superbrowns's Blog

"In the two-hour forum, Obama said it was above his "pay grade" when asked to define when a baby gets human rights. But McCain quickly answered, "At the moment of conception."

I would like to know what kind of answer this is, Obama was not asked to do a job, he was asked for his view.

McCain had a view.

The Republican senator from Arizona drew frequent applause from the nearly 2,800 members of the evangelical church in Orange County with crisp answers intended to reinforce his conservative credentials.

Obama, who spoke for the first hour, offered more nuanced and analytical answers on some of the issues important to conservative voters: abortion, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research.

Both Obama, an Illinois senator, and McCain said marriage is between a man and a woman, while supporting gay unions and leaving it up to the states to decide gay marriage.

The Arizona senator's focus was also evident in Warren's first question about which three people each candidate would rely on most during his administration.

McCain named Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq; John Lewis, the Democratic congressman and civil rights leader; and his economic advisor, Meg Whitman, the ex-CEO of eBay. That allowed him to remind the audience of three campaign themes: his foreign policy credentials, serving a cause greater than one's self-interest and his pledge to use the advice of people like Whitman to turn the economy around.

Obama named his wife and grandmother before moving to a bipartisan list of past and current senators.
 

Again McCain answers are sharp and to the point, and Obama is left in the dust when he doesn't have cards to read

 

A certain blogger(HYBRIDTALK) mentioned that Mommiegrandma and Dprin are having a battle of the cut and paste blogs, so I did a study and researched the past month, what I found is dprin was way ahead the first week and a half then MG started catching up mid way through the month, they are now tied running neck and neck (and I don't mean whiteneckburned).

This is going to be great to watch and see who will win the cut and paste award at the end of August, we all need to sit back and watch because they are not leaving any room for anyone else.

                                        FIRST PRIZE

 

                                                    
          RUNNER UP PRIZE

 

MAY THE BEST LADY WIN???????????  LMAO

Barack Obama said Friday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that's what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources.

He flipped so hard on this one he had to go back to the doctors because he injured his hip again.

Whats up with Nancy sourpus p-u-low-see turning off the lights and kicking out the reporters in the lobby, I guess she doesn't want anyone to see how childish she is. wasn't she the one that said she would bring everyone together in congress.

 The New York Times article is a must read to understand why Obama changed his stand and why Nancy turned out the lights.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Obam
a
.html

 

Democrats are trying to pass a bill for our Military, I'm not sure what it was for because most of the arguring was that the Republicans wanted to add a energy package to it and the Democrats don't want to add anything, I heard something about building a new VA Hospital and something about the vets getting a break on traveling expenses.

Why is it that both parties need to tie things up with hidden agendas,

This is one time I would have to agree with the Democrats

I now know why Obama is getting more media coverage going to Iraq then McCain.

McCain goes to Iraq and Afghanistan to see what  progress is being made and Obama is campaigning for world leader, at least thats the way it looks, but when confronted with a simple question and after seeing the progress in Iraq he is left stuttering words and dodging questions.

Terry Moran asks, If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you support the surge? Obama  first says no, then stutters and says hindsight is 20/20, this is a common answer when you are backed into a corner, Obama also said that at the time of the surge he didn't like President Bush and that they needed to take a political stand, this war and the choices that are made should be made by evaluating what is going on, on the ground and not because you don't like your leader.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos say's Obama is droping in the polls among young voters, maybe they are waking up from the dream world they were put in and are now seeing the true Obama and that he is still the same type of Democratic politician thay have always seen, I guess he should stick to the staged setting and written speeches and never come underfire.

OBAMA:........what I consider two false choices, which is either I have a rigid time line of such and such a date, come hell or high water, we've gotten our combat troops out, and I am blind to anything that happens in the intervening six months or 16 months. Or, alternatively, I am completely deferring to whatever the commanders on the ground says, which is what George Bush says he's doing, in which case I'm not doing my job as Commander-in-Chief.

   Who says there's no comedy in the obama campaign.  The poor guy has himself in a bind.  He either sticks with his long time stated position of "I will end this war and bring the troops home in 16 months" which is now shown to be a bad decision because we and the Iraqi's are winning or he has to do the same thing that George Bush is doing , let the military make military decisions on when to remove troops.  The reason he has a dilema is because he is no longer running as a far lefty and as he moves to the right he's finding George Bush and John McCain already working that street corner.

