Obama vows changes coming

US: It was the defining image of 2008 the lone candidate, preaching hope and change to a vast, enthralled, youthful crowd, promising politics could finally make a difference.

President Barack Obama tried to turn on the magic again, rallying thousands below yellowing trees in breezy Wisconsin, seeking to buck up his Democrats who fear a mauling in November’s mid-term elections.

“I understand people are frustrated, I understand people are impatient with the pace of change,” Obama told an overflow crowd of 26,500, his biggest throng since his inauguration in Washington in January 2009.

“Now is not the time to lose heart,” Obama roared. “Now is not the time to give up,” he said, five weeks ahead of polls in which Republicans hope to overturn Democratic congressional majorities and halt his change agenda.

Once, Obama’s soaring speeches, sometimes to tens of thousands stretched as far as the eye could see, promised Americans a new beginning, meaningful change and a way out of wars abroad and bitter political division at home.

But even as he reprised his rock star persona at the University of Wisconsin rally, Obama admitted the gulf between a candidacy and a presidency.

MADISON, Wednesday, AFP