| Covering Barack |
[Feb. 12th, 2007|01:27 pm] |
As many of my closest friends know, I am a news and political junkie. In my career as a journalist, there's nothing more exciting than going to the field and seeing up-close, history as it happens. From the Senate impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada to EDSA Dos, when I stayed up without sleep for 48 hours; from squeezing John Kerry's hand during the 2004 campaign, to seeing live Larry King interview the older President Bush atm Madison Square Garden during the '04 Republican Convention, there's nothing more that could excite me. Beats coffee all the time. Last Saturday, Feb. 10, I had my latest chance to get really excited: Barack Obama's announcement to run for president in '08.
This is what I love about my job, going out and not getting stucked in the office doing all the administrative work to keep the publication running.
Springfield, the capital of Illinois, is about three hours drive or 200 plus miles south of Chicago. So I set out early, leaving Skokie at around 5am. It didn't really feel like three hours, because I was on the phone almost the entire drive. I got there past 8am and already saw people lining up three blocks long. Thank God I didn't have to line up, or I would have been frozen. What with the sub-zero temp. I marched to the front of the line and presented my company letter stating that I am from the media. I was given a run around by the volunteers, but I was forgiving because they are volunteers, and perhaps that was their first presidential-size event to handle.
Eventually, I made my way to the media center and got my Obama '08 ID. At that point, I was already starving and needing some hot drink. Then I spotted a table complete with coffee, hot chocolate and muffins, so I helped myself. It turned out the food was for the traveling press, but I didn't get caught and I left with my stomach filled. The ABS-CBN team was not very lucky with the hot chocolate. By the time they tried to get into the area, where the food was, they were told it's off limits. Of course we weren't there for the hot chocolate, we were there to cover the event, darn it! So here I am, with Ms. Ging Reyes of ABS-CBN, smiling as if the cold weather, which everyone was complaining about, didn't hurt.
The throng of people didn't excite me as much as seeing fellow journalists, at least 530, from within the US and abroad. I was in good company I thought. I saw Joe Klein of TIME magazine, Gwen Ifill of PBS and Eric Horng of ABC News. I also made small talk with a French reporter from Le Figaro, and a Springfield journalist, who writes for a gay publication in Central Illinois area. I've covered the Kerry campaign in Chicago in '04 and the Republican convention in New York, but I have never seen so many reporters and their video cameras in my entire life. The photo below is just one of the three platforms where the camera crew were stationed.
Here's the story that I filed for my newsmagazine, and the San Francisco-based Philippine News, which is the largest Pinoy publication in the US.
Obama declares bid for presidency, support from Fil-Ams grows
Springfield, IL – US Senator Barack Obama formally kicked off his bid for president on February 10, preaching his message of hope and transformation to a crowd of 17,000 supporters.
“Let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation,” Obama told his visibly jubilant audience who braved the near-zero temperature, just to witness what one observer dubbed “history in the making.”
Speaking outside the Old State Capitol, Obama began his speech by saying, “praise and honor to God”, immediately laying claim to his Christian faith.
Obama then channeled the legacy of former President Abraham Lincoln, who, like the senator, served in the Illinois state legislature here in Springfield before moving on to the White House.
“In the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America,” he declared to the cheering crowd.
Obama, who is a Democrat, cast himself as the heir of the Republican Lincoln, offering his brand of leadership in a time of war. It was during Lincoln’s presidency when the Civil War broke, followed by the freeing of African-American slaves, an historic event not lost in Obama’s address. If elected, Obama will be the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office.
Among the throng of supporters who heard Obama’s call to action were young Filipino Americans, Justin Cajindos and Julien Abrea Baburka, both history and political science majors at the nearby University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
“It was a fantastic delivery, and I think that he made the right balance between substance and lofty inspiration,” said Cajindos of Hickory Hills, Illinois. Cajindos’ parents hail from Baguio City and Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.
Cajindos said he has been “a long-time supporter” of Obama, first when he ran for the US Senate in 2004. In 2005, he also worked as an intern in Obama’s office in Washington D.C.
Added Baburka: “He comes from the diverse culture and he is also very charismatic, qualities that we are yearning for.” Baburka’s mother is a native of Southern Leyte in the Philippines.
Reporters from various Filipino media companies like ABS-CBN and Journal Group Limited were also there to record the event for the Filipino readers and television viewers across the US. They traveled three hours south from Chicago, joining an estimated 530 other journalists, from the US and around the world, who covered the event.
