Obama Tries to Get Past "Noise" in Campaign
(CBS)
From CBS News’ Maria Gavrilovic:
INDIANAPOLIS – An upbeat Barack Obama this morning said he wants to move forward from the “noise” that his campaign has endured over the last couple of weeks and concentrate on the May 6th primaries. “What we've been trying to do is to make sure that we refocus on what matters to people,” Obama said. “You know, I think the American voters don't want a whole bunch of drama.”
Obama defended recent questions by voters on his character and his values, saying that people have right to ask these questions. “Look, I think that it is very relevant for voters to figure out, is this somebody they can trust? Is this somebody who’s going to fight for them? Is this somebody that cares about the same things they do?”
At recent town hall meetings in North Carolina and Indiana, Obama is often asked about his patriotism, whether he wears the flag pin and if he pledges allegiance to the flag. He attributes most of these questions to attack e-mails sent in states where he is facing an upcoming election. Today, though, Obama acknowledged that many voters may still not know him despite the fact that he has been campaigning for well over a year.
“When you’re running for president, you make certain assumptions that people after 15 months really know who you are, and then you realize maybe there are still a whole bunch of folks who don’t know who you are despite the fact that you’re on TV every day,” Obama said. “I think it’s really important for me to make sure that we’re out there as much as possible.”
Taking a phrase from his Iowa campaign stump, Obama said he wants to meet voters so that they can “lift the hood and kick the tires” before they decide to vote for him.
He also took a shot at Hillary Clinton, who has advocated polling Congress on whether they support her gas tax holiday or not. “They don't want to be for something that is such an obvious election year gimmick,” Obama said of his Congressional brethren. “They don't want to line up behind an idea that's more about trying to get a few votes than getting you meaningful relief.”
Obama pointed out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, have all opposed the idea. One senator, though, has endorsed the idea – John McCain, who Obama was more than happy to lump together with Clinton in his criticism of the gas tax holiday. “On this issue, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are reading from the same political playbook,” Obama said. “This isn't a real solution. It's a political stunt.”
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
OBAMA TAKES INDIANA!!!
We all need to listen with a clear mind to the candidates'' proposed solutions to our issues, since we''ll have to judge from their words and attitudes who is the most trustworthy and best qualified to represent the interests of each group of this "melting pot" which is America.
We need a leader of unquestionable integrity, capable of addressing with energy the issues which are priority to all of us.
Hopefully all of us voters will be ready to recognize and reject gimmicks and diversions, so that we can exercise clear judgment when voting.
Though Wright repeated the same words, there is a big difference in preaching to his flock in the context of transformation versus to a national audience in trying to justify. Obama recognized this difference, unlike many who categorically condemn all inflamatory language regardless of intent.
Do we really think Hillary could tell the difference or care to bring it out?
It is exactly this type of judgement that a president needs to deal with some of the most outrageous and dangerous world leaders. Saddam Husein ued inflamattory words "the mother of all wars" to goad the US in to war. Even then, Obama was one of the very few who recognized this as nothing but show-boating that would have grave consequences for the US.
He said, ''Cliff, I''m gonna make me a U.S. Senator.''"
"Oh, you are? Who might that be?"
"Barack Obama."
Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.
"I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn''t have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.
"I don''t consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book."
During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama''s stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law %u2014 including many he now cites in his presidential campaign when attacked as inexperienced.
VOTERS IN INDIANA WILL REMEMBER OBAMA''''S SPIRITUAL MENTOR FOR 20 YEARS REV WRIGHT..WHO IS ANTI-AMERICA.
VOTERS IN INDIANA WILL REMEMBER OBAMA INSULTING SMALL TOWN PEOPLE BY CALLING THEM "BITTER"
VOTERS IN INDIANA WILL REMEMBER THAT AYERS THE TERRORIST WHO BOMBER THE PENTAGON AND POLICE STATIONS...TOOK OBAMA INTO HIS HOME AND KICKED OFF OBAMA''''S POLITICAL CAREER.
VOTERS IN INDIANA ARE TOO SMART TO VOTE FOR OBAMA AND HIS LONG TIME ANTI-AMERICAN FRIENDS.
HILLARY WILL WIN INDIANA.