Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― America needs to heal in the same way Los Angeles needed to heal after the Rodney King riots of 15 years ago, Democratic presidential candidate and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.

Appearing before an enthusiastic congregation of 500-600 people at the predominantly black First A.M.E. Church in South Los Angeles on the 15th anniversary of the riots, Obama said the uprising was a result of mounting frustration over the lack of opportunity for young people, and especially people of color.

But he also said times are changing and a brighter day is ahead, especially if he is elected president.

Obama said he remembered watching news coverage of the riots on TV in Chicago, and seeing "one of the greatest cities engulfed in flames."

But he also remembered seeing a story about a pregnant woman shot in the stomach during the riots, and how the woman and her baby survived. He said America still has a bullet lodged in its body but can also survive.

"We are going to usher in a new America the way that newborn child was ushered in, still having the scars, not forgetting where we came from, not blanking out on what had happened, but recognizing that we can remove that bullet and stitch up that arm and move forward as one nation," he said. "Not only by providing health care for every American in this country, not only for every child to have a decent education, not only by ending the senseless war in Iraq, but also by electing as president, Barack Obama."

He also called on the community to help. "I want you to know that 15 years after the riots that change is still going to happen because of you," he said. "This campaign may be a vehicle for your hopes and your dreams, but ultimately it is going to be because of you."

After being introduced to a standing ovation by the Rev. John Hunter, also a Harvard Law School graduate, Obama danced and sang with the choir and the congregation prayed for him to become president.

Obama received the rock star treatment that has characterized his campaign so far, but when he saw a real rock star in the front row, he paused in the middle of his speech.

"I've got to take a break because Stevie Wonder is in the house," he said. "I grew up with Stevie Wonder (music); I love Stevie Wonder," he said to more applause.

Wonder was ushered onto the stage next to Obama, where he sang a song saying in part "Barack Obama is going to be the next president," as the congregation amened.

Obama's main opponent in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was also in Los Angeles Sunday to attend a Bel Air fund-raiser geared toward women professionals, the entertainment trade newspaper Daily Variety reported.

Obama also appeared at a $2,300 per-person fund-raiser at agent Ari Emanuel's home, and a $500 per person fund-raiser at the Hollywood Boulevard nightclub Boulevard3, emceed by Cedric the Entertainer.

Both Clinton and Obama spoke at the Democratic State Convention in San Diego Saturday. Clinton said withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would be "the very first thing I will do upon taking office," while Obama reminded delegates that he opposed the Bush administration's decision to start the war, unlike Clinton, who voted in favor of the resolution authorizing use of force.

Obama continues to chip away at Clinton's lead in the race for the nomination, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday. Clinton topped the survey conducted between April 20-23 with 36 percent. Obama was second with 31 percent, while former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was third with 20 percent. No other candidate had more than 3 percent. The margin of error was 4.4 percentage points.

In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted March 2-5, Clinton led with 40 percent, followed by Obama with 28 percent and Edwards with 15 percent.

The Republican presidential candidates will get their time in the Southern California sun later this week, with frontrunner Rudy Giuliani holding a fund-raiser in Irvine Wednesday. The first G.O.P. debate is set for Thursday at the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson will speak at the Lincoln Club of Orange County's 45th annual dinner Friday in Newport Beach, in his first major speech since announcing last month he is considering running. Thompson was second behind Giuliani in a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll and third behind Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain in three other polls taken this month.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)