Can Obama draw crowds the size of baseball games and rock concerts for a 20-minute speech?
Apparently, “yes he can”…
Despite the heat, Philadelphia residents came out in record numbers to hear Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speak on Independence Mall last night. According to Obama’s website, the rally drew a crowd of 35,000.
Supporters waited in line for hours in the 80-degree heat to get a spot at the rally. The first man in line, we heard, had been waiting since 7:30 p.m. the previous night.
Members of the press were allowed into the rally area at around 5 p.m., and according to campaign volunteers, Obama was scheduled to speak at around 8 p.m. While the crowd filled the field — and the entire space from the National Constitution Center to Independence Hall — a performance by Black Eyed Peas’ frontman Will.i.am, who wrote the song, “Yes We Can”, kept audience members entertained.
When the sun went down and it started to get dark, the scene was almost surreal. The crowd extended almost as far as I could see, and the last row of people stood silhouetted against the lit-up Independence Hall at the end of the mall.
Finally, at around 8:45 p.m., the music stopped and the crowd began cheering as Obama walked up onto the stage. The cheers and chants of “O-ba-ma!” and “Yes We Can!” were almost deafening as he walked up to the podium.
After thanking members of his Pennsylvania campaign team, Obama spoke about the history of Independence Hall and the birth of America.
“On this beautiful night, it is important for us to remember the history behind this site,” he began. “It was over two hundred years ago that a group of patriots gathered in this city to do something that no one in the world believed they could do.”
He talked about the Declaration of Independence, and then said America could “declare independence” from conventional Washington politics.
While Obama praised his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as “a tenacious opponent and a committed public servant,” he said that her message “comes down to this — we can’t really change the say-anything, do-anything, special interest-driven game in Washington, so we might as well choose a candidate who really knows how to play it.”
He then said this campaign is too full of “distractions” (the same distractions he put “on notice” on Thursday night’s episode of “The Colbert Report”). “This year we can’t afford the same old politics,” he said.
“In four days, you get the chance to help bring about the change that we need right now, Philadelphia,” he said, referring to Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary.
Check out the DP’s website later this weekend on Monday for more information about the rally, as well as video coverage.
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April 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 am
I really don’t understand what people see in this candidate. His policies and experience are almost as shallow as George Bush’s were before he came into office. Lot’s of talking points, but no real details. Given that the American electorate is dumb enough to elect George Bush twice, it should be no surprise that Obama has supporters. “Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” Please people, not another four years of a rookie in the White House. I am a solid democrat, but of the 40% of dems that would vote for John McCain over Obama any day of the week.