Obama: McCain “must not be talking to people here in Michigan”

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama appears in Farmington Hills, Mich. on Monday evening. (Photo: Minehaha Forman)

Barack Obama brought his message of change — and a newfound willingness to take some hard swipes at his opponent — to a town-hall meeting in Farmington Hills, in the state that has become ground zero for the nation’s economic woes.

In a wide-ranging talk Obama told the capacity crowd at North Farmington High School that he, not John McCain, was the candidate who would jump-start the economy, make health care more affordable, invest in the auto industry and lower taxes for most Americans.

The event’s tone and content were part of a renewed focus by Obama on wresting back the mantle of change candidate from McCain, who has launched an aggressive advertising campaign showcasing his reputation for being a maverick.

“McCain doesn’t seem to know what ordinary families are going through,” Obama said. “He seems to be out of touch. When he says the economy has made great progress under George Bush, he must not be talking to people here in Michigan. When he says the fundamentals of the economy are sound, he must not be talking to people here in Michigan.

“When he brags about voting with George Bush 90 percent of the time, what kind of judgment does that show?” he continued. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take a 10 percent chance on change.”

Challenging McCain’s and Palin’s lies

Obama, who has been criticized for being too laid-back as the Republicans have bared their fangs, seemed to find his inner fire when he addressed contentions by the McCain campaign that he would raise taxes.

“[McCain] wants to leave 100 million people not getting a dime in tax relief,” Obama said. “Then he’s got the nerve to run commercials here in Michigan saying I want to raise taxes. Let me tell you something, I plan to cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people…What McCain is offering isn’t change, it’s the same old stale, trickle-down economics. We have tried this for eight years and it hasn’t worked.”

Earlier Monday, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell accused the McCain campaign of “lying” about Obama’s tax plan in a conference call with reporters, the New York Times reported.

“I call on Sen. McCain to stop misleading, stop lying, about Sen. Obama’s tax plan,” he said.

Obama also homed in on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s vice presidential nominee. Palin has repeatedly touted her opposition to her state’s notorious “bridge to nowhere,” but Obama drew attention to her early support of the project that became the last word in government pork.

“I’ve got to admit these folks are shameless,” he said. “The record is indisputable. [Palin] hired a lobbyist as mayor, and got millions in pork. As governor she supported the bridge to nowhere … She’s out there acting like she’s been fighting this thing the whole time. I’m not going to describe in an ad that I did something that’s the opposite of what I did.”

Contrasting styles, audience

Obama spoke for more than an hour with voters in Farmington Hills, the largest city in Michigan’s second-largest county, taking several questions from the audience after delivering his stump speech. Question topics ranged from Obama’s stance on Israel to civil liberties, the composition of the Supreme Court and federal support for the auto industry.

In many ways the campaign event was study in contrasts with McCain’s visit to Freedom Hill Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights on Friday. Obama was preceded by just one speaker, state House candidate Vicki Barnett, before coming to the floor with local resident John Ashcraft, an auto industry worker who lost his job and who introduced Obama.

Obama spoke for more than an hour including the question-and-answer portion — about four times as long as McCain, who took no questions. Obama’s town hall was open to the public; McCain’s previous town halls have been by invitation only, heavily curtailing the chances he would get a wild-card question.

Obama also directly addressed Michigan concerns — the housing foreclosure crisis, the struggling auto industry, unemployment. Finally, his richly diverse audience contrasted sharply with that of McCain’s — probably less than 1 percent of the roughly 7,000 attendees there to see McCain and Palin at Freedom Hill last week were not white.