 This was Obama's first ever trip to Afghanistan and is Obama's second trip to Iraq. His first was in January 2006 when the country was plunged into horrific violence. But the surge of U.S. troops, combined with ordinary Iraqis' rejection of both al-Qaeda and Shiite extremists, has transformed the country. Attacks are down by more than 80 percent nationwide. U.S. combat casualties have plummeted -- five this month so far, compared with 78 last July. And Baghdad has a pulse again.

The way I see it If Obama wins the election we will have the same type of Government we have now, Democrats and Republicans fighting for power.

McCain would pull both parties together, he has crossed the line on some issues and voted with Dems.

As for Katie Courics interview, she may as well been changing diapers on babies, she didn't ask hard questions and it looked staged, like Obama knew what she was going to ask.

Terry stumped Obama and left him with the "Deer in the headlight" look

BTW, Obama did make enemies with the Palestinians, he made a comment that he now has to live with and can't back out of, but it doesn't really matter other Countries don't vote for the American President

Obama’s 3 Ring Iraq TripJul 19, 2008 | 5:48 AM
Category: Political
Edit | Delete  Obama’s 3 Ring Iraq Trip

Posted on July 17, 2008

Early morning thought: will those on the Port side accuse Obama of going to Iraq for a photo op? IHT - Media stars will accompany Obama overseas

Senator John McCain’s trip to Iraq last spring was a low-key affair: With his ordinary retinue of reporters following him abroad, the NBC News anchor Brian Williams reported on his arrival in Baghdad from New York, with just two sentences tacked onto the “in other political news” portion of his newscast.

But when Obama heads for Iraq and other locations overseas this summer, Williams is planning to catch up with him in person, as are the other two evening news anchors, Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, who, like Williams, are far along in discussions to interview Obama on successive nights.

And while the anchors are jockeying for interviews with Obama at stops along his route, the regulars on the Obama campaign plane will have new seat mates: star political reporters from the major newspapers and magazines who are flocking to catch Obama’s first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive nominee of his party.

I wonder if Obama will have any time to meet with the commanders and troops on the ground? WIll he have some preconditions to meet with General Patreaus? How many photos will they have that make it look like he is wearing a halo? Will Katie Couric ask Obama what’s on his iPod? Will Barry find time to talk to the “insurgents?”

 

I'm glad to see him go to Iraq so he can see first hand what is going on, but with three major network anchors going with him, will it distract him from seeing what is really going on, will the anchors just show violent areas or will they show the progress.

will Obama have time to talk with the leaders of Iraq and will he talk with the American Generals, the media will not put him in the hot seat they will avoid the tuff questions.

Will this be another staged setting, How will the troops in Iraq handle it.

Satirical cover of The New Yorker July 21 issue by artist Barry Blitt, shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist. (The New Yorker/Associated Press)

The New Yorker magazine has stirred up controversy in the U.S. for a satirical cover that shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist.

Both the Obama campaign and the campaign for the Republican candidate, John McCain, have objected to the cover art for the magazine's July 21 edition.

The illustration by artist Barry Blitt depicts Obama wearing traditional Muslim garb and his wife, Michelle — dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder — standing in the Oval Office.

An American flag is burning in the fireplace and over the mantle hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

In a statement, the magazine said the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are."

The New Yorker says it is satirizing rumours about Obama — including rumours that he's Muslim and anti-American.

It defended its choice, saying its readership is sophisticated enough to get the joke.

Inside the magazine is a serious critique of Obama's political skills by writer Ryan Lizza.

The Obama campaign issued a statement condemning the cartoon.

"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in the statement.

McCain's campaign also issued a statement saying the cartoon is "tasteless and offensive."

The U.S. media are divided on whether the cartoon will provide fuel for right-wing critics of Obama's candidacy.

The Washington Post has termed the image "incendiary" and said the magazine has succeeded in gaining attention.

Sean Gardner of the Huffington Post says the magazine fails to provide an explanation for the satire. Other columnists throughout the U.S. agreed it has gone too far.

But Pulitzer Prize winner Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune said the image is "just lampooning all the crazy ignorance out there."

Behind the controversy is an e-mail campaign that purports to show Obama in Muslim clothing and repeatedly questions his patriotism, political author Jeffrey Feldman said in an interview with CBC News.

"The idea [is] that somehow Barack Obama is an urban terrorist with a secret agenda that is aligned with al-Qaeda and the second he gets in the White House, he's going to launch some covert plan in order to bring down the United States," Feldman said.

"It's such a ridiculous claim, but no matter how many times people fight back against it — including on the Obama website [where] they have an entire section dedicated to just fighting these smears…it still seems to be gaining ground. There's almost an exhaustion, a frustration that this type of smear campaign is working to spread these ideas."

