Lorain County Community College hosted President Barack Obama last Friday Jan. 22. It just so happens that the Nobleman has some media affiliations and picked up press credentials for the event.
Security was more than tight for the event, but when POTUS is involved, secret service doesn’t fuck around. The usual procedure for these types of events was in order. Dogs trained to sniff out explosives sniffed all media equipment while the rest of us were scanned through metal detectors and examined.
Once in the event, I set up shop interviewing several media outlets. First I spoke with Audrey, a German news producer who was here to examine just how Obama is accepted by an area struck hard by the economy.
The producer had covered Obama from the beginning of his run as candidate to his inauguration and here now as a president whose numbers are slipping. She explained to me that Europeans are still intrigued by Obama and support him, but it really doesn’t what the Europeans think.
Next I spoke to the host of a CBS radio news show who expressed great interest in the event. Mark was there obviously to cover the event but was hopeful to hear what Obama would do next after losing the 60th Democrat mark in the Senate. Since the loss of the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, a seat that has been held by the Dems for the past 50 years will now be handed to the Republicans as the state elected Scott Brown to represent them.
This is a very crushing blow for a president who came to talk about jobs and knows what losing the filibuster blocking 60th vote means passing the health care bill will be very difficult. But President Obama knows what he is getting into:
“I had no illusions when I took on health care. It was always going to be hard. I knew from the beginning that seven Presidents had tried it and seven Presidents had failed. But I also knew that insurance premiums had more than doubled in the past decade, that out-of-pocket expenses had skyrocketed, that millions more people had lost their insurance, and that it would only get worse.”
A direct correlation can be drawn from health care to jobs, and President Obama can talk to any area of the country that is as bad as Elyria and say the same things. A staggering 10.6 unemployment rate in the area means hard times for everyone and the President was ready to discuss.
Local T.V. stations sent their political correspondents, and Hot Like Sauce got the chance to speak with Tom who is the face of WKYC’s “Between the Lines,” A Sunday morning political talk show. Tom was most interested by the questionnaire portion of the town hall meeting.
“Well he’s speaking to people who obviously are in need of some answers and I know the president is a smart man who can answer them,” Tom said.
After hot knobbing with the media, it came time for President Obama’s grand entrance, and when the president enters the room, nobody sits.
A very warm welcome was given to him by the 1,600 on hand, as the laid back style of the town hall meeting commenced. The President, dressed in a suit without a tie, presented himself as humanly as possible, stating all the things he has done to help the country as we “stared down a second Great Depression.”
Obama stressed in a way that he is not a quick fix and he was elected to a four year term to utilize all the time he has. His dropped approval ratings are really from a problem he can’t deal with at all. The House is the biggest monkey on his back. They back him with a staggering percent and yet can’t get anything accomplished. Obama stated on the matter:
“When you deal with 535 members of Congress, it’s going to be a somewhat ugly process — not necessarily because any individual member of Congress is trying to do something wrong, it’s just they may have different ideas, they have different interests, they’ve got a particular issue of a hospital in their district that they want to see if they can kind of get dealt with and this may be the best vehicle for doing it. They’re looking out for their constituents a lot of times.”
President Obama took questions for about 45 minutes. Questions that ranged as stupid as ‘may I have a hand shake?’ to a 52-year-old business man from Akron, Ohio, who wanted the chance to create 1,200 jobs, but needed some serious money to do it. The president pledged to put him in touch with some people that can get him the money and also deal with the international patent rights he would need to face.
By the end of the meeting, there was a sense of hope in the room that reminded me of the hope we all felt when Barack was first elected into office. People forget that one man cannot fix an entire country in one year. It takes many people a lot of time and chances to do it, but it would appear we are on a rise once again. Hope is a funny thing though; it can drive a man crazy. At every corner people seem to be against him and all that’s going to led to is failure and as Barack said at the conclusion of his speech:
“I didn’t take this on [health care] to score political points. I know there are some folks who think if Obama loses, we win. But you know what? I think that I win when you win. That’s how I think about it… I want to march forward with you. I want to work with you. I want to fight for you. I hope you’re willing to stand by me, even during these tough times, because I believe in a brighter future for America.”
