Philadelphia Inquirer: Obama Pushes Across Pennsylvania Today on Whistle-stop Train Ride

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Sat Apr-19-08 09:59 AM
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Philadelphia Inquirer: Obama Pushes Across Pennsylvania Today on Whistle-stop Train Ride

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20080419_Obama_pushes_across_Pa_.html

Obama pushes across Pa.
He ended the day urging thousands in Phila. to send a message Tuesday.

By Larry Eichel

Inquirer Senior Writer

Sen. Barack Obama launched his closing Pennsylvania blitz yesterday by traveling from one corner of the state to the other, starting in Erie and closing with a massive outdoor rally on the streets of Philadelphia.

On a warm and clear spring evening, in front of a crowd estimated at 35,000, the Democratic presidential candidate told supporters that they have the opportunity to send a powerful message to the rest of the country in the primary on Tuesday.

"In four days, you get the chance to help bring about the change that we need right now," Obama said. "Here in the city and the state that gave birth to our democracy, we can declare our independence from the politics that's shut us out, let us down, and told us to settle."

And he blasted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the party's nomination, even as he called her "a tenacious opponent and a committed public servant." She is the front-runner in Pennsylvania, as Obama acknowledged last night, even though he leads her nationally.

"She's taken different positions at different times on issues as fundamental as trade and even war to suit the politics of the moment," Obama said. "And in the last few months, she's launched what her campaign calls a 'kitchen sink' strategy of negative attacks, which she defends by telling us that this is what the Republicans would do."

The crowd - the estimate of 35,000 came from officials at the Independence Visitors Center - began assembling early, filling Independence Mall and spilling into the surrounding streets. They waited with relative patience, chanting "O-ba-ma" whenever the music stopped, until 8:45, when the rally finally started. They gave him a thunderous greeting and cheered often throughout a speech that was crafted with the setting in mind.

With Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell to his right and the National Constitution Center to his left, the Illinois senator draped his familiar message in the local historical trappings.

In an obvious reference to some of his recent difficulties, he said that it was time to declare independence from "the politics that feeds on fake controversy."

Said Obama: "That may make for good headlines and good television, but it doesn't make for good government - it doesn't bring down the price of your gas or your premiums; it doesn't help you pay for college or bring your loved one home from Iraq any faster."

Later, at Lycoming College in Williamsport, he received a similar message, this time from a teacher.

"I am a Christian, my husband is a Christian, and my husband owns guns," the woman told him. "We are not bitter about your statement. However, we are bitter about how your opponent is spinning your statement."

Today, Obama embarks on a daylong, whistle-stop train ride, starting at Wynnewood and ending with a nighttime rally on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg. At some stations, the candidate is expected to speak from the train as it rolls by at slow speed.