1:51 PM: Obama says he's got the experience to be president
MILWAUKEE -- Barack Obama said he was seasoned enough for president, rejecting the suggestion from Hillary Clinton's campaign that he needed more experience for the job.
Speaking at the Midwest Airlines Center, Obama quoted Clinton saying he was inspiring but "has not been in Washington long enough."
Obama countered that American understands that the real gamble would be having the "same old cast of characters" doing the same old things.
Clinton's campaign has been using a new line to attack Obama, saying she's about solutions and not speeches.
Obama agreed that speeches do not solve problems.
"That is why I have spent 20 years as a city organizer and legislator," working civil rights works and committed himself to helping people in need, he said.
Obama also touched on likely GOP nominee John McCain. While he respects McCain's military service, Obama said the Republican "wants to take us backwards," and "I want to take us forward."
Event organizers said that 6,000 people attended the rally.
He promised when he pulls the troops out of Iraq that they are not forgotten and that he wants to "end the mindset that got us into the war."
He also touched upon the need for affordable healthcare, tax cuts for the poor and tuition assistance for all students with a public service repayment plan.
Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, and Oprah Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, were also at the rally.
After the rally, Susan Voltz said she loved that Obama "doesn't just want to take care of us, but inspire us as a country to take care of ourselves."
"I love coming away with a feeling that it is OK to hope and that it is not foolish to hope," she said.
Another rally attendee, Damian Roundtree, said Obama should talk more about how he is going to attain his goals, not just what he is going to do.
-- By Samantha Hernandez
Labels: 2008 spring primary