Missoula News

Senator Off to Butte for Event with Clinton

‘Excited’ An Understatement for 8,000 Obama Ralliers in Missoula

By Dillon Tabish, 4-05-08

All photos by Anne Medley. Click here or on the photo above for a slideshow from the rally and click on the photos below for larger images.

The excitement was to be expected.  For a state normally considered flyover country and one that holds only 17 delegates, Saturday morning’s rally with Sen. Barack Obama was the beginning of a historic weekend for the Big Sky state.

But for some, excitement wouldn’t quite do it justice. When Obama strode into the arena, it was easy to see where the whole rock star analogy comes from.

Annette Butler ran up to her group of friends and could barely get the words out of her mouth. “I got to shake his hand! I looked him right in the eyes and he put both his hands on mine and it was just: Awwww!”

Butler was just one of nearly 8,000 energized gatherers who came to see Obama at the Adams Center at the University of Montana campus. He spoke for just under an hour and told Montanans that they have a role in creating change.

“Here’s the thing Missoula,” Obama said. “The only way we can pull this off is if the American people want change. You are the ones who make change happen.”

“I am an imperfect vessel,” he said.

When he announced his run for the presidency in Illinois 15 months ago, people were asking him why.

“They said, ‘You’re young, you can afford to wait,’” he said.

At that point a voice yelled out, “We can’t!” and the crowd erupted with cheers as Obama nodded.

“The hour is upon us,” he said. “Our nation is at war, our planet is at peril.”

“We’ve been in Iraq for five years now, longer than World War I, World War II and the Civil War,” he said.

“We can’t wait,” Sen. Obama said to thunderous applause.

The electricity in the air resonated with Butler and her partner, Tammy Agard.

“I just feel like I’m in a time warp seeing all this belief and hope that used to be in this country,” Butler said.

Agard, who travels back and forth from New Orleans where she works with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts with the Hope Has a Face Foundation, waited in line early Thursday morning when tickets were released. The experience was well worth it, she said.

Obama took the stage a little after 10 a.m. and finished at right about 11. He mostly hit on his regular talking points, including healthcare, labor and the war, but he particularly focused on the war Saturday and for good measure, threw in a few choice Montana references.

On security, Obama said his job as Commander in Chief is keeping Americans safe, which doesn’t just mean using the military. It means using the military wisely, he said.

As he does in most appearances, Obama touted his opposition to the Iraq war from the start in 2002, while the other two candidates voted for it.

“They had their chance and they made the wrong choice,” he said.

“That’s why you can trust that I’ll end this war when I’m President of the United States,” he said.

While he touched on the economy, he said America needs to create jobs by rebuilding the infrastructure in the country.

“If we can spend billions of dollars each day in Baghdad, we can spend a little bit of money right here in Missoula, Montana,” he said.

Jobs, admittedly on the minds of many Americans, were also a central part of Obama’s take on the environment and energy. 

Good environmental policy can also be good economic policy, he said.

“We can generate millions of jobs in the green energy sector,” he said, including in solar, wind, bio-diesel and clean coal.

He said that with an emphasis on “clean” coal, however. “I know Montana is a coal state,” he said. “But we’ve got to make sure we are investing in ways to capture the carbon.”

It was a statement Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer would have been pleased to hear.

Affordable health care for everyone was another goal he said was attainable.

“We need a health care system instead of a disease care system…By the end of my first term it will be done,” said Sen. Obama, whose mother died of cancer when she was 53 years old.

Another issue that earned loud applause was protecting and obeying the Constitution.

“If you live up here in Big Sky Country, I know you believe in Civil Liberties,” he said.

We shouldn’t be a nation that jails people for no reason or snoops on people with wiretaps, he said.

The state of education needed to be looked at also, he said.

The mention of rewarding teachers with higher salaries got great applause.

On the issue of global warming, Sen. Obama used an obvious example to make his point.

“Look at this incredible landscape around here,” he said. “We need to pass that on.”

Earlier he joked about pulling on waders and going fishing to clear his head. Later, he stopped and reflected a bit more.

“I just like saying Missoula,” he smiled. “Missoula. I like that. Like my name, it’s got a lot of vowels.”

Before Sen. Obama took the stage, Missoula Mayor John Engen told Missoulians how excited he was to have Sen. Obama in town.

“Everyday in Missoula is a good day, but today is a really good day!” he said. Weeks earlier, Mayor Engen made news when the Washington Post reported his endorsement for Obama. On Saturday, he explained why, calling Sen. Obama, smart, honest, innovative, tough, wise, humble and human.

“He could be a Missoulian,” Engen said.

“It’s time for hope and change,” Engen added. “This is a time for President Barack Obama.”

Toward the end of his address, Obama took time to defend himself from some of the criticisms leveled at him.

“Some people say I’m too idealistic,” he said. “They think I’m naïve because I talk about hope and change. But the odds of me standing here are so slim.”

“Nothing every happened in this country unless somebody was willing to hope,” he said. “That’s how this country was founded.”

After his speech, Obama shook hands for nearly twenty minutes and made a lasting impression on many Montanans like Butler who had anxiously waited for this day to come.

Even though some people didn’t get to fit inside the Adams Center, the Griz Vision in Washington-Grizzly Stadium displayed the speech for a few hundred gatherers.

And after his appearance at the fieldhouse, Obama stopped by the stadium to say a few words and shake a few hands.

Bob Ogg of Missoula woke up at 6:30 a.m. and waited in line with his family wearing a red, white and blue boa to see Obama’s speech.

“There hasn’t been anyone like Obama since JFK or Robert Kennedy,” he said.  “He’s a charismatic speaker and, of course, he represents my views as a Democrat.”

Hal Skeed drove in from Lolo to attend the rally with his son, Ryan, a junior studying biology at the University of Montana.

“It’s cool to see young people out,” Skeed said.

Susan Minichiello, 19, helped start the Facebook group ‘Montanans For Barack Obama’ in February, 2007. She’s been involved in the Montana campaign since then, and continues to dedicate hours to the effort.

“He’s such a great candidate because he’s transparent and doesn’t hide anything,” she said.

“Also he’s an inspiration to me as a multiracial American,” said Minichiello, whose father is Italian and mother is Thai. “His story is just amazing.”

Tammy Hansen woke up at a quarter to five Saturday morning and drove with friends and family from Somers, Montana, north of Kalispell. Wearing a white sweatshirt with the handwritten words ‘Obama ’08’ and red, white and blue sparkling tassels on her head, Hansen could barely explain the excitement she was feeling after Saturday’s speech.

“He was just amazing,” she said. “He’s young and inspiring and full of great ideas. He really wants people to make changes in this country.”

Like Obama, Hansen lost her mother, a passionate Democrat from North Dakota, to cancer.

“I’m wearing this pin in honor of my mother,” said Hansen, pointing to a shiny silver pin of a Democratic Donkey on her sweater. “She would be loving this.”

But before Hansen could relish in the excitement, she hurried off to her car. She and her family and friends had a short drive to Butte for the Mansfield-Metcalf dinner to see Obama and his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

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