Barack Obama @ the Milwaukee Theatre

Well what can I say. I am still not a hundred percent sure of my candidate but that did not stop me from going out to see Barack Obama's Milwaukee "kickoff".

The event was much different than the normal kickoffs because of the tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech but I think because of that we got a very different speech.

First of all the kickoff started off with Willie Hines (president of the common council) talking about the need to jump on the political bandwagon and stay connect and tell others about the presidential race as well as Obama.

Next his kids did a performance of God Bless America (I believe) which was a pretty cute performance they were very young. (the got a standing ovation)

Then came Mayor Barrett. He made it a point to say that normally he does not come out to support a candidate this early on but because of Obama's knowledge that it is important to bring the country together. He also tried to explain to the crowd about the message that Obama would speak of.

Well Like I said it wasn't the big (rock star) show that everyone expected but I think there were importance in what he had to say. The speech was a little under 30 minutes and was geared toward violence both physical and verbal. The physical violence that occurred during the shootings in Virginia and the verbal violence that surrounded the Don Imus nonsense. I'll save my comments about that for another post. I think that it is pretty clear what Obama is thinking about his campaign and about the nation in general that change is needed and it won't happen until it is demanded from this country.

So although Milwaukee didn't get the rah rah speech that everyone else has been getting I think that what we heard showed a different side to Obama. That he can motivate a crowd through loud music and "let's go" speeches as well as through compassionate and mellow speeches that the country needs in times like this.


As a side note to the kickoff:
I was concerned that people were surprised by the fact that the tone of the speech was changed in light of the events that happened yesterday. My initial thoughts were of course the speech was changed because yeah he is trying to motivate the people of Milwaukee to vote for him he is running to the presidency of the United States not Wisconsin. I think people should take the time to think about if tragedy struck here how they would feel if a presidential hopefully were doing lively speeches and not recognizing their pain.