The Barack Obama statement to TV viewers in Indiana

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The Barack Obama statement

ANNOUNCER: They're Indiana values. Hard work, community, keeping your word. And there's a candidate who shares those values, who thinks differently than those who've spent decades in Washington. Barack Obama.

OBAMA: Politics didn't lead me to working people. Working people led me to politics.

ANNOUNCER: He got his start in Illinois as a community organizer, helping neighborhoods devastated by steel plant closings.

OBAMA: And I worked with churches to help those workers get back on their feet.

ANNOUNCER: For two decades in public life, he's stood up to powerful interests on behalf of people, taking tough stands, bringing parties together to get things done. It says something about the president he'd be.

OBAMA: It's not enough just to change political parties in the White House, we've got to change how our politics works.

ANNOUNCER: Now, he's visiting cities and towns across Indiana.

OBAMA: I meet Hoosiers who are struggling. Jobs disappearing, families facing foreclosure, the cost of everything from health care to tuition to groceries to gas at the pump going up and up and up.

ANNOUNCER: And at each stop, he trusts us with the truth.

OBAMA: We could suspend the gas tax for six months. But that's not gonna bring down gas prices long-term.

OBAMA: That's typical of how Washington works. Let's find some short-term quick fix that we can say we did something even though we're not really doing anything. We've got to go after the oil companies and look at their price-gouging. We've got to start using less oil, and that means raising fuel-efficiency standards on cars and developing alternative fuels.

ANNOUNCER: It's a new kind of politics. With a plan to bring our troops home. Turn around this economy. Deliver real tax relief for the middle class. And bring back some hope at a time when it's desperately needed.

OBAMA: That's why May Sixth is so important. We've got a choice. We can go about doing the same old things with the same old folks and somehow hope we're going to get a different result. Or we can go ahead and try something entirely different. You and I together, we¹ll change this country and change the world.

I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this message.