Obama makes surprise visit to Sunrise Cafe in South Bend

by Kelli Cheatham (kcheatham@wsbt.com)

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Sen. Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the Sunrise Cafe on Lincolnway West

Sen. Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the Sunrise Cafe on Lincolnway West, Thursday April 10, 2008. (WSBT photo)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Apr 10, 2008 at 5:01 AM EST

Story Updated: Apr 10, 2008 at 5:25 PM EST

SOUTH BEND — Sen. Barack Obama stayed the night in South Bend after his historic speech at Washington High School. But before he left town Thursday, he made an unannounced stop for breakfast at the Sunrise Café on Lincolnway West in South Bend.

Joking as he posed for pictures with staff at the Sunrise Café, Obama said, “Now that’s my phone buzzing there. [I] don’t want you to think I’m getting fresh or anything.”

The crowd of patrons and reporters laughed with the senator, who is dealing with a tight schedule, Secret Service agents and a media circus on his three-day bus tour of Indiana.

During his stop at the restaurant, Obama drank orange juice and talked about jobs and the economy with people who know it all too well.

Marvin Kline was laid off RMG Foundry in 2006.

“I was 59 years old when my plant shut down,” Kline told Obama. “I'm 61 years old with health issues. Nobody's going to want to hire me."

Trudy Manderfeld also lost her job in 2006. She worked at the Bayer plant in Elkhart.

“There have been heart attacks with people left in the plant, not knowing when they're going to lose their jobs,” she told the presidential hopeful. “And they're working extreme amounts of overtime."

Obama listened to both. He also talked with a local waitress who said she sees signs of the struggling economy every day.

Obama asked both Manderfeld and Kline what they feel the government should have been doing when they lost their jobs. Then he talked about the future.

“I always say in this election we can't just change parties; we've got to change our politics in Washington so ordinary voices are being heard on a regular basis," he said.

Manderfeld says she's impressed.

"It's not that he's saying the right things; he’s in tune with what's actually going on,” she said.

And just like that, he said goodbye and got back on the road.

"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” he told one patron on the way out. “You look like a pretty cheap date, though!”

Obama's three-day tour included stops in Gary and Lafayette Thursday. He’ll head to southern Indiana cities on Friday.

Watch WSBT News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. for more on Obama's unannounced visit to the Sunrise Cafe.

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