July 6, 2008
Election 2008: Barack Obama in the news
Obama, Clinton to help each other during fundraisers
BUTTE, Mont. - Now that they're allies, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will help each other raise money in a series of fundraisers in New York this week.
Let's make our nationalist roots continue to grow
The Democrats' dilemma, namely how to blast President George W. Bush without being accused of bashing America, prompted Sen. Barack Obama to affirm his patriotism in Independence, Mo., last week. Obama correctly insisted that "no party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism," and patriots sometimes have a duty to dissent. But he avoided connecting patriotism to the idea of American nationalism, which is the very concept explaining why we need countries at all.
Ellis Henican: Lessons to be learned from famous couples' meltdowns
There are lessons in all these famous-couple meltdowns. It's just that none of the celebrity melters seems the slightest bit interested in learning anything.
Saul Friedman: The spirit of America's independence lives on today
We have a new reason to celebrate this Independence Day.
Obama holds rally in Montana during Fourth of July
BUTTE, Mont. - It was a family Fourth of July for Democrat Barack Obama as his wife, daughters, sister and other relatives helped him make an Independence Day play for this reliably conservative state.
Obama says he may 'refine' plan to bring troops home
FARGO, N.D. - Barack Obama opened the door yesterday to refining his plan to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq in 16 months based on what he hears from military commanders during his upcoming trip there.
True patriots ask questions
There's been a lot of talk during this presidential campaign about patriotism and who qualifies as a true patriot. The words themselves are often used, inaccurately, as synonyms for loyalty. It's a tactic that became popular during the Vietnam War, and it's seen its apogee with members of the Bush administration, who all too often call those who disagree with them "unpatriotic."
Snooping into private passport files found widespread
WASHINGTON - Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization into the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.
ON THE TRAIL
John McCain toured Mexico's holiest Roman Catholic site and received a blessing from its monsignor yesterday on the final day of a three-day Latin America tour. McCain began the day at Mexico City's famed Basilica de Guadalupe, where he laid a wreath of white roses at the altar and stood atop the papal balcony. He was accompanied by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was visiting Mexico on a business trip. "I think he's going to win," Bush said of McCain's chances against Democrat Barack Obama. "He just needs to be himself and not let Senator Obama redefine himself." McCain's visit to the Basilica had clear political overtones as Catholic and Hispanic voters are expected to be key swing voters in the November election.
John McCain shakes up presidential campaign staff
WASHINGTON - John McCain put a top adviser in control of day-to-day campaign operations yesterday after weeks of private concerns among Republicans that the GOP presidential campaign had not made the transition for the general election.
James Klurfeld: It's best to lead the world by example
There's often a misconception that at the time of the American Revolution, foreign policy was not a particularly important consideration. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Punchlines
Stephen Colbert, "The Colbert Report," on the Supreme Court's decision overturning Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns: "Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said, 'It is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.' He is right. Killing the Constitution is the president's job. The court's job is to overturn elections."
Court reins in death
The death penalty remains a fact of life in the United States, but its reach just got a bit shorter. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the Constitution doesn't permit execution as punishment for raping a child, or for most any offense in which the victim wasn't killed. That's good.
Obama wants to expand faith-based social programs
ZANESVILLE, Ohio - Taking a page from President George W. Bush, Democrat Barack Obama said yesterday he wants to expand White House efforts to steer social service dollars to religious groups, risking protests in his own party with an aggressive reach for voters who usually vote Republican.
ON THE TRAIL
Sen. Barack Obama and retired Gen. Colin Powell met privately two weeks ago in Powell's personal office in Alexandria, Va., the National Journal reports. Peggy Cifrino, Powell's spokeswoman, confirmed that the presumptive Democratic nominee and the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chatted for about an hour at the Armed Forces Benefit Association, where Powell rents space."Just an informal conversation," Cifrino said. "There's no looming endorsement." Obama's campaign declined to comment. Cifrino said Powell and Sen. John McCain met the prior week.
Tuesday, Jul. 01, 2008
Suffolk coordinators for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign are Susan Hornik in the 1st Congressional District and Mark Cronin in the 2nd Congressional District. A story Saturday misstated their identities.
ON THE TRAIL
When it comes to immigration, Barack Obama and John McCain generally agree. It's just that they don't want to say so. Instead, the White House rivals accuse one another of flinching when it mattered most, during and after last year's Senate debate on a bill that would have given millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. McCain "was a champion of comprehensive reform," Obama said Saturday before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "But when he was running for his party's nomination, he walked away from that commitment and he's said he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote." McCain had spoken earlier in the day to that group, and his campaign countered his rival's charge. "Obama put politics first and supported ... efforts to kill the immigration reform compromise last year," it said in a written rebuttal. If the disagreement seems forced, the motives behind it are straightforward. The issue is important to Hispanics, a large minority of the electorate who may hold the balance of power in potential battlegrounds Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico as well as Florida. Obama is out to win as many of the 75 percent of Democratic primary voters who chose Hillary Rodham Clinton over him, and attract Latino voters who went for President George W. Bush in 2004. As a Republican, McCain can't afford conservatives who view immigration legislation as amnesty sit out the election. But he also can't allow his share of the Hispanic vote to recede to pre-Bush levels. Based on McCain's words and Obama's voting record, there is truth in both sides, though the two supported the bill with provisions to secure borders, crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants, expand guest worker programs and provide a path to citizenship for millions in the country illegally.
