Obama's Big Night in Town

I was one of the co-hosts of a fundraiser for Obama on Monday evening, which went spectacularly well.  Obama was amazing, esp. during the Q&A.  I happen to agree with nearly all of his views/positions, but even those who don't I think would have been very impressed with his answers on really tough issues like school reform, Iraq, gay marriage, etc.  It's so clear that he's really thought through the issues and that his views reflect his genuine beliefs, rather than what's politically expedient (no surprise to any who's read his books).  What a breath of fresh air!

 

I was quoted in this story in today's NY Observer:

During one question-and-answer session at the home of retired investment banker Steven Gluckstern, a guest asked bluntly whether Mr. Obama was street-fighter enough to become President. It was a question, according to one of the event’s co-hosts, money manager Whitney Tilson, that the candidate warmed to.

 

“He responded by pointing out that he came to Chicago many years ago with nothing—no assets, no political whatever—and he had a meteoric rise,” Mr. Tilson recalled. “And I think his concluding comment was, ‘I think I’m pretty good at this game of politics.’”

This was also from me -- the audience applauded this line:

Mr. Obama responded to a question about one of his opponents by saying, according to an attendee, that he was not running against Hillary Clinton, but against cynicism.

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Obama’s Big Night in Town
He finds three-stop adulation, but also questions about his readiness

Lizzy Ratner, NY Observer
4/16/2007
Page 9

http://www.observer.com/20070416/20070416_Lizzy_Ratner_politics_newsstory2.asp

On Monday, April 9, less than a week after the Obama team announced that he had all but matched Hillary Clinton’s first-quarter fund-raising totals, Barack Obama was back in New York—epicenter of Democratic campaign cash and Clinton support—to get started on the second quarter. Making his way to affairs from Soho to Central Park West in a hulking Chevrolet Suburban, Mr. Obama covered three events in less than five hours.