Prez in Philly: A peek, a streak

WITH THE ROOTS providing the score and Phillies and Eagles analogies on the tips of people's tongues, a rally in Germantown with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden yesterday seemed to be as much pregame party as political push. Still, the message was clear: The game isn't over and Democrats need the same level of support from Philadelphians come November as they gave in 2008 and as they give their sports teams all year.

"Philadelphia is coming back, Pennsylvania is coming back, America is coming back and the Philadelphia Phillies are going back to the World Series!" Biden said.

More than 18,000 people attended the "Moving America Forward" rally, in a park next to the Robert Fulton Elementary School. Speakers included Dan Onorato, Democratic candidate for governor; Joe Sestak, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate; U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr.; U.S. Reps. Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady; Gov. Rendell; and Mayor Nutter.

Greeted with chants of "Yes, we can," Obama promised spectators that they'd be out in time for the dueling Phillies/Eagles games.

He and other speakers said that the upcoming election is just as important, if not more so, than the one that put him in office.

"Our victory in that campaign, that wasn't the end of the road, that was just the beginning," he said. "The only thing that election did was give us a chance to make things happen."

He said that many of the Republicans running for election in November are the same politicians who spent the last decade "driving our economy into a ditch."

In a long analogy, Obama said that he and Biden got the car (economy) out of the ditch while Republicans were busy "fanning themselves and sipping on a Slurpee."

"Now the car's a little banged up, the fender is a little busted, it needs a tuneup, but it's moving, it's going in the right direction, we're on level ground now," he said.

Obama said that the Republicans are asking for the keys back now, but "they don't know how to drive."

"They can ride with us if they want," he said, "but they got to get in the back seat, because we want to go forward."

Union members showed up by the dozens in brightly colored shirts. Warren Price, 53, of North Philly, a member of the Laborers Local Union 332, said he was proud to attend.

"I'm out here to see if we can get

everyone I know to vote," he said. "I've been in this union for 33 years, so I need this to happen."