Obama hails Tubbs Jones’s legacy at memorial service

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) joined hundreds of friends and family Saturday morning in paying homage to the recently deceased Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio). 

“She was the embodiment of the generosity that comes with grace and the fearlessness of knowing what really matters, and now that she’s left us, we’ve all got to pick up some slack,” he said. “We’ve all got some unfinished business to attend to – the business of shaking things up and asking hard questions…the business of embracing those who struggle and making their struggles our own.”

{mosads}Tubbs Jones, who was the first African American woman to represent Ohio in Congress, died last week from a brain hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm. She was 58.

Obama recognized Tubbs Jones’s integrity and her ability to love everyone in her life no matter how seemingly insignificant their role.

“After a decade in Congress, she was so utterly unaffected by the ways of Washington,” Obama said. “She was still a home girl…Whether she was dealing with an intern or an ambassador, she had the same radiant warmth, that same good-natured ribbing, she’d be hugging people that probably the protocol said you shouldn’t hug, that same call-it-like-she-saw-it honesty.”

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), like Obama, received a standing ovation in the packed Cleveland church as she recognized Tubbs Jones for her “unswerving sense of faithfulness” that often offered her advice, whether requested or not.
“Her friendship was not uncritical,” Clinton said. “When she was your friend, she felt it (was) her responsibility to inform you of all the matters that needed improvement.”

President Bill Clinton echoed his wife’s sentiments, saying that Tubbs Jones always had “a steady list of thing I could improve upon.”

He also recognized the Ohio congresswoman’s perseverance in breaking racial and gender barriers and compared her successes to Obama’s historical nomination as the first African American presidential nominee.

Bill Clinton related a trip he had taken to a Cleveland school with former Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio), Tubbs Jones’ predecessor and the first African American to be elected to Congress by Ohio.  A school child asked him whether he was really the president because he didn’t look like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

“He thought the president…was a dead white guy,” said President Clinton, looking at Obama. “Thanks to you Senator, no one will ever think that of a president again.”

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Michelle Obama were also in attendance.