Find us on Facebook
Follow us on TwitterBarack rocks Glass
Alternative content
Obama in Lynchburg
Senator Barack Obama spoke inside a packed gym at E.C. Glass High School Wednesday night.
CHET WHITE/THE NEWS & ADVANCE
GREETING THE CROWD: Sen. Barack Obama greets the crowd at E.C. Glass High School on Wednesday evening. The presumptive Democratic nominee appeared with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., on his city stop.
The cheers that greeted presidential candidate Barack Obama in the E.C. Glass High School Wednesday night rivaled any basketball victory’s excitement, and they kept erupting as he talked about working-family budgets, tax breaks, energy, and negative TV ads.
A crowd packed with Obama loyalists cheered for a full minute before letting him get his first sentence out, explaining that he had taken a few extra minutes to shake hands with people outside who hadn’t been able to get into the gym.
Related:
Lynchburg youth come out to support Democrat
Liberty blocks The Plaza from those wishing to park to see Obama
Click here for The News and Advance’s blog about Obama’s visit
In Martinsville, Obama touts populist themes
From Andrew Jackson to George H.W. Bush, Lynchburg played host
Later, Obama said in an interview that he came to Lynchburg because he believes “90 percent of success is showing up” and that people in Central Virginia, like the rest of America, are worried about economic issues. “If I can communicate the message that I’m going to fight for them, we might pick up some votes we might not otherwise get,” he said.
Obama told the crowd his 19-month campaign has taught him “Americans are anxious. They are worried about the present and about the future.”
Family incomes went up $6,000 during the Bill Clinton presidency, but they have since declined $1,000 during the Bush presidency, Obama said.
The solution, he said is “to bring about a fundamental change in Washington and restore the American dream, and that’s why I am running for president.”
His Republican opponent, John McCain, is offering the same tax breaks as President Bush, Obama said, breaks that benefited higher-income people and corporations but didn’t help middle-class families.
Obama said he would give middle-class families a $1,000 tax break.
Mark Peake, chairman of Lynchburg’s Republican Party, said he watched Obama’s speech online and the promise of a $1,000 tax break doesn’t impress him.
“I don’t think he’s being forthright with voters when he talks about taxes,” Peake said. “The biggest deception is the $1,000 rebate. It’s just an attempt to buy votes,” Peake said.
Obama said economic conditions don’t assure him of victory. “The Republican Party hasn’t been very good at governing, but they very good at running negative ads, so it is important that we make it clear what the choice is in this election.”
Obama urged the 2,000 or more in the gymnasium to canvass neighborhoods on his behalf, work phone banks and write checks to his campaign.
When Obama opened up the town-hall style meeting to questions from the audience, one of the questioners asked him, “Do you think you can win by taking the high road” in the face of negative TV ads.
“This is a challenge,” Obama said, and warned that anyone who goes into public service should “know ahead of time that people are going to lie about you.”
“For a year and a half, e-mails have been going out saying that I am a Muslim,” Obama said, despite the fact that he isn’t. “I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior,” he said.
“I’m saying that, not because there’s anything wrong with being a Muslim, but these e-mails are designed to feed into anti-Muslim sentiment. It’s a very cynical point,” Obama said.
In an interview question about his stand on abortion, Obama said he thought the best approach to reducing the number of abortions was education, including abstinence education.
“The criminalization of women or their doctors, I do not believe, will actually bring about the results that both evangelical voters and myself would like to see,” he said.
Obama said during his speech that nuclear energy should be part of U.S. energy policy, and he emphasized its safety aspects during the speech and in the interview.
He said the United States has lagged in dealing with nuclear waste and proposals to recycle used nuclear fuel don’t fully solve the problems.
“Really, the challenge is finding storage strategies that are safe and can give people confidence” in the ways leftover nuclear materials are handled, he said.
“Part of what we have to do is be honest with the American people, not do a sell job, but provide them with the information they need so they can feel comfident with nuclear power, even if it is located in their own communities,” he said.
“Sometimes people are scared of nuclear power because of misinformation, but part of it has to do with the fact we haven’t always been honest and straightforward about these issues.”
Before the speech, Obama met in a locker room with local officials, including Mayor Joan Foster, Vice Mayor Bert Dodson, City Councilmen Mike Gillette and Ceasor Johnson, Del. Valentine, former state Sen. Elliot Schewel and John Lawrence, chairman of the local Democratic party.
Dodson said, “He was very friendly. It was like seeing your neighbor walk by your front porch on a Saturday morning.”
Johnson said, “I think it’s just what was needed to assure people he’s the one we need as America begins this transition.”
Outside the gym, two pro-McCain demonstrators held a sign that read, “NOBama.”
