Obama mocks McCain, rallies for change at Peccole Park
Sen. Barack Obama waves to the crowd after speaking at Peccole Park Saturday morning. Photo by Amy Beck
Presidential canidate Barack Obama's speech at Peccole Park [33:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Presidential canidate Barack Obama's speech at Peccole Park [33:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadIn his second visit to the University of Nevada, Reno within a month, Sen. Barack Obama mocked his opponent Sen. John McCain and discussed plans to revive the economy to a crowd of about 11,000 people.
Some people camped in their cars, while others stood outside Peccole Park as early as 1 a.m. Saturday morning, so they could snatch a front row spot for the presidential candidate’s 10 a.m. speech.
In the first half of his address, the microphone malfunctioned for about five minutes. While waiting for it to be fixed, the crowd chanted “Yes we can,” while Obama shook hands with the audience members. When sound started working, he joked, “I told you folks were having trouble making their electricity bills. Either that or somebody from the McCain campaign kicked our plug out of the socket. That was just a joke, there’s no evidence of foul play.”
Obama continued speaking, and discussed McCain’s economic policies and attempts to separate himself from President George Bush.
“John McCain has been really angry about George Bush’s economic policies – except during the primaries, when he said we’ve made ‘great progress economically’ under George Bush,” Obama said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “In fact, John McCain is so opposed to George Bush’s policies, that he voted with him 90 percent of the time for the first eight years. That’s right, he decided to really stick it to George Bush – 10 percent of the time.”
Obama said it is his own economic policies that will change the United States as he cuts taxes for the middle class and creates jobs.
Ronille Pabico, a 23-year-old UNR accounting major, said he supports Obama’s tax plan because it “focuses on the middle class.”
Obama said he wants to cut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families. He also plans to create five million new green jobs by building solar panels and wind turbines and 200 million more jobs by building schools and bridges.
“And if people ask how we’re going to pay for this, you tell them that if we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq when they got a surplus, we can spend some of that money right here in Reno, Nev., right here in America,” he said, evoking chants and cheers from the crowd.
Obama also promised to fix the health care system by ensuring people have access to insurance and lower premiums.
He said improving education is also among his priorities.
“John McCain’s top economic advisor said the other day that they have no plan for college affordability because they didn’t want just to giveaway money interest groups,” he said. “I don’t think the young people of America are an interest group, I think they are our future.”
He said he plans to hire more teachers and increase their salaries. He also promised to make tuition affordable to people who serve the community or country.
Obama rallied the crowd, encouraging people to early vote and help the country overcome its current problems.
“Together, we cannot fail,” he said. “Not now.”
He went on to list reasons of why people need to help change the United States, citing the economic and housing crises and unaffordable health care.
He said if everyone helps campaign, “then I promise you, we will not just win Nevada, we will win this general election, and you and I together, we are going to change the country and change the world.”
David Feemster, a 33-year-old UNR alum, called Obama’s speech “phenomenal.”
“He just seems to be able to relate to a large amount of people,” he said.
As thousands of spectators filed out of the UNR baseball field toward south campus, they weaved between volunteers encouraging early voting.
The Joe Crowley Student Union Staff expected at least 1,000 people to stop by the polls, but the queue for wrap-around lines stood empty. Only about 50 people had voted in the union as of 11:30 a.m., while vehicles clogged Virginia Street on their way off campus.
Chuck Price, the union director, said he thinks people might not have brought their sample ballot and didn’t want to vote without it.
Although the early voting lines were empty, Obama’s visit left the UNR campus teeming with people.
“I think it energizes young people who are here on campus,” said Jeff Giertz of the Obama campaign. “It underscores the importance of the youth vote.”
Jessica Fryman can be reached at jfryman@nevadasagebrush.com.
Audio produced by Clint Demeritt.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Election Coverage, Media, News, Podcast.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
October 25th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
A cloud of gloom is descending over the American spirit.