President Obama promotes economic plan in Idaho

BOISE – President Barack Obama wanted to make a statement by picking Republican-dominated Idaho for his first public appearance after his State of the Union.

“There’s not a liberal America or a conservative America, but a United States of America,” he told the cheering crowd Wednesday at Boise State University.

In his first presidential visit to Idaho, Obama brought his State of the Union themes of reforming tax policy, strengthening the middle class, making college more affordable, investing in infrastructure and working for unity to one of the reddest states – where he received just 32.6 percent of the vote in 2012.

“I said that I’d take these ideas across the country,” Obama said. “I wanted my first stop to be right here in Boise, Idaho.”

He touted the tech innovation at BSU, where he toured an engineering lab before his 33-minute speech. He also repeated his call from the night before to make community college free, a plan that was greeted with thunderous applause and cheers.

“We have risen from the recession better positioned and freer to write our own future than any other country on Earth,” Obama said. “We’ve got to choose what future we want. Are we going to accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or can we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising income and opportunities for everybody who’s willing to try hard?”

Idaho is the 47th state that Obama has visited as president, and the visit comes two years into his second term. Commenting on Idaho as a red state – to an audience of 6,600 that included lots of BSU students – he said, “In a place like Idaho, the only blue turf is on your field.” He also employed another BSU football reference, talking about how he’s in the fourth quarter of his two terms as president. For a university that was the source of the most famous Statue of Liberty football play of all time, in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, he said, “I don’t need to remind you that big things happen late in the fourth quarter.”

Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador, who was in Washington, D.C., issued a statement welcoming Obama to Idaho. “After last night’s State of the Union, I think the president could benefit from listening to Idahoans,” Labrador said. “I hope the president absorbs some Idaho common sense.” 

Among those in the crowd were an array of top Idaho Democrats, including former Gov. Cecil Andrus, and nearly all of Idaho’s Democratic state legislators. But there were some Republicans, too.

“Isn’t this a grand occasion?” asked Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, as he waited for the start of the speech. Asked why he wanted to attend, Bateman said, “I love my country. He’s the president of the United States. There’s 300 million people in this country, and only one president.”

He added, “The last sitting president I saw was Harry Truman. I was 8 years old.” Bateman got to see Truman when he came through eastern Idaho on a whistle-stop tour and spoke from the back of a train.

Before his talk, Obama met privately for 10 minutes with Naghmeh Abedini, whose husband, the Rev. Saeed Abedini, has been imprisoned in Iran for two years. She brought her two young children, and all three filed into the Caven-Williams Sports Complex shortly before Obama took the stage to watch the president speak.

“It was just the kids and I and the president,” she said afterward. “His first words were that he is trying everything.” She told reporters, “He was holding my hand the whole time. I could see that he cared, in his eyes.”

Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little greeted Obama at the airport and welcomed him to Idaho; Gov. Butch Otter was recovering from hip replacement surgery he underwent on Tuesday. Little handed Obama a legislative resolution and a letter signed by legislative leaders from both parties calling for Obama to “continue to use all appropriate means necessary to halt the unjustified and cruel persecution of Pastor Abedini.”

Free tickets were distributed Monday to students, faculty and the public for the speech; the public tickets were all gone within an hour.

BSU President Bob Kustra said the university “has been working nonstop” since it got word Jan. 14 of the impending presidential visit.

“I can’t say enough about what this means to the university,” Kustra said. “You couldn’t pay for this kind of publicity.”

Obama left Boise late Wednesday afternoon for Lawrence, Kansas, where he’s scheduled to speak today at Kansas State University.