President Obama fired up Dems at Michaud rally
Are you here because of fear or hope? This was a question posed by Portland Mayor Michael Brennan asked approximately 3,000 voters at the President Barack Obama rally for Democratic candidate for governor Mike Michaud. It was the introduction to a recurring theme for the evening's speakers: hope.
Yes, on Oct. 30, Park Avenue was closed between Deering Avenue and St. John Street at 3 p.m. For the event held at the Portland Expo Center. A few protesters were in line, one woman carrying a large sign with the message “Obama is insane.”
Otherwise the rally audience, mostly comprising Democrats, waited outside the Expo in a line that reached far past the park.
The wait, once the public was being allowed into the center, was due to the high security. The Secret Service and local Portland law enforcement were all business behind the yellow security tape stretched across Park Avenue.
All attendees to the event had their bags searched, and were scanned by a metal detector wand. Members of the press went through three checkpoints.
Although all the security measures could be tedious, it was good to see it in action. The security for this event differed greatly than what was in place when former president Bill Clinton was at the Expo Center in September. No bags were checked. No metal detector wands. There was a press list. That was it. No one's movements were monitored.
Before Obama took center stage at the podium, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan, Shenna Bellows, running for the U.S. Senate against long-standing Maine Sen. Susan Collins; U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, and the former Sen. George Mitchell spoke to the crowd.
Michaud addressed his enthusiastic supporters before introducing the president. The applause and cheers for Obama as he made his way to the podium, and long after he got there, was deafening.
Obama spoke for about 25 minutes, rallying the crowd to support their candidate, as he did.
“I love the state of Maine. I mean you guys just have a pretty state,” Obama said.
He rallied the crowd around Michaud, led a “We Like Mike,” chant, and then thanked all of the speakers in attendance. And he said a few words about Sen. Angus King, who couldn't attend the rally.
“Angus is proudly independent. He isn't focused on what is best for a political party, he's focused on what's best for the people of Maine,” Obama said. “He's a gentleman and he brings civility down to Washington. And I agree with what he said yesterday, that it was time to come together around Mike Michaud as our choice for governor.”
Hope, Obama said, was what the 2014 elections were all about, but noted how often during the political process hope and optimism are not what citizens see on the television or read in newspapers.
“That's part of what makes it so hard to change the status quo; so often the people in power seem to be more concerned with getting more power than making sure that they're doing right by the people who sent them (to Washington),” Obama said. “And when you get discouraged and cynical that's what they're counting on. They want you to think you don't make a difference, so you won't vote, you don't get involved. Everyone gets caught up in this sense of a sort of helplessness ... I'm here to tell you: don't buy into that cynicism.
“Despite what the cynics say, America is making progress. America is always making progress. That's what American people do; they are strivers and dreamers and they care about each other.
“And despite unyielding opposition, over these last six years there are workers with jobs who didn't have them before, there are families with insurance that didn't have it before, there are students going to college who couldn't afford to attend it before, there are troops who have come home to their families from Iraq and Afghanistan. Cynicism didn't make that happen,” continued Obama, amidst cheering and applause.
“Cynicism didn't put a man on the moon, cynicism has never ended a war, or cured disease, or built a business or taught a young mind. Cynicism is a choice that you make. It's being fed to you all of the time. Don't accept it. Hope is a better choice. Hope is what gave those soldiers in World War II the courage to storm a beach, hope is what allows young people to march for civil rights, women's rights, worker's rights, gay rights, voter's rights ... hope is about working together.”
Listen to speeches by Obama and Mitchell below.