Rachel Sklar, media editor at the Huffington Post, said she believed the image may be used by Obama opponents.

"This is so clearly a send-up and I understood that when I saw the image, but what I also understood was that it so perfectly encapsulated all the most vitriolic smears about the Obamas, that it could well be used as genuine irony-free propaganda," she told CBC News.

The fear among supporters of Obama is that he will be forced to talk about the cartoon, rather than substantive policy issues.

Obama has not yet commented directly on the cartoon.

 

Not only do the liberals tarnish the Conservatives, they also give themselves a bad rap, Why would a liberal paper print this when they know It can be used against them, this is like making the monkey doll.

No wonder Obama droped 15 points in the polls, I don't think the Republicans have to do anything to hurt him, His own party is doing it for them.

This is still what I believe, he is Muslim....

Obama on a few different issues, he says we are to hung up on immigrants needing to learn English, and then he says we need to make sure our childern learn spanish, and then says Europeans know how to speak English, German and french.

Isn't most of the Countries in Europe the size of  some of our states, you have many different languages in europe, and only one in America.

My first question would be, Why would we need to speak spanish for the Europeans.

He doesn't understand why we are so hung up on Immigrants, I don't know anyone hung up on Immigrants, thats what this Country is made up of, it's the Illegal Immigrants we all have a problem with, as for English being our national language, WHY NOT, What is his hang up.

BTW, I now know why he doesn't want to do town hall meetings with McCain, just watch this video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk

Pickens Unveils Plan To Revitalize the U.S. with Wind Power by Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor New York, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Well-known oil tycoon turned wind developer, T. Boone Pickens, presented a plan at a press conference today that he hopes will reduce America's use of foreign oil.

Pickens announced that he is launching a US $58 million ad campaign to educate the American public about the PickensPlan, a blueprint on how the country can, in less than 10 years, reduce its dependence on oil by as much as one-third.

According to Pickens, the U.S. currently uses natural gas to produce 22% of the country's electricity. In less than 10 years, he said that the country can harness enough wind power to generate that 22% of electricity and allow the country to shift natural gas away from electricity generation and put it to use as a transportation fuel. To view a video presentation of his plan, click here.

According to the PickensPlan website, natural gas is the cleanest transportation fuel available today and critical greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower than gasoline, according to the California Energy Commission. NGVAmerica says that there are more than 7 million NGVs in use worldwide, but only 150,000 of those are in the United States. Natural gas is significantly cheaper than diesel and gasoline, Pickens said that a gallon costs approximately US $1.50.

At the press conference, Pickens said that it would cost US $10 billion to install natural gas pumps at 25,000 gas stations across the country. He asks Americans to compare that number to the US $700 billion the country spends annually on importing foreign oil.

Replacing natural gas with wind power will also serve to revitalize rural America, Pickens said, and he pointed to Sweetwater, Texas as an example. He said a large wind farm that was built near the town offered economic opportunity that essentially brought the town back to life. The town's population had gone from 12,000 to 10,000 due to lack of jobs but as a result of the wind farm, the population grew back up to 12,000.

In addition to creating new construction and maintenance jobs, new wind farms offer thousands of Americans jobs in manufacturing the turbines and blades, high-skill jobs, Pickens said, that pay on a scale comparable to aerospace jobs.

The goal of Picken's ad campaign is to educate the American public about the country's use of oil and bring the energy question to the forefront of the presidential debate.

Election 2006
People Powered Politics What 3.2 Million Determined MoveOn Members Can Do

Changing the national political landscape is a tall order. But if we build on the enormous grassroots energy we saw over the past six months, we know it’s possible. For us, for our families, for our children, for our country, the stakes could hardly be higher.

-Adam and Justin Ruben, January 18, 2005, in an email proposing a Take Back the House campaign to MoveOn members

TAKING BACK THE HOUSE Volunteers made 7 million phone calls, organized 7,500 house parties, and launched 6,000 in-district events. More people volunteered in 2006 than in 2004.
  We raised and spent $27 million in this two-year election cycle. We spent $25 million on taking back the House. Over 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual House candidates and over $2.8 million to fund MoveOn TV ads in targeted districts.
  Our “Caught Red-Handed” TV ads demonstrated early that Democrats could win a majority in Congress by taking on Republicans others thought couldn’t be defeated. Of the nine long-shot races we targeted with these ads, Democrats won at least five. On-the-ground action by members helped ensure that Republicans who supported the Bush fiasco in Iraq would pay the price at the polls.
  We funded strong progressive candidates like Jerry McNerney (OH) and Bruce Braley (IA) in their campaigns to win House seats, and Sherrod Brown (OH) and John Tester (MT) in their tough Senate battles.
  Our membership grew by 450,000.

