Obama's bracelet a constant reminder of Wisconsin mother, soldier
Barack Obama still has Wisconsin on his mind.
In the victory speech he gave after winning the North Carolina primary and almost winning the Indiana primary Tuesday, the Democratic presidential candidate celebrated his best night since he swept the Feb. 19 voting in the Badger state.
And he did so by recalling an incident on the campaign trail in Wisconsin and suggesting that he is strengthened in his resolve to win the nomination and the White House by the memory of "the mother in Wisconsin who gave me a bracelet inscribed with the name of the son she lost in Iraq; the families who pray for their loved ones to come home; the heroes on their third and fourth and fifth tour of duty.
"They can't afford four more years of a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. They can't afford four more years of our veterans returning to broken-down barracks and substandard care. They need us to end a war that isn't making us safer. They need us to treat them with the care and respect they deserve. That's why I'm running for president."
A variation on the story is featured in Obama's latest national fundraising letter, which went out this week to hundreds of thousands of supporters across the country.
The woman the senator references, Tracy Jopek, gave Obama a bracelet honoring the memory of her son, Ryan, when the candidate visited Green Bay on the Friday before the Wisconsin primary.
Ryan Jopek, 20, died in 2006 in Iraq, where he was deployed with the Wisconsin National Guard.
Tracy Jopek, who lives in Merrill, has been an Obama backer since the Illinois senator announced his candidacy for president last year.
"I believe he will lead us in the right direction, he will tell us the truth and be upfront and honest with us," says Jopek.
She continues to choke up when Obama mentions her Ryan on the campaign trail, as the presumptive Democratic nominee frequently does.
"To know that he does know his name," Jopek says of the senator and her son. "It means a lot."
Associated Press
Sen. Barack Obama wears a bracelet in memory of a soldier killed in Iraq. The bracelet was given to him by Tracy Jopek of Merrill, Wis., at a rally in Green Bay in February.
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