Clinton, arms out stretched. Damned teleprompter in the way of his face.
Thirty minutes later the campaign bus shot into the lot behind the stage as the crowd cheered its arrival. Senator Nelson popped up with his "one simple task" of introducing Bill and Barack. The crowd erupted just before Nelson could finish as both walked out on stage. From my vantage point in the center-rear of the field I could barely see over peoples' heads and the forest of camera-clutching arms that sprung to life, and whenever someone was at the podium their face was obscured by a teleprompter. It wasn't until Obama took the mic that a big screen TV switched on to my left giving us a better view. The audio was crystal clear though.
Clinton pointed to all the indicators of the economic illness we are suffering, but offered up Obama as the person best qualified to provide the cure. His "whole to-do list is better, his economic plan is better, his education plan is better ... His health care plan is light years better" than Sen. McCain's. He lavished praise on the choice of Sen. Biden for VP, and that Obama is not afraid to seek council from his advisers on not only what is best but what is right for the economy. And if there was any seed of doubt in our minds about his potential, we should ask ourselves "Has there ever been a campaign that involved so many people" who support him as well? "This man should be our president," and with that he turned the stage over to Barack.
The giant TV helped. Barack SMASH!
"In case you all forgot, this is what it's like to have a great president," Obama said pointing to Bill as he expressed gratitude. After 21 months on the campaign trail his "faith in the American people has been vindicated." He proceeded to run down the 'closing arguments' he made the day before in Canton, Ohio. He called out McCain for his failure to provide economic proposals any different from President Bush. Mentioning the McCain aide quoted as saying "If we talk about the economy we're going to lose," Obama joked being the bright person he is, "I figured I'd better talk more about the economy!" He took on the accusations of socialism as he has in the past few days with the joke that "they heard I shared my toys when I was a kid and decided to call it socialism, that I would occasionally split my peanut butter sandwich with someone at lunch and they call it redistribution of wealth." To this, Bill (seated behind him) broke into red-faced laughter along with the crowd and literally slapped his thigh. His own thigh, that is.
Recognizing the significance of this first joint rally between himself and Clinton, Obama praised Bill's achievement in reshaping the Democratic Party in the 90s and redirecting its purpose, pointing to it as the kind of restorative change needed today. But realizing the government can't do it all, he promised the change would take form in a "better, smarter, more competent government." "Show of hands, who here makes less than a quarter of a million dollars a year?" he asked, to which one guy behind me should "damn I'll raise both hands!" To all of us he promised new investments in infrastructure, cost-saving energy policies, reduced health care and education costs, an end to the black hole of government fund that has become the Iraq war. He promised to bring the troops home, go after Bin Laden and "restore the international respect we had under President Clinton."
Blurry Obama and blurry Clinton, seated.
"We've dug a deep hole and Bush want to hand the shovel to McCain," he said to smirks and chuckles. But if we "have the bravery to bridge our divisions" we could overcome that possibility, and with that he bid us goodnight. Obama and Clinton shook hands, waved to the crowd, and departed.
Oh and one last thing:
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