Obama is Our Soother-in-Chief

When these frightful times of financial confusion and credit constipation become too much, I dial up Barack Obama on YouTube to suppress my anxieties. The Voice works like aerosolized Paxil on my limbic system, reducing my blood pressure and lifting my mood.
If this president thing doesn't work out for him, I'm sure Obama could make a living recording evacuation tapes for the airline industry: "The aircraft … in which you are seated … is falling … at a rate that Bernoulli's principle … can not overcome. … As we crash … into the tarmac … please remain calm … unbuckle your safety belts … and walk in an orderly fashion … to the marked exits … to deplane."
Obama smeared the American psyche with his oratorical ointment Jan. 8 as he implored Congress to pass his stimulus plan, which he doesn't call a stimulus plan. That would sound too down. In the Obama version, it's the upbeat "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan."
If you listen to the words, Obama promises a grim recession that "could linger for years," produce a double-digit unemployment rate, and destroy a "generation of potential and promise" if his package doesn't pass. But when I watched him in the video below, flanked by a pair of U.S. flags as if still campaigning for the job that he won two months ago, he made me feel oddly good about the challenges of coming economic Armageddon.
Say, I said to myself, how does he do that?
For one thing, he's better at remaining calmer and more deliberate in his speech patter than John Wayne in a firefight—and better at it than any politician since Ronald Reagan. If he's calm, I'm calm—even if my portfolio was last sighted burning its way to the bottom of the Bentley Subglacial Trench.
Adopting a slightly scolding tone in today's speech without accusing anybody by name, he blamed such abstract scourges as corporate boardrooms, Wall Street, banks, "the halls of power in Washington, D.C.," and borrowers who took out loans they couldn't repay for the crisis. But like a dad who is tough-loving his wayward children back in line, he calls on us to "trade old habits for a new spirit of responsibility." Yes, we can be redeemed! Painting a sunshine-and-lollipop vista of fuel-efficient cars, high-quality health care, better schools, "new discoveries and entire new industries," a smart electric grid, and job security for cops and firefighters has a way of accentuating gain over pain.
Avoiding talk about pain is one of his secrets. If there is a downside to Obama's "Recovery and Reinvestment"—or even a chance the Recovery and Reinvestment scheme won't work—he shares not a peep. How much will this Recovery and Reinvestment operation cost? Obama wisely avoids putting a price tag on it. But, again, it's not what Obama says that narcotizes the citizenry, but the way he says it. He can't possibly be certain that his plan will work, but he sells it as a done, settled deal, never showing a speck of doubt.
Related in Slate
During the 2008 campaign, Jack Shafer attempted to decode Obama's rhetoric and explained why nothing the press throws at him sticks.
Continuity and this sort of "settledness" was a hallmark of Obama's campaign, and that strategy has evolved during the post-election period. At the exceedingly short press conferences that follow the introduction of some new administration hire, Obama often answers by saying he's answered that question before. Asked about the Iranian bomb on Nov. 7, he said, "Let me state—repeat what I stated during the course of the campaign." "Well, let me repeat a couple of things," he said on Dec. 11 when asked about Gov. Blagojevich's contact with his staff. When that didn't shake the reporters, he repeated his repetition. "In terms of our involvement, I'll repeat what I said earlier, which is I had no contact with the governor's office."
Here are a few more examples of Obama's thanks-for-that-redundant-question response:
"But as I have said consistently, I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders."—Dec. 1
"As I said throughout the campaign, I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office—responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control."—Dec. 1
"Well, keep in mind what I said during the campaign. And you were there most of the time."—Dec. 11
"As I have said repeatedly, I believe our government should provide short-term assistance to the auto industry to avoid a collapse."—Dec. 11
"With respect to the moratorium on off-shore drilling, what I said during the campaign was that I was open to the idea of off-shore drilling."—Dec. 15 [Emphasis added.]
On the page, these Obamaisms read a little snotty, but on the tube, he sounds like a confidence-inspiring paragon of consistency: Everything is under control. All contingencies have been considered. The ship is sailing straight and true. The Obama pacification express slows, however, when the press corps refuses to let him determine when an issue is "settled," as happened at a March press conference. As this clip illustrates, the Tony Rezko controversy wasn't going to disappear just because Obama thought his answers had vanquished it. "Come on, guys, I answered, like, eight questions. We're running late," Obama said as he retreated. It so shattered my vision of Obama that my acid reflux was out of control for a week.
Another way Obama stills the turbulent waters is by extolling bipartisanship, his old "there is no red-state America, there is no blue-state America" shtick. "American's security is not a partisan issue," he recently said. "I know we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and politics and work together as one nation. … I'm calling on all Americans—Democrats and Republicans—to put good ideas ahead of the old ideological battles, a sense of common purpose above the same narrow partisanship."
Obama's endless hunt for common ground, his desire to bring Kumbaya moments to all, endears him to the multitudes. He's willing to work with everybody from the Republicans to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and even the Rev. Rick Warren, whom he has tapped to give a prayer at his inauguration. Defending his Warren invitation, which angered some gays and lesbians, Obama uncorked his stock explanation that we must be willing to "disagree without being disagreeable."
According to the Chicago Tribune (Aug. 4, 2004), Obama borrowed the disagree/disagreeable trope from Sen. Paul Simon, who pinched it from "three dozen self-help books." I always blanch when Obama uses this construction because it deliberately marginalizes the views of anybody unwilling to match Obama's temperament—which is to say the rest of the planet. And I don't know which is more damning—the fact that Obama's cliché was plucked from a self-help book or that so many bobble-head in agreement whenever he uses it.
"One of the keys to being well liked in Washington is to appear humble, which is why Washington is so full of people who are so unhumble when it comes to touting how humble they are. All of this comes naturally to Obama," Mark Leibovich wrote four years ago in an Obama profile for the Washington Post.
If I understand Leibovich correctly—and I think I do—we like Obama because he's likable, and he's likable because 1) he knows how to be likable, and 2) he wants to be likable. Barack Obama, the ocean that refuses no river, will remain everybody's best friend until he makes his first tough decision. Only then shall we really begin to know him.

Madelyn Dunham, Obama's grandmother, dies at 86

Madelyn Dunham, who watched from afar as her only grandson rapidly ascended the ranks of U.S. politics to the brink of the presidency, did not live to see whether he was elected.

Dunham, 86, Senator Barack Obama's grandmother, died late Sunday evening in Hawaii after battling cancer, which Obama announced upon arriving here Monday for a campaign stop on the eve of Election Day.

"She has gone home," Obama said, his voice tinged with emotion as he briefly spoke of her death at a campaign rally here. "She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side, so there's great joy instead of tears."

Obama learned of his grandmother's death at 8 a.m. Monday, aides said, but appeared at a morning rally in Florida without making an announcement. A written statement was issued around 4:30 p.m., in the name of Obama and his sister, before he spoke at an evening rally in Charlotte. The delay was intended to allow his sister, who was six hours behind in Hawaii, time to take care of a few details before news of the death became public.

