The 'city slicker' goes country

Barack Obama talks with young presenters Tuesday at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. (Globe photo)

HOUSTON -- Yee-haw!

Well, not quite. Barack Obama visited the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo this morning, but he did not, unfortunately, hop on a bronco. In fact, he didn’t touch the animals. He touched a lot of farm equipment, though.

He toured antique tractors, built-from-scratch trailers, and other exhibitions. Many of the presenters were high-schoolers from the Future Farmers of America and 4-H. His presence drew quite a stir as farmers, ranchers, and cattle-raisers whipped out cell phones and cameras to capture the spectacle.

“I’m a big Obama fan,” said Dylan Speer, an 18-year-old from Abilene, Texas who was showing a utility trailer, built to haul feed, shrubs, and the like. Speer can’t vote for him today, though. “I registered about three days too late,” he said.

“I think it’s pretty cool that he’s down here,” said Walter Richardson, a 17-year-old from Boyd, Texas who was showing a 16-foot bumper pull trailer. “To me, he seems like a pretty rounded guy.”

William Glass, an 18-year-old from Gonzales, Texas, gave Obama a tour of his green-and-yellow John Deere Model B tractor from 1945, even showing him pictures of the vehicle in action. “This thing ready to go?” Obama asked. Glass said afterward he was too busy to vote today. Is Obama going to get his vote this fall, perhaps? “I don’t know,” he said.

At one point, Obama tried on black-and-yellow John Deere baseball cap before grabbing the cell phone of Justin Vincent, a high-schooler from Onalaska, Texas. Obama left a message on Vincent’s parents’ answering machine. “He said, ‘Hey, this is Barack Obama. I’m trying to figure out who I’m talking to,’’’ Vincent said. After it was suggested that it might be a message to keep, Vincent’s friends allowed that they were Republicans. “Delete it,” one of them said.

Obama then stopped by the booth of the Lil’ Dobbers, young farmers-to-be from the Limestone County, Texas 4-H. He held court for a while.

“Do you work on a ranch or farm?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” they said.
“You guys wanna be farmers?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I gotta admit,” Obama said. “I’m sort of a city slicker.”

UPDATE: Aboard the campaign plane from Houston to San Antonio, Obama explained why he stood clear of the steers this morning: He wasn't dressed for it. "The last time I went to a livestock operation I started holding the rope of a bull and leading him along," he said. "Even though he looked really clean, turns out they have a lot of stuff on 'em. So I got it all over my shirt. You gotta have some work clothes if you're going to do some work."