May 31
Obama rally in Rapid City
By Denise Ross
Sen. Barack Obama’s Rapid City appearance was a textbook campaign stop, which is an odd thing to report as the consensus among the chattering class is that he’s losing ground in South Dakota - where he once held a commanding lead - due to some strategic blunders by his campaign and some awfully hard and smart work from the Clintons. (More about that later.)
For now, here’s some of what happened Saturday morning, with more to follow later Saturday.
(Photos by David Larson)
Obama delivered some of his signature lines - “the fierce urgency of now,” “Americans are tired of being divided,” “It’s time to turn the page.” (Time to retire that last one, maybe?)
Obama repeated his pledge that he hasn’t and won’t take “a dime” from PACs or “federal” lobbyists.
They (special interests) will not run the White House, he told the crowd of about 3,000 at the fairgrounds.
Obama criticized the gas tax holiday proposed by GOP nominee John McCain and by Sen. Hillary Clinton as a “gimmick”, although he attributed the idea only to McCain and left Clinton out of it.
The only way to bring down gas prices is to change our energy policy, Obama said.
That’s the real answer to our energy problems - not more gimmicks.
Obama pledged he would invest in alternative energy, raise fuel efficiency requirements for vehicles and charge polluters.
Obama also said he would roll back the payroll tax - if you have a job, you pay this - to the tune of $1,000 per year per family. (Assuming two working parents, that would be about $41.66 per month per worker.) Senior citizens with incomes below $50,000 would pay no tax on their Social Security income.
He promised universal health care by the end of his first term as well as lower health care premiums “up to” $2,500 per year per family.
He promised a better education system, with more early childhood education, better teacher pay, more after-school and summer programs and an overhaul of No Child Left Behind. He pledged a $4,000 college grant in exchange for every year of national service.
Coming soon - Ida Fast Wolf’s introduction, local faces in the crowd, Obama’s pledge that Hillary Clinton will be a key figure in Democratic politics going forward and Obama’s rip into John McCain.
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In the Bill Oreilly interview of Barack Obama, regarding the discussion
about Obama’s energy plan, in response to Bill asking
Barack, what if the development of alternate energy
sources don’t deliver. Obama compared his approach
to John Kennedy’s space program, and how if you go
for it , the answers will come. But, the distinction between
our space program and our energy challenge is … If it had taken
us longer than we thought to get to the moon … or, if we hadn’t
gotten to the moon … no big deal. But, if we put all our hopes
into alternative energy, and it doesn’t happen in time … or, if
it doesn’t work, our entire economy, as well as our national
security could end up in ruins. Our country’s entire energy
infrastructure revolves around petroleum. 167,000 gas stations,
the 250 million vehicles. Democrats keep citing how long it will take
to get more oil out of the ground. But, even if an alternative
fuel is found tomorrow, how long will it take America to
transition from our existing infrastructure to a completely
new one? In the meantime, people have to get to work, and
goods have to get to market. This is an important reason to
secure our energy needs with oil drilling and mining oil shale,
while we try to develop alternate energy. Obama and
Pelosi also want to dip into the strategic oil reserve, as a way
of pandering to voters, but what if we have a true emergency,
like Hurricane Ike, or Hugo Chavez cuts us off, or Amadinajad
cripples the straits of Hormuz? Obama seems to be
playing fast and loose with our country’s future … gambling
with our future, all based on hope and faith … with consequences
which could be dire. Obama’s plans, or lack thereof, are
extremely irresponsible. Not suprising from a candidate who
does not have the experience, qualifications, or judgement to lead, as
President of the United States.