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Obama Pushes New Populist Message to NC Voters
April 28, 2008 3:28 PM
ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Senator Obama, struggling after repeated losses to white, blue collar workers, was singing a different tune today during a town hall in Wilmington, North Carolina, adding lines to his stump speech to make him more appealing to the demographic he has struggled to win over.
Obama's new populist message started with a direct appeal to the people, saying that in this race he is not against running against Hillary Clinton, but rather running against the very things that have made people's lives hard.
Watch the VIDEO HERE.
"I didn't get in this race, to run against Sen. Clinton. I ran to run against unemployment. I ran to run against lack of educational opportunity. I ran to run against lack of health care, and substandard housing and a war that we should not have been fought. That's why I'm running," Obama said and then repeated again, "I'm not running against Sen. Clinton."
Obama said he has gotten wrapped up in negative campaigning recently, which has distracted him from his reason for running, and said he spoke with his campaign team about changing the focus.
"I noticed over the last several weeks, I told this to my team, you know we are starting to sound like other folks - starting to run the same negative stuff. And it shows you that none of us are immune from this kind of politics. But the problem is that it doesn't help you. Having politicians bickering back and forth doesn't help you. Having them worry about superdelegates doesn't help you."
Again, Obama repeated his new focus, not the other candidates, but he says, the American people.
"This election is not about me. It's not about Sen. Clinton. It's not about John McCain. It's about you. It's about your struggles, your hopes, your dreams."
When wrapping up his slightly refigured stump speech, Obama delved deeper into his past than he has before within a stump speech, and criticized those who have publicly questioned if his past has been properly vetted.
He told the story of his grandparents working though the Great Depression, and his mother who was a single mom after his father left when he was two.
Taking heat on the issue of elitism, Obama reminded people that, although he had attended Columbia and Harvard, his family, like them, were still struggling to pay bills, "When my mom came of age, there were student loan programs that she could access so even if she was raising her kids she could go to school and there were scholarships so that she could send her son and her daughter to some of the finest schools in the world, even though there were times when she was on food stamps."
Obama's argument continued saying that his past struggles drove him to run, "When people ask me about why I'm doing this, what my values are, I try to explain to them it's about that history in my own family - how I've seen this country open up opportunity for people who are willing to work hard."
April 28, 2008 in Kucinich, Dennis | Permalink | User Comments (73)
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Anybody inspired by Obama's empty,
filthy rhetoric???
Posted by: edith | Apr 28, 2008 4:38:49 PM
Why has no one asked Rev. Wright if he is a Clinton supporter? He has been a supporter in the past and it would not be out of character for them to utilize this rhetoric to undercut their adversary. With the way Wright was spouting about accepting the VP position, it would not surprise me if that spot is not being dangled in front of this "obviously ambitious" Rev, as a tool to motivate him to play this game designed to ruin Obama. It would not be the first underhanded attempt to "steal" the nomination.
Posted by: cjvwise1 | Apr 28, 2008 4:41:32 PM
Karen, it is Obama who is sick and deranged for thinking he can hate America and be president at the same time.
Elitism is not just people who have money. It is a "frame of mind"...an attitude. Bush had money but no one would label Bush an elitist. He doesn't have the attitude of an elitist.
Barack does. Why did he go to Harvard and all these other schools? Wasn't Univ of Chicago enough? The loans wouldn't have been as large, maybe none at all.
Sorry, but your argument holds no water.
Posted by: Jo | Apr 28, 2008 4:41:39 PM
Obama will never take the heat off his elitism. The voters in NC won’t fall for Obama’s latest yarn either. His affluent white grandparents raised him. His grandmother, Madelyn Dunham (AKA Toot), was the first VP of a Hawaiian bank. His struggles aren’t with having lived an underprivileged life. He attended private schools in Hawaii, and the best universities. He’s had every advantage possible.
Hillary has, and will continue, to work for ALL Americans, not just the fortunate few.
Posted by: Emily | Apr 28, 2008 4:46:20 PM
Republican Party,
I disagree. Most of us still want Hillary. I'm happy Obama's "clean" image is now tarnished but there's much more dirt on Hillary.
Either way, McCain 08
Posted by: Joe | Apr 28, 2008 4:47:25 PM
Obama has a new superdelegate everytime he gets in trouble Hillary got a new super yesterday from MT. I would not be braging about Obama how could he sit in a hate filled church other black pastors do not preach hate.
Posted by: Bishop | Apr 28, 2008 4:50:14 PM
His grandparents working though the Great Depression which one was that the not the one in 1929.
His grandfather was born in 1918 and worked in a furniture store after leaving the military, while his grandmother was vice-president of a local bank.
Life was not that hard for Obama so it's time he gets his story correct and stop the lies over and over ....geez
Posted by: SJ | Apr 28, 2008 4:53:08 PM
Obama has so much integrity, and he has been working for for the poor his entire life. I hope that nasty politics doesn't distract people from his numerous strengths. He is the best candidate America has seen for decades.
Posted by: Teresa | Apr 28, 2008 4:53:41 PM
We tried to tell Obama not to trust the media, that they would turn on him "OJ" style, and they have. Now even his own pastor is "throwing him under the bus." Where are Teddy, Caroline, Maria Shriver, Oprah, Richardson, Claire McKaskill, et al.? Cat got their tongues? Obama made the big mistake of believing his own spin machine and so if any chickens are coming home to roost, it will be in his own backyard. Hilary said it all along but did anybody want to listen to her? Nooooo.
Posted by: druggstohr | Apr 28, 2008 5:01:18 PM
He's baaaack!! Yeah!
