Obama sits down with seniors
Posted: Thursday, November 08, 2007 3:45 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan
OTTUMWA, IA -- On Day Two of
Obama’s “Change You Can Believe in Tour,” he sat down with senior citizens in Ottumwa, Iowa to discuss retirement security. The discussion, which focused on the importance of saving for retirement and the difficulties of living on social security, allowed Obama to present himself as a candidate who could appeal and relate to an elderly class of voters.
Obama also criticized
Clinton for criticizing a bankruptcy law that he said would have hurt American consumers. Just yesterday, Obama introduced a smorgasbord of proposals for the middle class, which included a proposal to strengthen bankruptcy laws in favor of consumers. Obama has increased his outreach to seniors in recent weeks. He has campaigned in rural areas, discussing the importance of keeping young people in these communities, which have seen dwindling populations. He also gave a speech propose to protect social security just two weeks ago.
Today, he released an ad entitled “High and Dry” that features an Iowa man, Dave Hartgrave, whose says his pension was cut to $379 per month when his company, Farmstsead, decided to pull $19 million from its pension fund. Workers received only 25 cents on the dollar for every dollar they should have received.
The case is an older one, dating back to the early 90s, but with Enron still a household name, it remains relevant for most Americans. The ad and the roundtable allowed Obama to underscore his message on special interests. On the stump, he says he is the only candidate in the race who has a significant body of legislation that has taken money out of politics, touting legislation he has passed with Republican
Tom Coburn to make government spending transparent and his ethics reform bill with Democrat
Russ Feingold.
The event was followed by a town hall in which Obama took questions about pension security, the war in Iraq, and why he was a better change candidate than the other Democrats in the race.
NOTE: Ottumwa is the hometown of Radar, the fictional character of the TV show MASH.
