Marathon Pundit: Obama is the "straight talk" candidate?

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Obama is the "straight talk" candidate?

Barack Obama is the straight talk candidate? You mean the guy who has the evolving explanations about his twenty-year relationship with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright? The same guy who for more than a year refused to answer pointed questions about his first political sponsor, accused fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko? The man who voted for a "gasoline tax holiday" while an Illinois state senator but is against it now? Him?

From Reuters:

White House hopeful Barack Obama sought on Saturday to wrest away rival John McCain's campaign theme, casting himself as the "Straight Talk" candidate willing to level with voters about tough choices facing the country.

In recent days, Democrat Obama has been hammering away at the presumptive Republican nominee over his plan to offer voters a temporary "holiday" from the gasoline tax.

McCain, an Arizona senator, says the holiday is needed to give cash-strapped consumers relief from surging costs at the fuel pump during the busy driving season.

Campaigning in Indiana, Obama said the gas tax reprieve would barely help Americans' budgets and would not address the long-term problem of U.S. addiction to Middle East oil.

AP has it in Obama's own words.

I was convinced that the American people were tired of the politics that's all about tearing each other down. The American people were tired of spin and PR, they wanted straight talk and honesty from their elected officials.