Obama echoes Clinton 'fighter' message
Posted: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 2:38 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- As Obama has focused on the economy almost exclusively on the campaign trail in recent days, he has begun to sound more and more like his former rival Hillary Clinton, co-opting her rhetoric on being a “fighter” for ordinary Americans.
Obama is hoping to win over voters in traditionally red states with his economic message -- that while McCain's policies favor big corporations and the rich, he will look out for the middle class.
The New York senator used language about being a champion of hard-working families to great effect toward the end of the primary season, helping her win in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana -- though narrowly in the latter. These same states will be battlegrounds in the fall.
This election is about “deciding right here and right now that we are gonna fight to make government accountable to the American people to make sure that the special interests aren’t dominating Washington,” Obama told the crowd of about 350 here at a community college in the southern part of the state.
“That’s why I promise you this: that if you will vote for me, if you give me that opportunity, if you give me that chance, that I will fight for you every single day. I will wake up in that White House thinking about the people of Martinsville and the people of Henry County and how I can make your life better,” he said, echoing a line Clinton often used at the end of her speeches.
At several events in recent days in Nevada, New Mexico and North Carolina, Obama has talked about average families incomes that rose $6,000 during the Bill Clinton years and have fallen $1,000 during the Bush years -- statistics that Clinton used near the top of nearly every speech. This is not the first time the Illinois senator has hailed the last two-term Democratic president, but he seems to be using this sort of language more lately.
He has spoken about “the American Dream slipping away,” another favorite phrase of Sen. Clinton’s, has made allusions to the “invisible Americans” that she often spoke of, though he did not use the word, and has talked about listening to the voices of the American people, another line that has been a favorite of both Democrats.
Democrats have “gotta do a better job of listening to the American people and working on behalf of the American people,” he said before repeating the phrase about how he will wake up everyday thinking about how to make Americans' live better.
Last night at a town hall in Raleigh, N.C., Obama said he wanted people to vote for him not just based on party affiliation, but because he had been a fighter for them.
“I want them to take a look at my track record, and I want them to see, you know what, this is a guy who started out as a community organizer working with people who'd been laid off jobs at the steel mills," he said. "This is the guy who fought as a civil rights attorney for women who were being discriminated against on the job and workers who were being discriminated and people who weren't getting the right to vote. This is somebody who has fought for equal pay for equal work in the state legislature and has worked to provide healthcare for kids who didn't have it.”
“I want them to say, this is somebody who's gonna fight for me,” he continued. “This is somebody who hears my voice. That's-and if I do that, I promise you, I won't just be getting Democrats, I'm gonna be getting a whole bunch of Republicans and independents as well and that's how we're gonna win this election."
During the roughly 40-minute Q & A, Obama talked about help for small businesses, his support for unions, comprehensive immigration reform, reforming No Child Left Behind and how he’ll help veterans and reduce incarceration rates.
Obama was introduced by Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor and current Senate candidate. Warner will be speaking at the Democratic convention next week, where both Clintons will also be speakers.
