In Fla., Obama hears financial woes

Poll indicates depression fears

Barack Obama supporters packed a gym at Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, Fla. (Jim Young/Reuters)

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - The play now running at Palm Beach Community College is a fitting one: "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck's gripping meditation on the human costs of the Great Depression.

Maybe things aren't quite as bad now as they were for Tom Joad. But many Americans fear that's where they are headed (a CNN poll released yesterday found that 76 percent of Americans believe the economy is in a recession, and that 41 percent believe that it's likely that another depression will happen in the next year.)

The climate of economic uncertainty has been a political boon for Democrat Barack Obama, who yesterday continued to press his case for a new era of economic leadership, in which US companies that add jobs are rewarded with tax breaks, middle-class families get a tax cut, and the federal government invests in energy, infrastructure, and education.

In South Florida, Obama held an economic roundtable with business leaders and Democratic governors of swing states such as New Mexico, Colorado, and Ohio, who shared tales of woe and pleaded for a partner in the White House. Much of the objective was to highlight what they argue are the shortcomings of the Bush administration, and, by extension, the policies of Republican John McCain.

Obama said the Republicans' views on the economy were marked by "willful ignorance, wishful thinking, and outdated ideology." McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded by saying that Obama's plan for new federal spending "is not the solution, it's the problem."

Perhaps the best illustration of the economic standstill came from Victoria Villalba, the owner of a local career services agency. Sitting next to Obama, she said her story had been a classic "American dream" tale, but after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks precipitated a recession, she was forced to lay off staff and close an office.

"Eight years later, things are worse than ever," she said, citing the tight credit market, increasing healthcare costs, and decreasing sales. "I haven't been dreaming, to be honest, in the last year," she said. "I sit up at night not able to sleep."

She lamented that Wall Street firms were getting loans, government investment, and bailouts, when small businesses were not. "What about the little guys on Main Street?" she asked.

The event was meant to be a quiet, wonky panel discussion. But many of the 1,700 people packed into a sweaty gym at the community college were looking for something a little more rollicking. They chanted, they yelled, they stomped their feet.

Obama, whose campaign said yesterday his election night event will be at Grant Park in Chicago, at times had a difficult time keeping the crowd restrained.

"Hold on a second, guys. No cheerleading," he said at one point. "We've got serious business to do. But maybe after we're done, I want to hear that cheer, because it was good."