Obama Focuses On Economy In Michigan

Farmington Hills (WWJ/AP)  -- Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama says Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has the right idea in seeking to build an economy based on the high-tech transportation of the future.

Speaking to hundreds of supporters at North Farmington High School Monday evening, the senator told hundreds of supporters that John McCain doesn't understand the economic problems and fears of ordinary Americans. Obama says McCain would continue eight years of Republican mismanagement of the country's foreign and domestic affairs.

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The rally in Farmington Hills followed an event at Mott Community College in Flint where Obama accused his Republican rival of wanting to stick with the economic policies that have made it harder for middle-class families to get by.

"You don't have to tell the people of Flint or the people of Michigan that our economy is not in good shape,'' the Illinois senator told about 300 people gathered at Mott Community College in Flint.  "You do need to tell John McCain - because just a few weeks ago he said the economy was fundamentally sound.''

Obama was making his fourth and fifth stops in Michigan in nine days, hitting the cities of Flint and Farmington Hills on Monday with a message tuned to the hardship caused by the state's 8.5 percent unemployment rate, shrinking wages and falling home prices.

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Flint, home to a number of General Motors Corp. plants, is no stranger to a depressed economy. Manufacturing jobs have been leaving the area for decades.

Obama said middle-class families' wages and income have dropped during the eight years President Bush has been in office, while they increased under Democratic President Bill Clinton between 1993 and 2000. The Illinois senator ended the Flint event by saying there's a reason McCain didn't talk much about the economy at the GOP national convention.

"They don't have a record to run on when it comes to things that matter to you day to day,'' Obama said.  "What people are most concerned about is what's happening to the American dream.''

Many in the audience were union members, a group Obama needs to move his way if he wants to win the state, said pollster Bernie Porn of Lansing-based EPIC-MRA.

"The Flint-Saginaw media market has the highest number of undecideds'' in a recent poll, Porn said Monday.  "He needs to focus on his economic message.''

Obama's comments made a favorable impression on Mike Emerson, a United Auto Workers member who retired as a production welder from GM in July.

Emerson initially supported Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. But after attending the Flint event, the 51-year-old Fenton resident said Obama is more impressive than he first thought.

"Hillary represented basically the passions of autoworkers and middle-class workers,'' Emerson said.  "I see just that same commitment from Obama to the middle class, the stiffs who pay taxes.''

The Democratic candidate criticized McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for saying she was against the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere'' even though she originally supported it. He questioned how McCain could reform government when he has former lobbyists working on his campaign.

"You can't just make stuff up,'' Obama told his Flint audience.  "You just can't re-create yourself. You can't just reinvent yourself. The American people aren't stupid.''

The McCain campaign said the Arizona senator isn't reinventing himself. It noted that he has fought wasteful federal spending, opposed energy legislation he thought was bad even though it was backed by Bush and Obama and pushed for the troop surge to reduce violence in Iraq.

"If he (Obama) thinks that voters are going to believe his rhetoric on the campaign trail in the absence of any bipartisan record, he's clearly underestimating the intelligence of the American people,'' McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

Standing in front of three GM SUV hybrids at the community college's technical center, Obama repeated his call for cutting taxes for the middle class, making college and health care more affordable and reforming ethics in Washington, D.C.

He spoke for about 25 minutes before answering questions from the friendly crowd for another 30 minutes. 

Obama made stops in Battle Creek, Detroit and Monroe during his last swing through Michigan. McCain and Palin campaigned Friday in Sterling Heights.