Posted on 04/08/2008 5:24:41 PM PDT by PghBaldy
Only a week after her husband drew throngs to Soldiers and Sailors, Michelle Obama wooed a small crowd at Skibo Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Skibo’s risers were packed with community members and students from many of Pittsburgh’s universities. The rally was staffed by volunteers from a number of Carnegie Mellon student organizations, including Carnegie Mellon Students for Barack Obama, Student Senate, AB Political Speakers, and College Democrats.
Helping Students for Obama lead the crowd in cheers of “Ready to go” was Steve Sovern, a professional mediator from just outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who got excited enough about the campaign to travel to Pennsylvania and rally for Mrs. Obama. Sovern, alongside student volunteers, built up a palpable excitement around Mrs. Obama’s speech.
“I’ve been here since 11 a.m. setting up and it’s been amazing. It feels like [Barack] Obama is coming,” said sophomore social and decision sciences major Rotimi Abimbola, a leader of Students for Obama who had only a few days to coordinate the event.
While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”
“I didn’t know they would say, ‘We need a white person here,’ ” said attendee and senior psychology major Shayna Watson, who sat in the crowd behind Mrs. Obama. “I understood they would want a show of diversity, but to pick up people and to reseat them, I didn’t know it would be so outright.”
Mrs. Obama was introduced by Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of former Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (D–Mass.), who endorsed Mr. Obama’s candidacy in South Carolina last January. Heinz Kerry stressed the similarities between Mr. Obama and her late husband John Heinz III, the popular senator from Pennsylvania. She remarked that she has become friends with Mrs. Obama, mainly from exchanging messages on their Blackberries.
Mrs. Obama spoke about her husband’s triumphs over adversity throughout his life, focusing on the decisions he had made that, she said, set him apart from his opponent, Hillary Clinton. As the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, Mrs. Obama said, Mr. Obama could have been successful in the private sector, but chose to go into community organization instead.
“When you’re given the gift of advocacy, you don’t sell it to the highest bidder,” Mrs. Obama said. Mrs. Obama stressed how her husband has relied on “regular folks” instead of big donors.
Instead of thousand-dollar donations, the Obama campaign has raised millions on small checks of $20 to $50. Mrs. Obama sees this participatory attitude as a new trend.
“Folks have been engaged in a way they have not been before. People sit around the TV with their 5-year-olds watching debates.”
Mrs. Obama was careful to note that the Obamas, both of whom are Harvard-educated lawyers and who together own a million-dollar home in Illinois, grew up under difficult conditions.
“In my house, there were no miracles. All I saw was hard work and sacrifice,” Mrs. Obama said, speaking of her youth. “My father did not complain and went to work every single day.”
Most of Mrs. Obama’s statements were met with cheers and enthusiastic support, especially the televised crowd, many of whom were long-time fans of Mr. Obama.
One attendee, Joanne Plummer, a resident of Wilkinsburg, has been waiting a long time for an Obama presidency.
“Four years ago, when I first saw him speak for Kerry, I just knew — this man will be president,” Plummer said
Smart people?
The place would be deserted.
These people have the gall to tell us the adversities they face when they grew up...let me see - got into good schools, scholarships because of affirmative action...be the first black editor of Harvard Law Review w/o any significant writings of his own (hmmm...affirmative candidate - anyone)..and making millions while donating 25K to Rev. Wright’s church and complaining they have not done paying with their student loans...and yeah, nothing to be really proud of this country even with all these advantages...Compare to McCain, shot down and captured in a foreign country...offered to get out early because his dad was the pacific commander of the navy - BUT HE DIDN”T - suffer 5 and a half yrs of torture by the Viet Congs...Hmmm...he had it easy indeed...I just wonder out loud if the reverse is true, how fast a Michelle Obama or a Barack Obama or for that matter, a John F Kerry would denounce the US KKKA in order to get out of the POW camp first...I have to say I can handle BHO, he seems to be an Ok guy..but Michelle Obama - she is wicked to the first degree...and she would be an even more lightning rod than Hillary ever was in the 90s.
Oh, I know that all politicians do it, and I was speaking not just to Mrs. Obama but to the whole lot of them.
However, it seems especially egregious given what we’ve learned in the last few months about the Obamas, doesn’t it?
The thing that is surprising to me is that this article is from a college newspaper. Carnegei Mellon is the BEST school in Pittsburgh, and one of the best in the country. They would be the prime elite whites that Obama already has. I’m surprised they published this. Then again, there are a lot of Asian kids that go there too. CMU is big in Computer Science & Drama.
Hate to break it to you all but blacks get front row seats at republican events too. That game gets played by all politicians.
It’s more like “Send in more whities”, but when we are talking about politicians like Obama and Hildabeast, it is more like Judy Collins’ song, “SEND IN THE CLOWNS”.
The whole Democratic affair is a three-ring circus held in an insane asylum. I just hope that the American voter isn’t as crazy and let’s these fools out.
Mrs. Michelle Obama should go on a 50 state speaking tour if Senator Barack Hussein Obama wins the democratic party nomination. Typical White AmeriKKKans want to hear what she has to say. Team Obama, are you reading this?
Obvious there`s a narrow beam of yellowish light on his face, look at those behind him, to his left. They`re bathed in it also.
Trying hard to make him the messiah. To us in the know, anti-christ.
Where’s all the white women?
“Social and Decision Sciences... are you freakin kidding me?
This is a college major.”
It was this or basketweaving.
you’re not talkin’ bout them 54 DD’s?
You know what they say about men who wear big shoes...they have big feet.
Michelle, it could have been worse. What if there had been no affirmative action.
As the garlic noses would say He’s a so screwed.
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