Dunham was the final remaining immediate family member who helped raise Obama during his teenage years in Hawaii. He called her Toot, his shorthand for "tutu," a Hawaiian term for grandparent.

Obama broke from the presidential campaign trail in late October to travel to Honolulu to bid his grandmother farewell. He spent part of two days with her, as she lay gravely ill in the small apartment where he lived from age 10 to 18.

While Dunham was too sick to travel to see her grandson on the campaign trail, Obama and other family members said that she closely followed his bid for the presidency through cable television. Yet she became a figure in his campaign, seen through images in television commercials intended to give him a biographical anchor.

Dunham, who grew up near August, Kansas, moved with her husband, Stanley Dunham, to Hawaii. In the early stages of his candidacy, Obama spoke wistfully about his grandparents, whose all-American biography suddenly was critical to establishing his own story.

For Obama, the loss came on the final full day of his presidential campaign. Campaigning in New Mexico, Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, offered their condolences Monday, saying: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to them as they remember and celebrate the life of someone who had such a profound impact in their lives."

His grandmother's illness had been weighing on him in recent weeks, friends said, which is why he insisted on interrupting his schedule to visit her last month. While she was gravely ill, aides said, Obama carried on a limited conversation with her. He kept the visit to one day, advisers said, partly out of her own insistence that people not create a fuss.

Obama moves America beyond racial politics

Even during the darkest hours of his presidential campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois held on to his improbable, unshakable conviction that America was ready to step across the color line.

On Tuesday, America leaped.

Millions of voters — white and black, Hispanic and Asian, biracial and multiracial — put their faith and the future of their country into the hands of a 47-year-old black man who made history both because of his race and in spite of it.

African-Americans wept and danced in the streets on Tuesday night, declaring that a once-reluctant nation had finally lived up to its democratic promise. Strangers of all colors exulted in small towns and big cities. And white voters marveled at what they had wrought in turning a page on the country's bitter racial history.

"It brought tears to my eyes to see the lines," said Bob Haskins, a black maintenance worker at an Atlanta church, where scores of college students voted on Tuesday. "For these young folks, this is a calling. Everything that Martin Luther King talked about is coming true today."

Tobey Benas, a retired teacher who voted for Obama in Chicago, also savored the moment: "I can't believe how far we've come," said Benas, who is white. "This goes very deep for me."

In a country long divided, Obama had a singular appeal: He is biracial and Ivy League educated; a stirring speaker who shoots hoops and quotes the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr; a politician who grooves to the rapper Jay-Z and loves the lyricism of the cellist Yo Yo Ma; a man of remarkable control and startling boldness.

He was also something completely new: an African-American presidential candidate without a race-based agenda. And his message of unity and his promise of a new way of thinking seemed to inspire — or least offer some reassurance — to a country staggered by two wars, a convulsing economy and sometimes bewildering global change.

Americans, of course, have not suddenly become colorblind or forgotten old wounds. But millions of white citizens clearly decided Obama was preferable to the alternative, even if some had to swallow hard when they walked into the voting booth.

"In difficult economic times, people find the price of prejudice is just a little bit too high," said Governor Michael Easley of North Carolina, a white Democrat. "They're saying, 'We don't care what your race is. If you can make things better, we're for you.' "

Easley said he knew big changes were coming when he passed a pickup on the road a few weeks ago. The white driver, who looked like he had been hunting, was wearing camouflage apparel and had a gun rack in his truck. Easley said he was sure he was looking at a McCain supporter — until he saw the Obama stickers plastered on the door.

"I thought to myself, 'We might be winning now,' " Easley said. "We could cross that chasm, we could cross the Rubicon this time."

Confident in the country's ability to move beyond racial politics, Obama had his finger on the pulse of a nation in transition.

Day by day, year by year, racial tensions have eased as black and white classmates giggle over scribbled notes, co-workers gossip over cups of coffee, predominantly white audiences bond with Oprah and people have grown accustomed to black executives on Wall Street, black movie stars in Hollywood and black cabinet secretaries in the Oval Office.

Still, the fact that Americans would be willing, at last, to elect a black president stunned many scholars, politicians and advocates for civil rights. They remain keenly aware of the nation's record of denying black aspirations — from the time African slaves were forced to these shores nearly 400 years ago, to the broken promises of Reconstruction, to the bloody resistance to the civil rights movement in the 1960s, to the last lynching of a black man in 1981.

"The history of the country is such that you wonder when, if ever, certain things will ever happen," said Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who is 68. "You sit down and you say, 'How did the Lord allow me to be a part of all this? Why not my mother and father or their parents? Why me?' "

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard scholar of African-American history, said that the election rivaled the day in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and the day 101 years later when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Then Gates declared, "There's never been a moment like this in our lifetime, ever."

For older blacks, Obama's victory was particularly momentous. They marveled as they compared the scenes of white policemen beating black marchers in the 1960s to those from this year's campaign rallies where thousands of white people waved American flags and chanted, "O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!"

Richard Hatcher, who became one of the nation's first black mayors when he was elected in 1967 to lead Gary, Indiana, said he believed the election would reshape the perceptions that blacks and whites have of each other.

"That's the great hope," Hatcher said. "We do not have to be absolutely obsessed with the issue of race anymore. There's no reason why the vision of America cannot be real."

A century or so ago, such optimism was unthinkable. Before the Civil War, only two black people — a justice of the peace and a township clerk — had managed to get elected to public office in the entire country.

The prospects for black politicians were so dim that Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, when asked what he might do as president, dismissed the question as absurd, saying, "No such contingency has even one chance in 60 million to be realized."

After black men won the right to vote in 1870, they sent 23 African-Americans to Congress over the next three decades. But by 1901, when the last black lawmaker of that era left Capitol Hill, Southern whites had disenfranchised blacks, using, among other devices, the poll tax, intimidation and violence.

By the time Obama announced his White House bid last year, though, white voters had elected black members of Congress, state legislators, mayors, even governors. This year, 70 percent of white adults surveyed in a New York Times/CBS News poll said the United States was ready to elect a black president.

Still, most of the political establishment — black and white — thought that Obama had no chance. Previous black presidential candidates had never drawn significant white votes. And Obama, only the third black lawmaker ever elected to the Senate, had an unusual biography — a white mother from Kansas, black father from Kenya, a childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia — and a relatively thin résumé.

But once the primary season started, it became clear that Obama had a persona and a message that resonated deeply with voters. Variously a soaring orator, a sober policy wonk, an urgent promoter of change and a steady leader, he displayed a gift for finding consensus that let him draw support from people who might disagree with each other.

African-Americans, wary at first of a candidate who had not emerged from the civil rights movement or the black church, soon embraced him. And though he struggled to win over white, working-class voters, many whites were attracted to a candidate who rarely talked about race and focused on their concerns about the war in Iraq, health care and the economy.