One of them, Khristen Minter, 22, said Obama “doesn’t have any experience and doesn’t seem to know how to run a country.”
Reader Reactions
JOUXSTER;;the congress has already had hearing on ALL THAT OIL we r sup[pose to have,,we aint got it !! all we have is 3% of the worlds oil!!that aint doggie po po,,you speak of the market,,yes dont tell anyone but i,m glad gas is 4.00 ,,heck i want 5-6 10 dollars,,why u ask ,,heck then all these corporation that screw us and moved overseas,,now cant afford to ship their cheap cargo nike garbage back to us,,why ,,fuel to ship those ships 16,000 miles ,,polute earth,,and slice and dice whales,,are l;ossing money!!now the butt holes are forced to come back and rooost and reopen our factories!!ahhh good thing,,get us back to work,,and this is the micro/macroism of economics,,yea!!it applies to all imports !!plus it works both ways now those that have to buy our food ,,will now have triple prices to pay,,thus they cant grow it ,,well well,,looks whoes looking good now,,them a-rabs can kiss my butt and pay 130.00 for a 8.00 bushel of wheat,, i mean dont you pump oil out of the ground like well water,,i mean how much profit do you friggin need!!if i could only get these darn rich ,trust fund, stock/bonds ,spend tax payers money as their own ,who only make up 10 % of our population but control 90 % of the wealth,,republicans!!out of power,,this trickle down eco,,is trickle out-source jobs so they can increase their profits by 49 %,,darn,,its insane,,so mcinsane wants 40 nukes cause FRANCE owns half our nuke industry ,,its called arieva,,they gain ,not us the usa!!and mcinsane gets all his lobbist money from france!!heck the republics outsourced that too !!and no to solar/wind unless they own it,,monopoly of the 30,s..and the richest man in america is investing aNd monopolyizing the wind industry in texas!!texas,,hummm,,bush,,humm anyway i got to go i got your post in the middle of my e/mail to biden over this darn pope and cardinals ,,telling him he will be excommuncated for abortion veiw,,got to explain the darn separate powers of churh/state and that we elected him and he represents us not the vatican,,and he is to vote the will of the people,,not the darn pope,,falwell is just as darn bad,,wanna override the vote of the people,,if we vote u in and we the 75 % say we want this ..for only falwell/pope to say oh you go to our churh you vote this way ,,screw them all..land get their cronnies to blindly vote their will!!later,,freedom is dead and our voting machine in 25 states are unaccountable to verifacation,,we have no vote !!and no-one knows it and the press isnt even looking into it !!
Freedom - Lychburg’s “boogeyman” is dead so we as a city must mourn and find someone else to blame for any limitations in Lynchburg. McCain’s for drilling now that he needs the votes and Obama.. well he’s for cap and trade of greenhouse emissions which is another word for massive government controls that do nothing but further drive away investment in any sort of new energy. Hey.. maybe it just me but let businesses with wind or solar energy make all the money tax free for 10 years and see how much can change. Spending money on nuclear research for knowledge that’s there makes no sense either unless your a gov. researcher waiting for the money. Let American nuclear companies make as much money here as well and see what changes can occur. Like I initially stated earlier radical energy change will not occur under either canidates.
jackson pollock,,thanks ,,but the sad sad truth is that what you saw took me over an hour to type,,so dont expect anything better,,its very painful and difficult for me,,yet i did manage to go to college w/major in psyc.minors in law ,education,broadcasting engr. ,,and i speak and verbalize very well,,i write on a 3 rd grade level,,thats the best the teachers and tutors we able to get me to go,,and you should see me with a check book !!,,flippin numbers all the time,,scary,,
Freedom. I think you have a lot of interesting stuff to say, but the way you say it - with little punctuation, little capitalization in the right places, and incorrect grammar - makes reading it like having oral surgery (about as painful). I respect your mind, but work on the communication (syntax and grammar). Peace.
part 3,,yes if we use all 3 sources of energy then we can ease the oil crunch,,plus there is talk about getting oil out of coal,and out of sandstone in colorado,and some mad scientist in some lab is growing some kind of creature that produces oil!!humm??,,what we should have done is 30 plus years ago when the A-rabs,,got us the first time was to have been prepared for this and building these all along,,but hind-sight is 20/20..so what we need is a kenndy who inspire us to walk on the moon,and at that time everyone laugh and made jokes,,because it really was so far fetch,,but the nation went for that dream and did it !!we are aresilient people,,and as a nation if we put our minds to it,,well we get-err-done!!but it takes an inspiring ,uplifting person ,,and i,m sorry but everytime i see mccain,,all i want to do is get my ben-gay out and take a nap!!ROCK OBAMA!!
