Patriotic tunes filled the air as Air Force One parted the skies above hundreds of awaiting supporters.
The sun glistened down upon the Rain for Rent headquarters on March 2 as President George W. Bush made his way to the cheering crowd. Secret Service agents in sleek, dark sunglasses and black suits surrounded the premises and supplied Kern County residents with an authentic White House experience.
“It was thrilling, absolutely wonderful. I think he’s doing a great job. I just hope we get four more years with him,” said Ann Marie Johnson, a Bakersfield stay at home mom at the event.
In between discussions about taxes, new jobs and the economy in general, Bush charmed the crowd with his down-to-earth sense of humor.
“I want to thank the mayor, Harvey Hall. We met at the airport, he drove over in the limousine, Harvey thanks,” he said. “He said do you have any advice, and I said, ‘yeah, fill the potholes.’ ”
To endear himself even further with the local crowd, Bush briefly discussed his family’s experience of living on Monterey Street in Bakersfield.
“I’ve spent some quality time in Bakersfield, 1949,” he said. “I don’t remember much about it, but I was talking to old number 41, that would be my dad, about two nights ago and I told him I was going out to Bakersfield and he said, tell the folks out there that Barb and I have got fond memories of our days living there. There are good, honest, hardworking people living in Bakersfield. That’s the way it was then and that’s the way it is today.”
Instead of focusing on the hard political debates of this year, Bush won over the masses by engaging in chitchat and discussing family values and issues.
As he made his way through the crowd, he managed to shake hands with his fans and even held one baby for photographs. Although in most crowds there are sure to be some skeptics, the overall reaction of this audience was positive and supportive of the president’s re-election campaign.
“This is about the greatest thing to happen to Bakersfield in a long time,” said Larry Moxley of Moxley International, a local business and political consulting firm. “The president was wonderful. He is talking about the right things. I am a small business owner myself and tax relief, tax relief, tax relief, that’s what makes us able to hire more people, invest more money and create more jobs so he’s right on the mark with making tax cuts permanent.”