Obama faces more questions on pastor
ELECTION '08 | Illinois senator, Clinton differ on gas tax holiday
White House hopeful Barack Obama tried to get mileage out of his complaints about high gas prices Friday, but instead faced questions about his former pastor and about whether he is perceived as an elitist.
"I understand that he might not agree with me on my assessment on his comments," Obama said Friday at an Indianapolis gas station when asked about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who appeared on "Bill Moyers' Journal'' on PBS Friday night and has national speeches scheduled Sunday and Monday.
(AP)
"He is obviously free to express his opinions on these issues. You know, I've expressed mine very clearly. I think what he said in several instances were objectionable, and I understand why the American people took offense. And you know, as I indicated before, I took offense."
Standing in front of a gas pump, Obama complained about gas prices approaching $4. "We'll put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help Indiana families pay their heating and cooling bills and reduce energy costs," he said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton also campaigned in Indiana on Friday, meeting steelworkers in Gary. She joined John McCain in calling for a federal gas tax holiday for the summer.
Obama said he opposed the gas tax holiday. "You don't know that the oil companies are going to pass the savings on to the consumers," he said. "It would deplete the highway trust fund that we need for rebuilding our roads and our bridges."
Obama called Mayor Daley on Friday, asking what he could do to help counter a recent upsurge in gun violence in Chicago. "A lot of the emphasis is going to be on how we are working together to give young people more constructive things to do and to give them more perspective in terms of why violence is unacceptable," Obama said.
Asked if he needed to worry that he will be perceived as "elitist" in Indiana, Obama said he had the humblest origins of the three candidates.
