Obama: Presumptuous or Taken Out of Context?

By: Steve Chaggaris
Topics: Barack Obama

From CBS News' Steve Chaggaris:

A quote in today's Washington Post has Barack Obama's opponents salivating at the prospect of using it against him while Democrats are insisting it's taken completely out of context.

While speaking to a closed door meeting with House Democrats yesterday, the Post quoted him as saying, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for... I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

The Republican National Committee sent around the quote first thing this morning as part of its "Audacity Watch," where they've been hitting Obama for acting presidential before he's even elected.

A House Democratic staffer, however, tells CBS News that this quote is taken way out of context.

"The Post left out the important first half of the sentence," the staffer said, adding that the quote was more like, "It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol..."

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who was in the room, pointed out to Fox News that the line was taken completely out of context.

"It was not about him," Clyburn said.

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by choiceshaveconsequences July 31, 2008 3:13 PM EDT: To act Presidential before becoming President is NOW a negative? Compared with our current occupant who has a problem acting Presidential after assuming the robe and scepter as the Great Decider? And John McCain, with all those wrinkles and thinning hair and 20 years experience in the Senate, looks less and less Presidential with these absurd elementary school personal attacks on his opponent. John, give it a rest; putting a black man and two pretty white girls in the the same picture plays to certain motives that are beneath you, and beneath America.; Reply to this comment


by concerns47 July 31, 2008 1:16 PM EDT: Rice has not accomplished one major thing in her years with Bush, she is a token and so Obama is trying not to be a token president by inspiring people into a dazed and dreamy state, like being hypnotized when you wake up after the elections and see that the backdoor taxes cut into the middle-class tax break you will realize you were hypnotized into voting for just another politician.

Vote third party as a protest, they both are the same and that is why they are so close in the polls, neither one can gather enough to move into double digit leads in the national polls.; Reply to this comment


by concerns47 July 31, 2008 1:15 PM EDT: Rice has not accomplished one major thing in her year with Bush, she is a token and so Obama is trying not to be a token president by inspiring people into a dazed and dreamy state, like being hypnotized when you wake up after the elections and see that the backdoor taxes cut into the middle-class tax break you will realize you were hypnotized into voting for just another politician.

Vote third party as a protest, they both are the same and that is why they are so close in the polls, neither one can gather enough to move into double digit leads in the national polls.; Reply to this comment


by american1000 July 31, 2008 4:11 AM EDT: JOHN McCAIN HIMSELF "OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH" WHO CALLED HIS "OWN" WIFE CINDY McCAIN A CU*NT!!!

JOHN McCAIN CALLED HIS "OWN" WIFE A CU*NT IN FRONT THREE REPORTERS, AND JOHN McCAIN''S CALLED HIS OWN WIFE A CU*NT IN FRONT OF HIS OWN CAMPAIGN STAFF MEMBERS!!!; Reply to this comment


by rosesnpearls July 31, 2008 2:20 AM EDT: Who needs a CPA? No, God is a provider. How do you figure "kick them aside after they are born"? No, I raised my three and they all got jobs and are supporting themselves instead of lying on their backs waiting on the government to support them. I also support Habitat for Humanity and pregnancy centers that help young women with unplanned pregnancies. If we''re against abortion, we have to be there for the ladies (and their men)to help them through it.; Reply to this comment


by jtyler271 July 31, 2008 12:52 AM EDT: I vote for moral issues and God will take care of my finances. If you support killing babies for convenience you do not get my vote. Period.
osted by rosesnpearls at 03:45 PM : Jul 30, 2008
**********************************
** But it is okay to kick them to the curb once they are born.

Posted by truthmatterz at 05:16 PM : Jul 30, 2008

Silly Republicans, God isn''t a CPA.; Reply to this comment


by wellhell3 July 30, 2008 9:19 PM EDT: ROFL! Obscamma hates ALL of America''s great traditions and wants them buried in some facsimile of a fomenting European society with our Constitution and sovereignty buried in global authority!

He HATES being American!; Reply to this comment


by ariel133 July 30, 2008 9:18 PM EDT: The majority of Americans are lazy- they want change because they want someone else to do it for them- Change that is dependant upon someone that has no experiance is the wrong kind of change- doesn''t qualifications count for a resume these days?? It should. Americans should change their way of thinking-that is the key. A celebrity type individual that has money is nothing more than that- someone who makes you feel secure in this country is what should matter- Obama does not make me feel secure. he can''t, he was a Rev Wright follower.; Reply to this comment


by dnsallday July 30, 2008 8:16 PM EDT: I vote for moral issues and God will take care of my finances. If you support killing babies for convenience you do not get my vote. Period.
osted by rosesnpearls at 03:45 PM : Jul 30, 2008
************************************ But it is okay to kick them to the curb once they are born.; Reply to this comment


by dnsallday July 30, 2008 8:14 PM EDT: Condoleezza Rice traveling the world teh past five years.

Posted by standlee5
************************************* We know she has been traveling the world we are paying for it along with her makeover and expensive wardrobe. But the question is what has she accomplished?; Reply to this comment