In my continuing efforts to meet or at least hear out the presidential candidates and their spouses and to evaluate the campaigns first hand before making my up my mind, I attended a Barack Obama town hall in Raleigh. Previously on this blog, I offered my impressions of rallies with Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama and compiled links to accounts from other "citizen journalists" who've posted their impressions, pictures and videos to the web.
I used my press pass, while many others waited in line for hours. But I don't feel guilty, because my objectives were indeed professional -- to convey to a much greater degree than what one finds in the typical mainstream media report, with all its constraints of time, space, and "objectivity," what the people attending such an event were thinking, and to record my honest impressions.
North Carolinians explain why they stand in line for hours to get tickets to see Barack Obama in Raleigh (Citizen Journalism video by Ginny Skalski). At least one woman had waited for tickets from 1:45 am until they were distributed at 9:30 am:
My video of Barack Obama shaking hands with voters after a town hall at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.
(For some reason, the sound isn't uploading. I'll keep trying.) Woman beside me reaches out to Obama and says, awestruck, "I appreciate you. I don't know if anyone has told you that today, but I appreciate you." Woman next to her shakes hand with Obama and says afterwards, awestruck and laughing, "I'm not going to be able to use this hand anymore, I'm not going to be able to wash it."
I"m sure this kind of adoration is off-putting to Obama skeptics, but to me the enthusiasm and energy he generates is absolutely necessary for a successful political campaign.
The sound IS working in the clip below -- a clip from Obama's talk.
"Last night you were really pummelled in that (PA) debate," a member of the audience told Obama, asking him what's his strategy to deflect such attacks in the future:
Does Obama seem a little rattled in this clip? "BitterAntipathy" posted this clip on YouTube and thinks so:
George Will asserts that Barack Obama is an arrogant elitist who does not understand conservatives or rural America, comparing him to Adlai Stevenson, an egghead who lost in landslides to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1952. When told that he had the support of "all thinking people," Stevenson replied, "But that's not enough. I need a majority." Indeed, my first impression of Obama when he held a rally in Durham last November -- a couple of months before Obama-mania took hold in Iowa and when it looked like Hillary Clinton had the Democratic nomination locked up -- was that his style was more that of Illinois' Stevenson than of Illinois' Jesse Jackson.
"What struck me was the CEREBRAL appeal of Obama's speech, more of an appeal to the mind than the heart," I wrote back then. "His speech lacked what one expects from a black politician speaking to a predominantly black crowd -- a lot of rousing rhetoric and interaction with the audience, shouts of "you're so right!" Instead of building up the audience to a crescendo, highly energized and ready to volunteer for his campaign, I thought Obama ended on a relatively intellectual, restrained, some might say, FLAT note. To the older people in the audience, I imagine Obama came across as an EGGHEAD, a man more comfortable in the tradition of Adlai Stevenson of Illinois than Jesse Jackson of Illinois.
What a difference six months has made. Obama on the stump in Raleigh seemed precisely in tune with the yearnings of his audience of 2000 people, combining both appeals to the heart and the head. Answering voters' questions, he by no means talked down to them in the detached, intellectual way that Stevenson might have. He addressed the wishful thinking of his opponents head on, asserting that it's quite understandable that people in rural areas are bitter and angry over job losses and companies shifting jobs overseas. Anger helps fuel energy, and hope, he said, and without it change will not occur. He urged citizens to direct their anger into community organizing and political activism. "Stand with me, organize with me, and we will change this country," he declared.
It seems to me that's the fundamental difference between Obama and Hillary Clinton. She speaks of "I," he speaks of "we." She's from the television era of voters as passive observers of politics. Obama is from the new Internet era of voters as active participants in politics. I could be wrong, and I'll wait to see her in person before I come to a conclusion, but my hunch is that she "doesn't get it," doesn't understand the possibilities and power of this new era of networked communication.
Decide for yourself if, as Will charges, Obama sounds like an Adlai Stevenson elitist. Here's Stevenson:
Other Stevenson video clips on YouTube.
Related Blogger Posts:
- Pam's House Blend summarizes the eight questions posed to Obama in Raleigh and how he answered them.
- Photographing Senator Obama, by Sue-Leigh
- Greg Flynn: Obama Town Hall Photo Album
- Greg Flynn: Obama Town Hall Video Album
- Photos of the crowd at Raleigh town hall
- "The peculiar and amazing thing is if the crowd waned on his talking points you could actually see him process and execute how to win the crowd back." (What's Best for Otis blog)
Related Articles:
Related media coverage:
- Obama Decries 'Gotcha' Politics (News and Observer)
- Obama: Talk About Issues, Not Politics (WRAL)
- Obama: Hope, Anger Go Hand in Hand (Baltimore Sun)
- Interesting reaction to Obama's Raleigh comments and Wednesday's debate at YouTube.com
