Jan 17, 2008 7:48 pm US/Pacific
Barack Obama Touts Economic Plan In SF Stop
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
Democrat Barack Obama touted his economic stimulus plan in a round table discussion with a group of women in San Francisco's largely Hispanic Mission District during a campaign stop on Thursday.
The presidential hopeful is trying to bolster his appeal among women after losing that demographic to Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire.
Meeting at the San Francisco Women's Building, a community center on 18th Street, Obama pledged to adopt policies that would help "working families in general, and women in particular."
The event came on the heels of a visit to Oakland on Wednesday by former President Bill Clinton in support of his wife's proposal to address the foreclosure crisis, particularly among urban and minority homeowners
"The price of the American dream has gone up and has never been higher," Obama said to the four women: a third-grade teacher, a paralegal, a public radio station director and a health care policy analyst.
The multi-ethnic panel included two white women, a black woman and an Asian woman. A fifth participant, a Hispanic administrative assistant, bowed out at the last minute for personal reasons.
Obama told the women and a packed audience of media members that working women in particular are "facing increasing uncertainty," with rising costs for health care, education, and gasoline.
"The burden on ordinary families has never been higher," he said.
Sitting at a small round folding table, the Illinois senator coaxed gentle questions from the women about how they juggle their schedules and cope with their budgets. Obama's campaign billed the discussion as an intimate roundtable forum.
"My mother was a single mom and my father left when I was two," he said, "so I know what it's like."
Obama listened attentively as the women—four carefully picked single mothers — spoke about their struggles to pay for childcare, health care and mortgages while maintaining their jobs.
Serina Rankins of Vallejo, a paralegal and the mother of a four-year-old daughter, told Obama she is struggling with $2,800 a month in home loans and $700 a month in child care.
"So every month you gotta pay $3,500 before you buy food," Obama said.
"The burdens of juggling family, and work and medical leave, etc., are everybody's responsibility," Obama commented. "The burden should be placed on the entire family, the entire community," including government, he said.
Each woman mentioned child care as the most difficult part of their lives, and Obama outlined his plans for providing a $500 tax cut for working families and expanding the child care tax credit so that lower-income families can receive a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses.
Obama said he plans to expand free preschool opportunities so that families in poor areas have the same advantages as wealthy ones. In addition, he said he would increase funding for after school programs to offer relief to working parents.
His plan also includes proposals to offer sick pay to all fulltime rmployees, expand the Family and Medical Leave Act, prevent caregiver discrimination in the workplace, and promote flexible workplace srrangements for working parents.
Obama said he intends to invest billions more in education, with an emphasis on encouraging high school curricula that are "relevant to these kids and to the future job market," including apprenticeship opportunities. Once they graduate, Obama said he would offer a $4,000 college tuition credit each year for every student provided they engage in either community or national service programs.
Obama indicated to reporters that his long-term goal to help pay for the programs amidst a weakening economy was to change the tax code to eliminate tax breaks for the wealthy and close loopholes for corporations.
"The most important step is just a short-term stimulus that gets money in people's pockets," he said. He said his proposal offers $35 billion in tax rebates to middle-income families, as well as a $10 billion supplement to Social Security.
"I think what the American people are looking for," Obama said, "is domebody who can bring Democrats, independents and Republicans together around a long-term strategy for economic growth, and share prosperity."
A CBS 5 poll conducted earlier this week in California still indicates that Clinton has a significant lead among Democrats, though the gap has narrowed in recent weeks.
"I think the contest between myself and Sen. Clinton really does have to do with the past and the future," Obama told reporters.
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