Obama rocks Concord
Following his impressive victory in Iowa, Barack Obama hit the ground running in NH yesterday. Among his campaign events was a speech at Concord High School, where I work. Given the level of enthusiasm with which Obama was received by the mixture of students and community members who packed the gym here, I believe he now stands a realistic chance not just of riding his momentum to a win in next Tuesday’s primary but of ultimately becoming our next President.
Although most of the major candidates have stopped here at some point on the campaign trail, none of the others generated anywhere near Obama’s buzz: the speech was a must-see event. While his voice was hoarse at times, the Illinois Senator spoke with an energy and a conviction that clearly inspired his listeners. His two most prominent themes were change and hope. Obama promised change in a number of areas, including health care, where “every American should have at least as good a health care plan as I do (as a member of Congress)”. Noting that he had never been a favorite of lobbyists and wouldn’t be beholden to them if elected, he presented himself as the candidate most likely to clean up Washington. On foreign policy, he promised “less rattling of the saber”, but flexed some muscle in making clear that he would go after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to “finish the job” there. In the “hope” section, Obama referenced his own remarkable personal journey and observed that each generation had to rise up to meet its particular challenges. Passionately recalling the sacrifices made during the Civil Rights era, Obama observed that that same spirit of idealism could be harnessed to deal with current issues. Declaring that he didn’t view his relative inexperience as a detriment, he playfully mocked the voices of his Beltway critics: “he needs more seasoning….he needs to be boiled in the same stew (of hopelessness) that we are!”. To those who say he’s too nice to be President, Obama’s reply was similar: there’s already way too much partisan bickering in Washington and “we don’t need more heat, we need more light!”
Some in the audience may have been disappointed in an address that was more notable for enthusiasm and inspirational rhetoric than for substantive proposals. The Illinois Senator has neither a fondness for policy minutiae nor a particularly folksy personality. He comes across, however, as a bright, compassionate guy with a great capacity to lead and inspire- more a man for the people than a man of the people. He clearly believes in what he’s saying to a much greater degree than most politicians, and the crowd sensed that and drew energy from it. My students loved him, and it’s easy to see why: Obama appeals to the idealist in all of us. In a dangerous world where there’s often more heat than light, his seemingly naïve approach strikes some as touching and others as alarming and potentially dangerous. I saw yesterday, though, that he’s connecting with something deep inside his audiences, and given the cynicism of this year’s electorate towards politics as usual, Obama’s wave of momentum has the potential to become the perfect political storm.