By Chauncey Bailey

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama drew 12,000 cheering supporters on Saturday to downtown Oakland, where he outlined his agenda for social and political change in America.
   “We are here today because the country calls us, because history beckons us ... there’s a better future for America,” said the U.S. Senator from Illinois who hopes to become the nation’s first African American president.
    Among those in attendance were Mayor Ron Dellums, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, City Councilwoman Desley Brooks and Oakland Board of Education member Alice Spearman.
    Obama was welcomed to the podium by Iraq war veteran Sgt. Greg Georgatos and then Dellums, who called Obama “a drum major for justice ... a magnificent spirit” in American politics.
    Obama said the nation needs to fix its health care system and schools that are “teaching the few but failing too many.”
    He also criticized the war in Iraq that “should never have been authorized and should never have been waged.
    “We can’t spend $100 billion overseas and expect to solve the problems here at home. I am proud of the fact that I opposed the war from the start,” he said.
    However, he said, veterans who are returning need better medical care. “Don’t stand next to a flag and say you believe in supporting the troops when you’re forgetting about them when they come home,” Obama said.

    He said the civil rights era and other social justice movements showed that people can mobilize for change and win despite the doubters and skeptics. “This campaign is a vehicle for you. I want to partner with you. I promise that you will not only have a better future, but I will be the next president of the United States.”
    As a band played soul and R&B music, thousands came to the plaza in front of Oakland City Hall. They waved blue and white Obama signs.
   “I’m fired up to be in Oakland …,” said Obama when he came to the stage.
    When he first announced his plans to run for the White House a little more than a month ago, some 17,000 supporters came out to hear his speech at the Lincoln Building in Springfield despite 7-degree weather.
    Now, Obama often travels to campaign with his wife, Michelle, their daughters, who are 8 and 5, and other relatives.
   “We face challenges as significant as those any generation has faced ... and we understand that if we don’t stand up and meet those challenges, we may end up with an America that’s poorer and meaner.
   “We are not preparing our young people to compete in this global economy. We have to invest in our young people in order for this economy to grow. We have an energy crisis because of the lack of an energy strategy. We are sending $800 million a day to some of the most hostile countries in the world that are oppressing their own people ... and we are melting the polar caps (through global warming).”
   “We have an economy that has never been more productive but only some are benefiting ... some have never had it so good, but the average person [has had] their wages stagnate as the cost of health care, education, gasoline and retirement are going up.
    “[In Iraq], after spending more than a half trillion dollars and 3,200 lives lost, we are less safe and American’s standing in the world is diminished. Politics is not a game, decisions are not sport ... at some level, we have been so consumed by pettiness we don’t understand what’s going on.”
    Obama talked about his experiences as a community leader, civil rights attorney, state legislator and U.S. Senator. “They say I don’t have enough Washington experience. I have been in Washington long enough to know Washington needs to change,” he said.
    “We have had enough and we want change. It’s time for us to step up and meet these challenges … not with politics based on fear but hope. If we change our politics, we can change the nation.”
    He said the nation needs a better health care system and more resources for early childhood education. “The No Child Left Behind [Act] left the money behind,” he said.
    He also called for responsible economic growth and the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq by March 2008.
    “Change has always come from the bottom up. Ordinary people can make change ... with a million voices.”