Druggstohr, Ted and Caroline Kennedy campaigned for Obama in PA, McKaskill is on TV defending him all the time. Richardson was just on CNN not 30 minutes ago. I've heard that Shriver has also campaigned for him since Texas. No one has abandoned him. If anything more are piling on.
Posted by: ConnieB | Apr 28, 2008 5:11:17 PM
If Obama is too much of a coward to face Hillary Clinton in a debate with no moderators after only 4 out of 21 with her alone, how does he expect us to believe he has the nerve to handle McCain, let alone, being the leader of the world's only super power.
If Obama wants us to look under the hood and kick the tires as he has claimed all throughout the campaign, what is he hiding? Maybe underneath the facade of a Ferrari is the engine of a Ford Escort?
Obama is a wimp. All hype. We all know his wife Michelle wears the pants in the family, don't we?
Posted by: sean66 | Apr 28, 2008 5:16:50 PM
LA Times is now reporting Obama took money in exchange for political favors. He awarded a state contract to Robert Blackwell Jr. when he was having financial problems. So much for "hope" and "change".
Posted by: goldenstate | Apr 28, 2008 5:17:04 PM
good for Obama. I always thought he should go back and talk to voters more deeply about his roots- to give him a deeper sense of who he is.
When I knocked on doors for Obama in PA, some people said "We don't know where he's been."Here's a golden opportunity for Obama to give it to them.
Posted by: southamco | Apr 28, 2008 5:23:03 PM
The fact that Rev. Wright is throwing him under the bus is because he knows Obama is no different from him, and wants everyone to know he is the typical politician. Wright thinks it's unfair that he takes all the flack for his beliefs while Obama is depicted as the Messiah.
What a liar Obama is to say "he wasn't there during the speech!" He always has an excuse for everything. What about his wife Michelle saying that in her adult life she was proud of America for the first time?
Combine the flip flop spinelessness of a John Kerry, with the head in the clouds Jimmy Carter, mix a bit of the used car sales man and you have Barack Obama. What a joke.
Posted by: sean66 | Apr 28, 2008 5:24:41 PM
Imagine this Brent Scowcroft agrees with Barak Obama and his message of meeting with those that are even our enemies, gee now will the Media slime Scowcroft, who was Bush 1 and Jr.'s advisor??? So, this so called inexperienced person doesn't know what he's talking about huh? Maybe people would be wise to listen to Obama and people who are supporting him in Government rather then listening to all the blow bags on the so called "News" channels. Basically, all those people are doing is offering their own slant on the stories they are supposed to be reporting. Funny thing I don't remember Walter Kronkite or Chet Huntley and many other great news reporters doing that. Probably because there are so many news shows which aren't, all they are is talboid reporters, and their networks hire the woman who have great looks and some with no brains, and men who can prounance big words but don't know what the hell their talking about.
Remember these were the same water carriers for Bush and Cheney's Iraq War, which correct me if I'm wrong, Hillary voted for!
Posted by: Sue Filutze | Apr 28, 2008 5:29:57 PM
"I didn't get in this race, to run against Sen. Clinton. I ran to run against unemployment. I ran to run against lack of educational opportunity. I ran to run against lack of health care, and substandard housing and a war that we should not have been fought. That's why I'm running," Obama said and then repeated again, "I'm not running against Sen. Clinton."MSM I implore you, play THIS soundbite as much as you played the bitter and wright crap.
Posted by: Louis | Apr 28, 2008 5:33:24 PM
WE HAVE HAD A LYING PRESIDENT FOR 8 YEARS.....WE SURE DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE FOR 4 MORE YEARS ARE 8 YEARS.....SO AMERICAN THINK WE NEED A YOUNG MINE IN THE WHITE HOUSE NOT TWO OLD PEOPLE..........VOTE OBAMA 2008
Posted by: HENRY WARE | Apr 28, 2008 5:35:13 PM
Jo, University of Chicago is a very expensive school. Moreover, many, many, MANY people consider Bush an elitist. And goldenstate, reread the article. You've inaccurately described the details. Edith, I'm totally inspired and I have to admit that I think the "filthy" bit is a projection. SJ, if you read his books you'd know that the whole thing is legit. His backstory has always been the same. You sound very uninformed.
Posted by: Angie | Apr 28, 2008 6:05:22 PM
This whole Rev. Wright "press tour" is a set up with the Obama campaign and which the liberal media is happily obliging Obama with. CNN and MSNBC will cover each and every one of Rev. Wright's outrageous speeches, and the pundits will continue to say that Obama needs to disassociate himself with the Rev. Obama will continue to play it cool, so as not to ####off the black voting block which is at 90%, until the drum beat for Obama to disown Wright gets so loud, Obama finally caves in and does it to make all the blue collar voters happy, and the black voters will understand because the liberal press explained it just so. Democrats are being taken for idiots by the filthy rich liberal billionaires running the democratic party. And of course, the fact that Obama sat in that church for 20 years and had the Rev. as his campaign advisor - the public will be told that doesn't matter. Predictable media. Is this still the United States?
Posted by: rs | Apr 28, 2008 6:13:04 PM
No offensive, but he still is missing the point. What is missing from his canidacy is that he doesn't bring out DETAILS. That is all he needs to win. Hillary is staggeringly brilliant with them and shows she cares. The more Obama resists delivering the details the less middle america will relate to them. Someone should get him on the phone and explain this to him--he can win the Whitehouse if he does this.
Posted by: Penny | Apr 28, 2008 6:34:06 PM
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