News Today

Barack Obama went on the offensive today, lashing out at both John McCain and Sarah Palin. The issue with Palin had to do with earmarks. Earmarks, basically, are when congressmen apply for money from the federal budget for certain projects in their districts. When Palin was the mayor of Wasilla she hired lobbyist Steve Silver to gain earmarks for her town. From 2000 to 2003 she pulled in over 27 million dollars in earmarks, twice the Alaskan state average. When she became governor however her position on earmarks changed. Although the state still took in 52 earmarks valued at 256 million dollars in her first year of office, this was actually almost 100 million less than the previous governor had spent. Now Palin, like McCain, is completely against earmarks.

Obama didn’t waste the opportunity to point out the difference today at a townhall meeting.

“She is a skillful politician. But when you [have] been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person… That is not change, come on. I mean, words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up.” Said Obama.

Obama also lashed out at McCain for saying that he will crack down on lobbyists and special interest groups.

“He says, ‘I’m going to tell those lobbyists that their days in Washington are over.’ Who’s he going to tell? Is he going to tell his campaign chairman who’s one of the biggest corporate lobbyists in Washington? Is he going to tell all the folks who are running his campaign who are the biggest corporate lobbyists in Washington?” Said Obama.

My take? It is in Obama’s best interest to go after Palin and hard. The Republican National Convention had more average viewers by day than the D.N.C. and Palin’s nomination played a big role in that. Everyone, including myself, wants to know what this woman is about. It is critical for Obama to paint the other side of Palin before people make up their minds about her.