WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says Harry Truman, the common sense everyman from Missouri, was one of his favorite presidents. On Monday, he took a few minutes on the campaign trail to soak up some Truman history.
After Obama delivered a speech on the meaning of patriotism at an auditorium in the Truman presidential library complex in Independence, Missouri, he strolled over to Truman’s old house a few blocks away.
He stopped to visit well-wishers along the way, shaking hands and joking with supporters, who poured out of neighboring houses to say hello and stopped on the street to cheer him.
When one man yelled that his wife thought he was cute and he had her vote, Obama laughed and said “I like that.” Looking at the woman, he jokingly asked: “Does he always embarrass you like that?”
Later he admired a t-shirt given him by Tootie Williams, 68. It said “Obama in the House” over a rendering of the White House.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Obama said.
Once he reached the Truman house, where the 33rd president lived from 1919 until his death in 1972 (except for the years when it served as the summer “White House”) he received a tour from Norton Canfield, a gray-haired, bearded park ranger with a braided ponytail.
When he saw a portrait of Truman’s daughter, Margaret, he sympathized with the president’s threat to punch a newspaper critic who had panned her singing.
“I would have done the same thing if someone had said something mean about my daughter,” Obama said.
Obama also admired a 1972 Chrysler Newport purchased just six months before Truman’s death. “I wonder what kind of mileage this gets,” Obama said. His personal assistant, Reggie Love, pondered its fuel efficiency.
When Canfield showed Obama a hat and coat belonging to Truman hanging beyond the foyer, the Illinois senator sounded positively nostalgic for the days when he could wander the streets without a tailing crew of media and security.
“The thing that I envy most about Truman was that when he was in the White House, he could go out and take a walk. He could put on that fedora and take a stroll, without someone following him,” he said — as the milling crowd outside waited to swarm him when he left the house.
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I hope that all of us that can will do our best to help Hillary Clinton pay off ALL of her campaign debt quickly. She deserves that. You all knew Hillary, and Bill would go out on a limb for us if they felt they had too. That’s what they do.
As I said before Hillary Clinton was STUNNING!!!
You witnessed the greatest political campaign struggle in American history. One for the textbooks, and the history books. Hillary Clinton fought her heart out against all odds to win for all of the American people. While at the same time doing her best to prepare Sen. Barack Obama to win in November if he was the nominee. STUNNING!!! WELL DONE HILLARY CLINTON. WELL DONE! Your AMAZING!
Sen. Obama could not have had a better opponent than Hillary Clinton. Nor could he have had a better opponent to prepare him for the battle royal to come against John McCain and the Republicans ahead of the November elections. Hillary Clinton was like a big Mama cat determined to teach her kitten how to hunt, and hang with the big dogs for the fights ahead. The Clinton’s have won the Whitehouse twice before. They know what it will take.
Hillary Clinton took Sen. Obama to every brawl, and cat fight she could find for him to develop his fight, and his chops. She even let her men (President Clinton, Governor Rendell, and many others) loose on Sen. Obama a little bit. So as to give Sen. Obama a taste of just how rough, and tough the big boys will be to do battle with.
From sea to shining sea and US territories Hillary Clinton took Sen. Obama to see all of America. To meet, and greet all it’s people. And to ask for their votes and support, which he will need if he becomes President. She took him to see what he will be fighting for. And to see what she and President Clinton have fought so heroically for over so many years. Sen. Obama could not have ask for any better. Nor had any better teachers.
Bill Clinton, Chelsea, Mrs. Rodham, and the whole Clinton team were magnificent. They really showed their metal. BRAVO! TEAM CLINTON… BRAVO!
And YOU! my fellow Americans. I’m so proud of you. And proud to be one of you. You showed what you are made of. And what makes America so great. You never gave up on your Champion Hillary Clinton. Time, and time again you eagerly waited your turn to vote for Hillary Clinton. To raise her up and pass her along down the line to the rest of your waiting fellow Americans.
You never gave up on her. Just as Hillary Clinton never gave up on you. No matter how many times they counted her out. No matter how many times her detractors, and attackers brutally knocked her down. You knew she would get back up and get after it. And when she did you were ready to support her. This is your role model America. AMERICA LOVES A FIGHTER. AMERICA UNDERSTANDS A FIGHTER. AMERICA IS A FIGHTER. I’M PROUD OF YOU AMERICA!
Sen. Clinton looked a little tired her first day back at work in the senate after her history making heroic campaign. She has good reason to be tired. Doesn’t she America. But with time and good attention to the basics she, and you will recover. The basics are good well balanced nutrition, hydration, rest, exercise, recreation, POSITIVE! emotional support, and time (the greatest healer of all).
Y’all be good to President Clinton. I never saw a man fight so hard for a woman, and the American people as President Clinton fought for Hillary Clinton, and you. It’s going to take Bill a while. No one except Hillary Clinton could have fought any harder than President Clinton did for you.
I imagine President Clinton still remembers how the American people wailed, reached, and cried out for him as he took that last flight home as your President on Air Force One after the 2000 elections. Yes, many of us knew back then what was coming for the American people under a republican administration. Back to living like dumb animals again. Fighting over territory, and scraps of meat. You are dieing like fly’s now. Republicans too. But it’s ok because some people are making a lot of money off of your needless deaths.
As always, Hillary Clinton, and President Clinton did their best for all of us. It was an EPIC!
YOU MADE US VERY PROUD HILLARY CLINTON! HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH
WE LOVE YOU. AND ADMIRE YOU…
jacksmith… Working Class
- Posted by jacksmith[…] Obama has topped that on a visit to the Independence shrine, imagining Truman did it with no security. “The thing that […]
- Posted by Ambling Through History at WWW.PRESIDENTS”R”US.COMOh, what a man Obama is!
I hope that this simple act of humanity goes around. It’ll really show everyone how real Obama is.
- Posted by Miranda