Blogwitness News: Flying Star Obama Meets with Albuquerque Working Women

Obama enters the Flying Star Commissary

See the rest of the photos from Obama's event at Flickr and my later post with video clips.
Also go read NM FBIHOP's excellent (as usual) on this, as well as Udall blogger Bryan Barash's coverage.

Living in New Mexico during the 2008 election cycle can be a rather surreal experience at times. Like earlier today when Mary Ellen and I found ourselves joining the print and TV media and other local bloggers at Barack Obama's small and intimate meeting with working women at the Flying Star Commissary in Albuquerque.

Obama at the podium

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, Kate Nash of the Santa Fe New Mexican, Stuart Dyson of KOB-4 News, Doug Fernandez of KOAT-7 News and, well, us -- part of the local unpaid blog and photo brigade. Many members of the paid media looked very bored, by the way. Years of doing these kinds of events evidently take their toll. But we were psyched with our press credentials safety-pinned to our shirts, and operatives and Secret Service all around.

Minglilng

The Commissary is where they roast all those coffee beans and bake all those desserts for the however many Flying Stars that are now open in the metro area. We hung out first in an area to the side of the main room where big wooden pallets piled high with sacks of coffee beans from around the world were interspersed with tables of lesser media lights, busy with their cell phones and laptops.

Speaking to working women

Eventually, Mary Ellen and Matt from New Mexico FBIHOP made it all the way to the center of the press camera riser that looked right down at Obama standing at a podium. When he finally arrived, Obama was tightly ringed by a few rows of seats where ordinary women, who work in various lower income jobs at Flying Star, listened to his speech and got to ask him questions. I thought he came across as grounded, open, laid-back, down to earth, yet charismatic.

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and NM First Lady Barbara Richardson greet crowd

Obama was introduced by Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, one of Hillary Clinton's most loyal backers. Our Governor's wife, Barbara Richardson, was also in attendence. We know her husband endorsed Obama but no word on who her favorite was during the primary season.

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish introduces Obama, next prez of the U.S.

The event was informal, serious and low key. No chants of "Yes We Can" or O-BA-MA. Barack gave a short and pointed speech (text and video), briefly tracing his younger days and discussing how the current troubled economy is particularly cruel on working women -- we're generally way behind the curve economically even in good times. He pledged to change this situation with initiatives ranging from strengthening the Small Business Association to lowering taxes, greatly expanding the Medical and Family Leave Act, indexing the minimum wage to the cost of living, offering more grants for college tuition and more.

Answering questions from the group

Then Obama took what he said were unscreened questions from the small group of women, abandoning the podium for a hand mic and moving among the participants.

Charms from his pocket

I thought the most interesting question asked why we should trust that Obama will stay true to himself if he wins the presidency. Barack explained we should first look at his life, and the constancy of his dedication to working to address the concerns of ordinary people. We should also consider the sacrifice he's making to be away from his family so much while running for office, and ask if it would be worth it to him if he didn't believe he could help bring real change.

Finally, Obama discussed how moving it is to realize how much people are investing their hopes in him. He reached into a pocket and dug out a big handful of good luck charms people have given him as he's traveled America -- tangible reminders of people's hopes for his campaign, for his leadership and for the chances we have for a positive future.

I'll be writing more about our experiences today, and hope to post some decent video clips later. In the meantime, check out this Flickr album to see more photos from today's event.

On the Scene: Udall peeps and Matt of NM FBIHOP (he's smiling!)

Matt Reichbach has more coverage at the NM Independent.

(Tip o' the hat to Steve Olson at the Udall campaign for the heads up on today's Obamarama.)

Click on photos for larger versions. All photos by M.E. Broderick.

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