Posted on 05/18/2008 6:50:31 PM PDT by WesA
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Barack Obama set his sights on November's general election Saturday as he campaigned in Oregon, where he hopes to declare victory in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Obama has said Tuesday's primaries in Oregon and Kentucky could mark the end of his drawn-out battle with rival Hillary Clinton, and his campaign pressed home that message by announcing a symbolic return to Iowa that day.
Iowa was the scene of the Illinois senator's first victory in the 2008 presidential nominating race, and his campaign noted Saturday it is "a critical general election state that Democrats must win in November."
Polls show Obama leading in Oregon, where 52 delegates are up for grabs, while Clinton is ahead in Kentucky, a state with 51 delegates that has a similar demographic to West Virginia, where she won a thumping victory Tuesday.
His campaign says he needs just 17 more pledged delegates won through state votes to reach a majority of 1,627, not counting the "superdelegates," party officials who can vote either way at August's Democratic national convention.
Using a baseball analogy, Obama said May 8 that if after Tuesday's primaries "we have a majority of pledged delegates, which is possible, then I think we can make a pretty strong claim that we have got the most runs and its the ninth inning and we have won."
The official finishing line is 2,025 delegates, including superdelegates.
During a rally in Roseburg, Oregon, Saturday, Obama presented himself as the front-runner almost without question, attacking presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on foreign policy, the environment and healthcare.
Reviving Friday's furious row sparked by President George W. Bush's suggestion that Democrats wanted to appease terrorists, Obama said that not talking to North Korea and Iran had only made those states stronger.
"I want everybody to be absolutely clear about this because George Bush and McCain have suggested that me being willing to sit down with our adversaries is a sign of weakness and sign of appeasement," he said.
He also attacked McCain's plan for a gas tax holiday to cope with rising pump prices, which Clinton supports, as well as his other environmental plans, saying the Republican had consistently opposed fuel efficiency standards.
"For him to come to Oregon as an environmental president, but his big strategy is to do more drilling and to have a gas tax holiday for three months, that's a phony solution," he said.
Pitching his message to Oregon's environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to "lead by example" on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.
"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.
"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," he added.
The Illinois senator also argued that the differences between his healthcare plan and that of Clinton "pale in comparison to the differences we have with John McCain," whose proposals would only work "if you're healthy and wealthy."
The escalating rhetoric between Obama and McCain has evoked the kind of campaign battles more common in the immediate run-up to an election -- and emphasized further Obama's pole position in the Democratic race.
But Clinton has vowed to keep fighting until the end of the primary season on June 3, and campaigning in Kentucky Saturday, she defended the plan for the gas tax holiday and accused McCain of having no idea how to fund it.
"Senator McCain said let's give everybody a gas tax holiday but doesn't want to pay for it. I think I've got the best plan. Let the oil companies pay it out of their excess profits," she said
Sadly most Americans now probably think Carter was a fine president. And just think of what a wonderful man he is because he builds houses for the poor!
Barf.
“This is just further proof B. Hussein Obama is a complete amateur when it comes to politics. To say something so Carteresque is just stupid. The comparisons will come.”
Yep, the Dems decided to run the young quarterback with potential and put him in the Super Bowl game.
The should have gone with the veteran QB, Hillary.
No worries. This clown is going down.
Obama is gonna wish folks didnt know who he is.
He makes Hillary look like Teddy Roosevelt
“It is already on Drudge, one of the most viewed websites, viewed way more than Matthews and Olberdunce.
Plus Drudge is Amigos with Limbaugh (15 million listeners) and Rush and the other talk radio guys like Beck and Ingraham will be all over this like bees on honey.”
..but these are probably McCain voters anyways, right???
I'm sure The Maha will cover it.
“Barak Obama: The Misery Index, part two.”
Usama is a mulatto carter, the only question is who will play the role of Reagan in 2012?
At some point a majority, even including liberals, will get tired of losing their freedom, their rights, and their income. By then it probably will be too late to do anything about it though.
The Maha Rushie is preaching to the choir. I want Granny and all to see this BS
You would think that he would be unelectable with his obvious radioactivity...but there were 75,000 people worshipping him TODAY in OR.
“..but these are probably McCain voters anyways, right???”
Yes, but who do you think watches Matthews?
It ain’t conservatives.
The rest of the MSM is dying, let the internet and talk radio handle this baby. :)
Guys, I’m 28, somewhat new in studying politics, and am curious as to why Republicans never call the Dims out on being communists...?? Is it because Repubs do have some communal ideas as well? If McCain just said “With all due respect, Mr. Obama, we are not a communist country..” would it not earn a ton of points??
You’re darn right about Bush throwing away Reagan’s benefits. He had the opportunity to become a great, awe inspiring leader, and his liberalism masked as Compassionate Conservatism destroyed his presidency. He lost everything that he had going for him. And thanks to his waste, we are about to get Socialism or Socialism lite come November.
If you missed it, enjoy the Bernie Ward mocking on YouTube - http://youtube.com/watch?v=twRxwd-fp_c
Its complicated. There are 40+ years of communal gobbeldy gook that the people have swallowed.
What I’m saying is that a lot of folks believe this crap
I don't think Michelle Bama has anything on this guy.
His pessimism runs as deep and it's beginning to
surface .
I don't think Michelle Bama has anything on this guy.
His pessimism runs as deep and it's beginning to
surface .
I hate to break this to you, but this country is full of people who think anything Barry says is okay. If the Dems have their way (and they will) this country will be full of illegals with their hands out. We’ll all be poor and the government will tell us what we can do at every turn. We’re in big damn trouble and there is nothing that we can do about it.
“What I’m saying is that a lot of folks believe this crap”
Let them have their socialism for four years then, and let them have it good and hard.
If we are going to wreck the country, I at least want the DNC to get the blame for it.
Why don't we seize the opportunity provided by Obama's stance on health care to permanently de-claw the IRS?
This post (<-click), while addressing taxes, helps to explain why Obama's health care ideas are in contempt of the Constitution that he has sworn to defend; Obama is foolishly following in the footsteps of FDR's dirty federal spending politics.
In fact, where things like health care are concerned, Jefferson had commented about the Founder's division of federal and state government powers, noting that the Founders had trusted the states, not the federal government, with the care of the people.
"Our citizens have wisely formed themselves into one nation as to others and several States as among themselves. To the united nation belong our external and mutual relations; to each State, severally, the care of our persons, (emphasized by Amendment10) our property, our reputation and religious freedom." --Thomas Jefferson: To Rhode Island Assembly, 1801. ME 10:262 http://tinyurl.com/onx4jAnd speaking of Obama and constitutionally unauthorized federal spending, the article referenced below shows that Obama is the #1 federal spending proposer in the Senate for '08; Clinton is #2.
Obama, a big-shot federal spenderThe people need to reconnect with the Founder's division of federal and state government powers. The people then need to wise up to the major problem that the federal government is not operating within the restraints of the federal Constitution, particularly where constitutionally unauthorized federal spending is concerned.
The bottom line is that the people need to send big-shot spenders like Obama home as opposed to trying to send people like him to the Oval Office. The people need to get in the faces of the feds, demanding a stop to constitutionally unauthorized federal spending while appropriately lowering federal taxes - or get out of DC.
The rest of the world would not approve of us. If you are a Democrat what the world thinks of the US is paramount.
Nevermind the fact that what the people in those countries who may not like us is decided by only a small percentage of their population.
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