His biracial background may have reassured voters who might otherwise have felt uneasy, said Governor James Doyle of Wisconsin, a white Democrat. "He has understood that occasionally white people say things that can be hurtful and can still be wonderful, loving people."

Yet Obama also expressed pride in his African-American identity. Gates, the Harvard professor, called Obama "the postmodern race man."

"He can wear it, he can take it off, he can put it back on. It's just an aspect of his identity," Gates said. "People don't see him primarily as black. I think people see him primarily as an agent of change."

Obama is a student of history, and he turned to it in delivering the speech in March that many believed saved a candidacy threatened by his ties to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose 2003 "God damn America" sermon became notorious.

The senator spoke of the legacy of slavery, of black grievance and white resentment, and of the possibility of redemption.

"I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy — particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own," he said then. "But what we know — what we have seen — is that America can change."

"The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society," Obama added. "It's that he spoke as if our society was static, as if no progress has been made."

Civil rights leaders cautioned that much work remains to be done. But Lattrell Foster of Chicago, 32, who voted for the first time on Tuesday, was still close to tears as he considered the enormity of the nation's progress and vowed to tell his children about it. "Just like my grandparents told me what it was like during the civil rights movement," he said. "I feel like this night is a culmination of that history."

Obama's Historical acceptance speech for nomination from democratic party for presidential candidate

The following is the transcript of Senator Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, as recorded by CQ Transcriptions.

OBAMA: Thank you so much.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you, everybody.

To -- to Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin, and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation, with profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for presidency of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

Let me -- let me express -- let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest, a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

(APPLAUSE)

To President Clinton, to President Bill Clinton, who made last night the case for change as only he can make it...

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... to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service...

(APPLAUSE)

... and to the next vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you.

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I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To the love of my life, our next first lady, Michelle Obama...

(APPLAUSE)

... and to Malia and Sasha, I love you so much, and I am so proud of you.

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Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story, of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

It is that promise that's always set this country apart, that through hard work and sacrifice each of us can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams, as well. That's why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women -- students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive.

We meet at one of those defining moments, a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit cards, bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach.

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

(APPLAUSE)

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

(APPLAUSE)

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

We're a better country than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment that he's worked on for 20 years and watch as it's shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty...

(APPLAUSE)

... that sits...

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... that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

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Tonight, tonight, I say to the people of America, to Democrats and Republicans and independents across this great land: Enough. This moment...

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This moment, this moment, this election is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive.

Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

And we are here -- we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight.

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On November 4th, on November 4th, we must stand up and say: Eight is enough.

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Now, now, let me -- let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and our respect.

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And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but, really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?

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I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.

(APPLAUSE)

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives -- on health care, and education, and the economy -- Senator McCain has been anything but independent.

He said that our economy has made great progress under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

And when one of his chief advisers, the man who wrote his economic plan, was talking about the anxieties that Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a mental recession and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."

(AUDIENCE BOOS) A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made.

Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third, or fourth, or fifth tour of duty.

These are not whiners. They work hard, and they give back, and they keep going without complaint. These are the Americans I know.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans; I just think he doesn't know.

(LAUGHTER)

Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies, but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans?

OBAMA: How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

It's not because John McCain doesn't care; it's because John McCain doesn't get it.

(APPLAUSE)

For over two decades -- for over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy: Give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

In Washington, they call this the "Ownership Society," but what it really means is that you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck, you're on your own. No health care? The market will fix it. You're on your own. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don't have boots. You are on your own.

(APPLAUSE)

Well, it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America. And that's why I'm running for president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

You see, you see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage, whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma.

We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president...

(APPLAUSE)

... when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of go down $2,000, like it has under George Bush. (APPLAUSE)

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off and look after a sick kid without losing her job, an economy that honors the dignity of work.

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great, a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.

Because, in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

In the face of that young student, who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree, who once turned to food stamps, but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

(APPLAUSE)

When I -- when I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business or making her way in the world, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman.

She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight and that tonight is her night, as well.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine.

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These are my heroes; theirs are the stories that shaped my life. And it is on behalf of them that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

What -- what is that American promise? It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have obligations to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, to look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours -- ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools, and new roads, and science, and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.

That's the promise of America, the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper.

That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now.

(APPLAUSE)

So -- so let me -- let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president.

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Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

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You know, unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

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I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

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I will -- listen now -- I will cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

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And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

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We will do this. Washington -- Washington has been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30 years. And, by the way, John McCain has been there for 26 of them.

(LAUGHTER)

And in that time, he has said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil than we had on the day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution, not even close.

(APPLAUSE)

As president, as president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America.

(APPLAUSE)

I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars.

OBAMA: And I'll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy -- wind power, and solar power (OTCBB:SOPW) , and the next generation of biofuels -- an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced.

(APPLAUSE)

America, now is not the time for small plans. Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy.

You know, Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance.

(APPLAUSE)

I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries, and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability.

And we will keep our promise to every young American: If you commit to serving your community or our country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

(APPLAUSE)

Now -- now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American.

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If you have health care -- if you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.

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And -- and as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

(APPLAUSE)

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their job and caring for a sick child or an ailing parent.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses, and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have the exact same opportunities as your sons.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime: by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow.

But I will also go through the federal budget line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less, because we cannot meet 21st-century challenges with a 20th-century bureaucracy.

(APPLAUSE)

And, Democrats, Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our intellectual and moral strength.

Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient.

Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents, that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework, that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility, that's the essence of America's promise. And just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad.

If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament and judgment to serve as the next commander-in-chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

For -- for while -- while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats that we face.

When John McCain said we could just muddle through in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.

You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives.

(APPLAUSE)

And today, today, as my call for a timeframe to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush administration, even after we learned that Iraq has $79 billion in surplus while we are wallowing in deficit, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That's not the judgment we need; that won't keep America safe. We need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.

(APPLAUSE)

You don't defeat -- you don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances.

If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice, but that is not the change that America needs.

(APPLAUSE)

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe.

The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

(APPLAUSE)

As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

(APPLAUSE)

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly and finish the fight against Al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts, but I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression.

I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation, poverty and genocide, climate change and disease.

And I will restore our moral standing so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

(APPLAUSE)

These -- these are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes, because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and each other's patriotism.

(APPLAUSE)

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain.

The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together, and bled together, and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America or a blue America; they have served the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

So I've got news for you, John McCain: We all put our country first.

(APPLAUSE)

America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices. And Democrats, as well as Republicans, will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past, for part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose, and that's what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.

(APPLAUSE)

The -- the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.

(APPLAUSE)

I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in a hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, passions may fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.

But this, too, is part of America's promise, the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer, and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values.

And that's to be expected, because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.

(APPLAUSE)

If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.

And you know what? It's worked before, because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping and settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me; it's about you.

(APPLAUSE)

It's about you.

(APPLAUSE)

For 18 long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said, "Enough," to the politics of the past. You understand that, in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same, old politics with the same, old players and expect a different result.

