They Can't Get Enough of Obama In Greenwood, S.C.

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

They Can't Get Enough of Obama In Greenwood, S.C.
Townsfolk Were 'Fired Up' About His Recent Visit; Why Ms. Parks Felt Miffed
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
September 27, 2007; Page A1

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- When Barack Obama wants to get a campaign crowd really fired up, he tells the story of a whistle-stop a few months back in this out-of-the-way town. He was having a down day; the weather and his mood were both foul. And he had driven to Greenwood -- "an hour and a half from anywhere" -- to keep a promise to a state legislator. Just a handful of well-wishers were there to greet him. Suddenly, the Illinois senator heard a voice sing out from the back of the room: "Fired up! Ready to go!" It came from a tiny woman in a big-brimmed church hat. She repeated the chant. Before long, everybody joined in, and Mr. Obama himself was again feeling the spirit. "Here's a lesson for you," he said while telling the Greenwood story at a rally in Carroll, Iowa, this month. "If you're fired up and ready to go, we can change the world."

But beyond Mr. Obama's soapbox rhetoric about Greenwood is a more complicated story, of small-town politics, snubs and jealousies -- and a reminder that even presidential campaigns can be very personal and very local. Mr. Obama's appearance in Greenwood may have left him fired up, but it also left bruised feelings among local Democrats and left his campaign with a damage-control job that continues to this day.

(snip)

(State Rep. Anne Parks') demands were simple: "You gotta come to Greenwood." Had he said no, she says, she would have stayed neutral in the primary race. But on a rainy day in June, Mr. Obama's motorcade pulled into Greenwood, a town of 22,400 that is scarred by shuttered textile factories and empty storefronts. Ms. Parks figured she could easily round up 1,000 people for an Obama rally. But the senator's campaign aides told her she could only invite 25. For the campaign, it was an arithmetic problem. The senator had only 30 minutes, between stops in more populous cities, and, according to the campaign's informal time-to-crowd formula, that meant he could give a short talk and shake 25 hands. Ms. Parks was aghast, aware how angry and disappointed her constituents would be. She negotiated the list up to 40 and invited politicians, pastors and others. But she was seething when Mr. Obama arrived. "You have 1,000 people mad at you -- and at me," Ms. Parks remembers telling him.

(snip)

But while Mr. Obama hit the road feeling pumped up, Ms. Parks was deflated. She knew that when her constituents found out that Mr. Obama had paid a stealth visit to Greenwood, they'd blame her. Indeed, the perceived slight rippled through county Democrats, especially African-Americans. The next day, the newspaper, the Index-Journal, ran on its front page photos of Mr. Obama, Ms. Parks, Ms. Childs and other invited guests. "This is like sticking a knife in them, putting salt in the wound," recalls county Democratic Party Chairwoman Elaine Gentry. "That just made the ones who didn't get to go even madder."

(snip)

The senator promises to return before the primary. But Mr. Griffis hopes that Greenwood will notice that Mr. Obama is the only presidential candidate to have opened an office in town and the only Democratic candidate to have set foot there during this election season. One Obama campaign aide says locals don't understand how little time a presidential candidate has to commit to any one city... But Ms. Parks says Mr. Obama should be careful not to take Greenwood's black vote for granted. Some blacks here back Mrs. Clinton out of loyalty to her husband, the former president, Ms. Parks says. Some, she says, don't believe an African-American can win. Some just like Mrs. Clinton better than they like Mr. Obama.

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119086214198141036.html (subscription)

[snowbear]

1. Sure looks that way...

[Kagemusha]

2. I have read that Abraham Lincoln often had five minutes. FIVE minutes.

That was how long his campaign speeches went before he got back on a train and headed off to the next town. Campaigning has always been a difficult time management issue.

That said, no, Obama hasn't closed the deal with a lot of people, but we're not even October yet. He'll have a fair shot, and that's all he could've asked when he started this ordeal.

[Jillian]

3. Glad to see he is feeling better.