Barack Obama: "There are a lot of quiet storms going on all across America"

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Sat Sep-13-08 12:32 PM
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Barack Obama: "There are a lot of quiet storms going on all across America"

Edited on Sat Sep-13-08 12:56 PM by bigtree

September 13, 2008

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Blessed by a beautiful late summer morning, the Barack Obama supporters who packed into Manchester's Veterans Memorial Park today were jubilant -- happy to have him back in the Granite State, confident about the election, pumped up by the music and the chants of "Yes we can!"

But Obama, almost as soon as he took the mike, struck a somber tone, and the place went quiet. Hurricane Ike had slammed into the Texas coast, he said, and things weren't looking good. He said he had been on the phone with the head of FEMA, the Houston mayor, and other officials. The extent of the damage is unclear, he said, but the signs are ominous: perhaps 100,000 homes lost, four million people without power, and fears of widespread death and destruction in Galveston, where many people reportedly stayed to ride out the storm.

The crowd, which Obama's campaign said was roughly 8,000 strong, groaned. "Oh God," one woman said. "This could be a very difficult, trying time for the people who live in the Gulf," Obama said. "It's important for us to make sure that we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers today."

He urged supporters to donate to the Red Cross, and to be prepared to volunteer and send supplies. "You will help them -- I have confidence," he said.

read:http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/09/obama_strikes_s.html

Obama, who spoke by telephone with federal officials and the mayor of Houston Friday, said some 100,000 homes had probably been lost to the enormous storm, four million people were without power and many people had failed to evacuate from the city of Galveston which lay directly in Ike's path.

"During moments of tragedy the American people come together. We may argue, we may differ but we are all American and one of the principles of this great country is that during times of need we are all in it together," he said.

"Even as we think about this enormous hurricane that's moving its way through the Gulf, one of the things I've learned over the last 19 months is that a lot of people are going through their own trials and their own tribulations," Obama added.

"There are a lot of quiet storms that are taking place throughout America," he said pointing to rising job losses, home seizures and a healthcare crisis -- to all of which, he said, McCain had no answers.

"I don't think John McCain's a bad man. But what I do believe is John McCain doesn't get it. He is out of touch with the American people.

read: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hr79ts2iH-yqjI2plb2lUIn-4tZg

Senator Obama � speaking before a "Change We Need" podium, as "Change We Need" signs waved in the audience � told the New Hampshire crowd that, well he is the change they need.

"Understand this Manchester, if we are going to bring about the change that we need, we have to understand what change is."

"We can't be fooled because John McCain � I've been talking about change since we started this campaign- some of you were involved. I talked about change when we were up, I talked about change when were down," Obama told the crowd of (8,000), "But now suddenly John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin, they're out there saying 'we're for change.' 'We're for change too.' Well I'm glad that they now agree with me but we've got to change America." But let's be absolutely clear about what change means - change isn�t just a word."

read: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/obamas-change-s.html

"There are a lot of quiet storms going on all across America," in the form of job losses, spiraling health care and college costs and schools that are "underfunded and uninspired," Obama told the crowd.

"They will try to distort my record, and they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats want to do.... But the times are too serious for those strategies to work this time," he said.

"People are concerned not just for their immediate well-being, but they're concerned about what happened to that promise, what happened to that dream? Are we going to be the first generation that passes on a country that is a little less prosperous, a little less unified and a little meaner than the last generation?" he said, repeating the phrase that has become the theme of his campaign since the Democratic convention. "We are here to say, 'Enough is enough."

read: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/13/a_big_rally_and_talk_of_econom.html

photos: (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) REUTERS/Neal Hamberg (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)