Barack Obama visits Dubuque
The Loras College democrats welcomed Illinois Senator and presidential candidate
Barack Obama to the campus field house on Saturday afternoon,
March 10th. Skyrocketing to national notoriety following his
stirring speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention,
Obama has been drawing staggeringly large crowds at all of his
campaign stops, a rarity so early in the process. Following
his opening address which dealt heavily with the failures in
Iraq, he opened up to questions from the crowd. Senator Obama
answered questions on healthcare, the war in Iraq, veterans
affairs, abortion, No Child Left Behind, the loss of American
jobs to other countries, the prevalence of minorities and underprivileged
in our military, and a humorously uncomfortable yet energetic
question about mental illness. (You had to be there). Obama
handled it well and gave a heartfelt response. And like with
Senator Clinton last week, it was a child who raised the question of the environment and global
warming. He said he called on the young man despite his being
a Packer fan. The young man countered with "I'm a White Sox fan too." That got him a high five from the candidate. Many of his answers garnered cheers,
a couple getting standing ovations from the capacity crowd.
In the end he asked for the group's support in his quest for
the Presidency, but credited Iowan's for our their unwillingness
to commit to a candidate before we've heard from them all. So,
he said, most importantly, whether you support him or another
candidate, to simply get involved in the process and take our
national responsibility as the first to decide personally .-
Photos by Bryce Parks. |
Click here to download the 5.5 Megabyte Quicktime Movie. This is only a two minute
highlight capturing the atmosphere of the event.
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