Obama Ties Economic Woes To Iraq War

Illinois Senator Tries To Make Inroads With Blue-Collar West Virginians

(AP)  Barack Obama blamed the Iraq war for higher oil prices and skyrocketing debt Thursday as he sought to tie the unpopular war to the slumping economy in working-class West Virginia.

The Democratic hopeful is trying to cut into Barack Obama's base in West Virginia. The state's demographics appear to favor Clinton, whose support is strongest among older white voters and blue-collar workers.

"When you're spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you're paying a price for this war," Obama said. "When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you're paying a price for this war."

By linking the economy to the war, Obama is playing to his perceived strength as someone who spoke out against the war as a state lawmaker in Illinois. He has criticized Clinton for only recently opposing the war and said Thursday that her criticism of Republican John McCain's war policies lacks teeth.

"Her point would have been more compelling had she not joined Senator McCain in making the tragically ill-considered decision to vote for the Iraq war in the first place," Obama said to cheers.

It was the third consecutive day that Obama set aside his usual stump speech and delivered a more focused issue speech. He discussed race relations on Tuesday and the foreign policy consequences of the Iraq war Wednesday.

Obama has won more states than Clinton, leads in the popular vote and holds a nearly insurmountable lead in pledged delegates. But neither candidate can clinch the nomination without help from superdelegates, the party leaders who are not bound by any primary or caucus and are free to vote for whomever they choose. Clinton hopes a strong finish in the remaining primaries will persuade superdelegates to back her in a close race despite the delegate shortfall.

West Virginia holds its primary May 13. The economy is a key issue in West Virginia and Obama aides concede that Clinton is expected to perform well here.

"For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students," Obama said.

Obama was introduced at the University of Charleston by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who played up Obama's blue-collar credentials and his familiarity with West Virginia's coal industry.

"He's a man who's worked for everything he's achieved. That's something I can't say," Rockefeller joked. He said Obama can see the world "through the eyes of those who are in the trenches every day struggling to make ends meet and who are fighting to keep their families together."

[mudrose-2009]

HAHAHAHAHAHA. A monkey can figure out that this crunch in the economy is due to the subprime mess and the credit crisis. But these fruits cakes will say anything they want to say and pin the blame anywhere they want to and think everyone is just as stupid as they are. Ugh! The Black Panthers are call you RamaLama.

[homespunlady]

Keep laughing.

Gas at $4 per gallon, $5 per gallon, $6 per gallon DING DING DING...

BIN LADEN STILL running FREE and making MORE ENTERTAINMENT FILMS.

UNEMPLOYMENT RISING to new levels.

POISON in our MEDS, kid''s toys, pet food, people food, water, etc....

COLLAPSING bridges and building KILLING people.

and our nation is playing "Where''s Waldo Bin Laden in the WRONG country.

But keep laughing you SICK PUPPY...

[infidel_us]

After an intense study, scientists have discovered that love bugs ( Plecia nearctica) are the Negroes of the insect world. The facts to support their findings are listed below. The similarities are astounding!

Reasons:

1. They''re black
2. They love cars
3. They serve absolutely no purpose
4. They stick together
5. People hate to see them coming
6. People are forever trying to figure out how to get rid of them
7. They are usually found in large numbers in the south
8. They aggravate white people
9. They are constantly making more of themselves

[infidel_us]

Gas at $4 per gallon, $5 per gallon, $6 per gallon (You can thank the libs for not allowing drilling where we have oil, not allowing more refineries to be built, putting a stop to nuclear power plants.)
DING DONG...

BIN LADEN STILL running FREE and making MORE ENTERTAINMENT FILMS. (Whose fault is that? Clinton could have had him BEFORE 9-11.)

UNEMPLOYMENT RISING to new levels. (You must have forgotten about the RECORD EMPLOYMENT over the last 7 years. Oh,sorry....convenently overlokked it.)

POISON in our MEDS, kid''''s toys, pet food, people food, water, etc.... (Oh PAHLEEEZE...you''re such a f**king bedwetting liberal.)

COLLAPSING bridges and building KILLING people. (Just not enough of the RIGHT people.)

