Yesterday in Farmington Hills, Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama hosted a town hall meeting. Obama's appearance--like all campaign appearances--was well scripted despite its "town hall" image and consisted primarily of prepared remarks designed to attack Republican John McCain and carefully crafted appeals to voters in Michigan. Various polls are showing that the race is becoming closer than what many observes expected and Michigan--a state that has gone Democratic in the past two elections--is considered by both campaigns to be a key state.

In an introduction to Obama's speech, Farmington Hills resident John Ashcraft gave an told his personal story of the economic difficulties facing residents in Michigan. He charged that while residents like him suffer, McCain has not offered anything other than the policies of the Bush administration. By Contrast, he said that Obama "will bring change to Washington." Without citing specifics, Ashcraft said that Obama would invest in education, infrastructure, energy independence, and research and development while reforming tax and trade policy.

After being introduced by John Ashcraft, Obama commented on a variety of issues. He began by addressing the uncertain economic future that many Americans are concerned about. Citing rising unemployment numbers--both nationally and in Michigan--Obama argued that it makes sense that Americans would be concerned about their future. He said that in the last eight years, wages for the average family are down by $2,000 while costs for education, food, and gas have increased. According to Obama, many Americans borrowed against their mortgages to make ends meet but because nobody in Washington was paying attention, the country now has an incredible foreclosure rate. Similarly, credit card borrowing has led to increased debt and bankruptcies.

Obama argued that the problems of today don't just concern us, but that they concern future generations as there is a real need to be concerned about what is being passed onto future generations. Obama said that he is running for president because he too is worried about those issues. By contrast, his opponent--whom he praised for his military service--is "out of touch" with what many Americans are feeling. He said specifically that when McCain says that the economy has made great progress under George Bush, "he must not be talking to people here in Michigan." He said that McCain simply is advocating the same policies of President Bush--continuing Bush's tax cuts and providing tax cuts to wealthy corporations such as Exxon-Mobil.

While McCain has criticized Obama aggressively in the past few days over Obama's supposed plan to raise taxes, Obama stated that he "intends to cut taxes for 95% of the American people." Obama said that he would not tax senior citizens earning Social Security benefits and would give additional cuts to people making $50,000 or less or a homeowner that does not itemize. He also promised $1,000 cuts per family. By contrast, he said that McCain's tax policies simply give to the wealthy with the hope that they will trickle down to the rest of the country.

Obama said that McCain's campaign is simply using the "change" rhetoric because he has seen it work for the Obama campaign. However, McCain is not offering "change." Rather, Obama said that McCain is planning to do nothing on healthcare, whereas Obama is planning to work with employers to lower healthcare premiums and to provide healthcare plans to the uninsured. On education, Obama made similar claims, saying that all McCain is offering is vouchers. Instead, Obama said that he pay teachers more, invest in early childhood education, and make college more affordable in exchange for community service. On foreign policy, Obama said that McCain wants to keep US soldiers in Iraq. On energy policy, McCain supports more drilling but hasn't taken the steps to add innovation to the auto industry according to Obama. Obama also said that there has been little interest from the McCain campaign in investing in new infrastructure.

Aside from their status quo positions on the aforementioned issues, Obama charged that McCain and Palin are "shameless" for making claims that they stand for "change." Obama pointed out that five of McCain's key advisors are lobbyists and that it is unrealistic to believe that McCain/Palin will be able to restrain the lobbyists since they are so entrenched in his campaign. Similarly, he said that a new McCain/Palin ad in which they claim Palin opposed the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere" is flawed since Palin accepted a number of earmarks connected to the project.

Following his prepared remarks, Obama took two questions--one on Israel and one on the automotive industry. Once again, Obama expressed his unqualified support for the state of Israel and said that he has "very specific plans" to help the automotive industry in Michigan.

Overall, Obama's speech offered nothing new aside from more focused attacks on John McCain and largely repeated recent statements on the economy.