Obama, Clinton Stress Economic Issues Campaigning in Indiana
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- Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, campaigning in Indiana, put their focus on the economic concerns of job losses and the rising cost of health-care Education Law, education and gasoline as they tried to appeal to middle-class voters.
“I looked around the country and in too many communities what I saw were people who had been forgotten,” Obama told supporters at a rally at Marion High School in Marion, Indiana, today. “People are working harder and harder just to get by.”
Obama, 46, criticized the economic policies of the Bush administration, saying that during the past seven years middle- class workers have been getting “nothing” while the wealthiest Americans are getting tax breaks.
Obama, the senator from neighboring Illinois, is seeking to halt any momentum gained by rival Clinton with her 10-point victory in Pennsylvania’s April 22 Democratic primary, where she did well with blue-collar workers. Polls show the two almost even ahead of Indiana’s May 6 primary, which is among the nine remaining contests for the Democratic nomination for president.
New York Senator Clinton, 60, trails Obama in the delegate count that will determine the Democratic nominee and in the popular vote.
“I’ve gone across Indiana saying that my campaign is about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs,” Clinton told supporters at an outdoor rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana, this morning. “We have to get back to producing good jobs in America again,” that will enable people to afford homes and keep them and have health-care coverage.
Tax Cuts Promised
Obama promised tax cuts for the middle class and vowed to bring down fuel costs by investing in renewable energy. He called for a windfall profit tax on oil companies, and said he would scrutinize trade deals to ensure they are as good for Main Street as they are for Wall Street.
Clinton promised to boost employment, including five million “green” jobs, Education Law and curb U.S. dependence on China and oil-producing countries.
“I don’t think you can have a strong country without a strong economy,” she said at a rally in East Chicago, Indiana, last night.
In Gary, Indiana, Clinton spoke to workers from the United Steelworkers Union, and stressed the importance of the steel industry in boosting the American economy.
“You’re dependent on foreign countries” if you don’t have a good steel industry, she said. “This is not only about our economy, it’s about our national security.”
Indiana Senator Evan Bayh was campaigning with Clinton in the state.
Job Losses
Obama campaigned last night in Kokomo, Indiana, where he said the unemployment rate was about 7 percent.
“Over 4,000 jobs have been lost in Kokomo since the start of the Bush administration,” Obama said at a rally in a high school gymnasium.
“I’m running because of places like Kokomo,” he said. “I’m running because behind the statistics there are families” losing health-care coverage and seeing jobs shipped overseas.
Yesterday Clinton told supporters at Indiana University in Bloomington that universities should be given a fast-track option to enter the Direct Student Loan program, which is administered by the Department of Education and provides students with low-interest, federally backed loans for education.
Clinton tomorrow heads back to North Carolina, which also holds a primary on May 6. Obama travels there on Monday.
Obama played down any concerns that the long race for the nomination would divide the Democratic Party.
“The Democrats will be unified come November,” he told supporters yesterday. Obama said the differences between himself and Clinton “pale in comparison to the differences we’ve got with John McCain,” the presumptive Republican nominee.
Clinton urged a crowd in East Chicago to “think about this decision of May 6 as if it were a hiring decision,” she said. “You are hiring the next president of the United States of America. The job description is pretty simple — it’s the toughest job in the world.”
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