In Chicago, Atty. Vanessa Vergara of the Filipino Civil Rights Advocates, said “there isn't a formal, organized Fil-Am effort quite yet.” Vergara and her lawyer husband have been supporting Obama ever since he was an Illinois state legislator, representing Chicago’s South Side. Last Sunday, February 11, Vergara attended a fundraiser for Obama.
Another Filipino American expected to work for Obama’s election is Atty. Aurora Abella-Austriaco, the first female and minority president of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers’ Association, an organization of more than 1,200 real estate attorneys throughout Illinois.
Obama and Austriaco, who was named one of Today’s Chicago Woman’s “100 Women Making a Difference” in 1997 and 2000, are on first-name basis. When the latter ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat as Main Township Trustee, Obama personally campaigned for her. Incidentally, Austriaco lives in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, the hometown of Obama’s chief rival Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
At the Springfield announcement, Obama also tried to dispel criticism that he lacks experience saying, "I know that I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."
On the most controversial issue of the day, Obama urged “an end to this war in Iraq.” “I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake,” he added, as he proposed to “bring our combat troops home by March of 2008.”
Obama also proposed a universal health care for all Americans and an end to dependence on foreign oil.
In a speech full of symbolism, Obama sought a page from former President John F. Kennedy’s playbook, talking about "a new generation” of leadership. Kennedy was Obama’s age when he won the presidency.
“Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more — and it is time for our generation to answer that call.”
He also made reference to the most prominent figure of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he declared “to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said “it’s not a surprise” that Obama delivered an “extraordinary” speech.
“He’s the embodiment of the diversity of this country and he has that unique ability to energize people. He has mass appeal,” Madigan said.
Not all are ready to join the movement dubbed by the media as Obama-mania.
While enjoying a late afternoon lunch at a nearby pizza inn, a World War II veteran who fought in Europe, said he has “mixed feelings” about Obama.
Earlier as Obama started his speech, a small crowd of anti-abortion protesters carrying signs "Life Yes, Obama No" shouted their disapproval of his candidacy. Volunteers manning the security prevented them from entering the rally grounds that was blocked by railings, but they managed to get the attention of the media.
Meanwhile, a middle-aged African-American woman, who refused to be identified, on the other hand, expressed her concern about the safety of Obama.
“It would be nice to have an African-American president, but I am afraid that if he will get too far, they will hurt him,” she said, adding that a lot of people feel threatened by Obama’s rise to power.
Obama, 45, was born in Hawaii. His father, who is black, is from Kenya and his mother, who is a white, is from Kansas. As a kid, he lived with his mother, his Indonesian step-father, and half-sister in Jakarta, before moving back to Hawaii, where he was raised by in white household by his grandparents.
After high school, he studied for two years at Occidental College near Los Angeles, California, before transferring to Columbia University in New York, where he majored in International Affairs.
After graduation, he moved to Chicago and worked as a community organizer on the city's South Side, receiving $13,000 a year. He later graduated from Harvard Law School, where he served as the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he returned to Chicago, where he met his wife Michelle.
In 1996, he ran for the Illinois Senate and served there for four terms. He worked to reform the death penalty system and helped enact new ethics legislation.
In 2000, he challenged another African-American, Congressman Bobby Rush. He lost that election, but later earned Rush’s backing to run for president.
In 2004, he launched his Senate campaign, which many political observers thought was not winnable. Later that year after clinching the nomination, he delivered the keynote address during the Democratic Party convention, catapulting him to national prominence and his eventual run for president.
After the event, it was on to a nearby eatery, where I shared an extra-large, thin crust pizza with the ABS-CBN team from San Francisco and two other Chicago-based Filipino reporters. Then off I was to a mini tour around Springfield, to the State Capitol and the house where Abe Lincoln and his family once lived. But that's for another blog entry.
A statue of Abe in front of the State House.
A state employee giving a free tour inside the State House. I was with a group of multi-ethnic high school students and their American History buff of a teacher, who just came home after fighting in Tikrit, Iraq. Bless his soul for exposing his students to history and civics. Earlier, they also witnessed the Barack Obama rally.
Lincoln's home.
Inside Abe's home. Many of the furniture pieces are original. I learned that Abe even owned a wooden commode, inside which they put their portable metal or porcelain toilet, as in orinola. Since water was scarce, Abe and his family only take a bath twice a month, sharing warm water stored in a huge pot. |
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