You have shown what history teaches us, that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.

(APPLAUSE)

Change happens -- change happens because the American people demand it, because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

I believe that, as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming, because I've seen it, because I've lived it.

Because I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work.

I've seen it in Washington, where we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans, and keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

And I've seen it in this campaign, in the young people who voted for the first time and the young at heart, those who got involved again after a very long time; in the Republicans who never thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did.

(APPLAUSE)

I've seen it -- I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day, even though they can't afford it, than see their friends lose their jobs; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb; in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.

You know, this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit, that American promise, that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night and a promise that you make to yours, a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west, a promise that led workers to picket lines and women to reach for the ballot.

(APPLAUSE) And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

(APPLAUSE)

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color, from every walk of life -- is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back...

(APPLAUSE)

... not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.

America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone.

At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

A gifted orator, Obama is on an historic path

Barack Obama burst onto the national stage four years ago with a speech describing himself self-deprecatingly as a skinny guy with a funny name and an improbable life story.

On Tuesday, he may make history by becoming the first black man elected U.S. president.

Born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia.

In the 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention that vaulted him to rock-star status, he introduced himself to America as someone who hoped to bridge divisions, political and racial.

"In no other country on earth is my story even possible," Obama said, highlighting his biracial heritage as a metaphor for his call for unity.

"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America," he said. "There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America -- there's the United States of America."

The first-term Illinois senator, known for his stirring eloquence, now draws tens of thousands to his political rallies and is the author of two best-selling autobiographical books.

To his fans, he is an inspiring once-in-a-generation politician like President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, both assassinated in the 1960s.

To his critics, including Republican rival John McCain, Obama is little more than a celebrity with a thin resume, an eloquent speaker who preaches "naive" foreign policies and advocates "socialist" economic policies.

But if Obama, who commands a solid lead against McCain just four days before Election Day, fares as well as the polls predict, the Arizona senator and Vietnam War hero will become the latest in a long line of politicians who have underestimated Obama.

They include New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the former first lady he defeated in the Democratic primary.

It was in Hawaii where Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, met his father, Barack Obama Sr., who was from a goat-herding family in Kenya and got a scholarship to study in the United States.

They married and she gave birth to her son when she was just 18. Two years later, Obama's father abandoned the family and his mother raised him with the help of his grandparents.

FOOD STAMPS AND TUTORING

Obama has recalled that his mother once had to rely on food stamps to get by when he was growing up. When the family moved to Indonesia for four years after she remarried, his mother used to regularly wake him at 4 a.m. to tutor him.

His mother and his grandparents secured a scholarship that enabled Obama to attend the prestigious Punahou School in Honolulu. He later attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

Obama spent his early adult years as a community organizer in Chicago, where he lives with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.

He first gained national prominence in 1990 when he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review.

He later worked as a civil rights lawyer and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He was elected to the Illinois senate in 1996 but suffered a crushing defeat in 2000 when he ran for the U.S. Congress against an incumbent Democrat.

Nevertheless, in 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Using journals in which he used to jot down notes about his travels and experiences, Obama wrote "Dreams From My Father," which focused on his search for identity and his efforts to connect with his father's roots in Africa.

The 1995 memoir showcased the lyrical writing style that would later mark some of his best-known speeches. It also helped to shape Obama's political identity.

"The Audacity of Hope," published in 2006, outlined Obama's political philosophy, which he says was molded by the Midwestern values of his mother and grandparents. Brisk sales of the two books have made him a millionaire.

He has made a point of not running on his race in the presidential campaign, but his candidacy has galvanized many blacks, who constitute some 12 percent of the population.

The issue of race has reared its head at times, including during the Democratic primary contest against Hillary Clinton.

Obama came under attack after videotapes surfaced showing his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, making racially inflammatory statements about whites.

Addressing the controversy, Obama gave a widely praised speech in March calling for racial healing.

As Clinton had during the primary, McCain has tried to use Obama's reputation for lofty speeches against him, suggesting he is all rhetoric and no substance.

But the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression has led to a surge in the polls for Obama, who won high marks from many voters for his response to the upheaval. He has benefited from anger at President George W. Bush's economic policies.

Obama boosts "Daily Show" to new record

Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" pulled in its biggest audience ever Wednesday night.

The 11 p.m. episode, which featured an appearance by presidential candidate Barack Obama, averaged 3.6 million total viewers, beating by 600,000 viewers the previous record set October 8 when his wife Michelle Obama appeared on the show.

At 11:30 p.m., "Colbert Report" also had its most-watched episode ever, drawing 2.4 million viewers.

A campaign of living history

A campaign of living history

The 2008 presidential contest will go down as one of the most interesting, and most important, races of at least the past half-century. Why? Major crises, compelling debates and strong — indeed, historic — candidates.

Whether it was the hard times, serious national mood or a superb cast, 2008 will go down as a year of great political theater.

At this stage in past elections, we've all heard pseudo sophisticates gripe, "This is so endless and boring; wake me when it's over." Or jaded malcontents grumble, "Out of 300 million people, couldn't we get better candidates than these bums?"

(Less than a week to go: Barack Obama and John McCain race to Nov. 4 /
Gary Hershorn, Reuters)

Not this time.

As someone who covered presidential campaigns for three decades, traveling with candidates and interviewing voters, the 2008 election has crackled with the highest level of intensity in my memory.

Whether Republican nominee John McCain will defy the doomsday pollsters or Democratic candidate Barack Obama will launch a historic landslide win, the political season that began in Iowa and New Hampshire has been a vivid show diverse actors, weird plots, dumbfounded pundits. Only hindsight will tell whether 2008 was a game-changing election in the way that Roosevelt-Hoover in 1932 led to the New Deal, Kennedy-Nixon in 1960 intensified the Cold War, or Reagan-Carter in 1980 began a Republican dominance.

But there's no doubt that millions have felt a heightened sense of importance: This time it really matters. One clear reason is the gloom of impending crisis two wars, the global economy and U.S. stock market in belly-churning tumble, and 85% of Americans saying we're on the "wrong track."

Voters are energized

You only have to look around to see the evidence. Early voters swarming in lines as though free Super Bowl tickets were being dished out. New voter registrations in record numbers. In states I visited this fall, I saw a back-to-the-old-days array of yard signs and car stickers for Obama and McCain. It looked like the '60s. And campaign rallies are drawing monster 100,000-people crowds.

Another yardstick of 2008's political intensity is the way the campaign has infiltrated pop culture. Saturday Night Live skits are a hot item (who was real, Sarah Palin or Tina Fey?), Oprah, Comedy Central, David Letterman and Jay Leno are thriving on political hijinks. CNN, Fox and MSNBC are politics 24/7. And, of course, the Internet has become a Babble Machine for argument and money raising.

Sure, it's an American art form to sneer at politicians, their hypocrisy and cupidity. But even at the beginning of the 2008 campaign, the level of competitors was exceptionally high Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards and Obama for the Democrats; Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and McCain for the Republicans.

