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    Sen. Obama: Bring troops home

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March 19, 2007

Sen. Obama: Bring troops home

JACLYN HOUGHTON

EDMOND — OKLAHOMA CITY — James Allen brought his 13-year-old daughter along to see history in the making on Monday.

The Oklahoma City resident, along with more than 1,000 Oklahomans, filed into the Farmers Public Market Building in south Oklahoma City to hear U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama speak.

Some have said Obama lacks experience needed for the presidency, but Allen felt differently.

“George Washington probably had less experience,” said Allen, 56.

The event was a fundraising rally charging $25 a ticket.

The U.S. senator from Illinois spoke to the crowd on a day that marked the four-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

Obama shared his opinion on the war.

“We’ve got a war that should have never been authorized,” he said to a cheering crowd that held up signs reading: OU students for Obama. “A war that cost us half a trillion dollars. A war that’s cost us almost 3,200 of our bravest men and women.”

He said he thought the war was a mistake back in 2002 and he hopes that by March 31, 2008, the troops will come home.

“It is time for us to bring this war to a close,” Obama said.

High health care costs, an education system that is “leaving too many kids behind,” the movement of jobs overseas and the “absence of an energy policy,” topped his list of items he said he wants to address as president.

“We know what the challenges are and we’ve known them for years,” Obama said.

He believes there are a lot of ways to solve the problems facing the country. He said he wants all people in the country to have health care coverage within his first term as president. He wants to invest more in early education programs for children and also raise teacher pay. Ensuring that veterans return from the war and are respected and have job opportunities is another area he will focus on.

“Politics is not a sport; politics is not a game,” Obama said. “The decisions we make in Washington (D.C.) have consequences for families all across this country… We cannot afford the kinds of games we’ve been playing over the last several years.”

Oklahoma Rep. Ryan Kiesel, D-Seminole, was at the event and is a member of the steering committee in Oklahoma that supports Obama. He said the senator’s message impacted him.

“It’s refreshing to hear a candidate on that scale speak from his heart,” Kiesel said. He said he would like to see more people running for office who focus on issues people have in common.

Kiesel also agreed that even on the state level there are games played in politics.

“One of the hardest things is a sense of one-upmanship,” he said.

A sentiment that politics needs a makeover was also alive amongst rally participants who filled the bare bones market building.

Norman resident Trey Moore, 25, attended the event and said it made him feel “a part of the process.” He said he is an independent and decides on a candidate not based on political party, but on the candidate’s stance on issues.

“I just want to see what the hype is all about” surrounding Obama, Moore said regarding his attendance at the event.

Ben Elder, 23, of Oklahoma City, attended the fundraiser because he believes there is a need for change

“It’s a call for humanity,” said Elder. “There are changes that need to be made in America. If you’re interested in changing things, this is where you want to be.”

He said he is looking for a candidate who is approachable.

“I’m looking for a real person,” Elder said.

Obama hopes to be the candidate chosen to make those changes.

He said in history the actions people took led to change, such as with the Founding Fathers, when people refused to accept slavery and became abolitionists, and when women stood up and said they were as smart as men and should be able to vote.

“Every time the American people decide things need to change, things change,” Obama said.

(Jaclyn Houghton is the CNHI News Service Oklahoma reporter.)



Presidential primary

Oklahoma’s presidential primary election will be Feb. 5, 2008.

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