Obama to form panel to explore presidential bid

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Obama one-uppin' ol' Jesse...

Why Jesse Jackson Hates Obama
July 22, 2008; A few weeks ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made something of a fool of himself. There he was -- a historical figure in his own right -- threatening the castration of Barack Obama. It was sad to see.

If I have often criticized Mr. Jackson, I have also, reservedly, admired him. He is a late 20th century outcropping of a profoundly American archetype: the self-invented man who comes from nothing and, out of sheer force of personality, imposes himself on the American consciousness. If he never reached the greatness to which he aspired, he nevertheless did honor to the enduring American tradition of bold and unapologetic opportunism. But now -- not looking old so much as a bit lost within the new Obama aura -- it is clear that Jesse Jackson has come to a kind of dénouement. Some force that once buoyed him up now seems spent.

Mr. Jackson was always a challenger. He confronted American institutions (especially wealthy corporations) with the shame of America's racist past and demanded redress. He could have taken up the mantle of the early Martin Luther King (he famously smeared himself with the great man's blood after King was shot), and argued for equality out of a faith in the imagination and drive of his own people. Instead -- and tragically -- he and the entire civil rights establishment pursued equality through the manipulation of white guilt. Their faith was in the easy moral leverage over white America that the civil rights victories of the 1960s had suddenly bestowed on them. So Mr. Jackson and his generation of black leaders made keeping whites "on the hook" the most sacred article of the post-'60s black identity.

They ushered in an extortionist era of civil rights, in which they said to American institutions: Your shame must now become our advantage. To argue differently -- that black development, for example, might be a more enduring road to black equality -- took whites "off the hook" and was therefore an unpardonable heresy. For this generation, an Uncle Tom was not a black who betrayed his race; it was a black who betrayed the group's bounty of moral leverage over whites. And now comes Mr. Obama, who became the first viable black presidential candidate precisely by giving up his moral leverage over whites. Mr. Obama's great political ingenuity was very simple: to trade moral leverage for gratitude. Give up moral leverage over whites, refuse to shame them with America's racist past, and the gratitude they show you will constitute a new form of black power. They will love you for the faith you show in them.

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Latinos like Obama...

Survey: US Hispanics Favor Obama Over McCain by Wide Margin
Washington 24 July 2008 - A new survey finds Hispanic voters in the United States overwhelmingly back Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain in the presidential race.

Senator McCain represents Arizona, a state that borders Mexico and has a large Latin American immigrant community. Unlike Senator Obama, who is relatively new to the national spotlight, McCain is well known as a longtime advocate of many causes that are popular among Hispanics, including comprehensive immigration reform. It is therefore all the more surprising that the latest poll shows Hispanics backing Obama over McCain by a ratio of nearly three-to-one.

The survey of more than 2,000 registered voters of Latin American descent was conducted by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they support Senator Obama, compared to 23 percent for Senator McCain. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they view Obama favorably, while 44 percent said they have a favorable view of McCain. Although the U.S. Hispanic community is diverse, from Cuban-Americans in Florida to Mexican-Americans in California, the Pew survey showed little variance among the segments of the community that were identified in the poll.

"This support for Obama is quite broad-based, and there are few differences within demographic groups. We did not detect important differences in support for Barack Obama between Hispanic registered voters who were born in the United States and those who are immigrants. We also did not detect differences in support for Obama between Latino voters who preferred to be interviewed in Spanish and those who preferred to be interviewed in English," said Susan Minushkin, the Pew Hispanic Center's deputy director.

More VOA News - Survey: US Hispanics Favor Obama Over McCain by Wide Margin

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Obama gonna lose us the war??...

Obama prepared to lose in Iraq to win election, says McCain
Friday 25th July, 2008 - Republican presidential contender John McCain questioned Democratic candidate Barack Obama's fitness to be commander in chief Friday.

McCain made the remarks to a veteran's group in Colorado not long after Obama met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris as part of his trip to Europe and the Middle East. Senator McCain has found it difficult this week to gain much media attention given the avalanche of coverage for Senator Obama's overseas trip.

On Friday, McCain continued to hammer away at Obama on the Iraq war, noting that Obama opposed the Bush administration's surge strategy of increased troop strengths in Iraq, a strategy that was initially championed by McCain and only a handful of others in Congress.

"In Iraq, we are no longer on the doorstep of defeat, but on the road to victory," he said. "Senator Obama said this week that even knowing what he knows today that he still would have opposed the surge. In retrospect, given the opportunity to choose between failure and success, he chose failure. I cannot conceive of a commander-in-chief making that choice."

More Obama prepared to lose in Iraq to win election, says McCain

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Johnnie Boy got Obama by the scruff o' the neck an' shakin' him like a rag-doll...

Obama 'would drag US into depression'
July 29, 2008 - JOHN McCain's White House campaign today dragged rival Barack Obama back to the domestic fray, scorning his economic plan as a recipe to plunge the US into a 1930s-style depression.