“I used to think my one signature or call didn’t matter. But then I got an email from MoveOn and I learned I can make a difference. MoveOn makes democracy work.”

-Helen S., Phoenix, Arizona, MoveOn member

Moveon. org claims they helped get dems elected in 2006 to swing the majority of the vote and take back the house, yet here we are still at war , high gas prices and now high food, and other energy prices, so I ask what have they done in the past 2 years to help bring down the cost of gas, do they not have the power they thought, can't they part the sea, can't they move mountians, where are all the changes they promised, how come they can't get anything done.

Just ask yourself one question!!! WHY?????

Everybody Wants Obama!

Asharq Alawsat -- Suddenly Barack Obama, the candidate for the democratic presidential nomination for the US 2008 elections, has become everybody’s favourite topic of discussion and an example of a political success story.

In the Arab world, there is the famous following saying: “Everybody claims to be Laila’s love,” [Al kul yad’i hob Laila] and today everybody claims some kind of association with Barack Obama. Amongst all the chatter, several stories are being circulated about Obama. For example, some people claim that Obama’s forefathers immigrated from Quraish to Ethiopia and from there they settled and spread across the countries of the Horn of Africa until they arrived in Kenya!

In these discussions, people mention that Obama’s full name is Barack Hussein Obama, emphasising his middle name (which was his Indonesian stepfather’s name). During these conversations, people say that the name “Barack” is derived from “Baraka” [an Arabic word meaning blessing] and that blessings are undoubtedly on their way to shower us and our loved ones.

The people of Africa are in search of a legendary hero from amongst them to rule the world’s superpower, and in Africa Obama’s popularity has soared to a similar level of popularity enjoyed by pop stars and footballers.

Amongst the Afro-Americans however, there are mixed feelings; some of them believe in Obama and believe that he is “one of them” whilst others consider him different since his mother is white. In terms of coffee, they compare him to a “Cappuccino” or a “Latte” but not an “Espresso” in reference to his mixed heritage. The disease of ethnic purity has even reached them!

Barack Obama is a rising star and he, the son of a Kenyan migrant, entered Harvard University and graduated from the prestigious Harvard Law School. The rise of Obama continued in the political field until he became the only Afro-American currently serving in the US Senate.

Until Barack Hussein Obama reaches the presidential office and leads the United States, the fictitious stories about him will continue. Even the Chinese, the Indians and the Eskimos will demand their share in Obama’s upcoming glory.

Barack Obama is a phenomenon and represents the political craze that is occupying the entire world. Let us sit back and enjoy the race.

Princeton Releases Michelle Obama's Senior Thesis

 

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(UWIRE.com) This story was written by Esther Breger, The Daily Princetonian

---

Michelle Obama's thesis was released to the public by Princeton University Tuesday after several days of media scrutiny over its availability and content.

The campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), her husband, received criticism from conservative media and bloggers when the University restricted access to her senior thesis until after the presidential election in November.

"A thesis can be restricted or unrestricted for a variety of reasons, including at the request of alumni," University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said in an e-mail. "It falls within the purview of alumni to discuss their academic work," she said.

Analysis of the thesis' content, in addition to its restricted availability, has featured prominently in blogs over the last few days. Written under Obama's maiden name of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson and titled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community," the thesis has come under scrutiny as the presidential campaign has advanced for its analysis of race relations.

What's in the thesis?

Obama, who concentrated in sociology and received a certificate in African-American studies, examined how the attitudes of black alumni have changed over the course of their time at the University. "Will they become more or less motivated to benefit the Black community?" Obama wrote in her thesis.

After surveying 89 black graduates, Obama concluded that attending the University as an undergraduate decreased the extent to which black alumni identified with the black community as a whole.

Obama drew on her personal experiences as an example.

"As I enter my final year at Princeton, I find myself striving for many of the same goals as my White classmates -- acceptance to a prestigious graduate school or a high-paying position in a successful corporation," she wrote, citing the University's conservative values as a likely cause.

"Predominately White universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the White students comprising the bulk of their enrollments," she said, noting the small size of the African-American studies department and that there were only five black tenured professors at the University across all departments.