When McCain and Obama fought their way through that maze, the skepticism that we didn't get the best two Oval Office candidates quickly faded.

But a word here for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Her admirable, up-and-down persistence in the primaries and debates against Obama was to my mind the most stirring drama of 2008. The topsy-turvy narrative of Obama vs. Clinton was more fierce than most recent general elections.

A historic year for women

Give Clinton credit for lighting fires, especially among women, that have endured through the fall campaigns. And far beyond.

Nor should we ignore the cultural force of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who spiraled from "who?" to "wow!" to "whoa!" in public view. Whether she turns out to be a disaster or bonus for McCain, Palin has been a shot of Tabasco to 2008 politics.

Happily, this has been a chaotic election year when conventional wisdom and print and television pundits and polls got blindsided. Remember when McCain was too old, too broke and too disorganized to become the nominee? Or when Obama was too inexperienced, just a showboat orator, sure to be doomed by secretly racist voters?

Voters kept shoving the professionals aside and taking over the election.

Sure, there is a queasy excess too much campaign money sloshing around, too many TV ads, too many polls constantly taking temperatures in every state. But by the standards of other years the Willie Horton ad in 1988, Swift-Boating in 2004 it wasn't an excessively dirty campaign. For that we could partially thank McCain, whose sense of honor forbade employing racial overtones against Obama.

Nor can we complain that we haven't gotten enough policy detail. We were inundated by "my plan and his plan" in three presidential debates. Never mind that Congress will decide the surviving plan. What we really gauged on TV was the candidates' personas McCain aggressive behind the smiling mask, Obama quick-witted and unflappable.

When all the bluster and bloviating fade, maybe we'll remember only snippets from the TV blur: "Lipstick on a pig," "Joe the plumber," "terrorist," "socialist," "the real America," "that one," "I am not George Bush." But I hope we'll remember 2008 for an electric, engaged election, to me the most dynamic campaign in a half-century.

In a perilous year, people took charge and made their own history.

Lovely lady Michelle Obama shops at J. Crew, buys online

Michelle Obama shops at J. Crew, buys online

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — No $150,000 wardrobe malfunctions for Michelle Obama.

"Actually, this is a J. Crew ensemble," the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told comedian Jay Leno on Monday on his talk show. She wore a yellow sweater, skirt and blouse ensemble.

"You can get some good stuff online," she added.

Questioned by Leno, the potential first lady declined to criticize GOP vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin about revelations that the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 at Neiman Marcus and other high-end retailers on clothes and accessories for Palin and her family.

Obama said she and her husband have a policy of spending their own money on their clothes. But she said she wanted to be "empathetic."

"A V.P. pick, it's like being shot out of a cannon. All of a sudden you're at the center of attention, and you want to look good," said Michelle Obama, adding she has never met Palin. "You're living in your home, minding your business, and all of a sudden you're on the national stage and everyone's watching."

Leno asked about Barack Obama's ailing grandmother. Obama recently left the campaign trail to spend time in Hawaii with his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who virtually raised him and is his main remaining family.

"She's doing OK, up and down. But we are just grateful that he took time off and went to see her," Michelle Obama said. She said her husband credited his grandmother, whom he calls "Toot," with teaching him strength.

She quoted him as saying: "'She's tough, she's been through a lot. She's still hanging on. If you wonder where I got my toughness, it's from Toot.'"

She said neither of Obama's two young daughters is overly excited by the campaign.

Ten-year-old Malia's reaction to her father's plans to air a 30-minute paid advertisement on national TV Wednesday night?

"'You're going to be on all the TV? Are you going to interrupt my TV?'" her mother said Malia asked.

She said Barack Obama reassured his daughter that he hadn't bought time on the Disney Channel.

Color of Obama’s Skin May be in Favor of Him

Color of Obama’s Skin May be in Favor of Him
Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 October /corr. Trend News V.Zhavoronkova / The color of the skin of Presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, Barack Obama, not only will not affect the results of presidential elections in the USA, but also even it can draw voters to his side, experts said.

“There are, however, many people for whom his race is an asset, given that his election could go a long way to heal the racial scars of America's history,” Jack Glaser, American politician told TrendNews via e-mail.

According to the last surveys, Presidential candidate of the USA from the Democratic Party, Barack Obama, continues to lead due to the drop in the rating of his rival, Republican John McCain. For example, according to the survey by CBS News together with New York Times, Obama has the superiority of 13%.

At the meeting, which took place in the end of the last week in Denver, the State of Colorado, Obama brought together large number of his supporters during entire history of the pre-election campaign, Vesti reported. According to the different estimations, the meeting was attended by nearly 45-50,000 people.

With regards to the rival of Democrat, Republican John McCain, the meeting in his support took place with the substantially smaller participation of public. Only 2,000 people came to listen to McCain in Ayov, and in Ohio - no more than 5,000.

American experts concur in the opinion that the number of voters, who will not vote for Obama due to the color of his skin, will be less than the number of those, who will give preference to him.

The factor, which can prevent Obama, can become Bradley's effect, which manifests with the rivalry of the two candidates, one of whom is dark-skinned. Significant part of voters hides their position, giving their voice to the dark-skinned candidate during surveys, but fearing the direct accusations of racism, in the polling booth, the white voters will vote for the white candidate. In the history of the USA there were two cases, when with the serious leading according to the data of survey, the black candidates lost during the voting.

In 1982 African American Tom Bradley lost the elections to the governor of California, white rival, despite the fact that he led with the superiority of 7%. And in 1989 elections, the governor of Virginia, black candidate Douglas Vilder won the post with the superiority in of half a percent, although he led in the survey with the superiority of 9%.

A number of polls show up to 6 points disadvantage due to Obama's race, Charles Henry, American expert on the African-American searches at California University, said.

Many Americans are probably supporting Senator Obama in part because it will be transformative to have a President who is African-American, and people want to be a part of history, Peter Shane, American expert on elections, said.

“That historic signal of change that is probably helping to turn out unprecedented number of young and minority voters, which will surely be a big part of the story if Senator Obama wins,” Shane, search fellow of University of Ohio State, told TrendNews via e-mail.

There will be some voters who choose McCain, in part, because they could not support a black President, Shane said.

“Given the political landscape in America -- with the unpopular war, the unpopular Republican president, the economic crisis that Republican philosophies are seen as ill-equipped to fix, if not the actual cause, and Obama's eloquence and political giftedness -- if he does lose, one would have to consider that race played a role,” Glaser said.

Many experts consider that the color of the skin here generally is not reason, and for the candidate from the Republicans already practically it is not possible to outdistance rival in the pre-election race.

“I don't think anything can prevent Obama from winning. There is simply no scenario I see that stops him. And no, his race does not hurt him. In fact, I expect a large turnout of black voters who will go overwhelmingly for Obama,” American expert on elections, John McAdams, told TrendNews via e-mail.

