Philadelphia Inquirer- Votes ’08 Blog, Obama’s Wayne Visit

June 14, 2008 | Tom Vogel

Larry Eichel reports…

11:10 a.m.

The final question comes from a newly-minted college graduate who says she’s looking for a job and just realized that she doesn’t have any health insurance. She wonders what would happen if she gets hit by a car. Obama says one element of his healthcare proposal would allow families to keep children on their plans until age 25. He also suggests that she be careful when she wanders the streets.

And he’s outta here.

10:55 a.m.

He also contrasts his tax proposals to those of McCain, saying that the Obama plan would be better for the bottom 95 percent of Americans on the income scale. And he’s getting pretty animated after a slow start.

10:45 a.m.

Obama salutes Congressman Joe Sestak, in whose district this event is taking place and who initially was unnoticed on his arrival. Sestak, a retired admiral, was a very enthusiastic and outspoken supporter of Clinton during the primaries. This was no surprise; Sestak served in Bill Clinton’s White House.

10:35 a.m.

Asked about the role of the Supreme Court in this election, Obama talks approvingly about the court’s Guantanamo decision, which was handed down on Thursday. “John McCain thinks the court was wrong. I think the court was right.” On the subject of abortion, Obama says the court is “just one justice away” from overturning Roe v. Wade. He says that Justice John Paul Stevens, a judge who favors abortion rights, probably wants to retire sometime soon. A woman in the audience pipes up, in keeping with the theme of this session, and says: “He can’t afford to.”