Obama advises Bill Clinton on his role in campaign
WASHINGTON - Look who's finally talking.
State pols work on expanding power base
Upon winning a top political post, you start taking for granted your base - the people who put you there.
Pro-Clinton vandals disparage Obama, McCain in Fla.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Police yesterday were investigating vandals' spray-painting of dozens of city vehicles here, some with disparaging messages about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
John McCain meets with Billy Graham and son
MONTREAT, N.C. - John McCain met yesterday with evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the family's mountaintop retreat.
Partisan views on energy help stall gas compromise
WASHINGTON - Just two days after gas prices hit $4 a gallon nationwide, Democrats took their answer to consumers' pain at the pump to the Senate floor, with a windfall profits tax on Big Oil as the centerpiece.
McCain hails Iraq progress as Obama visits war veterans
WASHINGTON - As Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain said yesterday that significant progress is being made in Iraq, Democrat Barack Obama paid a visit to wounded war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Nuclear power may energize your portfolio; Avoid long telephone waits - visit gethuman.com
With the price of oil persisting near all-time highs, the search for energy sources is an issue in the presidential campaign. While most recent headlines have centered on the candidates' positions on expanding offshore drilling for oil, there's another energy source both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are discussing: nuclear power.
Saul Friedman: Saving Medicare from a Republican death sentence
Reader Jack Wajda, 69, of Orlando, a retired AT&T executive and financial planner, identifies the single greatest problem with the American health-care system as well as anyone. He writes: "To allow private for-profit insurance companies to decide whether and what type of care we receive is incomprehensible to me."
June 28: Choosing a doctor, school taxes, energy talk, MTA
Get involved in choosing doctor
ON THE TRAIL
A Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Hillary Rodham Clinton says she hopes to fight off an attempt by Wisconsin Democrats to take away her credentials because of her past statement that she would vote for John McCain if Clinton wasn't the nominee. Debra Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old registered nurse, declined to comment on her previous comment, quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that she would vote for the Republican McCain in November if the Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama for president. At its convention on June 13, the state convention approved a resolution to challenge Bartoshevich's status as a delegate to the Democratic convention in Denver in August, saying she had violated party rules by expressing support for the presumptive nominee of the opposing party.
Long Island's Democratic operatives unite for Obama
The unity displayed Friday between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was echoed - at least for the moment - by Democratic operatives on Long Island.
Resentment simmers in Obama, Clinton camps
UNITY, N.H. - The name of the town was Unity, not Warmth.
Supreme Court strikes Washington's ban on handgun
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.'s ban on handgun possession yesterday, and decided for the first time in the nation's history that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to own a gun for self-defense.
ON THE TRAIL
Barack Obama has won over more than half of Hillary Rodham Clinton's former supporters, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll. The poll suggests time is beginning to heal some rifts from the primary campaign, and that Clinton's endorsement of Obama carried weight. But the poll, taken in the days after Clinton suspended her campaign, shows that Obama's progress with Clinton supporters is far from complete. More than one in five who had backed Clinton now plan to support Republican John McCain in the fall. "We still have work to do," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters.
Clinton urges support for Obama at Washington fundraiser
WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton gave Barack Obama the key to her campaign war chest last night - but it remains to be seen if her top fundraisers will unlock their checkbooks for her former rival.
Suffolk pilot worker plan upheld as similar bill nixed
Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper yesterday withdrew a bill requiring 17,000 licensed contractors to use what he termed a "deeply flawed" federal database to check new workers' immigrant statuses, but he added he had no plans to repeal a similar pilot project in the public works department.
Obama: Nader's statements are "inflammatory"
CHICAGO - Barack Obama dismissed Ralph Nader's claim that the Democratic candidate is trying to "talk white" and has failed to challenge the power structure to appeal to "white guilt."
Giants give Chris Snee $43.5 million extension
The Giants and guard Chris Snee have agreed on a six-year extension that will pay him an average annual salary of $6.875 million with $17 million in guarantees including a $13.5 million signing bonus.
Obama tackles Clinton campaign donors' hurt feelings
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama faces a tough crowd as he attempts to soothe the bruised feelings of several dozen of Hillary Rodham Clinton's top campaign donors in Washington tonight.
