Reports and photos from Obama's first day of the book tour!

[wndycty]

Go ahead haters, hate. Whether or not you support a possible candidacy you can help but be happy for someone like Obama. Whether you think he is a sellout or not you cannot deny the fact that he connects with, touches and inspires people. Your hatred of him is well . . .laughable. Take your shots if you must but there are a ton of us (even hard core progressive DUers like myself) who are fans and your immature hatred can't change that. Go ahead haters, hate.



Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, arrives to a cheering crowd standing in the rain outside a bookstore in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006, where he came to sign copies of his new book, 'The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.' It is Obama's first stop on a book tour that will take him to a dozen cities in the next two weeks. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/061017/480/0b76274190584ea687853df52f3b4fc7

Obama kicks off book tour in Chicago

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 20 minutes ago

People stood in the rain for hours, laughed big laughs at his little jokes and pulled out cameras and cell phones to snap photos of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as he signed copies of his latest book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," on Tuesday.

While a first-term senator might draw an inquisitive crowd at a book signing in his home state, Obama drew scores of people who lined up for three hours before a bookstore opened. After all, the potential presidential candidate is one of the hottest commodities in U.S. politics.

"For our generation he is kind of the lighthouse, the hope," said Allison Ringhand, a 19-year-old University of Chicago student from Milwaukee. "He's changing the face of government in America."

One after another, college students, retirees and those in between tossed out words like "charismatic" and "hope" or, if that wasn't enough, "shining hope." They even mentioned the "K" word, as in John F. Kennedy.

"You know Kennedy was in the Senate for two years when he ran for president," said Barbara O'Connor, 76, a few minutes before buying three copies of Obama's book.

Even Sandy Sutphin, a staunch Republican from Ellicott City, Md., said she'd consider voting for Obama — if he became an independent. "He's a good man," Sutphin said at one bookstore, where television news crews, including one from France, and a documentary film crew from New York recorded the event.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_el_se/obama_book_tour_1



Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., signs copies of his new book 'The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream' at a bookstore in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006. It was the first stop on a book tour that will take him to a dozen cities in the next two weeks. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/061017/480/c98792342478415199413b0ddba3e817

My earlier thread declaring my support should he run.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2889000

[Guaranteed]

1. Hey, ya know, some people like cucumbers better pickled. nt

[trixie]

2. WOW you sound like an outraged Bushite

Just because some of us don't like a religious person - when discussing politics - doesn't mean we don't like the person or wish him harm or anything.

I like Obama - as a person. At this time would not vote for him. That is my opinion and my right. Call it hater if you want.

You are just giving us more credence to the "crazy religious types". :bounce:

[liberalpragmatist]

3. You wouldn't vote for him because he's religious?

Because according to that standard you wouldn't have been able vote for ANY candidate of the last 50 years.

And Obama has NEVER called for embracing church-and-state. He has simply talked about how his own faith motivates his view of the common good. I don't see how that's dangerous, nor do I think it's wrong to reach out to religious people. He's not talking about Pat Robertson supporters - he's talking about average religious types who have sometimes been misled into voting for the GOP.

[trixie]

7. He goes overboard

I can't watch him for more than a couple of minutes. I do not like religion. If he can't get his point across (to me) without spouting it then I do not vote for him. It is simple. He either needs to tone it way down or have a portion of the Democratic Party not vote for him.

As a person - He is fine.

Why can't religious types understand that some of us have no idea why you do what you do? Why can't your ideas be your ideas? I would have much more respect for those that spoke for themselves than those that spout some rhetoric.

[liberalpragmatist]

9. Okay, fair enough...

... but what do you feel about Martin Luther King invoking religious language during the Civil Rights Movement?

[trixie]

10. He came as a person of the cloth

He wasn't asking for votes. He was not elected. He came as himself and spoke as himself. It was the churches from the south that sparked the movement. There is no denying that. There is no denying that many Catholic churches are instrumental during long labor battles. They come as the church. They are not asking for votes and are not elected. Working along side a person of religion is one thing, asking for our votes is quite another. If Obama wants to move up in politics as a Democrat he must learn to speak for himself and all people.

Listening to Clinton in the past few days has been refreshing. He speaks so well and so true. He speaks as himself for all people without invoking religious doctrine.

[wiley]

4. Obama Rocks!

This board is loaded with Freepers and political operatives doing pre-2008 trashing. Oh, so discretely.He's a charismatic and intelligent spokesperson for the Democratic Party.

[trixie]

8. Are you calling me a freeper?

Just because I don't buy into the religion crap?

I said he was a fine person, at this time I would not vote for him.

[wiley]

5. Avatars of these pictures, DU techies?

Please?

[wndycty]

6. Here is video

http://www.nbc5.com/video/10096622/index.html