The following is an amalgam of Blue Virginia diaries by Aznew and Ponton of President Obama's rally in front of 7,500-8,000 enthusiastic supporters in Charlottesville, Virginia yesterday afternoon. First, some photos by Aznew.
Now, a bit of video:
Now, here's Aznew's superb report:
Notes from the President's C'ville Rally: "It all depends on you"
President Obama brought his college town mini-tour to Charlottesville this afternoon. He was in fine form speaking to a fired-up crowd of about 8,000 at the nTelos Pavillion on the Downtown Mall.
According to local weekly The Hook, the line to get into today’s rally was longer than the Downtown Mall itself, which runs for 10-12 city blocks.
I’m not here to write a news story for Blue Virginia covering the rally. There will be plenty of newspaper articles that will do that. But I did want to present a few highlights and takeaways of the rally for me, and, of course, provide some pictures.
Main Takeaway: “It all depends on you”
These days, it is easy to become discouraged with politics. Mitt Romney is running the most despicable, racist, dishonest campaign in modern American history. It is a campaign fueled by hatred and fear. It is the kind of campaign I would expect from a fringe candidate, not from the nominee of a major political party.
Even worse, it is a campaign that is secure in the knowledge that the national political press in this country will, with a few lonely exceptions here and there, likely prove either incapable of or unwilling to challenge its lies and the immoral underpinnings implicit in its strategy.
In the face of this, it is easy to become cynical and lose hope.
Today, President Obama reminded me that this is what Mitt Romney is counting on. That is his strategy. If he cannot win your vote, he wants to make you fed up with the entire system so that you don’t vote at all.
For America to be the country we want it to be, a country of true freedom, a country where people are free to control their own health care decisions, where people are free to choose whom they will love, where people know that when they hit hard times their fellow citizens will look out for them – if we want THAT country, we’re going to have to fight for it.
Here is what President Obama said:
[T]hose who oppose change have always bet on your cynicism; they've always bet on a lack of hope…
But …
… throughout American history, they have lost that bet. And they're going to lose that bet this time too. … I need you. America needs you to close the gap between what is and what might be. … It all depends on you. Don’t worry about letting me down. Don’t let America down.
Best Line
The best line of the rally belonged to Tom Perriello, who noting that Paul Ryan is routinely touted as an intellectual force behind the Republican congress, said, “Only Mitt Romney could look at this Congress and say, ‘I want the brains behind this operation.’”
Second- best line
President Obama gets this one. About Romney:
He calls my health care law Obamacare; I call his plan "Romney Doesn’t Care."
Another Romney lie debunked: Obama is not running a negative campaign.
Take a look at President Obama’s speech from today. Sure, he criticizes Romney and the Republicans – it’s a election, for goodness sakes. But neither the overall tone nor substance of the speech is negative or divisive. In fact, the vast majority of the speech was positive and forward looking, and the jibes directed at Romney were relatively gentle, especially so given the deceitful and hateful campaign Romney himself is waging.
Yet another Romney lie debunked: Contrary to Romney assertions, President Obama is running on his record.
Again, take a look at the speech. This idea that the President is seeking to distract attention from his record is pure hogwash.
Here’s a few examples:
On student loans:
So we created a college tax credit that’s saving middle-class families up to $10,000 on college tuition. We fixed the student loan system that was giving billions of dollars to banks as middlemen. We said let’s use that money to double grant aid for millions of students. We won the fight to prevent student loan rates from doubling for more than 7 million students.
On energy:
Four years ago, we talked about how we could use less foreign oil, reduce the carbon footprint that threatens our planet. And in just four years, we have doubled the generation of clean, renewable energy like wind and solar. We’ve created thousands of good American jobs because of it. Today, we’re less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in nearly 20 years. We’re on track to emit fewer greenhouse gases this year than we have in nearly 20 years. We can keep those trends going. And that is all happening because of you.
* * *
One of the things that we’ve done is develop new fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade, your cars will get nearly 55 miles per gallon. That’s double what they are now. That means you’ve only got to dig into your pocket to fill up your tank half as often. But not only does it save you money at the pump, it moves us closer to energy independence. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions by as much as all the cars in the world emit each year combined. This is a smart thing to do. It’s the right thing to do.
On healthcare:
Four years ago, you believed that nobody in America should go broke because they get sick. Today, because of the new health care law, affectionately known as Obamacare - because of that law, nearly 7 million young people are able to stay on their parent’s health insurance plans. Your grandparents are saving money on their prescription drugs. Women have gained access to free preventive care like mammograms and contraception. Thirty million Americans will be able to finally have the security of health care coverage. You can't be barred because of a preexisting condition. You made that happen. That's because of you.
