EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE AT THE...
The old spark at Obama’s Boston stop
By Joan Vennochi Globe Columnist / May 22, 2011
EVEN IN Boston, the Obama thrill machine needs a periodic recharge, and that’s what the president delivered in his visit last week.
“That was helpful,’’ said Mike Ross, a Boston city councilor and national co-chair of Gen44, a campaign organization of young adults devoted to reelecting Obama.
Obama had just finished speaking at the cavernous Cyclorama, to a crowd that Ross agreed seemed smaller than 900, the number of tickets organizers said they sold for $200 to $1,000. Obama did not have them totally spellbound at “Hello, Boston!’’ However, by the end of his approximately 30-minute speech, the old glow was back...
...Obama needs money, but he also needs young people to get behind him with the same enthusiasm they showed in 2008. That was the message of the Cyclorama event, from featured speakers like Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell and current Celtics star Ray Allen. They both spoke about winning as a team effort and the need to do what it takes to send Obama back to the White House. As an athlete, Russell said, “Nice try!’’ was a phrase he never wanted to hear.
In his remarks, Obama seemed nostalgic for past campaign magic — even “wistful’’ as Jim Rooney, a vice president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, put it after the South End event.
The president referenced his victory celebration at Chicago’s Grant Park and the “sense of possibility in the air.’’ He reminded his audience that his election was not the end but a beginning and the start of a steep climb.
As he waited for the presidential motorcade to power down Berkeley Street, Rooney showed two lines he wrote down as he listened to Obama. The first one was, “Power is diffuse — that’s what preserves our liberty.’’ To his mind, Obama offered it up “defensively, but poignantly,’’ to explain why he can’t get everything done, as promised.
The second was a reference to that iconic image from 2008, the Obama “Hope’’ poster — a portrait of the candidate in red, beige, and blue. “I know that somewhere you still got that poster,’’ Obama told the crowd.
Mission accomplished. It reminded Rooney that his poster still hangs in his 7-year-old son’s room.
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