Top aides to the Republican senator vied to steal the thunder from an illustrious panel of economic advisers being convened by Senator Obama - and recapture some of the headlines after the Democrat's much-acclaimed foreign tour. But with fewer than 100 days now to go before the November 4 election, Senator Obama had opened up a nine-point lead in the latest Gallup poll released yesterday - 49 per cent to 40 for Senator McCain.

Carly Fiorina, a key lieutenant to Senator McCain and former boss of computing giant Hewlett-Packard, said a recession triggered by the 1929 Wall Street crash became a depression through the imposition of higher taxes and trade barriers. "The reality is when an economy is slowing, if you raise taxes and you curtail free trade through isolationist policies, bad economic times become worse," she said.

"We know this from history... and that is precisely the proposal that Barack Obama is making," Ms Fiorina said. "And that is why I say as a businesswoman, I hope Barack Obama continues to consult with experts because I think his understanding of the economy leaves a great deal to be desired."

More Obama 'would drag US into depression' | NEWS.com.au

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Hippity- hoppity, flippity-floppity...

Obama Risks Voter Ire by Opposing New Oil Drilling
Friday, August 01, 2008 - Barack Obama is once against betting that his eloquence can persuade price-weary consumers -- read that as voters -- to take the long view and not jump at a short-term fix when it comes to soaring energy prices.

It worked in his presidential primary contest against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton when she proposed a "gas tax holiday" for the summer, a pitch he opposed despite its popularity with many voters. But that was in April before gasoline shot past $4 a gallon. Virtually all polls now show dealing with energy prices high atop the agenda of voters.

At issue for Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, is opening up offshore drilling to boost production, a move McCain and others GOP lawmakers say would increase supply and help control soaring gasoline prices. Opponents, including Obama and many other Democrats, say new offshore oil would be years away from reaching consumers and even then would make little difference in prices and the ongoing U.S. need for foreign oil.

Republicans clearly have targeted energy prices, looking to boost their standing with consumers. President Bush has pushed Congress to permit the offshore drilling and warned that "the American people are rightly frustrated" because Democrats won't allow a vote on opening up offshore drilling.

More CNSNews.com - Obama Risks Voter Ire by Opposing New Oil Drilling

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Obama displays new flexibility on offshore drilling
02 August 2008 WASHINGTON: Faced with a national outcry over skyrocketing gas prices, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said, in an interview published on Saturday, that he might be willing to open the state of Florida to offshore drilling.

"If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage – I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done," Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.

He added that he was interested in developing a "comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices". The comments represented a policy adjustment for the Illinois senator, who in the past has opposed exposing more coastline to drilling. Oil prices jumped higher on Friday on renewed jitters over Iran's disputed nuclear program.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, leapt as high as 128.60 dollars per barrel, before retreating to close at 125.10 dollars, marking a gain of 1.02 dollars from Thursday's finish. In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery soared as high as 127.94 on Friday. It subsequently settled up 20 cents at 124.18 dollars.

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Undecideds take a wait and see attitude...

Experts Say US Voters Withholding Judgment on Obama
01 August 2008 - With less than 100 days until the U.S. presidential election on November 4, public opinion polls show most Americans disapprove of the job President Bush is doing and would generally prefer a Democrat to succeed him in the White House next year. But the polls also show that the presumptive Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, is only slightly ahead of his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain.

Three months before Election Day, the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain appears to be close. "The structure of the race has been remarkably stable all summer," said Karlyn Bowman, who monitors U.S. public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "In Gallup's national daily tracking [poll] for June and July, Obama has averaged a three percentage point lead over John McCain." But many experts say that three points seems a small lead given polls that show Americans are weary of the Bush administration, increasingly concerned about the economy and generally favor Democratic approaches on many issues.

Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown says there is one main reason why many voters seem to be holding off in deciding between candidates McCain and Obama. "Candidly, I think this election is about Senator Obama," he said. "And he has a threshold to cross in order to close the sale. He is ahead. We know that. A number of voters are not sure yet whether they want to vote for him. They do not necessarily want to vote against him. In fact, voters want to elect a Democrat. They are just not sure they want Barack Obama." The McCain campaign is doing what it can to raise questions about Obama's experience and leadership capabilities. In effect, McCain is trying to define Obama for voters, and not in a positive way.

It is a tactic that has been effective in recent presidential elections. Democratic candidates Michael Dukakis in 1988 and John Kerry in 2004 were unable to overcome Republican depictions of them as so-called tax and spend liberals from Massachusetts. Senator McCain has stepped up his attacks on Senator Obama in recent days on a range of issues, from his readiness to be commander in chief to his stand on tax cuts and energy prices. "Senator Obama says he is going to change Washington, but his solution is to simply make government bigger and raise your taxes to pay for it," he said. "We have been doing that for years, my friends, and it has not worked."

Polls show voters generally prefer Obama to handle the weakened U.S. economy, but place more trust in McCain to handle the war in Iraq and national security in general. "The question of whether Obama is a suitable commander-in-chief is one which I think voters will continue to mull over the course of the campaign," said Michael Barone, a Washington-based political analyst and author. "He is clearly at a disadvantage to John McCain on this dimension at the moment."

