Obama protesters see less opposition

IOWA CITY - Everyone in Iowa City is not a liberal was the message University of Iowa junior Kelsey Boehm hoped to get across Wednesday by protesting near where President Barack Obama was about to speak.

Boehm, chairwoman of the UI College Republicans, was among a few dozen people who showed up with signs and bullhorns outside the UI Field House upset with what Obama has done with his time in office.

“Defeat Obama,” one man shouted, as another called for the president's retirement “to begin this year.”

Boehm, holding a sign that read, “I will keep my freedom, guns and money, you can keep your change,” said she thinks Obama should skip the rhetoric about student loans - the Iowa City stop focusing on the issue was the third in two days at college towns - and stick to matters related to the economy and jobs.

“The young people out here supporting him are the ones being hit the hardest by the economy,” said Boehm, who is planning to attend law school and delay her entrance into the workforce a few years.

“But I'm very concerned,” she said. “I have lots of friends who are settling for jobs that are a lot less than what they would have a few years ago.”

With his sights also set on law school, UI senior John Twillmann, 22, said his fears lie squarely on the weak job market, even though he'll be strapped with debt by the time he finishes school.

“The issue is much deeper than interest rates,” Twillmann said, referencing the focus of Obama's speech to UI students about the need for Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.

“He just has lots of rhetoric and empty promises,” said Twillmann, executive director of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans.

Twillmann, the former chairman of the UI College Republicans, joined Wednesday's protest outside the Field House and said it was met with much less opposition than the last time they protested during Obama's visit to Iowa City in 2010.

“Last time we had hundreds of people yelling in our faces,” he said. “This time it's mixed, but it's much better than in 2010 when Obama came.”

Many people lined up for the event said they hardly noticed the protesters.

“I've got tunnel vision, and Obama's at the end of it,” UI freshman Annalyse Madsen, 18, said with a laugh.

Her friend Max Shaffer, also a UI freshman, said he came to hear the president talk because the subject of student loans is relevant to his life. Madsen said her reason was simpler.

“I just wanted to come because I thought it would be awesome,” she said.