Obama studied the attitudes of black Princeton alumni to determine what effect their time at Princeton had on their identification with the black community. "My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'Blackness' than ever before," she wrote in her introduction. "I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong."

Emeritus sociology professor Walter Wallace, who served as her thesis adviser, declined to comment for this story.

"It is important to consider the time period in which Michelle Obama wrote her thesis," College Democrats vice president Scott Weingart '09 said in an e-mail. "In 1985, Princeton was still a very conservative school; [Tiger Inn] would not admit women members for another six years. Today, the student body is a lot more progressive and diverse."

Completed theses are kept in Mudd Manuscript Library and are generally available to the public for viewing and scanning. Before today, callers to Mudd requesting information on Obama's thesis were told that the thesis has been made "temporarily unavailable" and were directed to the University Office of Communications. Following the thesis' release by the Obama campaign to politico.com, a political news site, the University lifted the restriction.

The University's actions were met with varying reactions by students.

"The school shoud generally default to freedom of information unless there is some compelling school or personal (e.g. the request of the author) interest at stake," Jason Anton '10, co-director of the Students for Barack Obama Princeton chapter, said in an e-mail.

"There's nothing about a senior thesis that's private in nature -- it's written with the knowledge that it will be kept in Mudd for all to read," Zahava Stadler '11 said.

Many students felt that the contents of the work could become a factor in the election, but they were unsure to what extent it would affect the outcome.

"Unfortunately, the thesis may very well revive the race card as a central theme of the election," Anton said.

"Her thesis seems especially pertinent given the questions that have been raised off and on about the supposed 'tight-rope' of racial identity politics that some claim Senator Obama has to carefully navigate," College Democrats president Rob Weiss '09 said in an e-mail.

Molly Alarcon '10, an Obama supporter, said she thought Michelle Obama's writing in college should not have any bearing on her husband's election, but her view was not shared by all students.

"In using Michelle Obama on the campaign trail, the Obama camp has made her a figure, and therefore a factor, in the campaign," Stadler said. "Her opinions and background are just as relevant as those of Obama's spokespeople and campaign manager, no more and no less."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html

." Read the full thesis here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Obama Hopes to Visit Iraq Before Election Share -->by Bonney Kapp

Just days after Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Republican candidate for president, John McCain, he took a phone call from Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

The two spoke as the Senator drove from his home in Chicago to Midway Airport this morning. When the candidate landed in Flint, Michigan, for his speech on competitiveness, Obama shared with reporters details about his conversation.

Obama said during the conversation, “We discussed a broad range of issues I thought it was very constructive. He emphasized to me his belief that as a consequence of the extraordinary efforts and sacrifice of US military forces, we’ve made significant progress in quelling the violence in Iraq. And that the Iraqi government is deeply interested in negotiating an effective Status of Forces agreement and a strategic framework agreement with the United States.”

Of course Obama is the candidate in the race who will begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, and has campaigned on such a platform since he got into the race. He said he told Zebari that while he was encouraged by the reduction of violence in Iraq, he “insisted that it is important for us to begin the process of withdrawing US troops, making clear that we have no interest in permanent bases in Iraq, that any negotiations for a Status of Forces agreement or strategic framework agreement should be done in the open and with Congress’s authorization, because I believe that it’s in the interests of both Iraq and the United States that any such critical negotiations have strong bipartisan support and that they can be sustained through a future administration.”

He also stressed the need for  “political accommodations” and the importance of engaging nearby countries. Finally, he said, “I gave him an assurance that should we be elected, an Obama administration will make sure that we continue with the progress that’s been made in Iraq, that we won’t act precipitously, but that we will move to end US combat forces in Iraq in a manner that’s as careful as we were careless getting in.”

When the Senator was asked if the Foreign Minister expressed concern for withdrawal, Obama replied, “No - he did not express that. He did emphasized his belief that we’ve made real progress and I think was eager to see political accommodations between the factions follow up in the wake of this progress.”

And on the much ballyhooed visit to Iraq, Obama said, “I told him that I look forward to seeing him in Baghdad.” A reporter asked if the trip might be before the Democrats’ August convention. “You know, we’ll make an announcement about that, but as I said, I’m interested in visiting Iraq and Afghanistan before the election.”

The RNC, which has been tracking the days since Obama’s last visit to the country in 2006, welcomes such a trip. “In the nearly 900 days since Barack Obama visited Iraq, the facts on the ground have changed dramatically – but his ideologically-driven position has not. When Obama visits Iraq, he’ll see that he was wrong to oppose the surge, wrong to continue to ignore our commanders’ advice and wrong to demand premature withdrawal. America cannot afford a Commander-in-Chief who needs on-the-job training,” said spokesman Alex Conant in a statement.

