Washington Post
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, February 20, 2008; Page A02The rights of borrowers were very much on the mind of Barack Obama when he arrived here in Texas on Tuesday afternoon. "Lenders need to show some flexibility," he announced at his first appearance, a roundtable on predatory mortgage lending. "Everyone knows that, including the lenders."
Obama knows better than most. In recent days, he has been exposed as a high-risk borrower, accused of taking everything from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's "just words" riff on the power of oratory to Bob the Builder's refrain for preschoolers, "Yes, we can!"
And he borrowed anew on Tuesday at an outdoor rally in San Antonio -- this time from former rival John Edwards. Criticizing pharmaceutical companies' ads, Obama joked: "You know those ads where people are running around the fields, you know, they're smiling, you don't know what the drug is for?"
Compare that with this staple of the 2004 Edwards stump speech: "I love the ads. Buy their medicine, take it, and the next day you and your spouse will be skipping through the fields."
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