MANCHESTER, N.H. — As Hurricane Ike swirled through Texas on Saturday, Barack Obama took a different approach on the campaign trail than he did two weeks ago, when the last major storm threatened the Gulf Coast.
This time, Obama didn’t ease up on the attacks, delivering a full-throated assault on John McCain that bore little resemblance to the Democrat’s call for unity during the approach of Hurricane Gustav, which turned out to be a far less devastating storm.
Obama opened a rally here, attended by 7,000 people, on a nonpartisan note, saying Americans — no matter their party affiliation or race — come together in times of need, and urging the crowd to volunteer time, donate money and pray for those affected by the storm, which hit the Texas coast early Saturday morning. He outlined his outreach to emergency management officials.
But Obama then shifted quickly into his stump speech, a 30-minute critique of his candidacy versus McCain’s, complete with his newest and sharpest lines of attack against the Republican ticket.
“The McCain-Palin ticket, they don’t want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we’ve just seen,” Obama said. “And they know it. They know they don’t have new ideas to help you send your kids to college, they don’t have new ideas to help you get health care, they don’t have new ideas to help you get increased wages.
“So as a consequence, what they are going to spend the next seven to eight weeks doing is to try to distract you. They’re going to talk about pigs, they’re going to talk about lipstick, and they’re going to talk about Paris Hilton, and they’re going to talk about Britney Spears,” he continued. “They will try to distort my record. And they will try to undermine your trust in what the Democrats intend to do. That’s what they do every election.”
The candidate's partisan tone stood in contrast to other efforts made by his campaign to show sensitivity as residents hundreds of miles away dealt with storm surges, 100-mph winds and flooding.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden was scheduled to make his first joint appearance with Obama in this battleground state but backed out Friday as the hurricane moved to shore.
Obama bagged his guest turn on “Saturday Night Live,” saying it was not appropriate “in light of the unfolding crisis in Texas,” an Obama spokeswoman said late Friday.
By the time of the late morning rally, however, Obama didn’t sound much different than he did a day earlier, when he began a multi-pronged campaign effort to respond to Republicans with what campaign manager David Plouffe described in a memo as “speed and ferocity.”
Obama’s decision to remain on the attack Saturday reflects the unsettled nature of the race. Two weeks ago, just days after his successful party convention, Obama pulled back on partisan attacks as Hurricane Gustav approached New Orleans and canceled a scheduled stop the next day in Milwaukee.
But with national polls now showing a dead heat, Obama continued to press his case today.
“Obviously, we have an enormous concern for people down there. That is why we canceled the appearance on 'Saturday Night Live,'” Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said after the rally. “But these people also came out because they are really concerned about the future of the country.”
The McCain campaign responded with a partisan attack of their own, issuing a statement to reporters saying that the Manchester speech marks “a new low for Barack Obama.”
“It says a lot about Barack Obama’s judgment that while his campaign canceled his appearance on 'Saturday Night Live' and his running mate stayed home, Obama went ahead and delivered a series of scathing personal attacks,” spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin would press a positive message during a rally Saturday afternoon in Carson City, Nev., Bounds said.
The Obama campaign dismissed the criticism.
“We will take no lectures from John McCain who is cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. “His discredited ads with disgusting lies are running all over the country today. He runs a campaign not worthy of the office his is seeking.”
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