Punchlines
Jay Leno, "The Tonight Show": "President Bush went to Iowa today. ... Of course, people from Iowa were a little confused. They weren't sure which disaster President Bush was talking about - the floods or his presidency."
Ludacris, 'Gossip Girl' film in Upper Brookville
What do Grammy-winner Ludacris, socialite Tinsley Mortimer and the cast of television's "Gossip Girl" have in common? All were filming this week at a five-acre Upper Brookville estate formerly owned by convicted chop-shop king Michael Pescatore.
Federal, state intelligence officials meet in Albany
WASHINGTON - Security for the presidential debate at Hofstra University this fall was among the topics discussed at the first federal-state intelligence summit convened by New York state in Albany yesterday, a top state official said.
Standing ovation for Clinton's return to Washington
Hillary Rodham Clinton's staff used to obsess over the selection of power ballads and you-go-girl anthems at the candidate's rallies, but she faced a different kind of music yesterday on Capitol Hill.
ON THE TRAIL
Sen. Barack Obama has captured a sizable lead over Sen. John McCain at the opening of the general election campaign for president, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found. Registered voters chose Obama over McCain by 49 percent to 37 percent in the national poll conducted last weekend, and it appeared that Obama's advantage stems from his positions on domestic issues. Both Democrats and independent voters prefer that Obama handle the nation's economic problems, the public's top concern. Many voters consider McCain the more experienced candidate and the one best equipped to protect the nation against terrorism - but they rank those concerns below their worries about the economy.
McCain aide says he regrets terrorism comments
FRESNO, Calif. - John McCain distanced himself yesterday from a top adviser who said another terrorist attack on U.S. soil this election year would benefit the Republican presidential candidate.
ON THE TRAIL
Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton plan to campaign together Friday in the small New Hampshire town of Unity, their first joint appearance meant to ease tensions over the closely fought Democratic primary. New Hampshire is critical battleground state in November. George W. Bush won the state in 2000, but Democrat John Kerry narrowly captured it in 2004. The state also has one of the most competitive Senate races this year, with former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen looking to oust GOP Sen. John Sununu.The New Hampshire rally will come a day after Obama and Clinton meet Thursday at a Washington hotel with former Clinton donors. Clinton will introduce Obama to her financial backers, who have been slow to embrace her one-time opponent. Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said she will pitch to her supporters that they should support Obama "with everything we still need to accomplish and with the stakes as high as they are."
Obama's reversal
Faced with a choice of principle versus pragmatism on campaign financing, Barack Obama chose pragmatism, the more lucrative option. That's disappointing. He pledged months ago to accept public campaign financing - and its spending limits - if his Republican opponent did too.
Unfetter women's intellect on campaign trail
I've got whiplash. That's how quickly the national discussion of women's leadership has changed from one of the merits of an accomplished senator turned potential first female president to the clothes of the potential first ladies.
Saudis may boost oil output slightly
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Facing strong U.S. pressure and global dismay over oil prices, Saudi Arabia said yesterday it will produce more crude this year if the market needs it. But the vague pledge fell far short of U.S. hopes for a specific increase and may do little to lower prices immediately.
Clinton could use some of Obama's spare change
If Sen. Barack Obama is an agent for change, his rivals old and new might want to ask him to spare some.
WORLD & NATION UPDATE: AT HOME
Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store. In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed. The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.
Obama vows to beef up oversight of energy traders
WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday that as president he would strengthen government oversight of energy traders he blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil.
Split views on race relations
WASHINGTON - As Sen. Barack Obama campaigns to be the first African-American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of Americans polled say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Mark Herrmann: EX-QB McPherson calls signals on social issues
Don McPherson felt left out. All through the Democratic primary season, pollsters were asking black women if they felt conflicted about the choice between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, leaving this former quarterback on the sideline.
Mayor Bloomberg defends Obama before Florida Jews
Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged Jewish voters to denounce the whisper campaign that for months has pushed the false rumor that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim.
Obama and Clinton plan first rally together
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will hold their first joint public rally next Friday - a day after the former rivals are due to appear at a Washington fundraiser.
ON THE TRAIL
Democrat Barack Obama raised $22 million in May for his presidential campaign, his weakest fundraising month this year, and ended the month with $43 million cash on hand, the campaign reported Friday. Though Obama has been the fundraising leader in the presidential race, his May totals are just slightly above Republican rival John McCain's fundraising for the month. Overall, Obama has raised more than $287 million during the past 17 months, while McCain has raised a total of $115 million. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, ended May with a $22.5 million debt and $3.4 million in hand.
Saul Friedman: Grey matters: Age as a factor in the election
In this most unusual presidential campaign, like it or not, voters have had to deal with the issues of race and gender.
