MIAMI - Sen. Barack Obama accused Sen. John McCain, his Republican presidential rival, yesterday of trying to distract Americans from the nation's economic turmoil by suggesting the Democratic candidate is a socialist.
With less than a week before Election Day, Obama used stinging language as the pair battled over tax policies. McCain campaigned yesterday in Florida on the economy before turning to foreign affairs. Obama was in North Carolina en route to the Sunshine State, which is important to both campaigns.
McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have repeatedly argued in recent days that Obama's tax policy is designed to redistribute wealth and that the Democrats are advocating socialism. Obama has called for a tax increase for those earning more than $250,000 a year and for a tax cut for those earning less. McCain has said he opposes any tax increase.
In radio interviews yesterday morning, McCain repeated that theme.
Obama's policies "are clearly those that have been used by other countries that you could describe as socialist," the Arizona Republican said. "I mean redistribution of wealth, take money from one group, give it to others is [a]fundamental principal of some of these, quote, socialist countries. I won't call him a socialist. It doesn't matter what we call him. The point is what he wants to do. And that has been tried before. That's what George McGovern wanted to do. That's what Jimmy Carter did. And we're not going to do it."
At a morning rally in Raleigh, N.C., Obama ridiculed McCain for suggesting that he is a socialist.
"By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten," Obama joked before an estimated crowd of 28,000 people. "I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
On a more serious note, the Illinois Democrat faulted his opponent for favoring an expansion of President Bush's tax cuts. The country would be better off, he said, if the middle class paid less in taxes and the wealthy paid more.
"Whether you are Suzy the student, or Nancy the nurse, or Tina the teacher, or Carl the construction worker - if my opponent is elected, you will be worse off four years from now than you are today," Obama said, playing off McCain's pledge to champion people like Joe the Plumber, the Ohio man whose name McCain invoked repeatedly during their final debate. "So let's cut through the negative ads and the phony attacks."
