A question presented to US Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama as he campaigned in Wurzelbacher's neighborhood. (12 October 2008) Obama responded in part:
My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off [...] if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody. - (Full, unedited video of the conversation between Wurzelbacher and Obama) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1a4_1224166209
This response became a major focus of the presidential campaign of John McCain during the third and final presidential debates between him and Obama, on 15 October 2008, and in later campaign ads which compared Obama's comments on his tax plan to an embrace of socialism.