More VOA News - Experts Say US Voters Withholding Judgment on Obama

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Democrats just lost the election...

Democratic Platform Calls for Homosexuals in the Military
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - The national platform approved at a Democratic Platform Committee meeting in Pittsburgh on Saturday includes language that calls for repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy implemented by Democratic President Bill Clinton and for allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military.

Under current federal law, homosexual conduct is illegal in the U.S. military. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has said he favors repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and allowing avowed homosexuals in the military. In Congress this summer, some Democratic members started laying the ground work for such a policy change should Obama be elected. On July 23, the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel held a hearing exploring the possible repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com that he shares Obama’s position that homosexuals should be allowed to openly serve.

Homosexual conduct has long been prohibited by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In 1993, however, President Clinton instituted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, under which the military does not ask recruits if they are homosexual and homosexuals are allowed to serve as long as they do not announce their orientation or engage in homosexual conduct. Between 1994 and 2003, according to the Government Accountability Office, about 9,500 people were removed from the military because of homosexual conduct.

The draft Democratic platform, which is expected to receive routine final approval at the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month, says:

“More than 10,000 service men and women have been discharged on the basis of sexual orientation since the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was implemented, at a cost of over $360 million. Many of those forced out had special skills in high demand, such as translators, engineers and pilots. At a time when the military is having a tough time recruiting and retaining troops, it is wrong to deny our country the service of brave, qualified people. We support the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and the implementation of policies to allow qualified men and women to serve openly regardless of sexual orientation.” The 2004 Democratic platform did not mention “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

CNSNews.com - Democratic Platform Calls for Homosexuals in the Military

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Liberal media wants to see Obama win...

Study: Networks Gave Fawning Coverage to Obama
Friday, August 22, 2008 – Lee Cowan’s “infectious” feelings and Chris Matthews’ “thrill” helped NBC lead the way in positive coverage for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

But the other two major networks weren’t far behind in a study of 1,365 network news stories going back to May 17, 2000, the date of Obama’s first appearance on CBS Evening News, through early June 2008, when the Illinois senator secured the Democratic nomination. The study was released Wednesday by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog and the parent organization of CNSNews.com. The study is titled, “Obama’s Margin of Victory: The Media,” pointing out that he beat his Democratic rival New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primaries by one-tenth of one percent,

“Perhaps if he had faced serious journalistic scrutiny instead of media cheerleading, Barack Obama might still have won his party’s nomination,” the report says. “But the tremendously positive coverage that the networks bestowed upon his campaign was of incalculable value. The early celebrity coverage helped make Obama a nationally-known figure with a near-perfect media image.” The study showed that on “NBC Nightly News,” Obama had 10 times more positive stories than negative stories. “CBS Evening News” was bent toward Obama by seven to one, while ABC News was the least lopsided with four times as many pro-Obama stories as negative.

Overall, the networks gave Obama 462 positive stories compared to 70 stories that were critical, a 34 percent to 5 percent ratio. In other findings, the study showed that networks minimized Obama’s ideology, describing him as liberal just 14 times in four years, but calling him a either a “rock star,” “rising star” or “superstar” 29 times. Meanwhile, of the 147 average citizens interviewed about Obama, 78 percent were pro-Obama, and 19 percent were unfavorable.

This study comes after two separate polls showed the public thinks reporters are trying to help Obama become get elected and while the Project for Excellence in Journalism reports that Obama has received overwhelmingly more coverage than his Republican opponent Arizona Sen. John McCain in TV and print. The study showed that before the Iowa Caucuses, Obama’s positive to negative story ratio was 30 percent to 6 percent.

More CNSNews.com - Study: Networks Gave Fawning Coverage to Obama

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Granny says, "Awww - now ain't dat sweet...

Obama's girls steal the show
August 26, 2008 - TWO little girls stole the hearts of diehard political activists in Denver today when Malia and Sasha Obama appeared at the Democratic convention blowing kisses to their daddy, Barack Obama.

"I love you daddy," shouted seven-year-old Sasha excitedly into a microphone as the White House hopeful appeared in a live satellite feed from Kansas City. And Senator Obama, speaking just after a rousing tribute by his wife Michelle, who pledged that he would be "an extraordinary president," was hard pushed to get a word in edgeways as his irrepressible daughter stole the show.

"Which city are you in daddy?" she asked, as he tried to introduce a family from Kansas to the packed opening night of the Democratic Party's four-day political jamboree in Denver, Colorado. Waving, and blowing kisses the two girls were completely unfazed by the thousands of people cheering and applauding all around them as they walked onto the stage to the strains of Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely.

And asked how she thought her mom's speech had gone, Sasha confidently pronounced: "She did good." "Look after mommy before I get there on Thursday," Senator Obama said, before waving goodbye to Sasha and her 10-year-old sister, Malia.

Obama's girls steal the show | NEWS.com.au