by Christi Parsons & John McCormick The Chicago Tribune February 12, 2007
A homecoming for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) turned into an anti-war rally Sunday evening, as he returned to his home city following the weekend launch of his candidacy for president to find a crowd of 7,300 troubled over the Iraq war.
Obama already had spent much of the day talking tough about Iraq, critiquing the war positions of other Democratic candidates for president and serving up a sharp retort to a foreign leader who had publicly mocked Obama's own plan for withdrawing troops.
Then a vocal crowd of anti-war protesters quickly made the issue the central focus of Obama's evening rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, holding up a sign that read "Cut the Funding" during his address and chanting loudly as he tried to speak.
"I'm glad they were there," Obama said later. "They feel a sense of urgency about a war that should have never been authorized and a war that should have never been fought."
But he said he doesn't want to cut funding for the troops who already are serving in Iraq, saying that could mean they don't get the equipment they need.
"We need to bring this war to an end," he said, "but we need to do it in a way that makes our troops safe."
The rally was the last public event on Obama's weekend tour, which began with his official announcement that he would seek the presidency and continued with a tour of Iowa through Sunday afternoon.
But the daylong discussion of the war ultimately was overtaken by political reality, as Obama left the rally to attend a downtown fundraiser hosted for him by Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker.
"I need your money. I need your time. I need your energy," Obama told more than 700 donors gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on East Wacker Drive, where they sampled sandwich meat and fruit in exchange for checks or credit card payments of up to $2,300.
Throughout the weekend, Obama talked repeatedly about the need to end the war.
`Not clear' on Clinton plan
But in talking with reporters over the noon hour Sunday, Obama spoke pointedly for the first time about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's position on the war, by many assessments the New York senator's greatest vulnerability in the primary race.
Obama said he was "not clear" on how Clinton would end the war, which she says she wants to do.
He also pointed out that he was against the war from the start, and said he thought it was possible at the time to tell that the military action "would not work out well." Both Clinton and Democratic candidate John Edwards voted in 2002 to authorize the war, a position that each is now working to finesse with Democratic voters.
In the same question-and-answer session with reporters, Obama had harsh words for Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who said Obama's proposal to withdraw combat troops by March 2008 would "just encourage those who want to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq."
Obama said Australia had sent only 1,400 troops to join the effort in Iraq, a fraction of the 140,000 U.S. troops there.
"I would suggest that he call up another 20,000 Australians and send them to Iraq," Obama said. "Otherwise, it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."
At the rally that night, Obama greeted supporters with his wife, Michelle, at his side, reiterating the ideas of his announcement speech.
Drowned out by protesters
He hadn't yet gotten to his points about the Iraq war when the protesters began to chant "Troops out now!" prompting Obama to stop his talk and try to engage them.
"I hear you," he said. "We'll talk about that in a second. . . . You've made your point, so why don't you relax?"
But the protesters continued to chant, and the rest of the crowd began to drown them out with shouts of "O-ba-ma!" Someone grabbed the sign from demonstrators' hands--the protesters said later that security officers did so--and they left.
"They kicked us out," said Ryan Donnelly, a UIC student who participated in the protest with about 20 other students.
Obama's message was popular with the crowd. Heather Lewis, 20, a DePaul psychology student, had used black, red and blue markers to create an Obama logo on her white tank top.
Sharon Olsen, a postal carrier from Warrenville, declared: "I believe he is the future of politics for the United States. He has the ability to work with both sides of the aisle, and we need a change."
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) compared Obama to Harold Washington, who was elected Chicago's first black mayor in 1983. "He brought excitement to the air, just like Obama," he said.
The evening fundraiser attracted top Illinois Democrats, including state Comptroller Dan Hynes and Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan. Actor Dennis Hopper also attended.
David Keyt, a health and benefits consultant from Chicago, attended the fundraiser and wrote a check for $1,000 to cover attendance for himself and his wife. He said he was originally backing Clinton but is warming to Obama.
"He represents something new, fresh and not tied to the history of Washington," he said as he arrived for the evening event at the Hyatt. "But we are still learning about him and reading his books."
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