Collegiate Times

President Bill Clinton walks on-stage during a campaign stop in Roanoke on behalf Democratic Sen. Barack Obama Sunday night.

"In World War II, Winston Churchill believed in FDR, but he was out (in the war) all by himself for two years just waiting for something to happen for the United States to get in," Clinton said. "The British press would rag him and say, 'Where is your friend?' Churchill would then say, 'The United States always does the right thing, after exhausting all other alternatives.' Well we don't have any other alternatives."

Clinton said that change in America would not come overnight, and that the country would have to be patient while the recovery is in progress.

"We gotta elect 'em, we gotta support 'em, but then we've gotta have the patience to realize we've been driven into a very deep ditch and we're going to have to get ourselves out of it," Clinton said.

The visit to Roanoke was Clinton's first in support of Obama, having previously campaigned in the area during Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Before Clinton took to the microphone, resident Amy Richardson spoke, describing her past with presidential elections and the economy.

Richardson said that she had not exercised her right to vote in several prior elections, because she "didn't think it really mattered that much."

"I was wrong about elections; they matter -- a lot," Richardson said. "We cannot have another four years of the failed policy of the last eight."

Richardson also believed that Obama will manage America's middle class better.

"I make a little more (money) than in 2000, but it doesn't seem to go as far. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both know that the health of America rests on the health of the middle class. Barack will invest in the American people, the same way President Clinton did," she said.

Though the rally was intended to support the candidacy of Obama, some of the attendees were former Clinton supporters directed to Obama, predominantly interested in hearing the ex-president speak.

Thomas Cobbs of Franklin County came to the rally to support Clinton and said he was inspired by the former president's speech.

"I had to shake hands with the president," Cobbs said. "I gotta shake hands with the president."

Sally Shultz, a Salem resident, echoed a similar sentiment.

"I came here to see Clinton," Shultz said. "I thought it was great. He is a real motivator. I love to hear him talk."

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