Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Man found hanging at playground in Stow
Relatives doubt story of suicide
FBI asked to investigate attack on white family near Firestone Park
Robbery suspect's body left at Akron hospital
Man shot in back near Akron park
Blogs:
Pets:
Zeke, the basketball playing dog
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Six new scholarship offers
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
Tribe roster on hold?
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Baby Got Barack !
Blog of Mass Destruction:
The Rogue Bush White House
Akron Law Café:
New Wiretapping Revelations from Inspector General
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ontko selects Wisconsin
See Jane Style:
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Video game sales drop in May
By Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 04:19 p.m. EST, Feb 28, 2008
Michelle Obama had one key question for the crowd of 300 in Canton's Palace Theatre this morning -- ''Are you ready for change?''
The collective reply was a boisterous ''Yes,'' which segued into the campaign chant of ''Yes we can.''
However, Obama was quick to note that change ''isn't a slogan'' but ''requires active engagement,'' taking a jab at critics, who have derided her husband's message of hope as style over substance.
Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, spoke for just over an hour in Canton before continuing her day-long campaign trek across Ohio, which was to take her on to Zanesville, Athens and Chillicothe.
To accomplish the change promised by her husband's campaign, Obama said Americans must ''be ready to shed our cynicism'' and just as importantly ''roll up our sleeves'' and work for the common good.
''Our greatest challenge is that we have a mutual obligation to one another...We have lost sight of that because we haven't had leadership that has asked us to sacrifice and compromise for one another,'' she said.
Obama clearly connected with the overwhelmingly partisan crowd, who interrupted her stump speech a dozen times with rousing applause.
She shared a little personal history with the audience talking about her modest upbringing in Chicago, the daughter of a blue collar city worker and a stay-at-home mother.
''I'm regular folk...When you look at me you see what an investment in a public education looks like,'' said Obama, 44, who has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a Harvard law degree.
But Obama said her story is much harder, if not impossible to achieve today.
''You could do that back then. You could send kids to college on a single city worker's salary,'' said Obama, who lamented that the bar to achieve stability and security for American families, for college-bound students, for seniors keeps shifting.
Obama said the average American -- ''regular folks just like my parents -- aren't asking for much. They're just asking for the that bar to stop moving and be still.''
She riffed on the ''moving bar'' theme when talking about her husband's presidential aspirations.
Obama said that the pundits scoffed at his chances when he announced his candidacy a year ago.
''They said there was no way he could raise the money to compete against a political dynasty,'' she said, never mentioning the name of his opponent Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But she said when her husband out raised the others, she blamed pundits for saying: ''Money isn't important. The true test is building a political organization.''
She told the crowd when ''Barack started working the ground in Iowa'' and eventually won the caucus in that state, all of a sudden Iowa wasn't important because it was ''only a caucus'' and not a primary.
Likewise, she said his victory in the South Carolina primary was downplayed because ''he was supposed to win.''
At present her husband has racked up wins in 11 contests.
''The bar gets set and then we find out that they moved it...That's the way it is for regular folk, working harder and longer to reach a bar and it keeps moving and they can't get ahead no matter how hard you work,'' Obama said.
''But folks,'' she said, ''are feeling a sense of possibility.''
Brandon Hollis, 19, was one.
''Oh, my God, her message is right on time,'' said Hollis, as he rose for a standing ovation.
Hollis, who attends Canton's Care Christian Academy, said that Barack Obama is the only candidate up to the task of improving the economy, delivering universal health care, and helping young people like himself with the cost of higher education.
Kate Hoffman, 77, of Canton -- who is still undecided who she will vote for next Tuesday -- said today's speech has her leaning in Obama's direction.
''I really like Obama, but I like his wife better,'' Hoffman said. Yet she said she remains torn between Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain.
Hoffman, who came to the rally with her daughter, said jobs, education and health care are her areas of concern.
''The cost of health care is outrageous for senior citizens even with Medicare...One little pill costs $4. When my husband dropped one I picked it up, blew it off and gave it back to him,'' Hoffman said.
''I just want someone who has integrity, who is honest and trustworthy. I want somebody who looks to help other people,'' she said.
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com.
Michelle Obama had one key question for the crowd of 300 in Canton's Palace Theatre this morning -- ''Are you ready for change?''
The collective reply was a boisterous ''Yes,'' which segued into the campaign chant of ''Yes we can.''
However, Obama was quick to note that change ''isn't a slogan'' but ''requires active engagement,'' taking a jab at critics, who have derided her husband's message of hope as style over substance.
Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, spoke for just over an hour in Canton before continuing her day-long campaign trek across Ohio, which was to take her on to Zanesville, Athens and Chillicothe.
To accomplish the change promised by her husband's campaign, Obama said Americans must ''be ready to shed our cynicism'' and just as importantly ''roll up our sleeves'' and work for the common good.
''Our greatest challenge is that we have a mutual obligation to one another...We have lost sight of that because we haven't had leadership that has asked us to sacrifice and compromise for one another,'' she said.
Obama clearly connected with the overwhelmingly partisan crowd, who interrupted her stump speech a dozen times with rousing applause.
She shared a little personal history with the audience talking about her modest upbringing in Chicago, the daughter of a blue collar city worker and a stay-at-home mother.
''I'm regular folk...When you look at me you see what an investment in a public education looks like,'' said Obama, 44, who has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a Harvard law degree.
But Obama said her story is much harder, if not impossible to achieve today.
''You could do that back then. You could send kids to college on a single city worker's salary,'' said Obama, who lamented that the bar to achieve stability and security for American families, for college-bound students, for seniors keeps shifting.
Obama said the average American -- ''regular folks just like my parents -- aren't asking for much. They're just asking for the that bar to stop moving and be still.''
She riffed on the ''moving bar'' theme when talking about her husband's presidential aspirations.
Obama said that the pundits scoffed at his chances when he announced his candidacy a year ago.
''They said there was no way he could raise the money to compete against a political dynasty,'' she said, never mentioning the name of his opponent Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But she said when her husband out raised the others, she blamed pundits for saying: ''Money isn't important. The true test is building a political organization.''
She told the crowd when ''Barack started working the ground in Iowa'' and eventually won the caucus in that state, all of a sudden Iowa wasn't important because it was ''only a caucus'' and not a primary.
Likewise, she said his victory in the South Carolina primary was downplayed because ''he was supposed to win.''
At present her husband has racked up wins in 11 contests.
''The bar gets set and then we find out that they moved it...That's the way it is for regular folk, working harder and longer to reach a bar and it keeps moving and they can't get ahead no matter how hard you work,'' Obama said.
''But folks,'' she said, ''are feeling a sense of possibility.''
Brandon Hollis, 19, was one.
''Oh, my God, her message is right on time,'' said Hollis, as he rose for a standing ovation.
Hollis, who attends Canton's Care Christian Academy, said that Barack Obama is the only candidate up to the task of improving the economy, delivering universal health care, and helping young people like himself with the cost of higher education.
Kate Hoffman, 77, of Canton -- who is still undecided who she will vote for next Tuesday -- said today's speech has her leaning in Obama's direction.
''I really like Obama, but I like his wife better,'' Hoffman said. Yet she said she remains torn between Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain.
Hoffman, who came to the rally with her daughter, said jobs, education and health care are her areas of concern.
''The cost of health care is outrageous for senior citizens even with Medicare...One little pill costs $4. When my husband dropped one I picked it up, blew it off and gave it back to him,'' Hoffman said.
''I just want someone who has integrity, who is honest and trustworthy. I want somebody who looks to help other people,'' she said.
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
