Barack Obama and 12,000 chanting, clapping, cheering supporters rocked the Baltimore arena Monday evening, bringing his message of change to town and giving a rousing boost to a campaign aiming to win today?s Maryland primary.
Thousands lined up for hours in chilly temps outside the 1st Mariner Arena, filling the hall in the same way more than 17,000 packed the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland, College Park earlier in the day.
“This is not a campaign for presidency of the United States of America,” said Obama?s Maryland co-chair, Rep. Elijah Cummings. “This is a movement to change the world.”
Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, said people told him last year he should wait to run and get more experience, but he said, “we cannot afford to wait to fix our schools” or improve access to health care.
“We cannot wait to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home,” Obama said to roars from the crowd.
Just a year ago, “I was betting that the American people were hungry for a new kind of politics,” Obama said. “My bet has paid off and my belief in the American people has been vindicated.”
The crowd began chanting, “It?s your time! It?s your time!” But Obama replied, “No, it?s your time.”
He detailed his proposal for universal health insurance and also promised more money for early childhood education and $4,000 tuition credits tied to community or national service.
The fact that he hasn?t spent 20 years in Washington and had “the hope boiled out of me” is a plus, Obama said. “The last thing we need is the same old cast of characters doing the same old thing.
“I?m happy to have a debate with [presumed Republican nominee] John McCain, because we are the party of tomorrow and he is the party of yesterday,” the senator said.
Hope VanDross, an account executive from Baltimore, brought her two teenagers. “This is history in the making,” VanDross said. “This country really needs a fresh outlook,” and she hopes Obama will rid Washington of “the old-school politics.”
Her friend Judy Anderson was not fully committed to Obama when she arrived, but she was by the time he finished speaking.
“There was an excellent synergy here.”
