CHARLOTTE, N.C. -On a conference call with ticket holders who got shut out of his acceptance speech this evening after the program was moved from Bank of America stadium to the much small Time Warner Cable arena, President Barack Obama maintained that bad weather, not a lack of enthusiasm for his speech, was responsible for the venue change.
“The problem was a safety issue,” the President said on the call. “I could not ask you, our volunteers, our law enforcement, our first responders, to subject themselves to the risk of severe thunderstorms.”
Obama went on to say that “getting 70 thousand people into a place is tough, getting them out of there is even tougher, and if we had started seeing severe thunderstorms and lightning, in particular, it would have been a problem.”
Likewise, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina claimed that had the evening’s activities not been moved, “We would have filled it, it would have been standing room only, it would have been an amazing night.”
On Wednesday, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) sent out a press release that claimed that because of “severe weather forecasts” Thursday night’s activities, including President Obama’s acceptance speech, were being moved from the outdoor Bank of America stadium, which seats 74,000 people, to the indoor Time Warner Cable arena, which seats only 20,000. Rumors had been swirling since Tuesday afternoon – before the DNCC officially announced that the convention activities were officially being relocated – that the Obama campaign was planning to switch venues to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to fill the large stadium.
But an Obama campaign staffer said on Thursday’s call that the “energy and enthusiasm” for the Democratic National Convention had been “overwhelming” and that moving the President’s speech was a “difficult decision.”
The staffer said that 65,000 people had activated their community credential on the DNCC website and that more than 19,000 people were on a waitlist to get into the stadium to see the President speak.
He told listeners that the Obama campaign was “incredibly sorry about the inconvenience” for anyone who had already traveled to Charlotte to see the President speak, but will not be able to because the arena is at full capacity.
“This is a tough phone call, to be honest. You guys are the heart and soul of this team and this family,” Messina said, calling the decision to move the speech “agonizing.”
Messina said Obama was very insistent about getting to talk to supporters, but the President seemed a little bewildered when he came on the call, saying, “Hey man!” to Messina before addressing listeners, in what sounded like off -the cuff remarks.
On the call Obama ignored the controversy surrounding the convention over the word ‘God’ being removed from the Democratic Party platform and then being restored to the platform after the issue received negative attention nationally.
“Obviously so far we’ve had an unbelievable convention,” Obama said.
And despite the setback caused by the rain, Obama said he hoped that listeners would still join the campaign.
“We can’t let a little thunder and lightning get us down. We’re going to have to roll with it.”
The President also said that his supporters were “blowing it up – especially on voter registration” but he needed them to continue working hard toward his reelection.
“I really need your help guys. I need you to prove the cynics wrong one more time,” he said.
