Obama Slams McCain For Not Mentioning Middle Class

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Saturday called Republican rival John McCain out of touch with middle-class Americans, telling supporters that the GOP senator never once uttered the words "middle class" during their first debate.

"Through 90 minutes of debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he didn't have anything to say about you," Obama told a cheering crowd at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot in downtown Greensboro. "He didn't even say the words 'middle class.' He didn't even say the words 'working people.'"

Obama debuted his post-debate attack on McCain with a campaign swing through North Carolina and Virginia, Republican-leaning states where he thinks he can make inroads.

The Illinois senator is trying capitalize on his debate performance by taking McCain to task for not talking about any plans for helping the middle class in the midst of the country's financial and fiscal crisis.

"Just as important as what we heard from John McCain is what we didn't hear from John McCain," Obama said. "We talked about the economy for 40 minutes and not once did Sen. McCain talk about the struggles of middle-class families. Not once did he talk about what they are facing every day here in North Carolina and across the country."

Watch Obama's ad on the debate:

McCain's campaign suggested Saturday that the Arizona senator had referred to the middle class during the debate when he argued that Obama had voted in favor of higher taxes on families making $42,000 a year and proposed hundreds of billions in new government spending that would place a crushing burden on families and businesses. Obama disputed both of those assertions and said that 95 percent of America taxpayers would not pay more in taxes under his plan.

"If he was honest, Barack Obama knows he was unable to debate the merits of supporting higher taxes on the middle class, and bloated government spending during a looming economic crisis _ it simply proved indefensible last night," McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

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Appearing with Obama on Saturday, running mate Joe Biden called McCain's judgment on every important issue "wrong."

"Last night, John McCain's silence on the middle class was deafening," said Biden, a Delaware senator. "We need more than a brave soldier. We need a wise leader."

The Obama campaign tried to back up that point in its newest ad, a spot released Saturday that also notes McCain never mentioned the middle class during the debate. "McCain doesn't get it," the announcer says. "Barack Obama does."

"We need a president who will fight for the middle class every day, and that's what I will do when I'm in the Oval Office," Obama told the cheering crowd.

Obama advisers were encouraged by his performance in the foreign policy arena at the debate at the University of Mississippi but immediately started dampening expectations for future debates.

"This was supposed to be John McCain's turf, and Barack Obama owned it," Biden said.

Obama adviser David Plouffe told reporters the Democrat "spoke really to people in their homes about needing a president who is going to fight for the middle class, who is going to work on things like education and health care."

The presidential hopefuls are scheduled to debate twice more, at Belmont University in Nashville on Oct. 7 and at Hofstra University in Hempsted, N.Y., on Oct. 15.

The next debate will be a town hall format, and Plouffe called McCain the "undisputed town hall champion."

___

On the Net:

Obama campaign: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

McCain campaign: http://www.johnmccain.com/

Comments

[TSense]

I wish Obama would not just mention money for college but also money it you want to go to a trade school. The Dems obsession with the college professional class ignores its roots with farmers and blue collar people that may want a trade and not college.

It is the college professional crap that allowed the out of control Trojan Horse of trade policy into the gates. Now it is biting everyone in the butt !

[Grunty1]

Would "higher learning" work for you? When I hear people talking about college education, I guess I automatically include all post-high school education.

[chitown8]

Some time he does say higher education.

Trade schools is considered just that. Any schooling past high school it higher education

[GaModerate]

Good point. I am college educated because my mom instilled in me to get a college degree so strongly but trade school is where people can get train and make a good living. Like electricians and plumbers. I want my children to get a college degree but if they want to go to trade school, I want the money to be there for them to do so.

[Mugzi]

Obama has stated green collar workers to increase jobs the energy field which will clearly bring jobs in the trade, technical fields as well as BS, MS..so much future for all Americans!

[SeekerOne]

I have heard him mention trade schools also, but I take your point. It probably would be helpful for him to emphasize them more.

[gopSTEALSyourTAXmoney]

'Trade Schools' are part of each States unemployment offerings, at least here in California.
If you become unemployed you have the option of choosing some areas of the job
field as 'electrician', 'plumber', ---building trades----block and masonry layer, etc.
Health care--------Pharmacy technician, medical codes biller, etc.
But with any Republican administrations-----their mandate is to --cut---cut---cut---
at the STATE level, then-----County-----then City levels of Government-----
Trade Schools have been in the works as far as I can remember-----BUT
MCCAIN will cut those offerings if he becomes POTUS. HEAVEN FORBID!

