THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - OBAMA'S CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND OBAMA'S CHURCH
Posted on 04/19/2008 12:30:49 PM PDT by Red Steel
Barack Obama has mocked John McCain, the Republican he is vying to battle for the White House, as an out-of-touch insider who "thinks our economy has made great progress under George W. Bush"
The Democratic candidate was speaking in Erie as he prepared to embark on a "whistle stop" train journey through Pennsylvania, hoping for an upset in the state in Tuesday's primary, equal to that achieved nationally by President Harry Truman when he recaptured the White House 60 years ago.
In economically hit Erie in north-western Pennsylvania - considered Hillary Clinton country - Mr Obama sought yesterday to woo voters with a populist pitch on the economy.
He pivoted away from Mrs Clinton, his rival for the Democratic Party's nomination, dismissing her with only a passing disdainful reference to "spin and PR and double-talk" and instead concentrated his fire on Mr McCain.
"Here's what John McCain calls great progress," he said to boos and catcalls directed at the Republican nominee.
Reviewing the Bush years, he said: "We went through the first period of sustained economic growth since World War II that saw incomes drop. Eleven million more Americans don't have health care. Two million more Americans are out of work.
"Millions of families are facing foreclosure. The poverty rate has gone up. You are working harder for less. You're paying more for tuition, you're paying more for groceries, more at the pump, that's what John McCain calls great progress."
The McCain campaign hit back immediately, accusing Mr Obama of being recklessly dishonest" and "intentionally twisting" the words of the Vietnam hero, who had also said that America faced "tremendous economic challenges".
Although Mr Obama is the front runner for the Democratic nomination, he is the underdog in Pennsylvania, which votes on Tuesday. His rival Hillary Clinton enjoys an advantage there among the white, blue-collar voters who delivered her victory in Ohio last month.
Mr Obama's "On Track for Change" 100-mile, four-stop day trip is much more modest than Harry Truman's 30,000-mile tour in 1948, when he defeated Thomas Dewey in one of the biggest surprises in American election history.
But he hopes, like Mr Truman, to use it to "connect" with working-class voters who have proved stubbornly resistant to the charms to which so many better-educated, wealthier Americans have succumbed.
A win in Pennsylvania, where Mrs Clinton enjoyed a 20-point lead a month ago, would all but give Mr Obama the Democratic nomination. Even a narrow defeat could fatally wound the former First Lady in her quest to face John McCain, the Republican nominee, in November.
At every opportunity, Obama aides dismiss any notion of winning Pennsylvania as "impossible" and "ain't gonna happen". Jen Psaki, an Obama spokesman, said: "We fully expect Clinton to win on Tuesday, as her campaign has predicted, but we have made headway in the state."
But the Illinois senator is on average less then six points behind in state opinion polls and has shown resilience despite the recent furore over his comments that voters "cling" to religion and guns because they are "bitter". Even a poor debate performance on Wednesday does not seem to have harmed him significantly.
A growing perception in some quarters of Mrs Clinton as pandering to working-class voters could damage her in Pennsylvania.
The "Erie Times-News" published a cartoon yesterday in which Mrs Clinton was portrayed saying: "Heres a little song I just made up 'bout being a simple gun-lovin', church goin', whiskey drinkin' small town kinda gal with tons of real world experience."
There are signs too that her harsh attack advertisements against Mr Obama have turned many voters off. Yesterday, she sought a different approach, presenting a softer image by appearing with her mother Dorothy, 88, and daughter Chelsea, 28.
Slowly but steadily, Mr Obama's national poll lead has stretched to double digits while the "super-delegates" - party officials not tied to votes - have also been moving his way. Mr Obama has a virtually insurmountable lead of 164 "pledged delegates" - those allocated according to votes.
Mrs Clinton is relying on them to deliver her the nomination but she has gained the backing of just five since the start of February while Mr Obama has netted 80.
Victory in Pennsylvania would keep their hopes alive until May 6th but she faces another tough hurdle then when North Carolina - where Mr Obama has a big lead - and Indiana, where the two candidates are level, go to the polls.
US presidential election 2008
Time is against Mrs Clinton, who needs to prolong the struggle until the party convention in August. Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, is piling on the pressure for an earlier decision from the 300 or so out of 796 super-delegates who remain undecided.
"I need them to say who they're for starting now," he told CNN. "We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time. We've got to know who our nominee is."
Uh, Barry, we have had a great economy since President Bush’s tax cuts, you Indonesian know-it-all!
Maybe Obama can tell us again how raising taxes will help the economy.
This moron, empty-suit liberal socialist is doing a beautiful job of setting himself up for a monstrous defeat by McCain....if McCain will truly call him out in the campaign and show the world what a reprobate fool he really is.
Of course. The Rich billionaires he pals around with are now poor billionaires and making their chauffers stand in soup lines.
We were doing fine until the commies retook Congress. The economy can only take so much restriction before it Changes direction.
Pray for W and Our Troops
“The problem that we have in our politics,” Obama said at Wednesday’s ABC News debate, “... is that you take one person’s statement, if it’s not properly phrased, and you just beat it to death.”
It was doing well Hussein until the Democrats took over Congress in January 2007. Its been downhill since. Check it out. Look up the unemployment nimbers and the price of gas in January 2007.
All McCain has to do to render a stinging rebuke to Obama is point out how much money Obama’s donors have made during Bush’s terms. They’ve (including Obama) made gazillions.
Here is a summary from the American Conservative Union:
http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/2008/080417tf.asp
And Obama is not an insider??
He’s the worst kind of insider: a commie produced by the Chicago machine.
Exactly the point, they are attempting to kill the Golden Goose to regain power.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Nominal US GDP from 2001 to 2007 grew from 10.13 trillion dollars to 13.84 trillion dollars, an increase of 3.71 trillion dollars or 27%.
Real GDP per capita for the same period grew from $34,659 to $38,291.
Not bad...
http://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/usgdp/result.php
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I’ve noticed that Obama increasingly uses ridicule instead of logic (accompanied by a patronizing smile and strut) when he disagrees with another candidate- whether Clinton or McCain. I find that offensive.
If he draws dirisive laughter instead of nods from his audience, I don’t like it. To me it is the worst kind of campaigning.
Clinton, too, does this, but not so often as Obama.
The economy is going pretty well for Obama; he managed to get his wife an extra 200K after he got the hospital where she is on the board a bundle of US taxpayer money.
“Maybe Obama can tell us again how raising taxes will help the economy.”
Democrats rarely find it necessary to explain the logic behind how something works, and their voters rarely require it. I’m just said to say I’ve seen the same thing out of Republican voters as of late.
“Opinion polls and has shown resilience despite the recent furore over his comments that voters “cling” to religion and guns because they are “bitter”. Even a poor debate performance on Wednesday does not seem to have harmed him significantly. “
How this doesn’t hurt the guy is absolutely beyond me. If he ends up winning Pennsylvania, I’ll have lost all faith in the American voter.
From my vantage point; the economy is just fine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.