[samthetvcat]

Politico interviewed a bunch of Hillary supporters'' reactions to Barack''s speech who don''t sound like they were ever going to vote for him anyway, but I think they''re opinions shed light on the disconnect they feel.

Some of them are traditional blue-collar - it doesn''t sound like this group sees how ideals create jobs. I think the tangibility of the $$$ pledges Hillary''s always listing off probably sound more enticing (?) What did Barack''s grandfather who raised him do for a living? If he was blue-collar, maybe Barack could elaborate on his long-term exposure to this set of values and how they shaped his life, and why he chose to go a different route in life (?)

Another group are European immigrants - it doesn''t sound like they really have the same relationship to our past as the rest of us do, they don''t see how they would benefit from revisiting racial relations of the 60''s? Maybe Barack could talk about how growing up in a different country and coming back to America brings with it something special that immigrants offer, and how he wants to build on that (?)

Politico only seems to have gotten the opinions of 2 displeased people (lol) but maybe there''s other opinions out there to be heard that might shed light on how Barack might be able to forge a connection . . .

[samthetvcat]

badaxmofo, borrowing money from foreign countries not only increases our debt level, BOTH increasing our debt level and borrowing money from foreign countries lowers the value of our dollar.

A lowered dollar not only increases inflation, it forces OPEC who''s oil prices are tied to the US dollar to raise prices. BOTH higher inflation and a lower dollar thus raise oil prices.

Raised oil prices raise the price of every other commodity that relies on fuel to create, process, or ship goods.

Inflation also lowers our purchasing power, which means we''re paying more for less. Everybody''s felt it. The war HAS made a difference, and something like 76% of people acknowledge it. The only people who don''t are the same people who still insist we''re winning in Iraq and that Bush is doing a great job while he''s robbing us blind.

[samthetvcat]

PS With regard to my previous comment, maybe Barack needs to pay tribute to how blue-collar workers are the cornerstone of our economy because Bush with his policies hasn''t treated them like that, and look where we are today (?)

If we''re going to revive our economy with true growth, not just fake growth using deregulation and indiscriminate corporate tax breaks which aren''t being selectively applied to stimulate ingenuity, the manufacturing base will be at the center of that revival, won''t they?

As manufacturing goes, so goes the economy . . .

[larry996-2009]

Please watch this today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72B3tUAqpo4

[larry996-2009]

%u201CPurple%u201D states are those where, for example, the Presidential vote in 2004 was separated by about 6% or less. Those include Ohio, Florida, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and New Mexico which Hillary either already won or is leading. These are the states that the Democratic Party must win in November. It is critically important that the Democratic candidate be the one who draws most strongly in those key states. To believe that the candidate who did not attract a majority of Democratic voters in the primaries there, will somehow get not only most of those Democratic voters but also draw similar voters from outside the Democratic Party is naove and dangerous if your ultimate goal is to not have a Republican in the White House this time next year. Upto now Hillary has 2064 delegates and Obama has 1394 delegates using the same method that is used in the General election. Assuming that Hillary wins PA, WV,Indiana and PR & Guam and Obama gets SD, NC , OR , MT , she will have 2439 delegates and Obama will have 1606 delegates. If Democrats ignore this and give top of the ticket to Obama, 25% of the Democrats will vote for Republicans and we can lose both the House & the Senate. This is exactly what happened when Anti War hero McGovern was nominated and we lost all states except Mass.

[thgdriver]

I''ve listened to the Demonrats here rant and rave about how they need change from the GOP for the last 7 years.

Obama, they say, represents that change. Pardon me but he had 20 long years to change the hatred coming out of the church he belongs to. He did nothing for 20 long years. Why would you believe he represent change now? The man is a chronic, habitual lier.

[larry996-2009]

You should watch this to see who said what:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72B3tUAqpo4

[thgdriver]

or what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students," Obama said.

Why should I be giving any body anything Obama? No one paid a dime towards my health care before the war. Sure, hire another 30,000 teachers so our children can still be as illiterate as ever. Then they can go on strike when they don''t get a raise they don''t deserve. Why should I pay for any body''s offspring to go to college? Nobody but I, put my kids through college before the war.

More social programs for the inner city poor. Bull Shiit.

