Cleveland Democrats Still Passionate For Obama

Friday, September 7, 2012 at 5:08 PM

As President Barack Obama took the podium in Charlotte, North Carolina the crowd gathered at the Plumber and Pipefitters Union hall in Valley View watched on a projector screen, joining the TV crowd in a familiar political chant…

Crowd: “Four more years!  Four more years! Four more years!”

More than a hundred campaign volunteers and supporters cheered, waved signs and pumped their fists periodically throughout the president’s speech.

Obama: “I accept your nomination for president…”

Kenn Johnson of Cleveland even found himself emotional at some points and said the campaign mantra that ushered Obama into office still rings true four years later.

Johnson: “I’m overwhelmed.  I’m a little choked up today.  Just to hear again this message of hope.  I keep coming back to—it’s a message of hope of opening up doors and creating opportunities for others.”

Like many in the crowd, Tim Wallenhorst says he appreciates that Obama made an effort to connect with middle class voters.

Wallenhorst: “I have a union job, I’ve had a union job for over 30 years and I’m apart of that middle class and I want to see the middle class thrive because that’s the engine that drives the economy.”

These campaign supporters also liked that President Obama spent much of his speech focusing on his future goals rather than on the faults of his Republican competitor Mitt Romney.  In fact, few mentioned Romney by name and referred to him as the “opposition” instead. 

Jackie Thomas lives in the Ward 2 area of Cleveland.

Thomas: “I’m for the president.  I figure we ought to give him a chance and stop blocking and let him finish.  They were hating on him before he even got a chance to do anything.  And that right there turned me off, you know the deceit, hate.  It’s not about hate.  It’s about doing what’s right.”

Rosemarie Demark said she believes the president has done what’s right for the country.  The bailout money he gave to the auto industry is one policy that really helped her family.

Demark: “I have a daughter and a step son who works for General Motors.  My daughter is a single mother.  She has three children. It’s very difficult for her. Can you imagine if President Obama didn’t save her job what it would be like? It would be terrible.”

While overall the crowd was pleased with the president’s speech, many realize he still has work to do to get more voters on board.
Kristopher Smeage is a 23-year-old student at Baldwin Wallace College. 

Smeage: “I think obviously and somewhat unfortunately there is some validity in terms of the slight alienation in my age demographic, but I think there’s still a lot of energy from us.”

And on the notion that the Democratic Party has lost excitement for Obama, campaign volunteer Ericka Abrams says the detractors are just plain wrong.

Abrams: “We have his back. I think that right now, now that the convention’s over, I think that we’re going to see a surge of people volunteering and participating, knocking on doors, getting people registered.”

Abrams says moving forward she’ll be concentrating on getting people to take advantage of early voting in Ohio.

Tags

Economy, Government/Politics, Miscellaneous, Community/Human Interest