Obama: FISA, Jesse, Brandenburg Gate
Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2008 9:13 AM by Domenico Montanaro
At his event in Fairfax, Va., Obama will lay out his proposals for improving economic opportunity for women, according to the campaign. The wife of Gov. Tim Kaine, who appears to be on Obama’s veep list, will introduce Obama.
The Washington Post's Balz says Obama's FISA "vote was the most dramatic in a series of moves toward the middle that have focused new attention on where he stands and where he would take the country… One factor in Obama's success has been his ability to confound both left and right. But while that may be a measure of a skillful politician determined to win a general election, it has left unanswered important questions about his core principles and his presidential priorities. How well he answers them over the coming months will determine the outcome of his race against Republican Sen. John McCain."
But Gail Collins argues -- just like the candidate has -- that people who are accusing Obama of flip-flopping on some issues haven’t been listening. “Why, exactly, did you prefer Obama over Hillary Clinton in the first place? Their policies were almost identical -- except his health care proposal was more conservative. You liked Barack because you thought he could get us past the old brain-dead politics, right? He talked -- and talked and talked -- about how there were going to be no more red states and blue states, how he was going to bring Americans together, including Republicans and Democrats. Exactly where did everybody think this gathering was going to take place? Left field?”
“When an extremely intelligent politician tells you over and over and over that he is tired of the take-no-prisoners politics of the last several decades, that he is going to get things done and build a ‘new consensus,’ he is trying to explain that he is all about compromise. Even if he says it in that great Baracky way.”
The Los Angeles Times: "As Barack Obama moves to broaden his appeal beyond loyal Democrats, a chorus of anger and disappointment has arisen from the left. But those voices are a distinct minority because the party has a more pressing concern: winning in November.
The AP: "Unaware that his microphone was on during a break for a Fox News program last Sunday, Jackson used a slang reference to wanting to cut off Obama's testicles. When he learned Wednesday that the Fox News program 'The O'Reilly Factor' would air his comments that night, Jackson apologized for 'hurtful and wrong' remarks.”
VIDEO: Rev. Jesse Jackson talks with MSNBC's Tamron Hall about unfavorable comments he made about Barack Obama, and explains his apology.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton issued a response saying Obama accepted Jackson’s apology. "As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Sen. Obama has spoken and written for many years about the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of fathers participating in their children's lives. He also discusses our responsibility as a society to provide jobs, justice, and opportunity for all. He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology.”
The New York Post on Jesse Jackson: “Jesse’s a ‘nut’ job.” Cover: "Nuts!"
The New York Times: “Mr. Jackson, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, has been a supporter of Mr. Obama. He has played no formal role in the campaign, but tensions have occasionally flared behind the scenes with Mr. Jackson, who is known for his outspokenness and his penchant for drawing attention to himself.”
“Mr. Obama’s candidacy has served as an example of a generational and stylistic shift in black political leadership in America. The remarks drew an unusually stern rebuke from Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., Democrat of Illinois, who also serves as a national co-chairman of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign. ‘Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I’ll always love him,’ the congressman said Wednesday evening in a statement. He added, ‘I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.’”
The Boston Globe profiles Obama’s faith outreach director. Joshua “DuBois, who says he found his religious and political voice while a student in Boston, heads what has become the most intensive outreach effort by a Democratic candidate to people of faith in a nation where the most frequent worshipers also tend to be Republican. He oversees a staff of four, as well as six interns, who have organized about 200 town hall meetings about faith and now are launching a series of smaller house parties to discuss values and the campaign.”
The New York Times looks at how the possibility of Obama giving a speech at Germany’s Brandenburg Gate has stirred up controversy in that country. It “has exposed fissures in the German government, with the conservative chancellor, Angela Merkel, strongly criticizing the proposal and the Social-Democratic vice chancellor and foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking out in favor of it. The ensuing uproar here has underscored the hazards for Mr. Obama in taking his presidential campaign overseas.”
The New York Times’ Zeleny notes that Obama’s presidential campaign “has not only given the country a chance to meet Mr. Obama. It has also given Mr. Obama a chance to meet the country, taking him to large swaths of the United States that he has never seen before.”
And a little South Jersey… "A local Republican Club in New Jersey has removed a slogan from its Web site that read, 'Obama loves America like O.J. loved Nicole.' ... Bill Layton, the Burlington County Republican chairman, said the posting was not authorized by the party. "I think it's despicable, and I completely denounce it," he said. … “The Pemberton Republican Club removed the slogan after Democrats alleged racist campaign tactics. … The club's Web master…told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he saw the slogan on an Internet site and copied it onto the club's Web page as a joke.”