[larry996-2009]

%u201CPurple%u201D states are those where, for example, the Presidential vote in 2004 was separated by about 6% or less. Those include Ohio, Florida, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and New Mexico which Hillary either already won or is leading. These are the states that the Democratic Party must win in November. It is critically important that the Democratic candidate be the one who draws most strongly in those key states. To believe that the candidate who did not attract a majority of Democratic voters in the primaries there, will somehow get not only most of those Democratic voters but also draw similar voters from outside the Democratic Party is naove and dangerous if your ultimate goal is to not have a Republican in the White House this time next year. Upto now Hillary has 2064 delegates and Obama has 1394 delegates using the same method that is used in the General election. Assuming that Hillary wins PA, WV,Indiana and PR & Guam and Obama gets SD, NC , OR , MT , she will have 2439 delegates and Obama will have 1606 delegates. If Democrats ignore this and give top of the ticket to Obama, 25% of the Democrats will vote for Republicans and we can lose both the House & the Senate. This is exactly what happened when Anti War hero McGovern was nominated and we lost all states except Mass.

[samthetvcat]

If Republicans hate welfare and job creation programs so much then how could they vote for McCain - he''s got just as many social programs on his plate, only they''re not even going to benefit fellow Americans (just Iraqis). How does that make Republicans anything other than anti-American? Republicans even support having the French building our military equipment and stealing our jobs. And how are China-trade and NAFTA agreements pro-America when they ship jobs overseas? It''s a boon to the greedy creeps who personally have no compunction about profiting at the American worker''s expense, but I don''t see the payoff for the American worker . . .

[jason_randon]

Blacks have to stop blaming all their problems on whites. If black
parents
spent more time reading to their children and taking them to places
where
they could learn to expand their minds instead of Playing BASKETBALL
all the
time they would be better off in this information based society. Its
time to
end these minority preferences that just re enforce their "I am a
victim
mentality". That is their way to true equality. And there are sooo many successful black American already achieved by hard work%u2026%u2026but no Hussein Obama wants turn back the clock to those inequality time in America with his speech.

obama speaks of change.
what change can he bring.
has he once been specific about his kind of change?

[sueann702]

McCain is no different from Bush.
He admitted he has no clue on how to fix the economy and doesn''t even know who our enemies are in Iraq.
Going to war is expensive and our great grand kids will have to pay the bill for this dumb war.
Are we safer than in 2001? No!
Bin Laden is still a threat and the Taliban is winning in Afganistan.
Our sons and daughters are dying, maimed, and mentally ill from this war, a war GW Bush and Cheney lied about. There was no WMD and Saddam had no ties to Al Qaida. When told 63% of American opposed the war, Cheney responded with a "SO".
Translation: Who cares what you people think.
and I can go on and on about us losing our freedoms from the Constitution or the failures with Katrina or jobs going overseas but you all know this.

[sueann702]

If Republicans hate welfare and job creation programs so much then how could they vote for McCain - he''''s got just as many social programs on his plate, only they''''re not even going to benefit fellow Americans (just Iraqis). How does that make Republicans anything other than anti-American? Republicans even support having the French building our military equipment and stealing our jobs. And how are China-trade and NAFTA agreements pro-America when they ship jobs overseas? It''''s a boon to the greedy creeps who personally have no compunction about profiting at the American worker''''s expense, but I don''''t see the payoff for the American worker . . .




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by SamTheTVCat at 07:25 PM : Mar 20, 2008


Republicans are too stupid to know this. 8 years of decline and they still don''t have a clue.

[sueann702]

We need to STOP investing our time, money and resources in Iraq and invest here at home.
We need to pull out our troops in Iraq and go after Bin Laden and the Taliban.
We need to restore Habeus Corpus and our Constitution that was damaged from the Bush White House.
Yes We Can

[blkpresident]

OLD man McCain will hurt the economy even more with his march to Iran; and, the ''lil woman missy pretending to be presidential worthy will hurt our economy with her lackluster command of money management. America needs a real man to lead us, not an OLD man, nor a soccer mom playing president either.

[jonesforch]

Obama Ties Economic Woes To Iraq War
Nice job taking the heat off himself...Hmmm would he make a good president?

