McCain Praises, Criticizes Obama At NAACP
(CBS)
(CINCINNATI) There is no doubt John McCain will have a tough time convincing most members of the NAACP to vote for him in November – the new CBS News/New York Times poll shows that 89% of blacks intend to vote for Barack Obama, compared with only 2% for McCain.
In his address to the NAACP convention today, McCain had kind words for his Democratic rival.
“Don't tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways. He has inspired a great many Americans, some of whom had wrongly believed that a political campaign could hold no purpose or meaning for them,” McCain said. “Whatever the outcome in November, Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing -- for himself and for his country -- and I thank him for it.”
But there was criticism as well, especially about Obama’s education plan.
“Democrats in Congress, including my opponent, oppose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. In remarks to the American Federation of Teachers last weekend, Sen. Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as ‘tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice,’” McCain said. “All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?”
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program is the first federally funded school voucher program in the country, giving scholarships of up to $7,500 to about 2,000 low-income students in Washington, D.C. The $18 million program is likely to be cut after its initial five-year funding expires next year. McCain has proposed expanding it, upping the budget to at least $20 million and adding nearly a thousand more families.
“After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms,” McCain said. “That isn't just my opinion; it is the conviction of parents in poor neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their children.”
Thus, Obama admitted that he accomplished little but that he was able to cover that up with fancy talk about change.
Contrary to Obama%u2019s portrayal of himself as a unifier, on every bipartisan effort in the Senate to forge compromises on tough issues, Obama has been missing in action.
In sum, it would be difficult to imagine a more mediocre record. Most candidates for dog catcher have contributed more to society. Yet with the help of adoring reporters, Obama has managed to parlay extraordinary speaking and political skills into a presidential campaign built on sand.
The idea that America might entrust its security and future to someone who has never demonstrated an ability to get anything of significance done is scary.
Look for John McCain to begin exploiting this vulnerability after Labor Day
Well, apparently Obama''s standard of a "new age" in politics doesn''t carry too far into his campaign. Obviously Barack Obama has no real power over the Party from which he claims to head because the Democratic National Convention is being funded by... you guessed it... lobbyists.
As the New York Times reports, the man being tapped by the DNC to head the fundraising for their national convention is well connected lobbyist Steve Farber.
And, about the NAACP wasn''t John war monger McCain that voted against the Martin Luther Holiday in his home state of Az?