Life & Times Blog - Blog Archive - Barack Obama’s L.A. Visit

google
yahoo
bing

Life & Times airs weeknights at
7:00 PM on KCET

Tues. – Thurs. at
7:00 PM on KCET-HD

This blog is fully moderated: Moderation Explained; Terms of Use

Recent Posts: Life & Times Says Goodbye; The Mayor Gets His Schools; Nuclear Biomedical Waste Buried in Brentwood; Waiting for Justice: Executions on Hold; Lethal Plastics–Visible and Invisible; Fighting a War Remotely

: About L&T blogs

Engage, Interact, Debate with Life & Times RSS

This video has expired

About the Story: He has been called a political "rock star." But how will Senator Barack Obama be received by Southern Californians? Roger Cooper covers Obama's public appearance at the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex and talks with political analysts Kerman Maddox and Joe Cerrell about the early stages of an interesting presidential contest. (TRT: 7:51)

: Barack Obama’s Speech at an Anti-War Rally in Chicago, Ill.; DebbieSchlussel.com’s “Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always a Muslim” Blog; Google Video’s “Charlie Rose — An Hour with Barack Obama”; Media Matters’ “Schlussel: Should Barack Hussein Obama Be President ‘When We Are Fighting the War of our Lives Against Islam?’” Blog; MyDD’s “Much Ado About Robert Gibbs and Obama” Blog; Obama ‘08; Russell Page’s “Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. If I Were CEO…” Blog; Snopes.com’s The Enemy Within Website; Time’s “The Fresh Face” Article; Wikipedia’s “Barack Obama” Website

Barack Obama’s L.A. Visit

Publish date: February 23, 2007
Last updated: February 20, 2008

Reporter's NOTES

Roger Cooper
To see a modern presidential campaign rally on television is one thing. To cover one in person and witness all the advance work and attention to detail required is quite another.

When Barack Obama brought his newly announced candidacy to Los Angeles on February, 19, 2007, I was struck by the realization of how many times this same scene will have to be played out, over and over, in this super-extended campaign season. We’re all going to be exhausted.

Insider Viewpoints

...What I am opposed to is a dumb war…I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than the best, impulses of the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda…

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda through effective, coordinated intelligence and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings…

The consequences of war are dire. The sacrifices immeasurable.

We may have occasion, in our lifetime, to once again rise up in defense of our freedom and pay the wages of war. But we ought not — we will not — travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.

--Excerpt taken from Barack Obama’s speech at an anti-war rally in Chicago, Ill.

…If you have ever read a resume that is vague on detail, but full of fancy words, you know that the person is probably trying to make himself…sound better than they are. This is the impression I get when I read Hillary’s bio and Barack’s bio.

One of the first things they tell you about resume writing is that you should detail what you did and what difference you made. Measurability is a great thing.

Read Mitt Romney’s bio and Rudy Giuliani’s bio, and what do you get? Numbers, statistics, measurable results.

Clinton and Obama may have that in their background, but it isn’t in their bios, which are sort of like resumes…The point is that if you throw away all the political rhetoric and look at candidates as though you were hiring a new CEO, which we are, Giuliani and Romney have pretty impressive resumes.

--Excerpt taken from Russell Page’s “Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. If I Were CEO…” Blog

COMMUNITY VIEWPOINTS

02.26.2007 | 2:33 pm
The piece on Barack Obama was moving. He is truly an inspiration.

There is a need for significant change in our country — to focus on our people, our infrastructure and the future — things that the current administration continues to ignore. I’m so glad to hear that he is black enough.

I am so glad to hear that his short time in Washington may not be an obstacle. I am so glad to hear that people get excited about a politician. I am so glad to feel the hope that emanates from the people who attended the rally in L.A.

Karen Feeney - Santa Barbara, California

	* Required
* First Name:		* Last Name:
* City:		* State:
* Email:		* Screen Name:	(will appear on post)
* Comment:
	By submitting a comment I have read and agree to KCET's Terms of Use for Online Forums.