Off Target

This is two weeks old now, I've been meaning to post about this for what amounts to an eternity in blog time. But here I go anyway. I went to the Barack Obama rally at UIC the day after he announced his candidacy in Springfield. His bus was late coming in from Iowa, so there was an unusually long build up for his speech. When he finallly came out, the crowd of about 8,000 (I was amazed that there were empty seats for this free event) was ready to show him love. About 10 mins into his speech, a group of students (or just youngsters) gathered at the railing of the upper level and began shouting anti-Iraq War chants in unison. Obama was in the middle of talking about healthcare, but the protesters were so loud that he couldn't speak over them. The crowed booed, and Obama said to them, "OK guys, you've made your point. I'll get to that, but right now I'm talking about healthcare." I thought he handled it about as well as anyone could.

My problem with it is that the idiot students were pulling this on probably the single most sympathetic politician to their cause. The most prominently vocal candidate against the war, Obama has even suggested a timetable for getting out. Couldn't these students find a more appropriate target for their angst?