Obama hits McCain on bankruptcy
Posted: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:43 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Economy
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
POWDER SPRINGS, GA -- In an effort to paint himself as being more concerned about struggling families than his GOP rival is, Obama today proposed to make it easier for senior citizens, members of the military, and people affected by natural disaster or a medical crisis to declare bankruptcy.
With record high gas prices, some 438,000 jobs lost this year, and skyrocketing home foreclosure rates, the Illinois senator has repeatedly sought to portray McCain as someone who does not understand the economy and who is out of touch with the concerns of "hardworking families" when it comes to tax policy and other issues.
Prefacing his criticisms with his standard complimentary line -- "While John McCain is an honorable man and I respect his service to this nation" -- Obama then called McCain part of the problem not the solution when it came strengthening the financial safety net for families and protecting people from unscrupulous lending practices.
"While I opposed the credit card industry’s bankruptcy bill that made it harder for families to climb out of debt, John McCain was supporting it. He even opposed helping families who were only in bankruptcy because of medical bills they couldn’t pay,” Obama said during his opening remarks here at a town hall about 20 miles outside of Atlanta.
Obama also hit McCain on the issue of protecting people’s homes. “He sided with the big banks again when it came to protecting the most valuable possession that older Americans have -- and that’s their home,” Obama said. “And again, when it came to protecting families who were suffering in the wake of the storms that hit New Orleans -- Katrina and Rita -- Sen. McCain would continue the economic policies that have hobbled families and our entire economy. He would continue to allow the banks and credit card companies to tilt the playing field in their favor, at the expense of hard-working Americans.”
Obama also talked about the “middle class squeeze” many families are facing, and again linked the Arizona senator to President Bush, saying his policies would be a continuation of Bush Administration policies that would create more debt and more deficits. Obama even used a pop culture reference from the movie “Groundhog Day” to make his point.
“A McCain Administration would mean a fiscal 'Groundhog Day' in Washington,” he said. “You remember that movie 'Groundhog Day?' You kept on waking up and the same thing happened over and over and over again."
Obama, who was introduced by a man who went into bankruptcy after suffering a stroke, said that if a person could demonstrate that they went bankrupt because of medical expenses, they would be able to relieve that debt and get back on your feet. He proposed a “fast-track” bankruptcy process for military families that are struggling economically, said he would update bankruptcy laws to make sure people could renegotiate their mortgages and stay in their homes and that he would help older Americans -- those over 62 -- who are facing bankruptcy have a better chance of keeping their homes.
Under his plan, those affected by natural disasters would have a streamlined bankruptcy process and a temporary moratorium on foreclosures.
Obama's stop in Georgia -- his first general election trip to the state -- was part of a continuing swing through red states that he hopes to put in play this election year. The senator has maintained Democrats went wrong in recent elections by writing off the South, but he could face an uphill battle in this state, which Bush won in 2000 and 2004 by double digits. Still, Georgia's demographics and the presence of Libertarian Bob Barr on the ballot are two factors that could help Obama here.
Centrism, Iraq, and Staying in School
Obama spoke for about 25 minutes and then spent about 40 minutes taking questions on early childhood education, school drop-out rates, college affordability, the national debt, his position on Iraq, health care, and home foreclosures.
An interesting moment came when a man who described himself as “an informed Republican” said the accusations by Obama’s rivals of him flip-flopping were “nonsense” and then asked him to clarify his position on Iraq. This launched a long riff in which Obama talked about his progressive bona fides and explained that he had not been changing positions, answering specific points made by some of his critics on the matter of gun laws and about his support for faith-based initiatives. He accused doubters of cynicism, a theme that comes up in his speeches. (He often asks people to ignore the cynics and to come together for change.)
“One of the things that you find as you go though this campaign, is everybody has become so cynical about politics that the assumption is that you must be doing everything for political reasons,” he said. “The message I want to send everybody is: You’re not going to agree with me on 100% of what I think, but don’t assume that if I don’t agree with you on something that it must be because I’m doing that politically. I may just disagree with you. But we can agree on 90% of the things that are important and on those 10% we will agree to disagree.”
He repeated his stance on beginning a phased withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq that would get troops out within 16 months, and said critics who think that means a precipitous withdrawal or a surrender are wrong.
“Assuming that I take office in January, then that means that we would have our -- we would still have our troops there for about two more years from now. There’s nothing rushed about that," he said. "At that point we will have been there for seven years. So when I hear John McCain saying ‘We can’t surrender. We can’t wave the white flag’ Nobody’s talking about surrounding. We’re talking about common sense. We cannot be there forever."
And he repeated his promise to end the war, saying: "I am going to bring this war to an end. So don’t be confused. I will bring the Iraq war to a close when I am president of the United States of America.”
The presumptive Democratic nominee really played to his audience, which was about 95% black and cheered and applauded throughout the event. He talking about parental responsibility, especially fathers needing to be involved in their children’s lives -- a subject he often addresses when appearing before black audiences. He also spoke about the importance of staying in school in a way that seemed particularly aimed at young black men.
“You can’t find a job, unless you are a really, really good basketball player which most of you brothas are not. I know you think you are , but you’re not,” he said to murmurs and laughter in the crowd. “You are over-rated in your own mind. You will not play in the NBA. You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil’ Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school.”
