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Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius fields questions from voters on behalf of Barack Obama in Cedar Rapids Tuesday.
CEDAR RAPIDS — About 100 people gathered at the IBEW 405 Hall here to listen as Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius spoke about economic issues.
The Kansas governor took more than a few jabs at Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in her speech, but it wasn’t until the question-and-answer period before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, came up.
“You’ve listed off some questions for John McCain,” said an audience member. “What questions do you have for Gov. Palin?”
“None,” Sebelius quickly retorted.
“I say that a bit facetiously, but John McCain is running for president. What we need to do is talk to John McCain about where he wants to take this country, what his policies are and why he is in this race. I think conversations about anything else are a mistake.”
Political dialogue, she said, needs to be focused on McCain because he is the top of the ticket.
“He is now saying that he is the candidate of change,” Sebelius added. “I think there is no question about that. He has changed — he has absolutely changed a lot along the way. I think John McCain versus John McCain is an excellent conversation to have.
“Where is this John McCain that use to be the maverick? He’s gone from maverick to sidekick, and I think that’s a very good conversation.”
To kick-start such a conversation, Sebelius, who billed herself as the McCain-Palin advance team for their scheduled Thursday visit, listed five economic topics ranging from health care to taxes that McCain should discuss with voters.
“As recently as yesterday, John McCain said the economy is sound,” Sebelius said. “The economy is sound? I don’t know what parallel universe John McCain is living in, but I live in the neighboring state of Kansas. I can tell you that our economy is not sound. I don’t think the Iowa economy is sound.”
The most important thing that McCain needs to answer, according to Sebelius, is if he believes that George W. Bush is a great president.
“This is really the fundamental question,” she said. “Because if you don’t, why is it that virtually every proposal that you have about the future looks exactly like the last eight years?”
Cedar Rapids resident Jim Lahr, who posed a question on tax credits during the town hall, said he was impressed with Sebelius as a surrogate.
“She said that the business tax credits should be done as states and municipalities are doing now,” Lahr said. “That’s a good approach and I liked the answer. In other words, she said we should provide tax incentives for job creation rather than just basing them on profit income.”
Lahr said that he took the full year leading up to the Iowa caucuses to shop the presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle.
“I took that full [caucus] period to listen and talk to all the candidates,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to spend time with many of them in small group settings — anywhere from two to four participants up to about a dozen. I found Obama to be the most intelligent. He listened. He had already thought about many of the questions I asked — things that the other candidates had yet to consider. I was very impressed.”
Lahr said that he now considers himself to be a strong supporter of Obama and plans to cast his ballot in November.
Although a few members of the Cedar Rapids audience said they have tickets to the McCain-Palin event here on Thursday, none would commit to asking the GOP candidates the Kansas governor’s questions.
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