On the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
And so what I have said not just to you but, most importantly, to those young men and women in uniform who are serving us every single day is that -- (applause) -- you will know where I stand. When I say I will end the war in Iraq, I will end it. When I say that we will go after bin Laden, we’ll go after him. And when I said that as we bring our troops home, first from Iraq, now from Afghanistan, that as long as I am Commander-in-Chief, we will serve our veterans as well as they’ve served us -- I mean it.
Pics follow:
Tom Perriello
President Obama
The crowd
Recording the President's speech
President Obama and Gov. Kaine
President Obama in the crowd
The crowd on the Mall after the rally
Finally, here's
Ponton's excellent diary on the rally.
President Obama speaks to a cheering crowd of 7,500 in Charlottesville
Last night, I watched the Republican National Convention and thought to myself, “Is there an African-American, Latino, Asian or, for that matter, any minority in this audience? It has to be a 99% white.” Should I be surprised by that fact? No. But it is still startling to realize how small the constituency of the Republican Party has become. They have alienated immigrants, and African Americans, and gays, and women. There aren’t too many more groups to alienate.
I was excited to have tickets to the Obama Rally in Charlottesville today. My 15 year-old son, his friend Zach and I headed off to Charlottesville at 10:30 this morning for a projected 3:00 pm speech by the President. One of the first things I noticed was the make up of the crowd. There is no question that the President has the support of many, many people from all walks of life….young, old, white, black, Latino, Asian. It was an audience filled with diversity, but more than diversity, the audience was friendly, humble and helpful.
We went early enough and were therefore lucky enough to be on the front row with two other Dems from Nelson. I said to the boys, “You are going to shake the President’s hand today.” Of course, they looked at me as though I had two heads and had lost my mind. We talked to our neighbors, listened, danced to the music and had a great experience. When someone needed help, folks surrounding them responded. If someone was walking with a cane, folks created a path, offered an arm.
To my right was Penny, from Staunton. By about 2:30 we’d been waiting for hours as is always the case with these kinds of events. During a conversation, Penny and I both mentioned that we needed to use the facilities. What to do…we’d lose our space on the front row, but when you need the facilities, well, you know. This very nice young man standing behind us heard our discussion. It is impossible not to hear everyone’s discussion in such “sardine” like situations. “I’ll protect your spots,” he says, “No one will take them.” So off we went, and when we returned the lady behind me jokingly said, “I tried to get him to let me take your position, but he was having none of it.” So, Penny and I assured our friendly front-row space guard that we would make sure he got to shake the President’s hand.
The President was energizing, and honest and told us that it is up to us. We must work to win in Charlottesville, and by extension we must work to win all across Virginia. When we do, we win the Presidency. When we chanted, “Four more years,” he replied, “Don’t chant, vote.” When we booed when he spoke of the other side’s non-existent plan for our future—the middle class’ future, he said, “Don’t boo, vote.”
We can watch and be dismayed by the Republicans lack of diversity, by their lack of compassion, by their continued support of tax breaks for the elite and corporate America at the expense of the middle class, seniors, and our youth. We can allow them to discourage us by the constant barrage of false advertising. After all, they have said they won’t run their campaign based on “fact checkers.” We can allow them to make it hard for voters to vote. Or we can work to overcome all of those obstacles by working to elect a President who represents us, who understands that the way our economy works is from the middle class up, not from the elite down. We know what we have to do. Will it be easy? No. Obviously, truth, fact, nor honesty has any meaning to the Romney campaign, so it is up to us to knock doors, to make calls and tell the truth. The President can’t do it alone. As one of the UVA presenters, Peter, said today, “We’re going to turn Virginia, Cavalier Blue in 2012.”
During the Inauguration, my son, then 11, asked me as we stood among the crowd talking, “Do you know these people?” My response was, “No, I’ve never met them.” But the feeling then was one of camaraderie, friendship and accomplishment. I felt that same sentiment today. Good people, honest people, hard working people all loving our country, yearning for improvement in our current circumstance and believing the man to move us “Forward” is Barack Obama. It is up to us.
By the way, my son and his friend did shake the president’s hand so I might only have one head after all, and not be quite as crazy as they thought earlier in the day. Penny and I were as good as our word, and our friendly front row space guard shook the President’s hand, as well.
P.S. I'd also point out that, according to
Nate Silver, Virginia has the 2nd-highest probability of being the "tipping point state" in this year's election, behind only Ohio. Virginia's also fourth on the "Return on Investment Index.' In other words, Virginia will be getting a great deal of attention the next 70 days or so, and for good reason. Now, let's all make sure we win it, and in doing so, all but clinch a second term for President Obama!
P.P.S. Please follow Blue Virginia on Twitter and on Facebook!