Obama rips McCain in Gary

CAMPAIGN '08 | Says he's best able to bring jobs back

White House hopeful Barack Obama told an almost-hometown crowd in Gary on Thursday that he was their best shot at reviving the economy, bringing jobs back to northwest Indiana, and fixing the crumbling roads and bridges here.

Though the polls show him locked in a tight May 6 Democratic primary race with Hillary Clinton, he never mentioned her by name. Instead, Obama focused on Republican nominee John McCain, criticizing the Arizona senator's position on the Iraq War and on the mortgage foreclosure relief plan McCain released Thursday.

"Sen. McCain is making some proposals about how to deal with our housing crisis," Obama said. "Sen. McCain's solution to the housing crisis seems a lot like the George Bush solution, which is to sit by and hope it passes by while families face foreclosure and watch the value of their homes erode."

McCain would spend less than Obama and Clinton but would offer federal help to some homeowners facing foreclosure. Obama would create a $10 billion fund to bail out families who can't pay their mortgages and another $10 billion fund to give to local governments to help them deal with the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Obama told the crowd at Roosevelt High School --alma mater of the the older members of the Jackson 5 -- about his work 20 years ago helping workers laid off from the nearby steel mills.

"Thousands of people have been laid off," Obama said. "Many of you here in the room lived through those hard times and are still living through it today . . . health care, college, a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas, have all shot up and you are feeling the pinch."

Lake County, Ind., Commissioner Roosevelt Allen told Obama Northwest Indiana's sidewalks, streets, buildings and bridges are "crumbling."

Obama said he would spend $60 billion building up the nation's infrastructure.

Obama exhorted parents to do a better job parenting before they blame schools for their children's problems: "Parents, if you don't parent, we can't [fix that] in school. . . . Fathers, be fathers. Be a part of your child's life and try to make them proud. If your child is misbehaving at school, don't curse out the teacher."

Obama is on a four-day swing through Indiana before heading back to Pennsylvania. Not since 1968 has Indiana been this courted by presidential candidates.