Obama in Central PA: Harrisburg

Before Obama could leave Penn State, he had to visit the diary. Penn State began as an agricultural school, and it's still a big part of the culture. You always have to visit the ice cream place, which is where Ben and Jerry got their start. Obama got the grand tour--he got to see the cows, and even feed a baby one.

The last place Margaret taught before Humboldt State was a small college about an hour south of Penn State. We went there for occasional entertainment, and the book stores. Several of my cousins went to Penn State, as did my other sister's husband--he's a dedicated Penn State football fan.


Then it was off to Harrisburg for a town meeting. An overflow crowd of 2,000 were there for that event. When I worked for a small public relations firm in Pittsburgh, I actually did some work for the governor's office when Bob Casey, Sr. was governor. I put together what was essentially the Commonwealth's annual report one year, and wrote most of it myself. I worked on a project for Harris Wofford when he was Secretary of Labor and Industry, to promote the Pennsylvania Job Centers. So I spent some time in Harrisburg. One of my best friends worked for the state government then, in the environmental agency. So to this point Obama was still in places at least somewhat familiar to me. But as he goes farther east, my connections become more tenuous.

There's a certain universality to these photos. They could be taken almost anywhere, and probably the most important thing about them, it seems to me, is the look in Obama's eyes in all these situations. The way he relates to people, his attentiveness and tenderness with children, and even with that calf.

But they do mean something more when I know the places where they were taken, in at least a general way. I'm sure they mean something more to the people who live there, the kinds of voices I know. Reporters may cast this as Obama's attempt to court the blue collar white vote in particular. I'm sure people react to his celebrity, but I'll bet they've responded to his warmth and humor and ease. And I'll bet these people--with those voices that I know--will remember this for a long time.