Obama Stays Local at Tulane
February 8, 2008
Click here to view a video of Senator Obama's speech on campus.
In addressing a crowd of approximately 4,000 jammed into Tulane University's Fogelman Arena on Thursday morning (Feb. 7), Sen. Barack Obama pitched the message of his national presidential campaign through a decidedly local window.
In a speech filled with New Orleans references, Sen. Barack Obama presents his presidential platform to supporters on the Tulane University campus on Thursday (Feb. 7). (Photos by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Never straying far from referencing New Orleans' ongoing effort to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, Obama's
speech used the city as a symbol for what he considers is working and not working in the country.
Obama cited the return of the streetcar to St. Charles Avenue, the success of Tulane's recovery and the gradual reopening of businesses throughout the city as signs of "New Orleanians reclaiming their future and showing America what can be done in this country when citizens lift up their communities."
The grassroots efforts to rebuild the city are a manifestation of a message central to his campaign, said Obama, adding, "Change does not happen from the top down; it happens from the bottom up."
However, he said, "There is another side to this story."
An audience mostly made up of students, who stood in line in pre-dawn hours for a chance to hear Sen. Barack Obama, fills Fogelman Arena along with a large representation of news media.
To many Americans, said Obama, the words "New Orleans" call up the "memory when America's government failed its citizens. … When people looked up from their rooftops and for too long they saw empty sky."
Obama noted that more than two years after the storm, "25,000 families are still living in trailers, thousands of homes sit empty and condemned, and schools, hospitals and firehouses are shuttered."
To the college students who comprised the majority of the audience, many of whom had arrived at Fogelman Arena two-and-a-half hours early for the speech that began at 9:45 a.m., Obama delivered a call to arms.
After describing his plan to make higher education more affordable to Americans, Obama said, "We will invest in you and you will invest in America. This is not a summer camp. You are here to improve yourself and improve America."
At this, the crowd that had sleepily filed into the arena in an orderly manner erupted into a roaring standing ovation.
"Here at Tulane, your degree will open many doors," said Obama. "I hope that many of you will choose to stay here in New Orleans, and to make this work your own. … You can be this city's tomorrow."
Obama, who is battling Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president and came to New Orleans in preparation for Saturday's (Feb. 9) Louisiana presidential primary, approached Tulane officials during the Mardi Gras holiday to request a venue for the speech. University officials emphasized that the campus is always open to any candidate, but Obama's was the only campaign that sought a forum at Tulane.
Obama closed his address by again invoking images from the local culture.
"Here, in the city that gave us jazz, we know that even the most painful note can be followed by joy," he said. "If we look hard enough we can imagine the unseen — homes filled with families, businesses putting folks to work, schools extending opportunity. The next verse in the American song."
During its applause at the end of the speech, the audience replied in kind, breaking into a deafening riff on a New Orleans Saints football team cheer: "Who dat say dey gonna beat Obama!"