McCain, Obama Seek Joint Town Halls; Campaigns Can’t Agree on LogisticsFriday, June 13th, 2008

John McCain once again renewed his call for joint appearances with Barack Obama today, by reiterating his desire to hold joint town hall meetings together, including one next Thursday in Minneapolis as a way to “offer the best format for presenting both candidates’ visions for our country’s future in a substantive way.”

The Obama campaign, also amenable to the idea of sharing the stage, said in a statement, “Senator Obama believes that the American people deserve an open and accessible debate as they choose between real change and four more years of failed Bush policies, and he welcomed McCain’s invitation to offer voters ‘the rare opportunity of witnessing candidates for the highest office in the land discuss civilly and extensively the great issues at stake in the election.’”

So it would seem both sides agree that joint town halls seem to be a good idea. Let the debate begin!

Not so fast. While the two camps agree on the idea in theory, as a practical matter they’ve locked horns.

The two sides  just cannot agree on the number of joint appearances and when to hold them. While John McCain is offering ten such meetings, the Obama camp has seeking to meet five times between now and Election Day, “the three traditional debates plus a joint town hall on the economy in July and an in-depth debate on foreign policy in August,” the Obama camp spelled out.

“That package of five engagements would have been the most of any Presidential campaign in the modern era—offering a broad range of formats—and representing a historic commitment to openness and transparency,” they suggested.

In response, McCain’s campaign manager drafted a letter to Obama’s campaign manager and shared with the press. “At this moment, we fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process. That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid, and why we proposed a town hall format that would render many of these process issues moot,” the letter read.

Not to be outdone, the Obama camp chided McCain for rejecting their proposal. “It’s disappointing that Senator McCain and his campaign decided to decline this proposal. Apparently they would rather contrive a political issue than foster a genuine discussion about the future of our country,” said campaign manager David Plouffe in a statement.

When McCain’s camp first floated the idea last month, Obama said he thought it was a good idea. Last week at a media availability in St. Louis, however, Obama admitted that it just wasn’t realistic to do all ten “given all the campaigning that I have to do since we just finished our primary election,” he explained.

McCain expressed disappointment in the Obama campaign’s proposal - which he said was one joint town hall to take place on the 4th of July. “Of all times, obviously that would be the least viewed,” McCain told reporters. A McCain spokesman went further and observed, “Barack Obama has more conditions for having a town hall with John McCain than he does for meetings with Mahmoud Amadinejad.”

When both candidates were invited to hold a joint town hall by outsiders Nancy Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb, and Luci Baines Johnson, McCain was quick to accept. Obama’s campaign plans to stick to the five forums they proposed.

Posted in Barack Obama, Blogroll, John McCain | No Comments

June 14, 2008
Categories: Barack Obama Obama brings a gun to a knife fight

 

The McCain campaign and RNC are pouncing on another line from the Obama pool report:

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said in Philadelphia last night. “Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”

McCain and the RNC took on the comment in terms that will be very familiar to people who followed Clinton campaign statements last year:

“Barack Obama’s call for ‘new politics’ is officially over. In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America’s pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there’s a political knife fight, he’d bring a gun," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, referring also to the Obama campaign's shot at Carly Fiorina's lavish pay package and role in layoffs at Hewlett-Packard.

“Why is Barack Obama so negative? In the last 24 hours, he’s completely abandoned his campaign’s call for ‘new politics,’ equating the election to a ‘brawl’ and promising to ‘bring a gun,' " said the RNC's Alex Conant.

Obama doesn't actually use the phrase "new politics" a lot, and this is a box that the Clinton campaign tried, and failed, to keep him in last year, when it emerged early that he was happy to throw punches, and even to start fistfights, sending, for instance, the first negative mail to hit in Iowa last fall.

Obama never paid much of a price for his willingness to go negative. He also, to be fair, never promised that he wouldn't attack, and indeed often promised to be tougher than past Democrats, and bragged of his Chicago training. He disavowed nasty character attacks, but then everybody disavows nasty character attacks.

What's left of course, is to speculate on what form of political change Obama promises: It's not some sort of disarmament; it's not any large deviation from traditional Democratic policy; it's more a vaguer — and harder to control, and deliver — promise to lead the country past the deep cultural divisions around race, religion and even Vietnam that have dominated national politics for decades.