Obama gives closing pitch to voters

[Forkboy]

Making his "closing argument" to voters, Democrat Barack Obama plans to put their choice in 8 days in simple terms today:

"The question in this election is not 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?' We know the answer to that. The real question is, 'Will this country be better off four years from now?' "

In a speech this afternoon in Canton, Ohio, Obama plans to declare that America will be -- but only if the failed policies of President Bush are thrown out, and new priorities and politics come to Washington. And that will only happen, Obama says, if he is elected instead of Republican John McCain.

"But as I’ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies," he plans to say, according to excerpts released by his campaign. " It’s about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.

"That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That’s what’s been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that’s what we need to restore right now."

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/obama_gives_clo.html