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Obama Baracks The House In Tampa

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JOE O'NEILL

Tribune Columnist

Published: May 23, 2008

Susan Bennett is a white Tampa lawyer and an early Hillary Clinton backer. She was among the 15,000-plus who attended last week's Barack Obama rally at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"I supported Hillary, but I'm also a realist," said Bennett, 58. "When I saw him speak (at the Democratic Convention) in 2004, I remember turning to my husband and saying, 'This could be the next (2008) president.' We need to unite the party, and we need a new direction that starts with bringing troops home from Iraq and doing something about health care. It was an easy transition."

Then there was Chris, a software engineer. He's a 36-year-old black man who didn't want to give his last name. That's because he was at the Obama rally – when he should have been at work.

He called it an "extended lunch hour." He also called it an invaluable experience.

"I wanted to see for myself," said Chris, who was with a younger, black colleague who craved even more anonymity. "Sometimes on TV, what you see is manufactured, either by editing or by the crowd shots they show.

"I mean, I get the intelligence part, and I get the well-spoken part," Chris said. "But I wanted to see the inspiration part for myself. Maybe get involved in the campaign.

"Now I might. This is good to see. The crowd is so diverse. This looks like America."

The multiracial and multigenerational gathering of true believers, Clinton converts and the idealistically curious had come to see the return of the candidate -- now the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. He hadn't, shall we say, been around in a while. This is, in part, what they saw and heard:

Frank Sanchez, the erstwhile mayoral candidate and key Obama operative, did the early audience warm-up. "Take a look around," Sanchez said. "This is change!" The crowd ate it up. "As goes Tampa Bay, so goes the nation!" The crowd had another helping. Sanchez never looked this animated in his run against Pam Iorio five years ago.

And speaking of, Sanchez urged the crowd, already at full "Yes We Can" and "O-Bam-A" throttle, to "give it up" for Pam Iorio. The mayor, who's politically parsimonious when it comes to endorsements, then told her listeners that Obama was "My choice for president, and I know he's yours."

The support of the Interstate 4 corridor's anchor mayor has obvious value to Obama. And Iorio more than hinted that -- if the political planets properly align -- she may have finally found a federal partner for some Tampa priorities, notably mass transit.

You can tell something about a campaign by the music it chooses. The Clinton-Gore ticket chose "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" by Fleetwood Mac, and it successfully symbolized a generational shift and a commitment to a better future. John McCain uses Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" – but it doesn't really resonate.

The Obama folks like Aretha Franklin's (outdoors) "Respect," The Temptations' (pre-Obama appearance) "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and Stevie Wonder's (post-Obama) "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." Seems to work.

Rep. Kathy Castor of South Tampa, who has made everybody's short list for Congressional rookie of the year, was accorded the honor of introducing Obama.

After his entrance from the forum wings, Obama would soon get down to the tricky business of looking unflappable while firing up a crowd. He pulls this off with uncommon aplomb.

With microphone in hand and crowd in thrall, he served up familiar refrains on Iraq, health care, outsourced jobs, poorly paid teachers and the special interests bogeymen. But never has boilerplate been punctuated by so many "We love you!" hosannas. Nor literally responded to with "I love you back" retorts.

In more detail, he cited such platform staples as an annual $4,000 college-tuition credit as a quid pro quo for community service; the elimination of income taxes on Social Security payments; the reallocation of ($10 billion a month) Iraqi war resources into infrastructure needs and jobs; and a $150 billion investment in alternative energy sources.

The loudest boos were reserved for mentions of a "Bush third term," and the loudest applause line was prompted by a reference to America's fighting men and women -- and the respect and help due them when they return.

Obama continued his diplomatic offensive vis a vis Hillary Clinton. It's now a discernible no-boo zone. He praised her as someone who has run "an outstanding campaign" and "deserves our admiration and respect." He noted that she had "broken through barriers and will open up opportunities for people including my two young daughters."

It's a sensible tact to help hold on to the hordes of ardent Clinton followers, but Obama also sent a message of comity and unity to others. He indicated he would be reaching out to "independents and Republicans, a lot of whom don't recognize their own party."

He didn't declare victory but nuanced his majority-of-elected-delegates milestone with a "threshold of nomination" parse.

Obama ended with a biographical touch, one intended to undercut the elite image of an Ivy League intellectual. It's effective in such settings. The single mom … the heartland Kansas values … the grandfather who fought under Gen. George Patton in World War II … the modest upbringing of his wife, Michelle.

"My story is only possible here in America," he summarized in crescendo fashion. "That is my story. This is your story."

Cue Stevie Wonder.

The Iorio Factor

To a lot of observers, the endorsement of Barack Obama by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio was a surprise. She rarely does such things.

"I have been watching the campaign closely and continue to be impressed with Obama," Iorio said. "His intellect, his outstanding ability to communicate, his grasp of the issues facing this country and his superior campaign skills, which he will need come November, all convinced me that I should get involved in this election and endorse."

The immediate impetus was provided by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, who actually invited Iorio to the rally and suggested the time was right to meet Obama. The Tampa venue and the timing so near the end of the primary season were major factors.

"In the few minutes I had backstage with him, he asked what issues concerned me, and, of course, I mentioned mass transit and the need for federal help on infrastructure and housing," Iorio said.

And will we see Iorio on the Obama hustings?

"I will help Obama from here to the general whenever he comes to Tampa or the Bay area," she said. "Introduce him or help with logistics or whatever helps."

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at moesez@aol.com or www.opinionstogoonline.com.

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