Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was greeted by a thunderous crowd of more than 7,000 on Sunday as he returned to Chicago after what he joked was a "low-key weekend." The day before, Obama had declared his much-anticipated presidential candidacy for the 2008 election.
The doors opened at 3:30 p.m. at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion. The line spanned about 500 feet from the entrance. The rally was free, but tickets were required.
While the crowd waited for Obama to arrive from Iowa where he had already begun campaigning for next year's primaries, local politicians such as Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn (D-Ill.), Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D), Illinois' senior senator Dick Durbin (D), and ninth district Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) turned out to rally behind the popular junior senator, elected with 70 percent of the vote in 2004.
"Anybody here excited about Barack Obama for president?" Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) asked the hyped crowd, which included people of every age and ethnic group imaginable.
The song "Simply the Best" conveyed the crowd's reception as Obama and his wife Michelle made their way to the stage. After thanking the crowd and his fellow politicians for coming out to support him, Obama attempted to answer the question posed by his young daughter Malia about all the traveling the family has been doing lately. The little girl asked, "Why are we all here?"
Obama posed questions about the state of healthy care, energy, education, the war in Iraq and the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
"Every four years we find ourselves asking these same questions," he said, explaining that this is why Americans have no confidence that politics can make a real difference in your life because Washington has become an "insider's game" that needs to change.
As Obama addressed health care issues he was interrupted by a group of anti-war protestors from the balcony section of the packed pavilion. The protestors unfurled a sign that read "Obama '08 Cut the Funding!" and began chanting "Troops out now."
"[The protestors] were really disrespectful," sophomore Andrea Stepanski said."They didn't really get their point across. They just made people angry."
The crowd began to chant "O-ba-ma" to drown out the demonstrators who were escorted out of the building by security after about five minutes.
"We'll talk about that in a second. I'm talking about health care right now," Obama addressed the group. "You've made your point."
After addressing America's dependence on foreign oil and climate change issues, Obama returned the subject of the war in Iraq, which reignited the crowd's enthusiasm.
"I'm glad they were here," Obama said referring to the protestors. "They feel a sense of urgency about a war that should have never been authorized and a war that should have been fought … We need to be as careful coming out as we were careless going in."
Obama, who has opposed the Iraq War since it began in March 2003, called for combat troops to be withdrawn by March 2008. He said that every presidential candidate needs to have a plan referring to his competitors, such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John Edwards (D-NC), who have already entered the race. Obama also emphasized that the $400 billion that has been spent in Iraq could have been used for domestic issues in America that have received too little attention.
"I thought that was a really good point," Stepanski said. "There is so much that needs to be done in the United States and all that money is spent elsewhere."
In closing his speech, Obama lamented the idea that his generation may turn over a world that is a little "poorer and meaner" to the next generation, an idea that he called fundamentally against the American dream.
"It's time to take back the reins of government and make a change," Obama said, adding that he was happy to see the many young people coming out to political events.
"I think more people our age will go out and vote for him which will make a huge difference," Stepanski said.
"He's a crossover candidate, so he can attract voters from both sides, which will be a big help to getting him elected," sophomore Nick Dalzell said. "Plus his age attracts the youth vote."
Sophomore Angela Inzano received a hug from Obama's wife, Michelle. The potential first lady said she loved Inzano's homemade T-shirt which read "Barack ba-rocks my world." Inzano and two other Loyola students, who wore shirts saying "Barack-n-Roll" and "Ba-rock the Nation," were ecstatic about the junior senator's declaration of his intention to run for office.
"I wanted to meet the next president of the United States," Inzano, who plans to volunteer for the Obama '08 campaign, said. "He has an uncanny ability to speak to today's youth with his message."
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