Obama returns to anti-special interest message

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Wednesday returned to his popular message of wanting to take on the status quo in Washington and fighting special interests to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.

Obama, who is campaigning in Pennsylvania, spoke to the state’s AFL-CIO and criticized the Bush administration for not helping regular citizens. He also took aim at his presidential rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), who he said are part of the establishment that favors special interests.

{mosads}The front-runner for the Democratic nomination said the view in Washington and on Wall Street is that “we can somehow thrive as a nation when those at the very top are doing better than ever, while ordinary Americans are struggling to get by.”

Obama told the union crowd that the Bush administration “serves the interests of the wealthy and the well-connected, no matter what the cost to working families, and to our economy.

“It’s an administration that didn’t lift a finger while our economy rolled toward recession until the pain folks were feeling on Main Street trickled up to their friends on Wall Street,” he stated.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, would offer more of the same if elected, Obama argued.

“Like George Bush, Sen. McCain is committed to more tax cuts for the rich, and more trade agreements that fail to protect American workers,” the senator said. “His response to the housing crisis amounts to little more than watching millions of Americans face foreclosure.”

McCain’s campaign rejected the criticism.

“Senator McCain has a clear and sustained record of fighting for the interests of the public trust, and any suggestion to the contrary is a campaign haphazardly looking to score political points, plain and simple,” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. “John McCain has never done favors for special interests, and people who claim otherwise just don’t know John McCain.”

However, Obama did not reserve all of his criticism for the GOP.

In a swipe at Clinton, he said it is fiction “that someone can fight for working people and at the same time, embrace the broken system Washington, where corporate lobbyists use their clout to shape laws to their liking.”