Any last-minute "stunt" by the McCain campaign will now be perceived as an act of desperation, not of strength, Shane said. Only an event such as a terrorist attack could swing the public in McCain's direction, Henry said.

The majority of the public sides with Obama on most of the major issues, Glaser said.

So McCain's campaign has to try other angles, but they undermined one of their strongest arguments (that Obama doesn't have enough experience) by selecting Sarah Palin (who has even less, and seems to have learned much less from those limited experiences) as the vice presidential nominee, Glaser said.

So they are stuck trying to make a lot out of small things, he added.

Why do citizens in 70 countries prefer Obama to McCain?

Senator John McCain says when it comes to foreign policy he’s light years ahead of Barack Obama. Over and over again, McCain has insisted Obama lacks the necessary experience to conduct business with foreign countries on behalf of the United States.

So how do you explain this?

Citizens of dozens of foreign countries prefer Barack Obama over John McCain as our next president by a margin of almost 4 to 1, according to a massive poll conducted by the Gallup Organization. About 30 percent of those surveyed prefer Obama, while just 8 percent favor McCain.

This was no daily tracking poll either. Gallup polled people in 70 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and North and South America, representing nearly half the world’s population, between May and September of this year.

Citizens of the Philippines and Georgia were the only ones who preferred McCain to Obama. Not exactly the super-powers we’re looking to mend fences with.

Here’s my question to you: Why do citizens in 70 foreign countries prefer Barack Obama to John McCain by a margin of nearly 4-1?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Justin from North Carolina writes:
Barack Obama is the candidate of reason. Only a fool would think of supporting the ticket with the oldest presidential nominee and a woefully inept vice presidential candidate are in the best interest of America or the world especially when the current disaster of a president proves to be more coherent than the both of them.

Kevin writes:
They prefer him because he’s a patsy and they know he’s going to pander to them. Kennedy was on medication during meetings with Khrushchev and Khrushchev called him a pygmy. No fear whatsoever. Good thing Kennedy did stand up to him during the Cuban missile crisis. Obama needs some testosterone shots. Putin, Chavez, the Castro’s, the Girl Scouts of China…anybody could chew him up, push him around, and spit him out.

F.S. from Rollinsford, N.H. writes:
Jack, just to let you know that from my wife’s and my visit to Europe for 3 weeks just recently, we couldn’t find anyone in 4 countries that wanted McCain for President. They all think he is warmonger and that Palin is a joke. Do they know something we don’t?

Jackie writes:
To be fair, I think McCain’s negativity rests with the “R” after his name. He is a decent man who, because of his age and knowing this is his last chance, sold his soul to the Republican National Committee.

Mike writes:
It’s simple. It may sound racist, but it’s really not. Foreign countries are tired of old white men bossing them around and looking down on them. They finally see someone who will respect & approach them as equals.

Zach writes:
Let’s see, Jack…where to begin…They don’t want to get bombed? They want to work with a well-spoken, even-keel U.S. President for a change? They’re smarter than almost half of the people in our own country?

Cindy McCain defends her blasphemous past and habits not to forget devious self

Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, decried the "viciousness of the media" Monday, days after the New York Times ran a front page story detailing her troubled history with prescription drugs and difficulty fitting into Washington social circles.

In an interview with Fox news that aired Monday night, Mrs. McCain said she thought the biggest difference between her husband's first presidential run eight years ago and his campaign this year was the media's attitude toward the Arizona senator's candidacy.

"What has really stunned me is the — quite honestly, is the kind of viciousness of the media on occasion," Mrs. McCain said. "In 2000 — there's certainly always been, you know, differences, and the — you know, the things that occur. But this has taken on a different tenor. And I don't know why and what's caused that, and I'm sorry for it because I think it turns a lot of young people off."

Cindy McCain's comments come a week after she accused Obama of waging the "dirtiest campaign" in U.S. history. On Monday, she also addressed the lengthy New York Times story directly, saying she has no plans to read it and has since received several messages of support.

"I did not read it, no. I did not read it, and I have no intention of reading it," she said. "My BlackBerry was loaded with friends the next morning saying, ‘I cannot believe this, you know? I'm sorry for you and all this.’"

The article drew a sharp response from the McCain campaign, which called it a "barrage of petty and personal attacks," and said the New York Times reporters "employed tactics that are obviously unprofessional and almost certainly unethical" in researching the story.

McCain attorney John Dowd also scolded the paper for rehashing a series of facts that he said have been long reported, and said they had failed to do similar investigative pieces into either Michelle or Barack Obama.

"It is worth noting that you have not employed your investigative assets looking into Michelle Obama. You have not tried to find Barack Obama's drug dealer that he wrote about in his book, Dreams of My Father," Dowd wrote in a letter to the paper.

Collin Powell Looks for a Hug from the Left by Endorsing Obama

Four out of five Secretaries of State surveyed recommend John McCain to those who will vote.

That’s right. Henry Kissenger, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Alexander Haig have all endorsed the Republican nominee. But like the one dentist out of five who recommends sugary gum, Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama.

That’s the only secretary of state endorsement the media wants to talk about, like it’s some “Republican on Republican crime.”

Powell has essentially endorsed the guy from the other team. But beware the effect of “that’s your own man saying so” in politics. Because which player is on what team isn’t always so clear.

Powell never fully committed to the Republican team, even while Republicans recognized his talents and made him National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and secretary of state.

After the first Gulf War, when there was talk of Powell running for President, he was coy about which party he’d use to do it. His finger was in the political wind.

On liberal issues, Powell has been a fan of that weird civil right involving killing baby humans. He supports affirmative action, some gun control and won’t support a constitutional ban on burning the flag in protest of America here on her soil. He now complains Republicans are “too far right.” Where are we supposed to be, Colin?

So was Powell really a teammate of Republicans (despite having given McCain the maximum campaign donation allowed by law)?

I’ll admit though there are Republican positions Powell has supported…

Like the Iraq invasion. Since 2003 those on the left have painted Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and anyone else at the top as more horrid than those who attacked us on 9/11.

If your motto is “Bush lied, people died,” surely you recognize the voice of Powell. He appeared at the UN to sell the invasion based on WMDs to the UN and the world.

So where now is the rage of the left, who even tried to have Rumsfeld indicted as a war criminal in several European countries? Will the left forgive and forget what they once saw as Powell’s crimes against humanity in exchange for a mere endorsement? Oh, that’s right, the left forgave Bill Ayers. Forgiving Powell should be a cinch.

What is really behind this endorsement is Powell looking for forgiveness and a hug from the left. This is what he said nearly a year ago about what he will look for in a candidate:

“A vision that reaches out to the rest of the world and starts to restore confidence in America. And starts to restore favorable ratings to America, frankly. We’ve lost a lot in recent years.”

If you agree (or care) that our standing in the world has been lessened by the Iraq invasion as Powell says, then it’s fair to say it’s Powell’s fault. Repair that and Powell gets to wake up tomorrow as a different person.

