Washington, Oct 18 : Nearly two weeks after criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for “palling around with terrorists”, Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has said that he was acting in the interests of the US, and that he “loved America”.

“I know Obama loves America,” Palin said in an interview with cbsnews. com on her flight from Cincinnati to Indianapolis.

Asked if she though that Obama loved America as much she did, Sarah Palin said: “I’m sure that is why he’s running for president. It’s because he wants to do what he believes is in the best interest of this great nation. I believe that our ticket can do a better job for America as we reduce taxes and rein in government and allow our private sector and our families to prosper, to grow, and to keep more of what they earn and produce so that they can reinvest according to our own priorities. I think that that is best to get the economy back on track. It’s a better agenda for America. But I don’t question at all Barack Obama’s love for this great country.”

According to the report, though Sarah still continues to criticize Obama on issues like from alleged voter registration fraud to taxes, she has stopped mentioning Obama’s relationship to 1960s radical William Ayers on the stump.

She told reporters that it’s now up for the public to decide whether that relationship is relevant.

“Well, I think that American voters are understanding that association—that it’s OK to talk about fact,” she said, and added: “of course, Barack Obama had been bringing it up, even in challenging John McCain on that, saying if you want to talk about it, talk about it, too, so McCain did that, and the association is out there. It’s up now to the people of America to decide whether that association is important enough to them to research and find out more about a person’s judgment and truthfulness.”

Asked why it was appropriate to question Obama’s judgment over his association with Ayers, Palin said that the decision to bring up Wright was “up to John McCain to decide.” (ANI)