Obama Kicks Off in Wisconsin

Barack Obama was in Milwaukee yesterday for the "Wisconsin Kick-Off Event" of his presidential campaign.

The Virginia Tech shootings significantly altered the tone of the event, at least the one that was open to the public, for a $10-$25 donation.

I, of course, don't have a clue about the mood at Obama's other Milwaukee area fund-raiser, the one for big donors, hosted by Dan Kohl, nephew of Democrat U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

If Democrat Barack Obama is the next president, a 2008 win may depend less on his noted fire 'em up stump speeches than on his ability to quietly connect with people as he did Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

Citing the massacre at Virginia Tech, Obama traded balloons and blaring music for a hand-held microphone and a talk about the insidious violence he said plagues America.

In a 25-minute talk at the 4,000-seat Milwaukee Theatre, Obama cited a speech given in 1968 by Robert Kennedy in the wake of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that described how any violent loss of life degrades the nation.

25 minutes.

Obama magic costs a buck per minute. That's not exactly a bargain.

Obama said the killings were "the act of a madman on some level," and later noted "maybe nothing could have been done to prevent it."

Nevertheless, he said, it should cause the nation to reflect on violence in its culture, including the "verbal violence" shown by radio talker Don Imus in his "nappy-headed hos" comment.

"So much is rooted in our incapacity to recognize ourselves in each other, to not realize we are connected fundamentally as people," he said.

I agree.

Our differences are dwarfed by all that we share as human beings.

Obama, a first-term U.S. senator from Illinois, later noted that at times not much seems to have changed since Kennedy's comments.

"The reason we don't do anything about it is not technical . . . it's because our politics is broken. We've given up believing we can change things. So we turn away . . . and start worrying about ourselves."

Before Obama spoke, there was only some quiet jazz played over loudspeakers. Afterwards, no rousing send-off, just Obama shaking the hands of a capacity crowd he had won over long before they ever entered the hall.

I think it would have been inappropriate for Obama to have a raucous rally on a day that 32 innocent lives were snuffed out in a senseless, selfish act of merciless brutality.

It was right for him to forgo balloons and a party atmosphere.

Some of the platitudes that have become Obama's MO may appeal to his die-hard supporters, but what about some concrete plans for America's future?

Appearing on stage with Obama was Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

I can see why they appear to get along and Barrett has jumped on the Obama bandwagon. Barrett takes the same approach to violence as Obama.

Violence is bad. It must stop.

OK.

So what's the plan? How is that goal realized?

Cue the crickets.
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On the financial front, the Obama family took a pay cut in 2006.

The annual income for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and his wife dropped about $680,000 in 2006 from the nearly $1.7 million they took in the prior year, according to documents released Monday.

Information released by the Chicago Democrat's presidential campaign indicated that the Obamas' total income decreased because in 2005 they had a major book deal and a one-time bonus.

Their 2006 income of $991,296 included Obama's salary of $157,082 and his wife's administrator's pay of $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals and $51,200 in director fees from a food distributor, TreeHouse Inc.

...Their tax returns showed a decline in charitable contributions, which totaled about $60,000 in 2006, some $17,000 less than what they gave a year before.

Among the largest beneficiaries last year: the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, $13,107; CARE, $15,000; Chicago's Muntu Dance Theater, $5,000; and Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, $22,500.

How do they manage to get by?