John Kerry Stumps for Obama at UW

Seattle, WA -

Early Friday morning the Massachusetts Senator, and former Democratic Presidential nominee, John Kerry headlined a parade of prominent local supporters at a town hall meeting at the University of Washington’s Husky Union Building auditorium including Rep. Adam Smith (D-9) and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Rep. Smith, one of Obama’s earliest endorsers, started things off by addressing the audience, composed mostly of students, with stories of his earliest days in politics. He told them about his days as the president of the UW Democrats, and of caucusing in his hometown of Sea-Tac as a college student, and bringing in six or seven of his friends to help carry the day at the then-irrelevant caucuses.

More to the point, Smith spoke to the idea that today’s America is far too disinterested in government affairs.

“People don’t like politics,” Smith bluntly told the crowd, while suggesting how Obama might uniquely be able to change that sentiment.

Smith also touted Obama’s ability to bring people together. “He knows what needs to be done to get GOP and Independents to embrace a progressive agenda”

Next came Greg Nickels, who had only hours earlier made official his support of Obama. Curiously, the first thing that Nickels mentioned was that Obama wound up as his plan B.

“I Was under the category,” Nickels joked to the crowd, “‘waiting for Gore.’”

Still, the mayor offered up the idea that Obama’s candidacy created the opportunity to be “proud to be American when an African-American, a black man, won IA and SC”

Echoing Adam Smith, Nickels continued on to say that “our politics is broken. Washington DC is broken.“ He even followed that up with a Dennis Kucinich line, telling the audience “we need a healer” before introducing John Kerry.

“We’re gonna have some fun this morning.” Kerry told the students.

True to form, Kerry spoke to a wide range of topics, from health care and economic policy to local restaurants and American idol. At one point the Massachusetts Senator gave credit to Seattle’s Wild Ginger for being one of his favorite restaurants in the world, and then went on to dismiss an apparently serious anecdote about almost winning the Presidency in 2004 by acknowledging that despite the large amount of votes he received in the election, it was still five million fewer than Federal Way’s Sanjaya.

On the topic of Barack Obama, Kerry told the students that he was “convinced it is his natural instinct” that provides the Illinois Senator with an ability to lead, and proposed that we are charged with electing a President whose most important characteristics are judgment, character and integrity.

Again lamenting the 2004 election and the state of the nation, Kerry brought up the prevalence of somber lamentations amidst “coffee talks and beer parties” among the students before challenging them with a call to action.

“We can do something about it,” he told the crowd with a rising fervor in his voice. “Elections are important.”

After his brief stump speech, Kerry opened up the floor to questions. The audience almost uniformly wanted to know the difference between the two candidates on a wide range of policies, with nearly a quarter of them identifying as undecided. Kerry answered the questions as they came, often invoking Ted Kennedy and prefacing many of the answers by saying that he did, after all, respect Obama’s opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Ultimately, Kerry found a way to bring about his signature rhetorical style. “History gives us these special moments,” he told the students in a closing argument, “and we have to engage.”

Kerry then stepped off the stage, shook some hands, and went on his campaigning way.