Obama Draws Crowd of 1,500, Addresses Indian Issues in Wyoming

By Brodie Farquhar, 3-07-08

	Caption: Barack Obama in Boise earlier this year. Photo by Andrew Kuraitis.

The Barack Obama campaign came to Casper this afternoon, before it heads to the University of Wyoming Arena-Auditorium for what is likely to be the biggest crowd of the day.

Obama’s performance in Casper, before a 1,500-person crowd, covered most of the bases of his standard campaign speech, but still elicited half a dozen standing ovations from an appreciative audience.

In a question and answer session, Senator Obama was asked “What hope can I take back” to the Wind River Reservation, by Lander resident Michelle Skinner. She said the reservation is plagued by poverty and the twin scourges of alcoholism and methamphetamine addiction.

“I’ve talked to tribal leaders all over America,” Obama said, noting that Native Americans faced deeply rooted problems that have emerged from a tragic past. While problems can’t be erased overnight, he warned, Obama said he wanted to make sure that Native American health services are of the best quality, with a strong emphasis on disease prevention starting with children and pre-natal care.

Any health service program on a reservation must include mental health and substance abuse programs, Obama said, not only to treat the problems at hand, but preventive care to avoid problems in upcoming generations.

Like children in the inner city or the barrios, Native American children need after school and summer programs to help them catch up with middle-class children, he said. Incentives need to be found and developed to bring the best teachers to reservations, and keep them there.

Obama said that jobs and improved long-term prospects are necessary to keep children focused on a pathway to hope, emphasizing the need for vocational education, community colleges, universities and continuing education.