In Michigan, Obama touts economic plans
Pledges agenda that thrives on competition
Senator Barack Obama told voters in the key swing state of Michigan yesterday that he will take the country to the top of the 21st-century economic heap by improving American competitiveness.
The presumptive Democratic nominee also appointed 15 senior members of his campaign team that he hopes will help take him to the White House.
And he pledged to visit Iraq and Afghanistan before the November election so that he can see firsthand the status of the wars he would inherit if he is elected president.
Senator John McCain and Republicans have criticized Obama for advocating a withdrawal from Iraq when they say he has not been there since January 2006.
"The situation on the ground in Iraq has changed significantly since Barack Obama's last visit nearly 900 days ago," Blair Latoff, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said in a statement yesterday.
"When Obama travels to Iraq, reality will confront him and he will realize that he was wrong to oppose the surge, wrong to continuously ignore our commanders' suggestions, and wrong to stipulate premature withdrawal."
Kicking off the second week of the general election campaign against McCain, Obama took his economic message to Michigan, outlining a national competitiveness agenda.
"There are some who believe that we must try to turn back the clock on this new world; that the only chance to maintain our living standards is to build a fortress around America; to stop trading with other countries, shut down immigration, and rely on old industries. I disagree," Obama said in a speech at Kettering University in Flint.
He said the election presents a clear choice. "Instead of reaching for new horizons, George Bush has put us in a hole, and John McCain's policies will keep us there. I want to take us in a new and better direction. . . . It's time for new policies that create the jobs and opportunities of the future - a competitiveness agenda built upon education and energy, innovation and infrastructure, fair trade, and reform."
Michigan, with its economic struggles and 17 electoral votes, is crucial to Obama's path to victory in November, his campaign manager said.
To get to 270 electoral votes, Obama needs to hold on to the states Senator John F. Kerry won in 2004, including the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire, campaign manager David Plouffe told donors and former supporters of Hillary Clinton last week.
His map also includes Virginia, Georgia, and several Rocky Mountain states, but not necessarily the pair of battlegrounds that decided the last two presidential elections - Ohio and Florida. To put in place his "50-state strategy," Obama yesterday announced the filling of key campaign posts, including the national field director, regional directors, and three chiefs of staff.
Jim Messina, former chief of staff to Senator Max Baucus of Montana, will be Obama's chief of staff. Stephanie Cutter, who was Kerry's communications director for his 2004 presidential bid, will be Michelle Obama's top aide, as well as a senior adviser to the campaign. And Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's former campaign manager, will be the top aide to the vice presidential nominee.
Material from the Associated Press was also used in this report. 