McCain out of touch if he's lost count of his homes, Obama says
Obama suggests that if McCain says he's 'not sure' how many houses he and his wife own, then he can't understand average voters' hardships.
By any measure, neither of the major presidential candidates is poor. But today, they sniped at each other over who was too rich to understand the economic hardships of average voters.
When it comes to politics, "rich" can be a four-letter word.
At a campaign stop in Chester, Va., Democrat Barack Obama broke into his standard economic stump speech to castigate Republican John McCain for being too wealthy to grasp how tough it has become for most people in the current downward economic spiral.
Referring to a report posted by Politico on its website, Obama said: "Somebody asked John McCain, 'How many houses do you have?' And he said, 'I'm not sure, I'll have to check with my staff.' "
"True quote," Obama insisted, as the crowd laughed. " 'I'm not sure, I'll have to check with my staff.' So they asked his staff and he said, 'At least four. At least four.' "
He continued, picking up on a comment McCain made at the Saddleback Church forum last weekend when he was asked to "define rich."
"I guess if you think that being rich means you got to make $5 million, and if you don't know how many houses you have," he said, "then it is not surprising that you might think the economy was fundamentally strong.
"But if you're like me, and you've got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don't lose their home, you might have a different perspective," he said.
The debate was triggered by the Politico report on McCain's response to a question about how many houses he and his wealthy wife, Cindy, own.
"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," the Arizona senator said, according to a report on the publication's website. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."
Later, the McCain campaign told Politico that McCain and his wife have at least four homes in three states: Arizona, California and Virginia.
Newsweek recently estimated that the two owned at least seven properties.
Democrats lost no time sending out e-mails criticizing McCain, whose campaign quickly retorted that the Illinois senator has his own wealth troubles.
"Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?" Brian Rogers, a campaign spokesman, said in a prepared statement.
