Obama wow’s ‘em in Denver, leaves 70,000 people a mile high
Add comment August 28th, 2008
Barack Obama delivered a stirring, yet specific speech to 70,000 screaming Democrats at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver Thursaday night. He also challenged Republican John McCain to a debate about national security and who’d be the better commander in chief. In short, he hit it out of the park.
All the four Rockford area delegates I talked with were beside themselves, even the Clinton delegates. First, you might like to read the speech in full. It’s here, in the New York Times:
Now that you’ve read it, here’s what the Rockford delegates had to say about it:
“I loved the part that he’s going to retool the auto plants so we can start making and buying American cars again, and that’s dear to my heart. I like the idea that he wants to go line item by line item in the federal budget and eliminate programs that don’t work and improve the ones that do work. I think it’s an important thing for him to say. I like the fact that he wants (to reward) teachers but also to have more accountability. I loved the speech, I’m just sitting here in this big stadium, and it’s humbling to be part of this unique moment in our history.”– Mary Tuite, Rockford, an Obama delegate.
“I tell you, he brought me to tears. It was very, very emotional. He is so genuine and he talks about things people care about. He gives you so much hope that we can do better in this country, and we don’t have to accept things as they are, we can strive for what things should be. There’s no question that he’s the leader that we need for our future after all the problems we’ve been going through these past seven years, with the economy, the war, taking care of our military people who have sacrificed so much. He got very specific tonight. He talked about energy independence, that within 10 years we will not be beholden to the oil companies or the countries that our enemies in the Middle East. We can build on our own renewable energy to make new jobs. He committed $150 billion to do it, and I was very impressed with his dedication to do that, because we will finally have a leader dedicated to improving our environment. I was also impressed with his talk of education improvements, and early childhood education to get kids on the right track. I am definitely going to work very hard to elect Barack and Michelle Obama. Now, if you’ll excuse me, about 70,000 of us are trying to exit the stadium at the same time.” – Barb Giolitto, former state representative and a Clinton delegate.
“I think he made a great speech. He was very specific about what he’d do for economic development, and to strengthen national security. He’s eager to debate John McCain about being commander in chief. He is well positioned at this point as he leaves Denver with a unified Democratic Party. He had high praise for the Clintons. We felt just fantastic to be here and see history in the making, to see a change that’s about more than Obama himself. It’s something great to see, just to be part of that.” – Ald. Victory Bell, D-5th., a Clinton delegate. (Vic and wife Carol were dressed in patriotic costumes and were featured on national news web sites.)
“He covered a lot of things we need to pay attention to. He talked about families and the crisis that we’re in because of the economy, and the fact that we need to go after Osama bin Laden with all the forces we have. He talked about the morality of the country and what we need to do to get it back to where it should be. There were so many things, I don’t know where to begin. It was marvelous, just fantastic. We had a lot of people who were very emotional. It was just a great evening. The weather turned out to be fantastic, it got cooler when the sun went down. To see the confetti and the fireworks topped off a truly great evening.” – State Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, an Obama delegate.
