama campaign arranged press credentials for me so I could do a live blogging session on BlueNC.
Barack Obama spoke to an energized crowd of 4000 in the O'Kelly Riddick Stadium in the middle of the NCCU campus. The stage was decorated with a big banner that said "CHANGE we can believe in".

As usual, the crowd went nuts when Barack walked on stage.
He started by saying that not only the number of folks that his rallies attract is inspiring but also the make up of the crowd. Just like at another Obama rally I had attended the crowd was very diverse, all ages and races.

He then went on as follows:

The main reason you're here is that you're sick and tired of George W Bush.
We're tired of an administration that treats our constitution as a nuisance.
Tired of tax cuts for the rich and bad economic policies.
Tired of different standards of justice, e.g. Jena 6 against Blackwater or Scooter Libby.
Tired of a lack of progress on health care and education and energy policies.
And most of all tired of a war that costs us thousands of lives and a trillion dollars.

But changing parties in the White House isn't enough, we need big and fundamental change.
We need major change in health care and energy policies, but we can only do that with a fundamental change in the way politics are done.

Obama then talked about his cousin Dick Cheney, saying he's "been hiding this for a long time, everyone has a crazy uncle in the attic and a black sheep in the family". He said he "doesn't want to go on that family hunting trip anytime soon".

Obama spoke about the "culture" in Washington DC, saying he wants to "clean the place out" and make fundamental change in Washington.
He doesn't think anyone in Washington is really listening. He's running because he wants the people's voice to be heard in Washington.

Folks in Washington think I'm naive when I'm "talking about hope again".
Folks say I haven't been in Washington long enough, but being in Washington for too long might boil all the hope out of Me.
Some of the people with a very long resume are Cheney and Bush, as they've proven, a long resume doesn't guarantee good policies.

Obama says he has experience in standing up against special interests and has experience standing up even when its not popular. He references to an anti-war speech he gave when he was running for Senate, when Bush's popularity was 65%.
He said that is something you need to expect from the next president, someone who is willing to stand up, that doesn't flip-flop.

Obama then promised health care for everyone by the end of his first term.
He wants to invest in early childhood education and takes aim at No child left behind, that "leaves the money behind".
He wants to work with our teachers instead of against them. He will get banks out of student loans and make college affordable for everyone.

Obama believes there is no contradiction between our security and our moral standing n the world. He says he'll restore habeas corpus and close down Guantanamo Bay because "that's not who we are". "we're going to lead the world by deed and by example."

The first thing I will do after getting sworn in is calling together the joint chiefs of staff to end this war.

Barack then went on to blame Hillary Clinton for voting for the Iran/revolutionary guard resolution and says we shouldn't be beating the war drums twice. Clinton is telling him he's naive for wanting to talk to "our enemies".
But Obama believes we should never fear to negotiate but shouldn't negotiate out of fear.

Finally Barack Obama feels confident that he can lead this country in a new direction.

I won't be a perfect president, but I'll always be honest and upfront. It's going to be tough, hard and difficult to repair the damage of the last years.
I want to open up the doors of government to the people.
Government by the people and for the people, especially for young people.

Obama then closed off with the familiar "fired up, ready to go" chant and a sentence he ends a lot of rallies with:

Let's go change the world

Here's some pictures I took. You can click on any of them to see a much bigger version.

Some pictures of the big crowd:









Pictures taken during Obama's speech:





After the speech the "press corps" got some private time with the candidate, but I didn't interview him. We all gave that honor to a much younger colleague who also had press credentials :-)





There's a great video on the News & Observer website, which gives a good impression of the Barack Obama rally in Durham yesterday.

Have a good weekend!