Obama tries to wrest McCain's "Straight Talk" mantle

By Caren Bohan

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - White House hopeful Barack Obama sought on Saturday to wrest away rival John McCain's key campaign theme, casting himself as the "Straight Talk" candidate willing to level with voters about tough choices facing the country.

In recent days, Democrat Obama has been hammering away at the presumptive Republican nominee over his plan to offer voters a temporary "holiday" from the gasoline tax.

McCain, an Arizona senator, says the holiday is needed give cash-strapped consumers relief from surging costs at the fuel pump during the busy driving season.

Campaigning in Indiana, Obama said the gas tax reprieve would barely help Americans' budgets and would not address the long-term problem of U.S. addiction to Middle East oil.

"It's a shell game -- literally," Obama told an audience at an Indianapolis high school. "If we want to take a permanent holiday from our oil addiction, we can finally get serious about energy independence."

As he tried to retool his message after a series of setbacks and sliding poll numbers, Obama also targeted Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's support of the tax holiday. The two face primary elections on Tuesday in North Carolina and Indiana, the next steps in their protracted struggle for the right to run against McCain in the November election.

Clinton, a New York senator, told a rally in Wake Forest, North Carolina, "These prices that are going up from ... gas prices, to grocery prices, are really taking a big chunk out of people's disposable income.

"I think that it's imperative that we try to obtain some immediate relief."

Obama said his own proposals to raise car fuel mileage standards and spur investment in energy-efficient technology were better ways to "free ourselves from the whims of Middle East dictators" and give consumers longer-lasting relief.

"This is what passes for leadership in Washington-- phony ideas, calculated to win elections instead of actually solving problems."

Obama did not say the words "Straight Talk" -- an expression McCain has used for years to describe his own style of politicking. But Obama clearly suggested that he -- not McCain -- was the candidate who was willing to stand up and take principled stances even when they are not popular.

MCCAIN RESPONDS

In response, the McCain campaign sought to criticize Obama's economic proposals and called him a tax raiser because he wants to increase taxes on dividends and capital gains.

"Barack Obama's repeated pledges to raise taxes on millions of small investors and expiring tax relief that is at work in family budgets shows he just doesn't understand the American economy," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, remains the front-runner in the Democratic race.