[Marxism] Obama speaks to estimated 35, 000 in Phila. about "change we need right now"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Evidence that, after a serious wobble as a result of the brouhaha over the
"bitter" comment culminating in the sustained attack on him by the
moderators and Clinton in the "debate," Obama's campaigning seems to be back
on track. He is endorsed by both Phila. Newspapers, the Inquirer and the
Daily News (same owners, I believe). While like Joaquin, I expect Clinton to
win a victory in the low double digits, I nonetheless think she is rapidly
approaching the end of the road.  

I might add that the reporters covering the campaign tend to think that she
is still losing ground to Obama in the state, and that the election will be
closer than either Joaquin or I think. If true, this would indicate a
certain backlash against the baiting of Obama. Well, we'll see.

But it is becoming clear that she cannot win the nomination, and continuing
her all-out attack on the certain candidate will soon begin to seem very
much like a virtual split from the party.  I think the pressure to quit is
likely to become irresistible -- especially after North Carolina.

I think the resistance voters are showing to the relentless baiting of Obama
around the "bitter" remark, Wright, the Ayers business, etc., actually bodes
quite ill for the McCain campaign once the public split among the Democrats
is formally healed.  It indicates that the kind of rightist, racist smear
jobs that have worked so well for the Republicans since 1988 is running out
of steam.

The fact that the right-wing baiting is not working as it did in the past is
a positive development, of course.
Fred Feldman


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."

Earlier, in Erie, Obama held a town-hall meeting for about 2,200 people in
the gymnasium at the Penn State campus.

There, he took a shot at recent comments about the economy by Sen. John
McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

On Thursday in a television interview, McCain said: ". . . you could make an
argument that there's been great progress economically over that period of
time [the Bush years]. But that's no comfort. That's no comfort to families
now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges." 

Obama jumped on the first part of those comments.

"I see that John McCain now says that we've made great progress economically
over the last seven years," he said. "How can someone who's been traveling
around the country think there's been great progress?"

Obama then ticked off what he described as some of the economic indicators
that have worsened even as the economy has expanded - more people without
health care, people losing jobs, more people in poverty, real wages
declining, and prices rising.

"Only someone who's spent two decades in Washington could make a statement
that's so disconnected from the hard times that people are facing all across
America," Obama said.

McCain's spokesman, Tucker Bounds, replied: "Obama is guilty of deliberately
distorting John McCain's comments for pure political gain" and of being
"recklessly dishonest."

During the Erie forum, one of Obama's questioners told him not to worry
about the validity of his controversial comments about the attitudes of
small-town Pennsylvanians, which came to light a week ago.

Said the questioner: "You can go ahead and tell people that we here in Erie
are bitter about what's happened the last eight years."

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.

Most recent polls show Clinton leading in Pennsylvania by about 5 percentage
points with the primary on Tuesday.



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