Obama answers critics a day after Wright remarks
The Democratic presidential candidate stresses his personal journey and love of country in a town hall meeting in the forthcoming primary state of North Carolina.
WASHINGTON — Democrat Barack Obama struck back today against critics who have recently questioned his patriotism and values, saying that the "love of my country" made it possible for him to go to Harvard Law School after being raised by a single mom on food stamps.
"Over the last month or so we've been getting whacked," he said. "They are trying to question who I am, what my values are.... They point out that I'm not wearing a flag pin again."
One day after his former pastor, the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, threw a wrench in Obama's campaign by repeating his criticisms of the United States, Obama spoke at a town hall meeting in Winston-Salem, N.C., before a sign that said, "Reclaiming the American Dream."
Outlining his personal journey -- his father left when he was 2, he was raised by his mother and grandparents, he was able to go to "the best schools in the world" even though the family was not wealthy -- Obama said, "You want to know who I am? That's what... It's the love of my country that made my life possible. That's why I'm in this race, to make sure that everybody has a chance at the American dream."
As gasoline prices neared a national average of $3.60 a gallon, Obama also assailed his two opponents -- Republican John McCain, the Arizona senator, and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York senator -- for suggesting a federal gas tax holiday.
"This is an idea that, when all is said and done, will save you -- at most -- half a tank of gas over the course of the entire summer," he said. "Well, let me tell you, this isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's designed to get them through an election. The easiest thing in the world for a politician to do is to tell you exactly what you want to hear."
Calling the idea "a Washington gimmick," Obama said that if his opponents were "really serious about giving real relief," they would support his proposal to cut taxes on the middle class.
Asked about his electability among working-class Americans, Obama disputed the widely held view that Clinton was ahead among blue-collar workers, saying that his campaign won that demographic in Iowa, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho and Minnesota.
But he acknowledged that in the last month his campaign had sometimes erred "when we get into that sport of going back tit for tat" by talking about who is ahead in the superdelegate count and who is up in the polls.
