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“I would give the middle class three times the amount of tax relief than John McCain’s plan does. That is not disputed,” Obama said on his first stop en route to Denver to accept his party’s nomination
at the Democratic National Convention. “We will stop giving tax breaks to companies that shift jobs overseas and give them to companies that invest in Eau Claire.”
People are anxious about an “economic disaster” in America, fearful their children could be worse off than them, Obama told about 300 people encircling him at a barbecue at Rod and Gun Park, a tiny park along Half Moon Lake built by the local gun club, as children sat on nearby playground equipment.
During the 1990s, the average American family’s annual income increased $6,000, the Illinois senator said.
“Under George Bush, it has gone down $1,000. It is not just people’s imagination that they are feeling pinched. There is more money going out and less money coming in,” Obama said. “I have respect for John McCain’s services, but I don’t have respect for his policies because they represent four more years of the same.”
In a conference call Sunday before Obama’s speech, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, derided Obama’s economic plan as a “job killer” that would stifle small and medium-size businesses.
Sunday was Obama’s first appearance alone after naming Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden returned to Delaware after a joint appearance Saturday in Springfield, Ill., while Obama began a tour of battleground states before the Democratic National Convention that starts Monday in Denver.
Jeff Cruttenden, 21, a student at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, was one of the people invited to the picnic.
Cruttenden acknowledged he didn’t know much about Biden — “He’s been in the Senate longer than most” — but liked the idea that he was experienced, outspoken, had some struggles in life and Obama was willing to pick a running mate with whom he some disagreements during the primary campaign. Biden dropped out of the race after a poor showing in Iowa, the first contest.
“Biden is not from a large state. He is not just picking him for votes,” Cruttenden said. “He is picking him to bring his experience to the campaign.”
The stop was Obama’s second in Wisconsin during the general election after visiting Kaukauna, a northeast city, in June. Eau Claire, a city of about 65,000, is surrounded by farm land and dairy farms about 85 miles east of St. Paul, Minn., site of the Republican convention next month.
McCain has visited the state twice.
Democratic candidates in 2000 and 2004 won by less than 1 percent of the vote in Wisconsin, cementing the state’s reputation as a battleground among swing voters.
Dressed like a politician at a Fourth of July parade — white shirt, no tie and casual pants — Obama told the crowd sitting on folding chairs or picnic tables that included Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold that he couldn’t wait to share the picnic meal of barbecued beef or pork.
“Because I am hungry, I am not going too long,” he said, drawing laughter. “This is the best time to catch a politician — right before lunch.”
Obama also apologized for using the word he seemed embarrassed about uttering on a Sunday in a crowd with children.
“If we can spend $10 billion to $12 billion a month in Iraq, we sure as hell can pay $10 billion to $12 billion right here in the United States of American putting people back to work,” he said, stuttering and momentarily confused. “I apologize. I usually say heck, especially after church. That sort of slipped out. Sorry kids.”
Obama referred to last week’s fuss with McCain about who is best suited to represent working families when McCain was unsure how many homes he and his wife, Cindy, owned.
“When you don’t know how many homes you have and you define being wealthy as $5 million, what that tells me is you don’t understand what is going on with people like you,” Obama said.
Obama said he foresees an America with a “clean energy future” but he’s open to more offshore drilling for oil along with more growth in wind and solar power.
“We can’t drill our way out of this problem,” he said. “We need to try everything.”
But America should be challenged to cut its oil dependence by at least 20 percent in 10 years, Obama said.
“We can create 5 million new jobs in clean energy. We can create another 2 million jobs in rebuilding our infrastructure, and these are jobs that cannot be outsourced. Jobs that pay well,” he said.
Steve Rasmus, 63, a retired real estate broke from Chippewa Falls, said he found Obama very reassuring and liked that he would pull the troops from Iraq and focus more on terrorist leaders in Afghanistan.
“I think he has good economic plans,” Rasmus said. “Obviously, we are in far worse shape internationally than we were eight years ago and McCain isn’t going to change that.”
