Barack Obama Addresses Newton, Iowa, Crowd on December 30

Barack Obama Counters Attacks and Says He and Wife Michelle Are "normal," in Comparison to Wealth of Other Candidates

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama (D, IL) traveled to Newton, Iowa, 30 miles east of Des Moines (former home of Maytag) and addressed a crowd of approximately 300 would-be caucus-goers assembled in the Newton Senior High School at 3:49 p.m. (CDT).

Introduced by Senator Kent Conrad from North Dakota, Obama joked that Conrad considers visiting snowy Newton, Iowa "coming South for the winter." Obama mentioned that Conrad still talks about a basketball game he played in Newton and added, wryly, "It was probably the only game where he made more than one basket."

Citing his own background as a campaign organizer for $12,000 a year (plus car expenses), Obama introduced Jasper County organizers Tim Anderson and John Ahull to applause, thanking them for their efforts on his behalf.

Then he got down to business, skillfully spinning the same stump speech he has spread across the Hawkeye state for months. Using soaring rhetoric like, "There is no problem we can't solve; no destiny we cannot fulfill. Iowa, you have vindicated my hope(s)."

Obama used the same "check under the hood" mantra he has employed in many other campaign appearances across the state and told some of the same stories.

So what was new this time?

To this reporter the "new" part(s) of Obama's campaign appearance involved obliquely countering attacks on him by the two other front-runners. Obama mentioned that Bill Clinton had said of him that electing someone so young and inexperienced would be "a roll of the dice...a gamble." Countering this, Obama proclaimed, "The real gamble is having the same old folks doing the same old things and expecting it to turn out any differently." Obama mentioned that Bill Clinton, when running in '91-'92, was criticized for having no international experience. He countered that statement with, "Bill Clinton was right then and I am right now." Obama used, as proof, his vote to oppose the war in Iraq from the start, saying, "My judgment is informed by the decision to oppose the war in Iraq from the start."