Obama supporters ready for fight
For
Britt Hatch, a volunteer for the Obama campaign in New Hampshire, the
past two weeks of the US presidential race have come as an unwelcome
surprise.
“I had become complacent,” she said. “I thought the
election was in the bag. Then, all of a sudden, we’ve got this big
fight on our hands.”
Her
anxiety was widely shared among the 8,000 people that turned up to see
Barack Obama in Manchester over the weekend, amid mounting Democratic
jitters about declining poll numbers and escalating Republican attacks.
The
celebratory atmosphere of past Obama rallies was replaced by a defiant
mood as the candidate and his supporters tried to reassure each other
that the election could and would still be won.
Mr Obama warned
that the Republicans were distorting his record and creating
distractions to obscure their own failures but insisted the negative
tactics that helped George W. Bush win the past two elections would
fall short this year. “The times are too serious for those strategies
to work this time,” he said. “We are here to say, ‘enough is enough’.”
His
rallying cry was met with roars of approval from the crowd packed into
a city centre park but, when questioned individually, many supporters
sounded less confident about his ability to weather the storm. “I’m
very worried because we’ve seen this movie before,” said Robert
Spurrier, a school teacher. “The Republican attack machine shifts the
election away from issues and turns it into a battle of personalities.”
There
was broad agreement that Mr Obama must respond aggressively to attacks
but avoid being dragged into the mud. “He’s got to show he can stick up
for himself,” said Gail Sommer, another teacher. “But he needs to do it
in a way that’s truthful and honorable and gets us back on the issues.”
Mr
Obama signalled that he was heeding calls for a more aggressive
approach with a punchy stump speech that combined cool anger about the
country’s problems with mockery of John McCain’s claims to be the man
to fix them.
The crowd hooted with derision as the Illinois
senator sarcastically picked apart his opponent’s claims to be an agent
of change. “He’s saying, ‘watch out George Bush, with the exception of
tax policy, healthcare policy, education policy, energy policy, foreign
policy and Karl Rove-style politics, we’re really going to shake things
up in Washington.”
He avoided direct attacks against Sarah Palin,
Mr McCain’s running mate and the catalyst of Republican resurgence. But
his supporters showed less restraint.
“You want to know the
honest truth? I think she’s like a bad actor from a B-list sex movie,”
said Paula Vanbuskirk, an Obama-supporting independent, whose contempt
for the Alaska governor and self-styled “hockey mom” was shared by
almost everyone questioned by the Financial Times.
If it was Mr
McCain’s intention to ignite a fresh “culture war” between middle
America and east coast liberals by nominating Ms Palin, the evidence in
Manchester suggested he has succeeded in spectacular fashion.
“I
just do not trust the American people,” said Eleanor Shavell, 58, a
computer programmer, who, along with several others, joked she would
move to Canada if Mr Obama loses. “I cannot believe that 80 per cent of
this country thinks we’re headed in the wrong direction yet 50 per cent
are supporting McCain and Palin. I guess it’s like at school, there’s
always got to be a bottom 50 per cent.”
New Hampshire is one of
the most finely-balanced electoral battlegrounds, with recent polls
showing Mr Obama about 3 percentage points ahead. The state narrowly
backed George W. Bush in 2000 but swung to John Kerry in 2004. It has
the highest proportion of independent voters in the country at 40 per
cent and a fiscally conservative, socially liberal tradition that cuts
across the conventional left-right divide.
Mr McCain has a
history of support in the state, having won its Republican primary this
year and in 2000, while Mr Obama lost there to Hillary Clinton. But his
choice of a socially conservative running mate could undermine his
appeal. “I supported McCain in 2000, but he’s changed,” said Ms
Vanbuskirk.
Only four of the 270 electoral college votes needed
to win the presidency are up for grabs in New Hampshire but they could
prove crucial if the race remains tight.
On the road out of Manchester after the rally came a reminder of how bitter and divisive the race has already become.
A
green pick up truck swerved in front of a silver Volvo as one of its
passengers made an obscene gesture through an open window. The only
obvious provocation was an Obama bumper sticker on the rear of the
Volvo.
Ms Shavell had earlier summed up the mutual
incomprehension between the opposing camps, declaring: ”It’s as if we
live in two different countries”
Most of us never heard of Gov. Palin before McCain picked her to become the next Vice President. But not knowing someone doesnt keep the left from hating her. You all have had 8 years to hate Bush but just days to hate Palin. I was one of those Republicans that was not going to vote this election but with Palin in the picture, Ive changed my mind.
Palin mentioned that Obama made a big mistake by not picking Hillary as his VP. I have to agree with her. Any thoughts?
Mess: Amy Winehouse looked dishevelled as she walked through London's Camden last night
They are asking all the idiots that are staying behind and are riding this storm out, to write their Social Security Number on their arm for identity purposes. LOL. Do you think these people are smart enough to write?
When I watched this last night on the new, I knew that this would be on you tube. Just notice how Obama & McCain places a rose on the memorial.
