Hillary Clinton is in favor of suspending the federal tax on gasoline this summer and making up the lost revenue by going after the “windfall profits” of oil companies. (Right.) She criticizes Senator Obama for opposing the plan — “People are hurting, it’s time for a president who’s ready to take action now.”
Barack Obama says the Clinton (and McCain) plan to suspend the gas tax is “short-term, quick fix” Washington politics as usual.
Sound Bite: “We cannot deliver on a better energy policy unless we change how business is done in Washington.”
TPM puts up the video of Obama’s new tone on the Rev. Wright. “He was presenting a worldview that contradicts who I am and what I stand for… What particulary angered me was … his suggestion that my previous denunciation of his remarks was somehow political posturing.”
The Obamas appear on Rachel Ray’s show. “It’s a great time to be an American,” says the perky chef. I’m sure Michelle agrees. We hear about their dating nights and Michelle says she’s the funnier one.
Google, YouTube, and various New Orleans pols and universities invite the candidates — whoever they are — to the Smaller Easy for a presidential forum in September.
Who says the Republicans don’t care about healthcare. John McCain lays out his plan in this 60-second spot: tax credits, “choice and competition,” more walk-in clinics and community health centers, etc. Details presumably to follow.
Sound Bite: “The problem with health care in America is not the quality of healthcare. It’s the availability and the affordability.”
A recent Gallup poll (April 1-26) finds an “education gap” among white Democratic voters aged 35-54: college grads prefer Barack Obama (58%) over Hillary Clinton (35%). The numbers are reversed for folks with less than a college education (those bitter, gun-loving, religious types): they like Hillary (59%) more than Obama (32%).
At the Coachella music festival, ex-Pink Floyd legend Rogers Waters gets political. From the AP:
Waters’ biggest prop was an inflatable pig the size of a school bus that emerged while he played a version of “Pigs” from 1977’s capitalism critique, Animals. The pig, which was led above the crowd from lines held on the ground, displayed the words “Don’t be led to the slaughter” and a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The other side read “Fear builds walls.” The underside of the pig simply read “Obama” with a checked ballot box alongside.”
At a town hall meeting in Indiana, Barack Obama talks about the rough-and-tumble of the campaign and why he’s not as combative as some supporters would like.
Sound Bite: “One of the things I learned in the school yard was the folks who were talking tough all the time, they’re not always that tough. If you’re really tough, you’re not always looking to try to start a fight. If you’re really tough, sometimes you just walk away. If you’re really tough, sometimes you just save it for when you really need it.”
A guy from Indiana describes how the world has changed for working folks. He thinks Barack Obama can command the tides. Obama says something about “the fierce urgency of now.”
