Obama to supporters: si se puede

KISSIMMEE – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had three words Wednesday for critics who say he’ll have trouble winning over Hispanics in the nation’s largest swing state: Si, se puede.

Obama used the Spanish version of his popular “Yes, we can” slogan to greet the crowd of more than 600 supporters at a town hall meeting at the Kissimmee Civic Center Tuesday night.

“We’re going to bring the party together,” Obama said. “We need to realize the problems we face are not problems of one party or one people.”

During his 20-minute speech, Obama focused on bread-and-butter issues, like middle class tax credits, higher teacher pay and college scholarship programs for teachers and young adults who volunteer. And he touched on the confusion over Florida’s delegates by saying he was sure they would be counted.

The crowd was far more intimate than the Obama mega-rallies that have drawn stadium-sized crowds in cities around the country – including one earlier in the day in Tampa.

But the smaller venue didn’t detract from the rock-concert atmosphere. And supporters clapped their hands and stomped their feet as they chanted “Yes, we can” –- in English and Spanish –- and waited for Obama to arrive.

Some supporters arrived hours early to wait in the afternoon sun, creating a line that stretched for blocks. Dozens came from the area’s Hispanic community, with some supporters donning buttons and tee-shirts proclaiming “Si se puede.”

Hispanic supporters who attended the town hall meeting dismissed comments that Obama would have trouble winning over the state’s Hispanics during the general election.

“I know with all the people in my family, we’re 100 percent with him,” said Norin Mercado, 63, an Orlando schoolteacher who was born in Puerto Rico. “I know I like him. And I’m with him.”