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Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama had some very strong things to say to the Building Trades National Legislative Conference today.

First Obama took John McCain to task for offering four more years of George W. Bush. “Now, John McCain seems to think the Bush years have been pretty good because he’s offering more of the same. And today’s a good reminder of that because it’s Tax Day. This is supposed to be a day when we pay what we owe to the government. But it’s become a day when George Bush’s Washington rewards its friends on Wall Street.”

Obama stated what he thinks should be done about the economy. “We need to roll back the Bush-McCain tax cuts and invest in things like health care that are really important. Instead of giving tax breaks to the wealthy who don’t need them and weren’t even asking for them, we should be putting a middle class tax cut into the pockets of working families. That’s why I’m the only candidate in this race who’s proposed a tax cut that would save our families $1,000 a year, and eliminate income taxes entirely for seniors making less than $50,000.”

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This is what he said later about unions, “It’s time we had a President who didn’t choke saying the word “union.” It’s time we had a Democratic nominee who didn’t choke saying the word “union.” We need to strengthen our unions by letting them do what they do best – organize our workers. If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. And that is why I’ll fight for and why I intend to sign the Employee Free Choice Act when it lands on my desk in the White House. (This was a nice little shot at Bush, McCain, and Clinton).

Obama had some words for the people who criticize his economic plan as being too expensive, “Now, I know some will say we can’t afford all this. But it seems to me – if we can spend $10 billion a month rebuilding Iraq, we can spend $15 billion a year in our own country to create jobs and strengthen the long-term competitiveness of our economy.” With these remarks today, Obama reaffirmed why the Democratic Party should make him their nominee.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama doesn’t run from the word liberal. It has been over 25 years, since this country had a truly left leaning president, and now more than ever, we need a president will undo the damage that our once great nation has suffered over the past eight years.

Obama is still green on the national stage, which explains his poor usage of terms like “bitter”, and “cling”, but political talent like his comes along maybe once a generation. I think that as a nation we would regret passing him up.

Full Text of Obama’s Remarks:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBJ99