They were angry about the war in Afghanistan. They were impatient about progress on jobs. But while they may feel let down by President Obama, the activists gathered on the Mall Saturday for the “One Nation” rally had a unifying principle: preventing a return to what they saw as disastrous Bush-era policies.
The Democratic base is now ready to cast votes for the party simply because “it’s better than the alternative,” said Alan Mayner, a 50-year-old United Auto Workers union member. Mayner traveled to D.C. from Linden, Mich., a middle-class town of about 3,000 people that sits 20 miles due south of financially ravaged Flint, Mich.
“The Democrats are doing better than Bush, although some things are lacking,” Mayner said. “Someone has to stand up for the middle class. … I think the Democrats will bring manufacturing back to this country.”
The unity around Obama’s message of hope from 2008 has broken down, putting the president “up against a wall and anything he proposes doesn’t get pushed through,” said Nancy Hulahan, of New York State United Teachers. Still, she said part of her purpose in coming to Washington was to reach the president. “I think the message does go out to Obama also because he hasn’t done what he’s supposed to do,” she said.
The rally was staged in response to the Glenn Beck gathering which drew a larger crowd to the National Mall last month. But unlike the Tea Party, which Beck has tapped, with its uniting anti-Obama focus, the liberal event appeared to struggle with finding a uniting principle beyond lingering anger at the Bush administration.
Obama’s failure to end the war in Afghanistan or close Guantanamo galled some of the activists.
Bianca Falso, a 19-year-old Catholic University student, doesn’t think Obama has done enough for peace. “He’s a wussy,” Falso said.
Examiner intern Anna Waugh contributed to this story.
