Obama Speaks in Londonderry

Obama talks about environment, energy
By TRENT SPINER
Union Leader Correspondent

The issue - the environment - was new yesterday, but the message was the same for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Obama blamed Washington politics for the failure of presidents as far back as Richard Nixon to deliver on promises of energy independence.

"The truth is, our energy problem has become an energy crisis because no matter how well intentioned the promise, no matter how bold the proposal, they all fall victim to the same Washington politics," Obama said yesterday.

He appeared at a town hall meeting with about 350 people sitting in a field at Mack's Apple Orchard.

Obama said yesterday that his environmental plan isn't the greatest ever written, and his health care plan is nearly identical to that of his top rivals. But he painted himself as the different candidate, one who can unite Americans around a common purpose.

His self-depiction of a Washington outsider and independent thinker has been the chief argument for an Obama administration. Throughout his town hall-style meeting, he returned to his theme of change and said his rivals are ill-suited to enact a new version of the environmental standards.

"I know change makes for good campaign rhetoric, but when these same people had the chance to make change happen, they didn't lead," Obama said.

Obama remains in a tight race against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards in polls and fundraising. He did not directly name them yesterday. Instead, he said the existing leaders in Washington have failed - a charge that earned him applause among the mostly Democratic-leaning crowd.

In specifics, Obama would not pledge to stop all new nuclear power plants, but stressed that questions of spent fuel storage and costs have to be addressed.

"We shouldn't simply remove nuclear power from the equation," Obama said.
Obama took tough questions from one voter who opposes the upcoming free trade bill that would add Peru as a trading partner. Obama, who voted against the recent Central American Free Trade Agreement, said he would support Peru's inclusion.

"What I'm not willing to do is to say, on a blanket basis, we're not going to do trade agreements. I think that would be a mistake. We're not going to draw a moat around the United States' economy," he said.

Some in the crowd of mainly Democrats said it is too early to decide for whom they will vote.
"I think he is very smart, very smart indeed, said Marjean Bailey, a former Episcopalian minister who drove from Maine to hear Obama speak. She would like to see Clinton get the presidential nomination and take Obama as her running mate.

"He was honest," said Lorraine Farmer, a Massachusetts resident. Farmer said she was a lifelong Republican until 2004.