EXETER, N.H. — For the second day in a row, the Obama campaign gathered a small group of voters on Thursday to meet with the presidential candidate in an “informal” setting — informal that is if these local residents didn’t mind the bright television lights and a couple dozen reporters listening to their every word.
The day’s theme: the independent voter.
And in that spirit, one member of the group of six New Hampshire independents who met with Senator Obama at the Loaf and Ladle restaurant here posed a question that seemed to stump him for a moment.
“If you could make one change in the world, enact one piece of legislation — one thing, that’s all you’re going to get through in your presidency — what would it be?” asked
Peter Colby of Rye, N.H.
After thinking it over for a few seconds, Mr. Obama offered this response:
“I would enact a bold energy policy because I think that we could save so much money, engineer such a resurgence in our economy and solve climate change all at one time. And it would improve our national security posture. So you get a three-fer. It helps our environment, our economy and our national security and it would free up resources over time to deal with what I think is the most important domestic issue which is health care, and I think it would help us strategically on the international stage.”
Foregoing the war in Iraq and other hot-button issues, Mr. Obama went with what seemed like a more technocratic answer. Nevertheless, Mr. Colby said he was pleased by Mr. Obama’s choice.
“We went to the moon in ten years,” he said. “We should be able to do it.”
Mr. Obama agreed, “We should be able to do it.”
Comments are no longer being accepted.