[jonesforch]

Posted by BLKPRESIDENT
SAID: America needs a real man to lead us, not an OLD man, nor a soccer mom playing president either.

Wow alot of the majority of votes ARE the Old and soccer MOM''s.

[jonesforch]

The so-called super-delegates will only duplicate what is presently evident--an Obama lead. Sorry ''''bout your ''''lil pipe dream missy of a women becoming president. There''''s a lonely kitchen stove in NY that needs an oven cleaning. Oh, don''''t forget to dust the laundry room either missy. Terrorist respect and fear men. Try gain in 2072 or something girly

Posted by BLKPRESIDENT at 10:06 PM : Mar 20, 2008

[laurenbrillante]

I am 100% in support of Senator Obama. He is NOT his pastor. It is unfortunate that our country has so much blindness as to the real underlying issues that continue to exist with regards to race. I am a 44 yr old, educated, white, single mom in Colorado. From the first time I heard Senator Obama speak I knew he had the skills and wisdom that our country needs. I wrote to him and asked him to run for president at that time. Our country is in the need of serious change. Senator Obama is the one I trust to actually bring that change. When all the dust settles I look forward to witnessing the swearing in of a man who has the potential to become one of the greatest leaders of our time.
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
OBAMA/EDWARDS ''08

[jockh]

If Hillary can loan 5 million dollars to her campaign then surely the voters have a right to know the source of her funding.

Why wont Hillary release her tax returns? PEOPLE WITH NOTHING TO HIDE DON%u2019T USUALLY HIDE !!
The main excuse we''ve gotten so far is that Hillary Clinton just has too much on her plate. "I''m a little busy right now," she said during the Ohio debate. "I hardly have time to sleep. But I will certainly work toward releasing, and we will get that done and in the public domain."
That was three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, Howard Wolfson promised the returns would be released "on or around April 15." But weren''t the returns completed and filed a long time ago? Doesn''t Clinton''s accountant have time to print them out and make some copies (note to Clinton''s accountant: many Kinko''s are open 24 hours).

In short, it''s well past time for Hillary Clinton to be as "vetted" as she claims to already be -- and to have this vetting done now by Democratic voters rather than later by GOP hit squads. She needs to live up to the standard she laid out for Rick Lazio, the opponent in her 2000 Senate race. At that time, she hypocritically said it was "frankly disturbing" that Lazio was holding back on releasing his tax returns and she even sent a staffer dressed as Uncle Sam to taunt him during campaign stops.
What a difference eight years -- and tens of millions of dollars (some of them from questionable Arab deals) -- can make.

[xzonz]

we need to and make our opinions on things that matter like the economy, health care education. i commend those of you who have taken your time to comment

[xzonz]

edfranco11: i do not agree with your comments so i will not post them
White African American Hispanic or whatever i would regard you more intelligent or atleast having the intelligence of above avarege if you just chose to rise above the act of taking portions and snippets and not looking at the whole picture (i dont know your race, all i can know about how your mind works is from your posting)
what i know is that the problems affecting us are real affecting even people in Wall str so instead youould focus on not being part of the problem but solving the problem
and they

[armydog2]

spending over a trillion dollars on this war has definitely created our economic problems. we are in debt up to our eyeballs thanks to bush and cheney and it will take forever to get out of it.
I think Obama is our best choice to bring about change in this country.Mccain will only increase this debt and if you listened to him the past couple of days he doesn''t seem to have a clue or is having too many senior moments.Hillary I just do not like.

[DCropp]

Over one trillion dollars spent on the war.

That''s two hundred billion dollars America could have spent each year building better levees, dams, roads, bridges, renewable energy like wind power and solar.

Please put America back to work. Let us put food on the tables. Let us put a roof over our families. We don''t want hand outs. We want real jobs.

Thank you Senator Obama for voicing the opinions of millions of Americans. America needs someone who knew this war was a bad idea from the start.