[RStone]

The new American middle class lives in China where all the jobs have gone!

http://www.boppoll.com

Bop McSame 500 times and you will feel pretty good today. Get five friends to join you and that is 2500. And five more... You see where this could go!

Obama '08

Long live the middle class!

[Kindheart]

I loved the boppoll site. It helps get rid of the anger of this whole situation.

[CollegeTeachrCA]

This is a great thread to pick up on from the debate. It IS the fundamental difference in the two campaigns. I'd also love to see Obama attack on the "accountability" issue that McCain kept harping on last night. Where is the "straight talk " about accountability for Bush? Or for that matter Sarah Palin? Her husband has just ignored a subpoena in Alaska and she's currently under investigation herself. I'll be surprised if they actually let her debate. If she appears unscripted, it's over. Look at her today out on the stump. She's still quoting her first speech and the same old lines are getting real tired. How about McCain being accountable for picking her in the first place!

[Dane1911]

When McCain was rambling about how he care for the vet's,...Obama should've pulled his card on not supporting the G.I. Bill......

[Marlyn]

""If he was honest, Barack Obama knows he was unable to debate the merits of supporting higher taxes on the middle class, and bloated government spending during a looming economic crisis _ it simply proved indefensible last night," McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement."

That's a LIE. Barack Obama's tax plan would raise taxes on those with income over $600,000 by 10%. For families making $250,000 or less, Barack would LOWER their taxes, otherwise there would be NO CHANGE.

Tucker Bounds is another Karl Rove.

[LeftLeanWing]

Tucker Bounds = Baghdad Bob + Tucker Carlson

[SMP]

Dont give Tucker Bounds that much credit....................give Tucker time, he will trip on his tongue

[ralph10]

I have heard a hundred times that if you make $42000 a year you're taxes will go up. What am I missing?

[TruepatriotinRI]

The facts!

[BillCarson]

The truth?

[Kindheart]

We can only hope that after November 4th he will go away, never to be heard from again.

[Shashi0224]

I am so proud of Barack Obama! He showed intelligence and class last night. Barack is a gentleman. He gets his point across smoothly and without the anger and hate so apparent in mccain. Mccain looked like an angry, bitter, hateful old man. What's with the not looking at Obama? Is it because mccain knows his talking points are lies or is it because mccain is just an old bigot. Whichever, it wasn't what I look for in my President. Unless we want to continue a cycle of hate and war, we need someone who can intelligently discuss issues without forcing negativity. We need someone not afraid of diplomacy. We need someone with insight and strength. We need someone with the judgment to pick an intelligent, knowledgeable running mate......not someone like Sarah Palin who thinks Putin's "head" floating over Alaska gives her "foreign policy" experience. Come on people!! This is not even a contest! I want someone that is smart inhabiting the White House!! I want someone who has the capacity for thought!
Obama/Biden '08!!
Enough Republican Crap!!

[Babysnake]

Obama was Presidential and MCain was....like finger nails on a blackboard. Hey, just like Palin!

[MPeter]

That is a good one. Love it...McCain was painful to watch. he had the wierdest face expressions during the debate. how can this man claim he reaches across the aisle but could not make eye contact with senator obama for 90 minutes!!1

[johnnygoodwud]

i agree why didn't obama mention the g.i. bill and mccain opposition to it. what about his top advisors, phil graham the king of deregulation and his other top advisor, just rolled under the flip-flop express, carly fiorria.

[RReitz]

couldn't get a word in edgewise several times during the debate.

[LeftLeanWing]

maybe Because this was supposed to be the FOREIGN POLICY debate.

[paulfromportland]

Yes, Double Talk's lies about helping the Vets was a major gift for Senator Obama - That lie was hanging in the air above the net, and Obama should have smashed it into DT's smirking face. But, he didn't even attempt to denounce that lie.

However, another big miss for Senator Obama was in allowing DT to deflect the economic issue into earmarks and cutting costs. Obama should have kept hammering him about the Bush-McCain economic mess.

There were too many times of moving like a butterfly and stinging like a butterfly - With apologies to Scott Ostler.

[SMP]

McCain did NOT even show up to vote on the G.I. Bill.......................he was the ONLY Senator to NOT show up to vote on the G.I. Bill

[TSense]

McCain has a horrible record on veterans benefits, not just the GI bill. He talks a good game but talk is cheap as he rarely backs it up. Obama should not be afraid to go there. Most veterans groups give McCain a bad score on veterans bills !

I know Mac will say how dare you as I lost 4-5 planes and am a veteran and pow. Obama should say I dare on behalf of the veterans that we owe a debt to. I dare because while you might be ok as a veteran that has has many of life comforts and medical care, many are not and deserve better. I dare because no matter what you say, according to actual veterans groups, you vote against veterans bills time after time and score a D. You cannot try to intimidate/ deter me when it comes to actually taking care of our veterans. Even with respect for your service, we cannot pretend have not actually voted against many good bills.

