Saturday, October 11, 2008

Obama Reminds Young Volunteers of Real Life Pain


Many people dismiss Obama for just this reason -- that he gives young people hope and there's got to be something wrong with that.
NYT: “Now’s the time to really make this thing work,” Mr. Obama said of the campaign. “We’ve been designing and we’ve been engineering and we’ve been at the drawing board and we’ve been tinkering, and we’ve been – now it’s time to just take it for a drive. Let’s see how this baby runs.”

But he warned the crowd, most of whom appeared to be in their early to mid-20’s, that their youthful exuberance might not be welcome everywhere.

“You’ve got to know that there are a lot of people, not just here in Ohio, but all across the country, who have been disappointed by politics,” Mr. Obama said. “And they get cynical. And so when you come in, and you’re all, you know, rosy-cheeked, and all excited, you’ve got your little ‘Hope’ button, there are a lot of people in the last 20 years who have seen jobs lost, and plants closing, and losing their health care, and losing their pension, and communities shrinking.”

He added: “And so it’s understandable that they’re skeptical. And it’s understandable that they’re angry, and they’re frustrated, and sometimes they’re going to take it out on you. Because you represent a lot of promises, and they’ve heard promises before, and a lot of times, they haven’t been fulfilled.”