Pool Report of Obamas' Lunch with Indiana Voters
TIME: 12:00pm ET
EVENT: Barack and Michelle Obama Lunch with Couple in Beech Grove, Indiana
The Obamas talked about their support for Amtrak, and the importance of living close to family. The Obamas talked about why they decided to stay in Chicago, Michelle's mother and Barack's desire to be "a little more settled" when his kids get older. No news.
Barack and Michelle Obama visited the home of Mike and Cheryl Fischer in the Indianapolis suburb of Beech Grove.
The Fischers were chosen, the campaign said, because they are a working class family that is facing economic and job insecurity.
Mike Fischer, 53, works as a machinist at Amtrak's Beech Grove shop. The Fischers consider themselves a “rail family,” with generations of family members working at the same shop.
Cheryl Fischer, 52, is a technician at a local hospital.
The Fischer's three children, ages 19 to 26, and their extended family joined the Obamas for a lunch of Subway sandwiches and potato chips at their kitchen table. Their house was decorated with family portraits, decorative angels and quilts. The Holy Bible sat on their bookshelf.
Cheryl Fischer said afterwards that bothshe and Mike are supporting Obama.
The Obamas greeted the Fischers on their front porch. Michelle Obama embraced Abby Maddox, 19, the Fischer's daughter, who is 16 weeks pregnant and whose husband, a member of the Army National Guard, is being deployed to Iraq. Abby began to tear up when Michelle hugged her. Abby walked inside.
Inside their house – a ranch house at the end of a cul-de-sac – they sat around the kitchen table. Michelle Obama took a glass of caffeine free Diet Coke. Barack Obama sipped on iced tea. Mike and Cheryl Fischer, and Cheryl's brother, Kevin Wheatley, sat with them, while other family members stood in the kitchen area. Kevin Wheatley wore a Transport Workers Union baseball cap.
“So tell me stories,” Barack Obama said as they took their seats. “I want to hear about what's going on with Amtrak.”
“It is hard to eat with all of you guys,” Michelle Obama joked to the media. “You are taking away the appetite.”
“So what is the situation with Amtrak?” Barack Obama asked.
Mike Fischer, who is a member of the machinists union, explained his situation: He said Amtrak is planning to layoff 77 workers. He could be impacted. He could be given an option to take a job in Chicago or Wilmington, Del., which mean moving away from their children and grandchildren.
“What do they offer if you decided not to go?” Barack Obama asked.
“Unemployment,” Mike Fischer said.
Barack Obama suggested the Fischers contact their members of Congress.
“You guys should talk to Evan Bayh to find out what the situation is,” Barack Obama said. “The irony is with the gas prices what they are, we should be expanding rail service. One of the things I have been talking bout for awhile is high speed rail connecting all of these Midwest cities – Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis. They are not that far away from each other. Because of how big of a hassle airlines are now. There are a lot of people if they had the choice, it takes you just about as much time if you had high speed rail to go the airport, park, take your shoes off.”
He continued to talk up Amtrak.
“This is something that we should be talking about a lot more,” Obama said. “We are going to be having a lot of conversations this summer about gas prices. And it is a perfect time to start talk about why we don't' have better rail service. We are the only advanced country in the world that doesn't have high speed rail. We just don't' have it. And it works on the Northeast corridor. They would rather go from New York to Washington by train than they would by plane. It is a lot more reliable and it is a good way for us to start reducing how much gas we are using. It is a good story to tell.”
Obama once again suggested that the Fischers reach out to their members of Congress, naming Bayh (again) and Rep. Andre Carson.
Mike Fischer said they had been talking to politicians.
“What would be the options if it did close? Is there anybody hiring machinists?” Barack Obama asked.
“They are, but maybe at 7.50, 8 bucks an hour,” Mike Fischer said.
“But at his age, it's like they won't hire you in your 50s,” Cheryl Fischer added.
“Part of what you are describing is how it is from generation to generation,” Barack Obama said. “That is what people don't understand when these layoffs happen. The entire community is effected.”
The conversation turned to the importance of being able to stay with family – rather than move to a new city or commute during the week between Chicago and Indianapolis.
(At one point, Obama turned to a young-looking great grandfather, Norvel Wheatley, in the room to compliment him: “A pretty good looking great grandfather,” Obama said.
“Looks are deceiving sometimes,” Norvel Wheatley responded.)
Michelle Obama talked about her mother, who takes care of their two daughters, 6 and 9, when they are gone.
“We couldn't be doing what we were doing without Michelle's mother,” Barack Obama said.
“That is one reason when he won the U.S. Senate seat, a lot people said you are going to move to Washington,” Michelle Obama said. “I was like, ‘No.' You know, because he would rather be home, in his community, and not living in the Washington scene. And all my support is the support you build up over years. It is my mom, girlfriends, you move away from everything.”
“It is not worth it,” Cheryl Fischer responded.
“One of my goals is by the time they get a little bit older, I want us to be a little more settled,” Barack Obama said. “One of the reasons we are doing this is now (is) they are young enough that they are having fun, they're not missing me much. But they are old enough to pretend like they miss me a lot.”
(Laughs all around).
Afterwards, Cheryl told your pooler that the lunch went well. She said she particularly liked Michelle.
"She is just down to earth. You can just talk to her. She's like your girlfriend," Cheryl Fischer said.
Carrie Budoff Brown
Staff Writer
POLITICO
