Obama Continues to Focus on Economy

By: Maria Gavrilovic
Topics: Barack Obama

(CBS)

From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

ALLENTOWN, PA. -- Barack Obama continues to focus on the economy today, an issue that has been the center of his campaign message during his Pennsylvania bus tour.

Obama will tour a local clothing manufacturing company this morning, as he continues to court blue collar workers in the state. In earlier contests, the working class demographic has typically sided with Hillary Clinton, despite Obama's effort to persuade voters that he understands their hardships.

At a rally in Lancaster yesterday, Obama chastised the CEOs of Countrywide Financial for receiving $19 million dollar bonuses despite the housing crisis.

"They get a $19 million bonus while people are at risk of losing their home. What is wrong with this picture?" Obama asked.

"Everything is wrong with it. But the problem is we have almost come to expect it because no one in Washington seems to be outraged by it."

During the six-day bus tour, Obama has made frequent local stops as he is doing today. Obama and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., have gone bowling, met with voters at sports bars, and visited several factories. Obama appears to be enjoying this style of campaigning.

"I've had a great time," he said yesterday. "We've played some basketball with Bob Casey and neither of us got injured. We had stopped by some sports bars, I must admit, and had a few beers. I fed a calf with a big bottle and that went all right. And then we went bowling which didn't go so well. There was an 8-year-old who was giving me tips, of course I hadn't bowled since I was 8 so I had an excuse. But everybody has just been wonderful and it's been terrific to get a chance to get a chance to interact with folks."

Obama will wrap his tour in Philadelphia tomorrow evening.

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by almitaaa April 1, 2008 7:09 PM EDT: Voters Say no to Senator Clinton socialized medicine,

please do research about ie. canada, mexico socialized medicine experience.
It is a step down in the american dream. Better redirect money wasted in Irak in our health.

The first thing to realize is that free public medicine isn''t really free What the consumer doesn''t pay, the taxpayer does. socialized medicine, although of poor quality, is very expensive

Government controls also have caused misallocations of resources. While doctors are in short supply in remote regions, hospital beds are scarce mainly in urban centers

hospital emergency rooms have become their primary doctor Patients lie in temporary beds in emergency rooms, sometimes for days

you can be relatively sure not to wait six hours with your sick child in an emergency. room if you know how to talk to the hospital director, or if one of your old classmates is a doctor, or if your children attend the same exclusive private school as your pediatrician''s children

Single-payer systems %u2014 confronting dirty hospitals, long waiting lists and substandard treatment
children often wait many hours before they can see a doctor
patients are now having to wait more than eight months for treatment, during which time many of their cancers become incurable."

Surgery candidates face long waiting lists

it can take six months to have a cataract removed.
Heart surgeons report patients dying on their waiting lists. But then, it''s free.; Reply to this comment


by oaklynne April 1, 2008 3:52 PM EDT: So RowdyTexan2, what makes you qualified to judge whether his plans are naive? Hillary''s "experience" is myth - like the Bosnia sniper fire she claims to have experienced - and her experience as First Lady hardly counts towards being an economic genius. As for McCain, well, anyone who thinks he is an economic genius is really naive.; Reply to this comment


by rowdytexan2 April 1, 2008 1:19 PM EDT: It would be nice if Obama had a clue about economics, but his plans are naive and shows his inexperience.; Reply to this comment