I got a pretty cool opportunity a couple weeks ago to watch President Obama give a speech at Walmart. Check out the article I wrote about it for The Talon:
http://www.lahstalon.org/news/president-obama-visits-mountain-view-walmart/
It also has a full recording of Obama's speech, so if you wanted to hear that give it a listen.
As a side note, can we talk about how cool Obama's press office is? They were very welcoming about giving a press pass to a high school. Go Obama!
I would have to agree that Obama's press office is very welcoming. While I have had no personal experiences with it, I have a surprisingly large number of friends who have been able to meet Obama or listen to him speak in a less public venue. I think it is great that people are age are able to meet him and that he is so (relatively speaking) accessible to the public. Of course it helps his popularity to appear so open to the public, but I think it's an even better opportunity for the younger generations who want to get involved in politics in their future.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Obama came to the Walmart on Showers Drive, because they had minimal carbon emissions, but also out of all the places our president could speak, why did it have to be there of all places? I've tired going to that store on Black Friday and it was an absolute zoo, as most stores are. However, most Walmarts are usually buzzing with costumers, but also with homeless people out front. The area around stores in that area is also not the best, and is certainly not fit for a presidential visit. I'm only criticizing this area because I live down the street so I see everything that goes on first hand. I still find it strange that out of all the places our president could visit, they choose this Walmart.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama's press office is definitely very welcoming as Kelli said. I think that it's really cool our school newspaper, the Talon, was able to get a press pass as a high school organization to go into Walmart and listen to his speech. I also agree with Jenna that the Walmart on Showers Drive is definitely not the best place for a presidential visit, much less having the president address the press with a speech. I wanted to add that some people actually went to Walmart to protest Obama's energy speech. Here's an article that I read on the protest:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/09-7
In general, the Walmart workers are extremely unhappy about their work environment and low wages. In fact, Walmart as a company has been labeled as 2014 Greenwasher of the Year by Green Life Online. To them, a "greenwasher" is a company that claims to have "gone green" in order to help prevent the destruction of our environment and use renewable resources, but that company, is in fact, simply lying and falsely advertising in order to gain support and popularity. They provide good word but lack evidence and action to prove their point.
I also sort of wondered why President Obama would come to Walmart, but in a way maybe this was more accessible to the public. If Obama had given a private speech to Apple or Google employees, I doubt Los Altos's Talon staff would have been able to even get in. By speaking at Walmart, Obama drastically changed his audience.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, guys. I totally agree -- given the fact that Obama has been making such a push for raising the minimum wage, it was a little strange that he picked Walmart. @Jenna I think most presidents make somewhat of an attempt to give speeches in places that are less "presidential" in order to give the appearance that they can relate to the public. @Anneliese that's true. He did go to that super fancy dinner the night before the speech...I'm sure most of the important Apple and Google people were there instead :)
ReplyDelete