So the Obama endorsement is Powell’s personal mea culpa to the left for the Iraq invasion, without regard to whether Obama will be good or bad for America here at home.

Colin Powell endorses Obama, breaks ranks with the GOP

Powell served three Republican presidents and was once seen as the party's likely presidential candidate. Some critics, including Rush Limbaugh, say race is a factor.
WASHINGTON -- In 1996, the political world was buzzing about the intentions of a possible presidential contender -- one who could make history.In the end, Colin L. Powell, four-star American icon, proclaimed that he would not run after all, disappointing millions of supporters but generating sighs of relief at the Clinton White House.

Powell showed over the weekend that he could still affect presidential politics, declaring his support for Democrat Barack Obama.The prospect of Obama becoming the first African American president, Powell said, would "electrify the world," and the endorsement is already reverberating.Given his decades as a professional soldier and high-ranking official in three Republican administrations, Powell carries weight with the military and moderate voters. Now, more of them could swing to Obama.
Even before Obama was first elected to public office as a state senator in Illinois, Powell was considered the odds-on favorite to become the first African American to head a major-party presidential ticket.He looked to be a formidable candidate in the 1996 race: a black centrist, long an independent, who had led the victorious U.S. military during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. But he declined to run, citing concerns about his privacy and a lack of passion for political combat. There were also reports that his wife, Alma, feared for his safety.Instead, Powell said, he would join the Republican Party, hoping that his involvement would broaden the GOP's appeal and humanize its attempts to reform social welfare programs."I believe I can help the party of Lincoln move once again close to the spirit of Lincoln," he said.With his embrace of Obama, Powell, 71, has broken ranks.The decision led to debate over his motives. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggested Powell's endorsement was rooted in race and the hope that Obama would become the first black president."I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed," Limbaugh said in an e-mail. "I'll let you know what I come up with."Powell, in his appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," denied that race was the motivating factor. He said he had pondered a decision for months, and that he had told Obama, "I'll give you all the advice I can, but I'm not going to vote for you just because you're black."Powell's decision to cross party lines, former associates said, is far more complicated than black and white."It was a painful thing for him to do, for sure," Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who was Powell's chief of staff at the State Department, said in an interview Sunday. "One of the principal parts of his character is defined by loyalty."The Republican Party and Republican presidents "have done a lot for his career," Wilkerson said. Powell was President Reagan's national security advisor, then served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush before he became President George W. Bush's first secretary of State.Wilkerson said that Powell ultimately was distressed over what he saw as growing divisiveness in the country and a return to "the vitriol and bigotry and prejudice" of the 1960s.Adm. Henry Ulrich, the former commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, said he thought Powell's decision was not easy."Colin Powell is a very, very, very bright, thoughtful person, and I can assure you that he did not enter into this endorsement without giving it lots and lots of thought and give it all the due process it deserved," Ulrich said. "I think it is remarkable that he has endorsed a Democrat, and so I am sure he didn't do it lightly."Sen. Obama is quite lucky and fortunate," he added. "It should have made his Sunday."

Every passing day spells danger for Barack Obama

Tonight, US presidential candidate Barack Obama squares off against his Republican opponent John McCain in the last presidential debate before Americans vote on November 4. There are 19 days left before the historic US election that could see an African-American elected to the highest office in America or the first woman vice-president in American history. Yet, each day spells increasing personal danger to Senator Obama who polls show has opened a 10-point lead over Senator McCain. To those responsible for protecting Obama from harm, the threat is real that some crazy fellows will take a shot at the candidate, wounding him or killing him altogether. Such an event, God forbid, would be an unimaginable tragedy of global proportion. Sadly enough, should this unthinkable tragedy occur, it will be just another addition to the dark side of America’s political life. Americans, after all, are no strangers to political violence and assassinations which date back more than a century. Nine American presidents including Andrew Jackson in 1835, Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901, Harry S. Truman in 1950, John F. Kennedy in 1963, Richard Nixon in 1974, Gerald Ford twice in September 1975, and Ronald Reagan in 1981 were the targets of assassination. Four—Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy—were killed by the assassins. The attempted assassinations of Gerald Ford within the span of a mere two weeks in September 1975 were made by would-be female assassins. In the first attempt, the gun failed to go off and the woman was arrested, while in the second attempt, a former serviceman may have saved Ford’s life by knocking the gun off target when the assassin fired the shot that whistled above Ford’s head. Assassination attempts were also made on the lives of president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and three presidential candidates—Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and George Wallace in 1972. While Roosevelt and Wallace survived, Robert Kennedy died from shots fired by an Arab-American Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles hotel. Other high profile assassinations include the murders of black Muslim preacher Malcolm X in February 1965 and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. No doubt, Obama’s security detail, already one of the tightest ever around a presidential candidate was likely beefed up over the last two weeks, and for good reasons. Senator McCain trailing in the polls has opted for the nuclear option—launch blistering attacks on the character of Barack Obama. The opening salvo in this new attack strategy was fired by McCain’s vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin. She accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” Governor Palin was referring to Obama’s relationship with distinguished Professor Bill Ayers of the University of Illinois at Chicago who was linked to the radical anti-war group the Weather Underground that bombed US Federal buildings including Capitol Hill and the Pentagon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the time Prof. Ayers committed the crime, Obama was just eight years old, and Ayers was an anti-war activist angry with US war in Vietnam. By the time Obama met Ayers, the latter was fully rehabilitated and was a respected professor of education, a job he holds to date. In other words, Governor Palin’s accusation that Obama was “palling around with terrorists” was not only false because the two men hardly know each other, it was also a blatant lie to give the impression that beside Ayers, Obama retains ongoing connections to other terrorists, say, Osama bin Laden. Now, Governor Palin may have been trolling for political points in order to win the elections in November. Unfortunately for her and the McCain campaign, the attack on Obama was the opening hate-mongers were waiting for and, within days, several were heard openly calling for Obama’s head with shouts such as “terrorist”, “kill him”. Last week, during a town hall meeting, a white woman told Senator McCain: “I don’t trust Obama, he is an Arab.” A startled McCain took the microphone from the woman and blurted: “I have to tell you, Senator Obama is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as president of the United States.” McCain’s defence of Obama comes too late after the Arizona senator himself set the hound-dogs after Obama. Just this past Monday, a supporter of McCain in Virginia Beach was seen holding the sign “Obama Bin Lyin”, a clear attempt to connect Obama to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In the mind-eyes of some angry racist Americans, McCain has reinforced the view that Obama is America’s Enemy Number One who must be taken out at all cost. Though few, these fringe elements may now see it as a ‘patriotic’ duty to stop Obama from becoming president of America. While millions of Americans will use the ballot to try to stop Obama from becoming president next month, the increasing strength of Obama’s campaign coupled with desperation on the part of the handful of hateful individuals could inspire someone to try to silence the African-American candidate. That is the permanent threat Obama assumed when he began his quest for highest office in America, but one which the Secret Service must work hard to eliminate. Whether he wins or loses next month, Obama has brought fresh hope to millions—and nobody wants to see this hope snuffed away by an assassin’s bullet. Certainly, nobody with a straight thinking mind.

