Lets all keep up the pressure to have Obama publicly state and prove he is a US citizen! If he can't sing the tune, get off the stage!
Posted on 10/21/2008 1:50:27 AM PDT by LisaAnne
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama will leave the presidential campaign trail to visit his ailing 85-year-old grandmother in Hawaii, whose health has deteriorated in recent weeks, an aide said on Monday.
With two weeks left in an intense battle for the White House, Obama will hold a campaign event in Indianapolis on Thursday and then fly to Hawaii to see his grandmother before returning to campaigning on Saturday, aide Robert Gibbs said.
"Senator Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life," Gibbs said in a statement.
"Along with his mother and his grandfather, she raised him in Hawaii from the time he was born until the moment he left for college."
The campaign interruption comes as both candidates head into a final sprint for the November 4 election. Obama criticized Republican White House rival John McCain for a "say-anything, do-anything" political style as he launched a two-day tour to kick off early voting in Florida.
McCain told supporters in Missouri that "nothing is inevitable" and he could still beat Obama, who leads in national opinion polls as the pair began a frenzied race to the finish line.
Obama's former Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, joined the Illinois senator at a rally of 50,000 people in Orlando.
"In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over," Obama said. "We've seen it before. Hillary has been subject to it before.
"We're seeing again today -- ugly phone calls, misleading mail and TV ads, careless, outrageous statements -- all aimed at keeping us from working together, all aimed at stopping change," he said.
Obama noted McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, told reporters on Sunday that if she called the shots she would end the automated phone calls being made by McCain's campaign, including some that link Obama with 1960s radical Bill Ayers.
"You have to work really hard to violate Gov. Palin's standards on negative campaigning," Obama said.
McCain defended the calls, shrugging off Palin's remarks in an interview to be aired on Tuesday morning.
"Well, Sarah is a maverick," McCain told CBS' "Early Show." "That robocall is absolutely accurate and by the way, Senator Obama's campaign is running robocalls as we speak."
Florida a battleground
Obama planned to spend two days in Florida to encourage voters to cast their ballots early in the battleground state, which has 27 electoral votes and is vital for either candidate in their quest for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
Standing on stage next to Obama, Clinton highlighted the financial crisis as she urged Florida voters to choose Obama.
"Now is the time to close the deal for Barack Obama and close the book on eight years of failed Republican leadership," she said, linking McCain to President George W. Bush.
"Sending the Republicans to clean up the economic mess in Washington is like sending the bull to clean up the china closet." It was the third time Clinton and Obama have campaigned together since he clinched the Democratic nomination in June.
A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll showed Obama with a 6-point edge on McCain. A new CNN poll gave Obama a 5-point lead among likely voters, down from an 8-point edge two weeks ago. Other polls also showed a tightening race.
At a rally outside Kansas City, Missouri, McCain jumped on comments from Obama's running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, that Obama would be tested with an international crisis within six months of becoming president.
"We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars," McCain said.
"Senator Obama won't have the right response, and we know that because we've seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign."
Obama touted his endorsement from Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"He will have a role as one of my advisers," Obama said on NBC's "Today" a day after earning the endorsement of Powell, who is also a retired four-star general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Whether he wants to take a formal role, whether that's a good fit for him, is something we'd have to discuss."
Lets all keep up the pressure to have Obama publicly state and prove he is a US citizen! If he can't sing the tune, get off the stage!
Obama’s such a loving grandson. And such a hearless grandfather [who wouldn’t lift a finger to save his unborn grandchildren].
Maybe Barry Hussein is going to see his boyfriend as mentioned of this mysterious person in patdollard.com.
"Maybe I have concern because my mother is dying as I write this"
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this news. God bless you and your mother and if she must leave you now, may she go easily.
What happened with that?
She died.
If she is about to die, why is he waiting until late Thursday to go see her? He could be there in 6-7 hours in his campaign plane. I doubt that she is as close to death as they would have you believe, or he wouldn't be waiting so long to go.
That being said, we should keep her in our prayers. She was just released from the hospital, so there is no question that she has been sick. (Strange how he never went to see her in the hospital, though, isn't it?)
If she’s close to death, he’s in Florida today campaigning. He’s a sociopath with no feelings for others.
It's always about him. It's not about granny except that he's not going to Hawaii until she might already have passed.
If the media can’t report the nature of her illness (she was okay this summer), I remain suspicious of Barack Obama, not of his grandmother.
An attempt to quash Joe Biden’s threats to the American people of a crisis but he’s so great that he’ll help Obama get through it. “gird your loins”. Biden’s the erratic one.
Biden yesterday?
FV observation: If the news is bad, change it. (I bet it's in Alinsky's rules for radicals.)
They may already be dehydrating her. It’s a horrific way to go but they can write anything on an autopsy report or have instructions “no autopsy”.
lol exactly - if this hasn’t been made into an ad, it should be now.
They very wisely left this announcement till after the debates. Linking Bush to McCain was his only real line of attack - McCain could have shot it down in one swoop.
I only wish the traitor Powell had made his move earlier.
Sorry about your mom.
He’s in Florida, small towns. (he would need them for the illegal vote) They don’t just do rallys, they take people to the polls when he’s in town.
These are small towns today, sugar cane, etc.
If his grandmother is seriously ill, why is he waiting until Thursday to go to Hawaii? This was news last night. Why was he not on the plane last night to Hawaii?
Michelle is chomping on lobstergrams. It occurred to me that she’s allergic to shellfish but doesn’t know it. That would account for her looking puffy most of the time.
Barack Obama is for euthanasia and infanticide. So, pardon some of our doubts on his character.
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.