[taotxzen]

(cont)

Now, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, the full saga unfolds in the two-part FRONTLINE special Bush''s War, airing Monday, March 24, 2008, from 9 to 11:30 P.M. and Tuesday, March 25, from 9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings). Veteran FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk (The Lost Year in Iraq, The Dark Side) draws on one of the richest archives in broadcast journalism -- more than 40 FRONTLINE reports on the war on terror. Combined with fresh reporting and new interviews, Bush''s War will be the definitive documentary analysis of one of the most challenging periods in the nation''s history.

"Parts of this history have been told before," Kirk says. "But no one has laid out the entire narrative to reveal in one epic story the scope and detail of how this war began and how it has been fought, both on the ground and deep inside the government."

Since the war on terror began, FRONTLINE''s award-winning reporting has gone behind the headlines to connect the dots and reveal the true story of an administration at war with itself over how to respond to the devastating 9/11 attacks.

[taotxzen]

ON FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF IRAQ INVASION FRONTLINE PRESENTS DEFINITIVE CHRONICLE OF BUSH''S WAR ON TERROR

FRONTLINE presents %u2028BUSHS WAR %u2028March 24 & 25, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

From the horror of 9/11 to the invasion of Iraq; the truth about WMD to the rise of an insurgency; the scandal of Abu Ghraib to the strategy of the surge -- for six years, FRONTLINE has revealed the defining stories of the war on terror in meticulous detail, and the political dramas that played out at the highest levels of power and influence.

(cont)

[forthepeopl1]

TO EVERYONE,

WE THE PEOPLE DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO SHUT THIS GOVERNMENT DOWN. AND THEIR IS A WAY TO MAKE OUR GOVERNEMNT STOP IN THIER TRACKS..

THE GREAT AMERICAN WALK OUT..THATS RIGHT FOR 3 OR 4 DAYS LIKE A THURSDAY THRU MONDAY..EVERY AMERICAN IN THIS COUNTRY DO NOTHING...I MEAN NOTHING BUT STAY HOME AND ENJOY THE FAMILY. ALL TRUCK,TRAIN,PLAINS,EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO TAKE A FEW SICK DAYS FOR THIS..

IN ONLY A FEW DAYS OF NOTHING MOVEING IN THIS COUNTRY WOULD TELL CONGRESS AND THE WHITEHOUSE WHO REALLY RUNS THIS COUNTRY..THATS US AMERICANS... SO WHEN WOULD BE A GOOD DAY TO START THIS..

AND I MEAN IT DONT BUY ANYTHING....DO ANYTHING...DONT GO ANYWERE TO SPEND A DIME...

IT WOULD PUT THIS COUNTRY ON ITS KNEES..LIKE WE SHOULD

the great american STIKE.................

[e-mail]


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[votepa2008]

I see why Obama attended that church and so would you.. Chck it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPUXjFYh38

Shameful...Just Shameful!

[blkpresident]

Obama''s church is NOT running for president.

[wardoglrs]

The sad truth

http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.12.%20MoneyMasters.htm

[wardoglrs]

The sad truth

http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.12.%20MoneyMasters.htm

[forthepeopl1]

TO EVERYONE,

WE THE PEOPLE DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO SHUT THIS GOVERNMENT DOWN. AND THEIR IS A WAY TO MAKE OUR GOVERNEMNT STOP IN THIER TRACKS..

THE GREAT AMERICAN WALK OUT..THATS RIGHT FOR 3 OR 4 DAYS LIKE A THURSDAY THRU MONDAY..EVERY AMERICAN IN THIS COUNTRY DO NOTHING...I MEAN NOTHING BUT STAY HOME AND ENJOY THE FAMILY. ALL TRUCK,TRAIN,PLAINS,EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO TAKE A FEW SICK DAYS FOR THIS..

IN ONLY A FEW DAYS OF NOTHING MOVEING IN THIS COUNTRY WOULD TELL CONGRESS AND THE WHITEHOUSE WHO REALLY RUNS THIS COUNTRY..THATS US AMERICANS... SO WHEN WOULD BE A GOOD DAY TO START THIS..

AND I MEAN IT DONT BUY ANYTHING....DO ANYTHING...DONT GO ANYWERE TO SPEND A DIME...

IT WOULD PUT THIS COUNTRY ON ITS KNEES..LIKE WE SHOULD

the great american STIKE.................

[e-mail]