Waging the image campaign overseas

Barack Obama has packed his overseas trip with presidential images: a helicopter ride over Iraq with the U.S. military commander; a visit to a Holocaust memorial; a meeting at Afghan President Hamid Karzai's palace.
He even found time to sink a three-point basketball shot before cheering U.S. soldiers.
John McCain?
His most memorable picture of the week was riding a golf cart with former President George Bush at Bush's Kennebunkport vacation home in Maine.
If the image campaign means anything, it's been a tough week for the Republican presidential candidate.
"It's not even a close call," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "This week at least, it looks like incumbent President Obama running against challenger Bob Dole. That's exactly what it looks like, the future versus the past."
CNN cut away Wednesday from live coverage of McCain's town meeting in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to cover Obama's news conference in Israel (although it later showed McCain highlights). MSNBC and Fox News Channel briefly showed pictures of McCain's meeting but didn't stay to hear what he had to say, and covered Obama in full.
The TV executives made that decision even though Obama's trip has raised the issue of whether the news media is giving a disproportionate amount of attention to the Democrat. McCain's campaign on Tuesday released a video mocking a media love-in with Obama.
Obama has traveled like a president, ferrying aides and reporters to the Middle East in a white 757 charter plane that displays the motto "Change We Can Believe In." He brought along a large group of aides, including campaign strategist David Axelrod.
The overseas trip was designed to hold meetings with people "who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years," said Obama.
Every stop seemed designed with symbolism in mind. He lit a memorial flame at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and stopped at a house under reconstruction after it was hit by Hamas rockets. He met with both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and heard Israeli President Shimon Peres say "God bless you."
"If it continues to go well, Obama has passed a certain presidential threshold," Sabato said. "It's just been perfect. He's even been in Oval Office-like chairs. It has helped him. I think that image will linger."
This week it's simply impossible for McCain to compete, he said.
But Sabato noted the calendar — it's still July. There are many more campaign images to come. CBS News' Jeff Greenfield said he "has a certain skepticism about whether these pictures in July are going to mean much in November."
Obama's confident basketball shot — the only real image that couldn't be planned ahead — may be nice, but will it be forgotten as quickly as his sorry attempts at bowling?
A week like this is probably most important in the eyes of each campaign's supporters, particularly for McCain, Greenfield said.
"It can encourage grumbling, it can encourage backbiting and it could have an effect on fundraising," he said.

Is media playing fair in campaign coverage?

Is media playing fair in campaign coverage?
July 21, 2008, 7:46 AM EST
Television news' royalty will fly in to meet Barack Obama during this week's overseas trip: CBS chief anchor Katie Couric in Jordan on Tuesday, ABC's Charles Gibson in Israel on Wednesday and NBC's Brian Williams in Germany on Thursday.
The anchor blessing defines the trip as a Major Event and — much like a "Saturday Night Live" skit in February that depicted a press corps fawning over Obama — raises anew the issue of fairness in campaign coverage.
The news media have devoted significantly more attention to the Democrat since Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her campaign and left a two-person contest for the presidency between Obama and Republican John McCain, according to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
News executives say there are reasons for the disparity, such as the continuing story about whether Clinton's and Obama's supporters can reconcile. They even partly blame McCain. By criticizing Obama for a lack of foreign policy experience, McCain raised the stakes for Obama's trip, "especially if he winds up going into two war zones," said Paul Friedman, senior vice president of CBS News.
Obama has traveled to Afghanistan and is expected to go to Iraq. He is also scheduled to visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England. Network anchors stayed home during McCain's recent foreign excursions.
"The question really needs to be posed: Is this type of coverage fair?" said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. "This is nothing but a political stunt."
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh said none of this should be a surprise.
"My prediction is that the coverage of Obama on this trip will be oriented toward countering the notion he has no idea what he is talking about on foreign policy and defense issues and instead will prop him up as a qualified statesman," Limbaugh told The Associated Press. "McCain, on the other hand, is a known quantity on these issues and his position does not excite nor fit the mainstream media's narrative on Iraq and Afghanistan, so they simply ignore it and him."
Along with newsworthiness, the question of fairness was discussed within ABC News before it was agreed Gibson would travel, said Jon Banner, executive producer of "World News." Also, if one network anchor decides to hit the road for a big event, chances are the others will follow.
"We have already been in discussions with the McCain campaign to try to afford them the same or a similar opportunity," Banner said. "We have gone to great lengths to be fair and provide equal time to both campaigns."
Shortly after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, Gibson flew to Miami for a McCain interview, he said.
For each of the weeks between June 9 and July 13, Obama had a much more significant media presence. The Project for Excellence in Journalism evaluates more than 300 political stories each week in newspapers, magazines and television to measure whether each candidate is talked about in more than 25 percent of the stories.
Every week, Obama played an important role in more than two-thirds of the stories. For July 7-13, for example, Obama was a significant presence in 77 percent of the stories, while McCain was in 48 percent, the PEJ said.
Sure, there are some weeks Obama's going to make more news, said Tom Rosenstiel, the project's director.
But every week?
"No matter how understandable it is given the newness of the candidate and the historical nature of Obama's candidacy, in the end it's probably not fair to McCain," he said.
The Democrat has proven an attractive commodity; TV debates involving Democrats this campaign consistently drew more viewers than the Republicans. A Time magazine cover with Obama in 2006 was the second-best-selling of the year, and a Men's Vogue cover outsold every issue but the debut, according to circulation figures reported by Portfolio.com. Newsweek has done six covers with Obama over the past year, two with McCain. A Rolling Stone cover with Obama stopped just short of adding a halo.
If the attention gap continues, the campaign will essentially become a referendum on Obama, Rosenstiel said. While that may serve McCain's purpose — it beats a referendum on President Bush — it could leave the nation electing a president while the media are paying attention to someone else. Past press infatuations, like Howard Dean in 2004 and McCain in 2000, didn't turn into long-term affairs.
TV executives noted that Obama has courted attention, particularly for the overseas trip, more so than McCain. There's some danger involved, too. One Obama gaffe while overseas, or the appearance that he's not ready for an international spotlight, and the media's elite will be there to judge him, said Bob Zelnick, Boston University journalism professor.
Friedman cautioned against reading too much into things like PEJ's coverage index, noting that it's a long campaign. Yet it's an open question about whether Obama is simply a more interesting candidate at this point, partly because McCain has been on the scene longer.
While fairness is the goal, "what are we supposed to do, go gin up some story about McCain to get some rough equality of airtime?" he said. "I don't think so."
NBC News President Steve Capus said he finds it funny this is an issue, considering how much people have accused the press corps — and still do — of being too cozy with McCain. The Arizona senator had been a frequent guest of "Meet the Press."
"We're just trying to do our jobs," Capus said. "There's no question that there's great news value in Sen. Obama's trip overseas. That's why we are doing this."