This is good news. Barack Obama is presenting an economic populist message that I believe will help propel him to the White House, along with showing more anger and fight. And he's talking about how the American Dream is slipping away for many. Yesterday, in Martinsville, Va, Obama said:
This election is about "deciding right here and right now that we are gonna fight to make government accountable to the American people to make sure that the special interests aren’t dominating Washington," Obama told the crowd of about 350 here at a community college in the southern part of the state.
"That’s why I promise you this: that if you will vote for me, if you give me that opportunity, if you give me that chance, that I will fight for you every single day. I will wake up in that White House thinking about the people of Martinsville and the people of Henry County and how I can make your life better"
msnbc.con: First Read
More, with video, after the fold.
Barack Obama spoke in Martinsville, Virginia, which is deep in Red territory in Virginia, yesterday and placed himself firmly on the populist road as a fighter for working people.
Democrat Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to create millions of union jobs in alternative energy and end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas, using tough new populist language to convince voters that he, not rival John McCain, is best positioned to lift the limping U.S. economy.
Obama sounds populist themes in Virginia bus tour
He's talking to and with working people, and using the rhetorical device of the American Dream to bring home truths they know, that they are experiencing. Obama spoke with laid off workers in Martinsville yesterday, and showed he'd fight for them:
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee spoke to workers laid off from nearby factories at a packed town hall meeting in a cavernous warehouse here used by Patrick Henry Community College to train workers in the auto-racing industry. U.S. flags and race cars surrounded the stage.
"You're worried about the future. Here people have gone through very tough times," the Illinois senator said. "When you've got entire industries that have shipped overseas, when you've got thousands of jobs being lost. . . . That's tough."
snip
Obama drew hearty applause here when he spoke about his desire to give tax breaks to companies that create jobs in the United States and stop tax breaks to those that ship jobs overseas.
"People feel like the American dream is slipping away," he said. "That's what's at stake in this election. We can't keep going in the same direction that we have been. We have to fundamentally change how America does business."
snip
"I don't want a handout and I don't think the government should fix all my problems," said Brian McGhee, who was laid off in June from Smurfit Stone Corp., which manufactures cardboard boxes. "All I want is for government to stop hurting us."
WaPO
Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday lambasted his Republican rival's economic plan, arguing that Sen. John McCain would continue President Bush's policies and "we can't keep on going in the same direction."
Not only are Americans experiencing high job insecurity and finding it harder to save for retirement, Obama said, "but, most importantly, people aren't sure whether that essential part of the American dream -- the idea of we work hard and we sacrifice, the next generation's going to be a little bit better off than we were -- people aren't sure whether that still holds true."
cnn.com
Here's video of Obama at the town hall meeting in Martinsville, Virginia.
Meanwhile, a new ad hits McCain hard and with an economically populist edge:
Can we really afford more of the same?
John McCain’s tax plan: For big corporations -- $200 billion in new tax breaks,
Oil companies -- $4 billion.
Companies shipping jobs overseas keep their tax giveaways.
While 100 million Americans get no tax relief at all.
For the change we need.
msnbc.con: First Readink
The Obama campaign says the ad, entitled "Three Times," will run in the battlegrounds of Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia.
Along with some flashes of anger about John McCain's dishonest attacks on his patriotism, Obama's new populist edge should help him reverse the recent dip in the polls. More importantly, it should bring him the votes of many working class Americans. The Populist Road. It's the road to the White House.
The Obama Campaign is a reality-based campaign. This shows me that they look hard at data, see what's working, see what's not, and make mid-course corrections. Obama has always had available to him populist themes and used them at times. In contrast to McCain, Obama's policies are economic populism personified. The recent shift in tone, however, represents to me an excellent adaptation to McCain's recent upward movement in polls. But it's more than a brief course correction. It's the winning strategy.
I like the sound of this, and I think many voters will also:
"That’s why I promise you this: that if you will vote for me, if you give me that opportunity, if you give me that chance, that I will fight for you every single day.
I will wake up in that White House thinking about the people of Martinsville and the people of Henry County and how I can make your life better"