ON THE TRAIL
Sen. John McCain toured flood-damaged southeastern Iowa yesterday, walking past half-submerged buildings and thousands of sandbags filled hurriedly in a vain attempt to hold back the waters. "I know I speak for all of America. We'll do everything necessary to try to rebuild their lives," McCain said of residents of Columbus Junction, a town of 1,900 at the confluence of the Cedar and Iowa rivers. The town experienced record flooding in recent days, and although the waters have begun to recede, National Guard trucks blocked access to washed-out roads and the municipal water system had not returned to operation. Sen. Barack Obama went to Quincy, Ill., last week, where he helped fill sandbags in advance of flooding.
Obama opts out of federal campaign financing system
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday he will bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.
ON THE TRAIL
A Muslim woman who was denied visible seats behind Barack Obama's stage at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Monday because she wore a head scarf said she deserved a personal apology from Obama. Hebba Aref, 25, and her friend, Shimaa Abdelfadeel, received apologies from the campaign Tuesday after they complained that they were not allowed to sit near the podium when campaign volunteers learned that they wear the traditional Muslim head garb called a hijab. "I've lived here practically my whole life, and never been treated that way. It's so ironic that it was at his rally; he obviously would not promote any discrimination at all," said Aref, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., resident and graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Aref said she was, "hoping for an apology from Sen. Obama himself. He needs to send a strong message this kind of discrimination won't be tolerated." Campaign spokesman Bill Burton told Politico.com that the actions by campaign workers were "offensive and counter to Obama's commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run."
Asharoken mayor Kelly fails in bid for 14th term
After three decades in local politics, Asharoken Mayor William Kelly said he was a little surprised at his defeat Tuesday night in his bid for a 14th term in office, but he had no regrets.
Shaun Powell: Thanks to Mets, Yankees are king in NY once again
Joe Girardi was not fired last night after the ballgame. Andy Pettitte did not admit to taking another jab of human growth hormone. Joba Chamberlain's overly pampered right arm remains in its socket and ready for use today. Sidney Ponson, the newly arrived and somewhat tainted pitcher, was not arrested and charged with being a career knucklehead.
Obama talks terrorism, meets with security advisers
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr - but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.
Colleagues, politicians attend Tim Russert's funeral
WASHINGTON - Luke Russert has his father's sense of mischief.
James Klurfeld: Education boost for black youth: Home
One of the things that bugs me most about the coverage of campaigns these days is that almost everything is viewed through the prism of political tactics. E.J. Dionne Jr. made this point in his column Tuesday, discussing the substantive merits of Sen. Barack Obama's Father's Day speech.
McCarthy is open to lifting offshore oil drilling ban
WASHINGTON - Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) is breaking with House leadership - and other Long Island Democrats - in saying she would consider lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling as proposed by President George W. Bush yesterday.
Michelle Obama fights a bad rap and wows 'The View'
Unpatriotic - as some critics would portray Michelle Obama? Not on yesterday's "The View," which was something of a coming-out party for the wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.
Punchlines
Jon Stewart, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart": "With Barack Obama and John McCain hogging the front pages in the United States, President Bush decided to get out of town and take a quick trip to Europe. Making him one of the only Americans who can still afford a trip to Europe."
Review: 'Nixonland: The Rise of a President ...'
NIXONLAND: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, by Rick Perlstein. Scribner, 896 pp., $37.50.
McCain camp: Obama's counterterrorism views naive
Republican John McCain's campaign accused Barack Obama of having a dangerous and naive view of terrorism because the Democrat spoke approvingly of the successful prosecution and imprisonment of those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.
ON THE TRAIL
Republican Sen. John McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama's call for a windfall profits tax on the oil industry yesterday, despite leaving the door open to the same idea last month. McCain leveled his attack in prepared remarks in which he said the next president must be willing to break with policies of both the Bush and Clinton administrations to reduce dependence on foreign oil. But on May 5, McCain said, "I don't like obscene profits being made anywhere. I'd be glad to look not just at the windfall profits tax, that's not what bothers me, but we should look at any incentives that we are giving to people ... that are distorting the markets."
Obama, Clinton to join forces at fundraiser
The Barack and Hillary Reunion Tour has booked its first gig.
Developments on the campaign trial
Al Gore announced his endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday and promised to help the Democrat achieve what eluded him - the presidency. In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States." In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush.
McCain calls for end to fed oil, gas drilling ban
ARLINGTON, Va. - Sen. John McCain said yesterday the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling should be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their own coasts.
Les Payne: Obama as a great hope, no matter his color
The election of Barack Obama as president would no more end the racial divide in America than the fielding of Jackie Robinson as a Brooklyn Dodger did back in 1947.
Obama focuses on dads; McCain meets with Iraqi minister
In a Father's Day address heavy with personal and political meaning, Democrat Barack Obama told worshipers at a Chicago church yesterday that government must do more to help families - but he also exhorted parents, especially fathers, to play their part by raising healthy children.