After what was surely a sad two days for Obama he’s back on the trail today with stops in Reno, Las Vegas, and a stop in NM. Despite the sad family news, he’s back on the trail and picking up where he left off. Today he came out swinging in a response to McCain’s sudden change of heart geared at President Bush. Here is a little piece from Ben Smith's Blog on Politico.com
Then, the other day, he took it to a whole new level. He said that I was like George W. Bush. You can’t make this stuff up, folks. In what may be the strangest twist of all, Senator McCain said that I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies – and that he, John McCain, would change them.
He actually denounced the President for letting things – and I quote – "get completely out of hand."
That’s right, John McCain has been really angry about George Bush’s economic policies – except during the primaries, when he said we’ve made "great progress economically" under George Bush. Or just last month, when he said that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." In fact, John McCain is so opposed to George Bush’s policies, that he voted with him 90 percent of the time for the past eight years. That’s right, he decided to really stick it to him – 10 percent of the time.
Obama went on after taking a swipe at Cheney and Bush to say...
Fortunately, President Bush doesn’t seem to be at all offended – because yesterday, he cast his vote – early – for Senator McCain. And that’s no surprise, because when it comes to the policies that matter for middle class families, there’s not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain.
And then this funny zinger for that older audience...
"Like Joe Biden says, it’s like Tonto getting mad at the Lone Ranger."
Nice hard but funny swipes and brining up the Bush vote for McCain was great. There is no stonger endorsement than a vote for someone and SNL pushed this on Tursday. For those of you who missed the SNL skit on Thursday night, it's well worth the watch.
Nice to see him react to the past day and a half of McCain’s sudden desire to run as a Democrat. I am looking for the video. If anyone has it please comment and I’ll update the diary with it.
There was a funny moment as I was watching MSNBC’s coverage of the event. The audio system went out during Obama’s speech and the crowd went wild as Obama walked around the stage waving as the techs fixed the problem. When everything was right again, he picked up where he left off.
Added: The speech was filled with Bush McCain comparisons and then he went into his economic plan to rebuild America. As anohter diariest said, it was really good. MSNBC cut out before the end so I didn't catch how he wrapped it up. I am still looking for video. Obama is making sure he doesn't fall into the Kerry trap. Keep hitting them hard every day. He's been on offence for a month now. It has to be exhausting but it's got to be even worse if your the one playing defence and taking the blows.
Ben Smith also notes that Bill Clinton and Obama will appear on the trail together this week. The push this last week is going to be a sight to see. Location has not been released yet.
UPDATE 2: Full Text of the Speech here. 11,000 people showed up to listen to him. It appeared to be a High School Stadium or something similar.