2008 Woodie Awards
Time to move country forward, Obama says
By Regis L. Roberts
Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: News
Originally published: 2/21/08 at 9:47 AM CSTLast update: 2/23/08 at 4:46 PM CST
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"There's no reason why we can't change this country to make it work for ordinary people, why we can't have a government that's responsive and listens to people," Barack Obama, D-Ill., said at Guadalupe Plaza. "But I can't do it by myself."
As Obama addressed the diverse audience of thousands, including people listening from outside of the fence, he lacked his trademark exuberance and enthusiasm.
He told the throng of supporters that he had been in cold weather for two months and was happy to be in sunny San Antonio.
"The failed policies of the past, we can bring to a close," he said, adding that it is now time to bring about a "government that works again."
An issue he hit on early in his speech was the country's education system, which, he said, does not work for teachers or students.
Obama said he has seen students who work hard in high school and find themselves trying to enter college and not being able to afford it, taking out loans that put them in debt later in life.
He laid out his plan to give a $4,000 tuition credit to every student each year on the condition that they volunteer in their community. "We'll invest in you, you invest in America; together we will march forward, make this country what it can be."
Obama said he wants to expand the GI Bill of Rights to cover all of a veteran's tuition and whatever else is needed for an education.
Graphic design sophomore Joseph Gonzales said he particularly liked Obama's proposals for making college more affordable. He said he pays for his tuition here out of his pocket, which he is able to do without many problems. He is used to paying the tuition rates at this college, he said, but he plans to attend Texas State University-San Marcos and he is not sure how he will pay a tuition that is so much more expensive.
Obama's plan to fund college education is similar to that of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who proposes a $3,500 credit to college students who are willing to volunteer their time.
Obama admitted many of his policy plans are similar to Clinton's, but he pulls away from her on important points, he said.
On health care, for example, he said Clinton's plan shares 95 percent of the characteristics of his, but they differ on the question of mandates for coverage. Clinton's plan mandates that every adult buy into private health insurance with the help of tax credits.
Obama said he does not want to punish people who do not buy insurance, and emphasized using more employer-purchased coverage.
He said he does not accept campaign money from lobbyists and political action committees, or PACs.
Although Obama is near the bottom of candidates receiving money from lobbyists, his campaign has so far received $87,108 from lobbyists, according to the watchdog group the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign donations. Still, 99 percent of his contributions are from individual contributors.
An early announcement of a Thursday campaign appearance by former President Bill Clinton on campus was greatly exaggerated.
Well, not so greatly.
The Clinton campaign did contact the college but also was scouting other locations in town.
They apparently found one they liked better and Clinton was to speak on his wife's behalf Thursday
night at Sunset Station.
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