JOUXSTER,,PART2,batteries,,they need a room full since the sun dosent shine that much//like southwest desert,so thats that answer,,now to elec CARS,,what you all need to know is that those rechargeable batteries for your new cars(2010) will cost you a COOL 7,000.00,,and every 2 yrs you have to replace them for another 7,000.00,,see we r in one hot spot,,we need that oil!!NUKE!,,we just lost a nuke plant for appomatox to IDAIO,,the potato people of all darn things,,and we got nev/arz pissed off at the 48 states and ready to suceed from the union or go to war w/us,,cause the only place safe enough for the spent fuel is in a crystal tunnel mothernature made for us a million years ago,,for this junk,,and to build 40 nuke ,,means we need a lot of storage space until the year 2099 when we then can ship it one way to the sun via rocketship,,and of course the sun then will think we are worshiping him with these gifts of green gunk and shine nicely for us.. a win win,,truthfully no one wants another states garbage so more so w/nuke waste,,now to WIND,,well,well,,with all the HOT air comming out of liberty and that scorched mountain side with tons of rocks that absorb solar energy and gives off thermal heat waves,,why heck just stick one of them dar wind thing-a-ma-giggers up there and lynchburg will be saved,,sorry could,nt resits that one plus got to stay w/topic 
JOUXSTER,,why our gov isnt push oil at home,,well,,1) all we have is 3%,,3 % is like putting a qt.of oil against a barel,,its just not there,,and because its so hard and dangerious to get(oceans)(valdez)to make it profitable oil has to be at130.00,,thats why the OPEC r meessing w/u,,we r at war,,thay cant fight us on the battlefeild,,so they play the oil game,,and we because we are stupid CHRISTANS,,we wont fight back with FOOD,,oil for food,,our gov needs to surcharge whatever it takes to make a bushel of wheat the same as a barel of oil,,they got oil,,we must have oil,,,we got food ,,they got DESERT,and they cant drink oil!! they cant grow a darn thing,,myself i would do it in a min..but no the world is screammin now about our corn to fuel program and how we r starving them etc and how unethical we r etc etc ,,i say screw u,,so we do the next best thing try an steal the 4 th largest reserve of oil in the world ,IRAQ!!but instead we r losing everything,,we aint gotten a drop of oil and we are stuck w/all the war bills,,and being forced to come home with nothing except 9 trillion in the red!!destroyed eco,,floods //drought attacking our feilds at home..i swear if i didnt know better i,d say we have pissed GOD off ,,so until we hit rock bottom and there is no other choice facing us our gov..will do as i have been saying and that is food for oil,,now to solar,,the gov needs to give tax breaks to green houses/cars/etc ,,it has no problem giving them to exxon //w/15 billion in profits,,who has yet drilled the first well,,,,i got an e/mail from OBAMA..got to go !
Freedom.. are we in the wind corador? Solar works okay but to have a house completely solar costs over $50,000 such as a house in Amherst I’m aware of and have batteries filling up an entire room. Besides that this war is for oil so why are the democrates not screaming to produce more oil here so we don’t have to listen to the sensibilities of the Saudi’s and have over 4,000 of our men and woman dead? BUSH is not running again for president these two men are. Keep the money here and hey lets try all three sources of energy. BUT LUNCHBURG HAS TWO OF THE LARGEST NUCLEAR DEVELOPERS HERE! Use it, get our kids the education to work there and build up this city. For those scared of terrorist attacks by foreigners and our nuclear being harmed.. if we go nuclear, solar, wind we will no longer have to interact with these cultures, thus leave them alone to their own development.
,,POCKETPAIR,,thanks for the correction,,what i really meant to say is that PLUS what we have given that nations,,for their troops in iraq,,military training,,and hardware,and economic help over the past 7.5 yrs(bush)is equal to 250,ooo.00 per citizen,,but thats ok bush so far has only borrowed 2 TRILLION dollars from RED CHINA,,lets see how much more he runs up w/china in the next 6 mo..see REAGON defeated RUSSIA economically,,and china learns fast and is doing the same to us,,and now that russia is sitting on a windfall of oil/nat.gas..is joining china to wreck our eco..so be ready for great depression # 2,,and we are so bad off now we are giving FRANCE 40 billion in milatary contracts,,plus mccain wants them to build 40 nuke plants ,,plus our military has to buy rocket fuel for our misels for iraq/afgan war from CHINA,,wonder what we will do when we have to go to war w/china/russia,,i can see mccain now!!ahh,,but china we need rocket fuel!!yea buddy ,,and you want more years of republican!!
Freedom: My math tells me $1 billion divided by 4 million people is $250/per NOT $250,000/per.
Advertisement