Rapturous reception for Obama
Americans want new kind of leadership, Illinois senator says during visit
By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff
Dec 11, 2006
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama made his first visit to New Hampshire yesterday, drawing the kinds of crowds and news media attention usually reserved for a sitting president or a presidential nominee. The trip fueled speculation of a possible 2008 presidential bid and showed the first-term senator's marquee appeal.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Jim Demers, a lobbyist and former Democratic lawmaker who met Obama at the airport Saturday night and accompanied him throughout the events yesterday. "A lot of people have compared it to the days when Bobby Kennedy was running for president. I don't think we've seen it since."
Addressing a crowd of more than 1,600 in Manchester, Obama urged Democrats to harness the momentum of last month's election and craft an agenda that reaches beyond party lines. After years of partisan bickering and "slash-and-burn politics," Obama said, Americans are yearning for a new style of leadership.
"There's no reason why we can't create a system where everybody has decent health care. There is no reason why we can't have energy independence in this country," Obama said. "There is no reason why we can't craft a national security strategy that is tough and smart, because what we've seen is tough and dumb.
"That's not a Democratic agenda or a Republican agenda," he said. "That's an American agenda."
"It's flattering to get a lot of attention, although I must say it's baffling, particularly to my wife," Obama said. "I think to some degree, I've become a shorthand or a symbol or a stand-in for a spirit that the last election in New Hampshire represents. It's a spirit that says we are looking for something different."
If Obama chooses to run, that "something different" would mean more money for college education, a strategy for combating global warming and a radically distinct foreign policy, he said. Obama, who opposed the war in Iraq, sharply criticized the Bush administration's handling of the conflict.
In the last election, voters showed that they "understand that the might of our military has to be matched by the strength of our diplomacy," Obama said. "We can't just waste our most precious resource - our young men and women . . . unless we know that their sacrifice will have been worth it."
Obama praised the political machine that led to New Hampshire Democrats' Election Day sweep, which tipped the balance of power in the House, Senate, Executive Council and both congressional districts. The growing support for newly elected U.S. Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter "was a little bit under the radar screen," Obama said. "You took some folks by surprise, but not me."
Although the presidential field is just beginning to take shape, expectation for a possible Obama run has heightened in the six weeks since he said he was considering a White House bid. In a news conference before the Manchester event, Obama said that he hasn't decided whether to run for president.
Before deciding, he will "make sure that our family would not be adversely affected by it," said Obama, who has two young daughters.
Some political analysts have questioned Obama's relative lack of political experience: He served seven years in the Illinois state Senate before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. His ascent to the national scene dates to the 2004 Democratic convention, where he delivered the keynote address.
"Certainly he's a very hot commodity right now. And he may stay up, and he may not," said Bill Shaheen, the husband of former governor Jeanne Shaheen. Democrats are "looking for someone new and someone who has a new voice, and I think they're all kind of pinning their hopes on Obama."
But if yesterday's reception was any indication, Obama would receive a rapturous welcome in most parts of the Granite State.
"We originally scheduled the Rolling Stones for this party," Gov. John Lynch told the Manchester crowd. "But we cancelled them when we realized that Senator Obama would sell more tickets."
The event - which was the New Hampshire Democratic Party's celebration of its Election Day victory - was the largest party fundraiser since a 1999 dinner with then-President Bill Clinton, which drew a crowd of 1,500 to 2,000, staff members said. Before the Manchester event, Obama signed copies of his new book, The Audacity of Hope, in Portsmouth; the 750 free tickets to that event were gone within hours.
Audience members praised Obama's humility, his wit and the way he commanded the crowd, with scarcely a glance at his notes. Many described a political energy that they said reverberated through the room during Obama's speech.
"He feels different," said Candace White Bouchard, a Concord lawmaker. "He's relaxed; he's genuine."
"He took time to look at all parts of the room," said Andrea Goldberg, of Concord. "I definitely came here with the hope that I'd leave feeling like I do."
Obama drew the curious and the converted from 13 states. More than a dozen students from Bowdoin College, in Maine, made the trek. Obama, more than other politicians, resonates with young voters, said Frank Chi, who is part of a new group called Students for Obama.
"A lot of politicians and the political process have made people very cynical," Chi said. "This is the new politics of hope that we want to see in 2008."
Obama even convinced a Republican. Arthur Martel, of Hudson, votes Republican "90 percent of the time," he said. But Obama's stance on the war made Martel a convert: "If he runs, I'll help." Martel's son recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq.
As for race - Obama is the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, and the first black president of the Harvard Law Review - Martel deemed the country ready.
Obama addressed the issue of race in the news conference before his speech. "I think that any African-American candidate or Latino candidate or Asian candidate or women candidate confronts a higher threshold in establishing themselves with voters," he said.
But "what I've found is that if people get to know you, if they have an opportunity to hear you, you have an opportunity to listen to them and talk about common values and common ideas, people will judge you on the merits."
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