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."

[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]

[wardoglrs]

The sad truth

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

[wardoglrs]

The sad truth

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

[blkpresident]

Obama''s church is NOT running for president.

[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!

[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]


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

[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)

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[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.

[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

[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

[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]

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

[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.

[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

[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.