St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Love him or hate him, the man can campaign for a cause.

It’s funny how things work out. I often use that phrase because … it’s funny how things work out.

Let me take you through my Wednesday, a day that included attending the reception fundraiser for Sen. Claire McCaskill. The special guest of honor was President Barack Obama who had earlier delivered a policy speech on health care reform at a fundraising dinner upstairs at the hotel.

I wore a tie and heard one of Obama’s best speeches in months. But that was hours after the day began at the Reid household.

I was a co-host of a morning sports radio show Tuesday morning at 101 ESPN, which took me to the station at 8 a.m. I was on the air from 9-11 a.m., and headed home to write a column featuring an interview with Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo.

After writing that column, which is also online here Thursday, it was time to pick the girls up from school. I headed there, swooped them up and made the trip back home.

As the girls chomped on leftover pizza for an afterschool snack, Carmen and I started dinner and actually planned to sit down for a few minutes and watch “The Young and the Restless.”

Yes, I watch a couple of soap opera shows. “One Life To Live” is the other of my favorites. I'm not ashamed.

But “Y & R” was momentarily pre-empted by President Obama speaking in St. Charles.

With that, I was back out the door headed downtown to the Renaissance Grand Hotel, where the real-life soap opera on health care continued to play out before a live audience.

I parked just west of the hotel and began the walk over.

Here’s where the ‘it’s funny how things work out,’ line comes into play.

As I headed east down Washington Avenue, I found myself at the front of a lengthy column of pro-health care reform demonstrators.

A block east of them – and me – was a fortified sector of demonstrators dead-set against the proposed plan for health care reform.

I was point man for both. I’m not alone. Many of us find ourselves in the middle of this nation-dividing issue.

On one hand, I too am concerned about cost. But it is time to do something. In fact, it is way past time.

Is the current plan perfect? Absolutely not. But none of the 2,000 strong who attended the so-called health care reform rally in St. Charles on Thursday offered anything resembling an alternate idea.

As the president would say later in his remarks, “it is time for an up or down vote on health care.”

Congressman Todd Akin was the videoconference host of the rally. I’m waiting for the Akin health care reform bill. I won’t hold my breath.

But the beauty of America is that we can disagree. What has become ugly in America is that we can’t seem to find compromise.

Two groups of people standing on a street corner outside a hotel where the president of the United States was speaking – what a great time to show St. Louis unity. What a tremendous opportunity for our elected officials to come together for five minutes and present a new plan, one that encompassed the concerns of both Democrats and Republicans.

Yeah right. Again, I won’t hold my breath.

As with the Midwestern Ball on Inauguration night in Washington, D.C. in January 2009, media members were roped off from paying customers.

But we got to see and hear all that went on. I have covered both Republican and Democrat presidents, and I will be at many events of both parties as this election season heats up. In other words, I don’t want to hear I only went to the Obama deal because he is a Democrat.

In fact, I couldn’t afford the campaign ‘donation’ for the evening so without a media credential I would have been at home watching college basketball.

Festivities began with an announcer saying, “welcome to a night with the President of the United States.”

His next words were “ladies and gentlemen, welcome the president…” and the cheers rang out. But he was about to say “the president of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition E.G. Shields.”

People laughed, Rev. Shields delivered a lengthy prayer which firmly took the side of immediate health care reform and the night was underway.

Mayor Francis Slay, Jr., who supported Hillary Clinton for president, spoke next. And this column is being written by a guy who supported John Edwards.

“The president has inherited…partisan bickering. He is leading us through these trials with hope and a clear plan for the future,” Slay said.

In his second year of office, we as St. Louisans know we elected a president with courage, compassion, pragmatism and hope.”

Next up was County Executive Charlie Dooley. He said of the president and the health care battle, “He is up for the challenge.” “Let’s say this together; yes we can. Yes we can. Yes we can. And so we shall.”

After a break filled with about 20 minutes of the best of George Benson, Gov. Jay Nixon had his turn at the microphone.

He delivered what was a pretty much a stump speech for himself, but thanked the president for the millions of dollars that will go to high-speed rail between here and Chicago. He added, like Slay, some stale Chicago Cubs jokes.

He did say the state had a chance to elect two Democratic senators for the first time.

“A great deal of (the statewide Democratic success) can be attributed to Sen. Claire McCaskill,” Nixon said in his introduction of the senator.

McCaskill took the stage and recalled the October 2008 scene under the Gateway Arch when 100,000 came to see Obama speak.

“People knew they were seeing something special,” she said. She praised him for pressing on for health care reform. “He has done a lot of things not warm and fuzzy in the polls. A lot of people are saying ‘cut your losses.’ He feels it every day. But he’s different. He’s different. The typical political leader would be running for cover; trying to figure out how to get more popular.

“He knows (health care reform) will solve problems for our kids and our grand kids. He cares more about the future generations than the next election. I’m so proud that this country figured out that this is a special leader. I’m so proud that he is showing the kind of courage so rare in political office; So proud he is my friend and so proud he is going to be one of the greatest presidents in American history.”

Obama took the stage to thunderous applause.

A long day of travel and speeches still saw Obama doing what he does best; campaigning for a cause.

“I believe that if I do the right thing, then the politics will work themselves out. That’s puzzling to Washington. The poll numbers have dropped. People are saying ‘Oh, the sky is falling.’ I’m looking around and I feel OK,” he said.

“I ask ‘how can I help American families?“

“Sometimes decisions in short term won’t be popular. I know they won’t be popular. They think I’m an idiot because I’m not doing what is popular. Shoring up the financial system is not popular. Helping out the auto industry was not popular. Passing the Recovery Act was not popular. That’s OK; my job is not being popular. I’ve got a responsibility.”

As he neared the end of his remarks he received his loudest applause when he said, “People are telling me ‘don’t get worn down.” I tell them I don’t get worn down; I wear them down.”

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