Columbus, Ohio: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama chose Canton, Ohio, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, to make his final argument for why voters, in Ohio and around the nation, should use Election Day next Tuesday to put him in the Oval Office, a decision that would make real his 21-month claim that his campaign represents the kind of change that America, still engaged in two war and confronting a financial collapse unlike any seen for nearly 80 years,  needs now.

"After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America."

This was the opening line of his so-called "Closing Argument" speech, delivered from Canton, a city of about 80,000 residents, formed in 1805, and famous for its NFL Hall of Fame. Broadcast on TV Monday afternoon, its tone and content trod over the now-familiar ground of Obama's policy talking points. For a state like Ohio, which is still standing but wobbly after years of economic body blows from the loss of at least 200,000 manufacturing jobs that disappeared to other states or countries, his reference to the loss of 760,000 jobs so far this year under the administration of George W. Bush was all too familiar. Ohio's unemployment rate is now 7.4 percent, higher than the national average. The Buckeye State is one of the very few states that still has fewer jobs now than it did before the last recession of 2001.

"In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street. In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor. In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope. In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need." [Obama speech]

Obama used the dismal unemployment figures to reiterate his claim that little daylight exists between the policies of John McCain, his Republican rival,  and those of President Bush, whose national approval ratings are at historic lows and whose party is running away from itself, expecting gains by Democrats in both houses of Congress. "We have tried it George Bush's way, " he said to a energize but respectful crowd. "If you can't beat your opponents ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up."

CNN showed a poll of likely voters that Obama leads McCain in Ohio 49-46 percentage points. Cnn also reports that the McCain and Obama campaigns have spent a combined estimated $29 million in advertising in Ohio this election cycle. McCain was also in Ohio today. His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be in Ohio on Wednesday.

Saying the Republicans have taken such a big election and based it on so many small things, the candidate who now leads his rival in many respected national polls by 10 points or so told his Ohio audience that he could take one more week of McCain's failed policies but that the country could not take another four years of them. The real question, he asked rhetorically, is whether this country will be better off four years from now. He said everyone knows the answer to that question in hindsight.

He called on his listeners to reject fear and division for unity of purpose, something Americans have done to overcame wars and great depressions. Rebutting the argument made by his Republican opponents that government is the problem and not the solution, Obama said government "should do that for which we cannot do for ourselves; protect us from harm, assure everyone a decent education, roads and bridges, science and new technology; and to reward drive and innovation and growth in a free market."

He called upon business to live up to it's responsibility by creating American jobs and playing by rules of the road, including giving a shot at success for every American and not just for those with money and power. Building America from the bottom up, he said, is not socialism as McCain and is running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have tried in the last week of the election to label Obama's economic policies as a "redistribution of wealth." Waiting for the throng of chants of "Obama" to die down enough to continue, Obama said he called it "opportunity." "We need better government, a more confident government, to uphold values we hold in common."

He said he will hold Wall Street CEOs accountable and not let what's happening now with the economy happen again. Obama, who has based his economic plan on benefiting the Middle Class, said he will offer a tax cut to 95 percent of Americans and to seniors, and give homeowners and others a break. He said one way he'll pay for Middle Class tax cuts is to return big earners to the tax rates they paid in the 1990s, a decade when the country prospered under Democratic president Bill Clinton and a divided Congress. He said that those who earn under $250,000 (for couples) will see not one penny of increases in a variety of taxes.

Troding down already familiar rows of program policy, Obama said millions of new jobs will be created from his plan to build a new energy sector. He spoke of health care, using the example of his dying mother arguing against insurance companies to make his point that no one with a preexisting condition would be denied health care coverage and that everyone will be covered, with from their existing business coverage or through a program offered from government-sponsored access pools that would provide coverage as good as he and McCain receive as senators. On Education, he told young people that if they invest in America, America will invest in them. His plan will return their their commitment to work with a paid education. He also called upon parents to do their share as well.

With one winding down and another one heating up, Obama, who has no military record, said he will finish the fight against Bin Laden and terrorists who attacked America on 9/11. Turning McCain's vote to go to war against Iraq, he said He would only send troops into harm's way with a clear mission, and that he would treat returning veterans with honor and respect. Moreover, he promised to "build partnerships and restore America's moral standing."

"It won't be easy, especially now, " he said of the daunting challenges that await the next president. But he said his candidacy represents a "new attitude and politics" and called upon our "better angels" to deliver the kind of change Washington needs now more than ever. He said money managers have shown profound irresponsibility, one he summed up as "what's good for me is good enough." Surfing on his tone of every one working together, he said, "We have responsibility to look out after each other." This notion, he said, is one of the big losses that has occurred over the last eight years under President Bush and senators like McCain, who said he was proud to vote the president's agenda 90 percent of the time.

Drilling in on Palin's comments about "pro" and "anti" American parts of the nation, Obama said forcefully, "We are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots." He then repeated the line he made famous from his convention speech in 2004, that "We are not a red America or a blue America, but the United States of America."

In his closing paragraphs, Obama reminded everyone that "power does not concede." He underscored the notion all-to-familiar with Democrats that, while the pundits and the polls show him and his political party ahead, "the election is not over." He admonished anyone to think he has won. He called on everyone to "work even harder for one week more" so hope can overcome fear and unity can best division. Crossing the finish line of his speech, Obama asked everyone to finish said, "In one week we can come together as a nation."

In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up. In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future. In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo. In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history. [Obama speech] 

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