I attended the energy policy town hall at Baldwin-Wallace College this afternoon. (See earlier preliminaryposts.) Overall I thought Obama was extremely energized and impressive, something of a relief after having seen a few video clips of recent events in which he seemed a little flat. His sharp response to the tire pressure gauge nonsense was terrific - more on that in a bit.

Gov. Ted Strickland fires up the crowd.

The audience absolutely roared for Strickland, who gave a short pep talk. "If you like how things have been going for the last eight years, then you might want to support John McCain," he said, contrasting Obama as the candidate of change.

Sen. Sherrod Brown was emphatic.

There was no let-up when Strickland introduced Brown, who sounded populist themes reminiscent of his own campaign two years ago. Brown then introduced the candidate, who took a long time to work his way to the stage, greeting and shaking hands with members of the audience.

When Obama was finally at the podium the crowd spontaneously sang "Happy Birthday," which cracked him up. He thanked and acknowledged a few people in attendance, notably Clinton national co-chair Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

One of the biggest responses during his prepared remarks came when he said that the big oil companies have "placed their bets on Senator McCain," and if McCain wins the election Big Oil will continue to rake in cash while our families and our economy suffer. Another notable response came after he acknowledged that Ohio has lost 236,000 manufacturing jobs over the last eight years, and then pointed out that Ohio has the second highest potential of any state to create new wind energy manufacturing jobs and investing in wind power could increase workers' wages in Ohio by more than $3.5 billion through the year 2020.

Obama got in a good shot against McCain's obsession with offshore drilling by bringing up billionaire oil man T. Boone Pickens, "a solid Republican," who agrees that "we can't drill our way out of the problem."

Probably the best part of the event was when Obama really went after McCain on the GOP's absurd tire-gauge ridicule campaign over the last few days. Obama pointed out that his remark on tire inflation was in response to a question about what individuals can do to help conserve energy, after Obama had described his plans for multi-billion dollar investments in energy efficient cars and a new electricity grid. Now the GOP says this answer to a question constitutes Obama's energy plan. "They know they are lying," Obama declared to thunderous applause. And, he said, they're making fun of something every expert agrees would reduce oil consumption by 3% to 4%. "It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant," he said. "They think it's funny to make fun of something that is absolutely true. They should do their homework, because this is serious." Instead of running silly ads involving Paris Hilton, he said, the GOP should consult some experts and "make a difference."

Obama rolls up his sleeves before answering about a half dozen questions from the audience.

As good as the speech was, I thought Obama was even better responding to questions. The first one was a loopy question about whether he would abandon the federal reserve system, but he turned it around with an intelligent and comprehensive answer about monetary policy. Another questioner asked about the use of language in his campaign to frame issues, which prompted Obama to assert that "the way to win elections is to tell the truth." He then laid out "the facts" on tax policy and health care, criticizing McCain for wanting to give additional tax breaks to corporations that are already doing great under the Bush administration's policies, and not caring about making health insurance available to everyone. "I have the facts on my side," he declared, as the crowd roared. "I have truth on my side."

Another questioner asked about attending Obama's inauguration, and after some hemming and hawing (he pointed out that there are 90 days of hard work left before he can really think about that), he said that his staff would get her name and address and see about inviting her when the time comes. Someone else asked about legislation to create a database of ALS sufferers, which she said Obama had voted against. Obama couldn't recall the specific bill but said his "instinct" was to support the concept. He talked about how his father-in-law had Multiple Sclerosis and said there was no reason why he wouldn't support anything reasonable to help families dealing with chronic debilitating diseases.

A young African-American man spoke up to call attention to unmarried fathers who, contrary to the stereotype, do try take responsibility for their children. Obama used his answer to echo his earlier comments on the matter, praising the questioner for understanding that "being a father is more than having a baby," but also about fulfilling responsibilities to that child. "I speak as someone who knows," he said, "because my father left when I was two." Not having a father makes a difference in a young person's life, he said. "Democrats and progressives need to understand that government can't do everything," he continued. Government can properly run schools, invest in early childhood education, and pay decent salaries to teachers, but "we still need parents who care, who turn off the television set, who meet with their children's teachers."

At the very end, Obama compared his call for energy independence to the nation's quest to go to the moon. The first step is to set goals, he said. "It takes ingenuity to meet them, but we have that." America has not been striving to achieve lofty goals, and has not been listening to the voices of the people. It comes down to whether we "want a government that's accountable to you, or to the special interests."

UPDATE: Here is a nice slide show of photos from the town hall by local freelance photographer Ivor K.