Obama stirs huge crowd with call for ‘new kind of politics’

Democrat hammers familiar themes as Waterfront Park filled with supporters in the sun

By Steve Law

The Portland Tribune, May 18, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (58 Reader comments)

Jonathan House / Pamplin Media Group

Sen. Barack Obama called his Sunday afternoon stump speech in Portland’s Waterfront Park “the most spectacular setting” for a campaign rally in the long Democratic primary struggle. An estimated 60,000 jammed the area to hear Obama call for a “new kind of politics.”

The rock-star candidate was greeted by a rock arena-sized crowd Sunday at Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama spoke before an estimated 60,000 people, with another 15,000 waiting to get in, two days before votes are tallied in Oregon’s presidential primary. The crowd shattered Obama’s previous record on the campaign trail, about 35,000 in Philadelphia, said Nick Shapiro, Obama’s Oregon campaign spokesman.

Obama delivered his standard stump speech for the umpteenth time, but it didn’t matter. The crowd cheered anytime the Illinois senator tossed in a reference to Portland, to Oregon, or to anything having to do with the environment or ending the war in Iraq.

At 12:25 p.m., two hours before the event was scheduled to begin, a line of people snaked more than a half-mile through downtown, beyond Portland State University. There was nary a spare lamppost or railing to lock a bike within three blocks of the site.

Members of the local rock group The Decemberists warmed up the crowd, which included a large share of younger voters.

At the onset of his 36-minute speech, Obama recalled how many people advised him to wait before running for president, noting he is young enough to wait his turn.

“I believe there is such a thing as being too late, and that hour is almost upon us,” Obama said, reciting a list of changes he’d like to see in domestic and foreign policies.

Obama said Americans are thirsty for a candidate who can bring people together, and not divide them on the basis of race, gender, age or sexual preference.

As in his Beaverton campaign appearance on May 9, Obama had nothing but kind words for his Democratic primary rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. “Whatever differences exist between Senator Clinton and myself pale in comparison to the differences we have with the other side,” he said.

Despite some kind words for his likely Republican rival John McCain, Obama repeatedly tied the Arizona senator to the unpopular incumbent president.

“John McCain has decided to run for George Bush’s third term, and we cannot afford to have George Bush’s policies in the White House after this election,” Obama said.

Obama condemned Bush’s recent remarks in Israel where, as Obama characterized it, the president compared those who believe in diplomatic efforts with our Middle East adversaries to those who appeased Adolph Hitler before World War II.

“The world is too dangerous for us to believe in that kind of nonsense,” Obama said.

He promised to “hunt down” Osama bin Laden and the others responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while also pursuing nuclear disarmament.

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