The Lincolnian

Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Milan Carter Actress Tatyana Ali visits Lincoln to stump for Obama.

Actor Josh Radnor is surrounded by Lincoln students

"The Fresh Price of Bel Air's" Tatyana Ali and "How I Met Your Mother's" Josh Radnor made a guest appearance at Lincoln University as campaign spokespersons for presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama.

Ali and Radnor encouraged students to vote for Obama in the April 22nd primary. Ali and Radnor address the historical presence of this particular campaign.

"This is democracy at its finest. People's voices are being heard," said Radnor.

Sporting her sky blue t-shirt with an animation of Obama's face, Ali recalled the first time Obama had an impact on her politically.

"I was watching the 2004 Democratic Convention and he (Obama) piqued my interest. The question always ends up being, 'Where are our leaders?' When I got a chance to meet him five or six months ago, a light bulb lit up and I said, "here's our leader.'"

For Radnor, it was something about the force in Obama's tone and the way that he spoke that made him believe that "this is the America I want to live in."

Ali said that she felt torn between Obama and Clinton.

"What's more important, the first female president or the first black president? I got to go past description. I got to go for whose going to fight for me," said Ali whose words were greeted by a thunderous applause from the audience.

Despite Ali's candor about her political choice, Radnor admitted that celebrities are often ridiculed for expressing their political views.

"Actors are dehumanized for making attributes to politics, but it's my duty to shed some light," he said.

Ali said that Lincoln students could be the deciding factor in helping Obama secure the nomination.

"Senator Obama and Senator Clinton are neck and neck," she said. "It's that close and it [voting] can make that much of a difference," she said.

The visit by Ali and Radnor was a last minute effort by the Obama team to get students out on Election Day. Recent polls suggest that Clinton still leads Obama, though the race is tightening up.

"To come from the bottom up, we have to make change and be change," said Ali, who majored in Political Science and African American Studies in college. It takes a movement. If we win Pennsylvania, it's a wrap," she said.

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