Unique hardships, same message

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- One was a former realtor whose business has evaporated. Another was a mother of a severely disabled daughter who requires more care than the family can afford. Another was a minister who said she knows many seniors who cannot afford their prescriptions.

Their tales of hardship varied, but these women delivered the same message to Barack Obama this morning at a "women's roundtable" in a strip-mall deli: People are struggling in this economy, and they don't see much help on the horizon.

"We live a life that is unbelievable," said Christina Stewart, a dance instructor whose daughter requires physical therapy, speech therapy, and expensive medications, but is getting little of them. "It is horrible to watch my child suffer."

"I can only imagine," Obama told her, trying to connect her plight with a policy point. The health care system, he said, wastes money by paying for unnecessary care and focusing too much on treatment at the expense of prevention. That money, he explained to Stewart, could be going to people like her daughter, who need the care.

The pastor, Josephine Richardson, talked about the indignity of seniors having worked their whole life only to face drug bills they can't pay. "Here you've worked in the workforce to so many years ... and here you can't even afford your medications," she said.

Obama said that solving such problems requires not just an engaged president, but an empowered citizenry that demands changes in how Washington works. "We've gotta get the American people reengaged," he said.

If voters value such intimate gatherings with Obama, he comes away with something, too: poignant anecdotes to weave into his stump speeches. "These are the kinds of things I'll be talking about on the campaign trail," he told the group.

Afterward, Stewart reminded reporters that Obama wasn't the only candidate attuned to the concerns of voters like her. She said she liked John Edwards's health care plan, too, and wishes they would run as a ticket. "My fantasy is to see Obama and Edwards together," she said.