Obama: ‘It’s still about hope’

Barack Obama, the US president, kicked off his campaign for re-election in November, telling rallies in battleground states Ohio and Virginia to hold on to hope.

“If people ask you what this campaign is about, you tell them it’s still about hope,” Obama told crowds chanting “four more years” on Saturday.

“I still believe... I still believe we are not as divided as our politics suggest,” Obama said, in an echo of the 2004 Democratic convention speech which shot the then unknown Illinois senator to prominence.

“I still believe we have more in common than the pundits tell us. I still believe in you, and I’m asking you to keep believing in me.”

Both rallies went ahead under banners reading “Ready to Go”.

Obama tried to duplicate the simple clarity of his previous campaign theme “Hope” with his new rallying cry, “Forward”.

His foes, however, dispute the idea that his campaign is powered by a positive stream of hope.