[TSense]

I would not even have mentioned that McCain did not talk about the middle class until after the VP debate. Obama should mention it for himself and then see if Palin mentions it but Biden would point it out about both Palin and McCain. With 10 of millions watching, that would have been a great time to mention it.

I am sure they will make sure Palin mentions it now and so will McCain. For now, Obama should just talk about how McCain does not get it.

[LeftLeanWing]

But the fact that McCain didn't mention the middle class was being spoken about by the Pundits as well. This fact was not a secret.

[Synoia]

"McCain's campaign suggested Saturday that the Arizona senator had referred to the middle class during the debate when he argued that Obama had voted in favor of higher taxes on families making $42,000 a year and proposed hundreds of billions in new government spending that would place a crushing burden on families and businesses."

Oh! And a $1,000,000,000,000 for Iraq is not a crushing burden to the middle class with the current regressive method of funding the Federal Government, John?

[MichaelDeane]

Tucker Bounds saying "If he (Obama) was honest..." is just a bit too rich for me. The McCain campaign is anything but honest--lying about Obama's record, misrepresenting his own record on regulation, on veterans affairs (veterans do not know that McCain is there for them), on the war and so forth.

And where is Governor Mooselini? McCain is cynically "protecting" her from the media. I'm wondering what those PUMAs are thinking now. Yeah they got their double X candidate but one wonders how far Caribou barbie will set the women's movement back?

There is so much intellectual dishonesty on the Republican side that one really does start to wonder if Nov 4 will be more of an IQ test than anything else. Are you really that stupid to fall victim to these lies? McCain, Palin and the PUMAs are banking you are.

[El]

"Governor Mooselini" Now that is HYSTERICAL!!!

[jeffp26]

Excellent ad.

You floated like a butterfly Obama;

now sting, baby, sting!!!

[ProfessorDuh]

The middle class. In case McBush has forgotten who they are again, that would be those losers who pull down anything less than $5 million per annum, according to his definition. The poor saps.
Why don't they earn some real money? There are plenty of lonely beer heiresses walking around, aren't there?

[ohiomark]

When Obama raises taxes on the "evil rich people", it will be the middle class that ultimately suffer.

It's the "evil rich people" that do much of the hiring from their small business' that represent 70% of our economy. While it is true that the middle class is the one that does most of the "grunt work" in these small business', it's the "evil rich" that issues and signs their paychecks.

If you raise their taxes, they will have less wealth to invest and less wealth to expand their business' and hiring more employees or they will probably eliminate some jobs to keep their business healthy.

High taxes will damage a good economy and kill a stumbling economy.

When was the last time any of you Libs were hired by a poor person?

[BillCarson]

Sounds like you'd make a pretty good plantation boss! :)

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Depends what you consider a small business that can be ice cream stand, or a plumber, maybe a small ad agency with 7 or 8 people in it. In most cases small business aren't muti-national, they can't off shore their profits. Fact is my friend, less than 40% of large companies pay taxes at all, endless wars and Wall Street balouts cost money. Several years ago I was listening to an interview with the President of the Small Business Assoc. who commented that the Bush administration has a terrible record in small start ups, in terms of federal loans etc. Under Bush the IRS has leaned harder with audits on small business and individual returns and given nationals-nationals a pass. I have a friend who runs an engineering business out of his home voted for Bush twice, well has not a Republican anymore.

[ohiomark]

What you fail to realize is that companies do NOT pay taxes, their customers do.

All corporate taxes are automaticly put into the prices of the goods and services they provide. So if you tax a small business or BIG OIL, the prices will go up, thus hurting the "little guy", whom the Democrats claim to represent.

[Mugzi]

You need to read Obama's nomination speech..he outlined it there...tax cuts for corporations that keep jobs in USA, middle class, and small businesses...he truly is the champion for middle class!

[ohiomark]

Obama wants to raise taxes on people making over $250,000 a year. Many small business' file tax returns under a "sub-S corp". which reflects personal income related to their business. Those people will be hit worse than a huge company CEO.

The real answer is to eliminate all taxes and move to the "Fair Tax".

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

The United States will become the best location for companies to flourish and jobs wil be a plenty.

[01202009]

Dear Senator Obama! Kindly wake up and smell the foul scent. McCain is prepared to give the 1% a bigger percent, and the rest of us the hindmost. Just as soon as we bail out his buds on Wall Street. Kapish?