Mar
23
WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans on Sunday predicted a doomsday scenario of crushing debt and eventual federal bankruptcy if President Barack Obama’s massive spending blueprint wins passage.
But a White House adviser dismissed the negative assessments, saying she is “incredibly confident” that the president’s policies will “do the job” for the economy.
In a TV interview, Obama himself laughed when discussing the dire state of parts of the economy – and ascribed his laughter to “gallows humor.”
White House Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman Christina Romer insisted that the nation’s flailing economy will be rebounding by 2010.
Administration officials – and the president himself – have taken a cheerier tone despite economic indicators that are anything but positive.
“I have every expectation, as do private forecasters, that we will bottom out this year and actually be growing again by the end of the year,” Romer said.
The president, in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” talked about the need to spend taxpayer money to save financial firms and the auto industry.
“I just want to say that the only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money into the auto industry,” Obama said with a laugh.
Interviewer Steve Kroft asked how that laughter might be perceived, given the economy’s troubles.
“There’s got to be a little gallows humor to get you through the day,” Obama said. “If you had said to us a year ago that the least of my problems would be Iraq, which is still a pretty serious problem, I don’t think anybody would have believed it.”
Mar
21
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s supreme leader rebuffed President Barack Obama’s latest outreach on Saturday, saying Tehran was still waiting to see concrete changes in U.S. policy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was responding to a video message Obama released Friday in which he reached out to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year, and expressed hopes for an improvement in nearly 30 years of strained relations.
Khamenei holds the last word on major policy decisions, and how Iran ultimately responds to any concrete U.S. effort to engage the country will depend largely on his say.
In his most direct assessment of Obama and prospects for better ties, Khamenei said there will be no change between the two countries unless the American president puts an end to U.S. hostility toward Iran and brings “real changes” in foreign policy.
“They chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice. We haven’t seen any change,” Khamenei said in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.
In his video message, Obama said the United States wants to engage Iran, but he also warned that a right place for Iran in the international community “cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization.”
Khamenei asked how Obama could congratulate Iranians on the new year and accuse the country of supporting terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons in the same message.
Khamenei said there has been no change even in Obama’s language compared to that of his predecessor.
“He (Obama) insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day. If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed.”
Still, Khamenei left the door open to better ties with America, saying “should you change, our behavior will change too.”
Diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Iran were cut after the U.S. Embassy hostage-taking after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the pro-U.S. shah and brought to power a government of Islamic clerics.
The United States cooperated with Iran in late 2001 and 2002 in the Afghanistan conflict, but the promising contacts fizzled – and were extinguished completely when Bush branded Tehran part of the “Axis of Evil.”
Khamenei enumerated a long list of Iranian grievances against the United States over the past 30 years and said the U.S. was still interfering in Iranian affairs.
He mentioned U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war against Iran and the downing of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988.
He also accused the U.S. of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington’s accusations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons are a sign of U.S. hostility. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like energy production, not for building weapons.
Dec
16
CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama said Monday a review by his own lawyer shows he had no direct contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the appointment of a Senate replacement, and transition aides did nothing inappropriate.Obama pledged to make the review public, but said he decided to hold off because prosecutors asked for a delay and “I don’t want to interfere with an ongoing investigation.” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald released a statement confirming the request.
Controversy has swirled around the president-elect and his incoming White House chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, following Blagojevich’s arrest last week on charges he schemed to trade Obama’s Senate seat for personal gain.
Obama, fielding questions at a news conference, sidestepped when asked whether Emanuel had spoken with aides to the governor about potential Senate appointees.
Emanuel was one of several aides who watched the news conference from the wings.
The president-elect pledged the results of the investigation by his incoming White House counsel, Gregory Craig, would be released “in due course.”
He said the probe was complete and thorough, but did not say which of his aides Craig interviewed, whether any of them was under oath at the time, or any other details.
Obama appeared before reporters to announce his environmental and natural resources team.
It was disclosed last week that he selected Steven Chu for energy secretary, Lisa Jackson for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Carol Browner as his energy and climate “czar,” and Nancy Sutley to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Separately, officials familiar with the selection of Obama’s Cabinet said the president-elect has chosen Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as education secretary, and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as interior secretary. These officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to disclose any personnel decisions not yet announced.
In personally disclosing the results of the investigation he ordered, Obama said, “As I said in a press conference last week, I had no contact with the governor’s office and I had no contact with anybody in the governor’s office. What I indicated last week was there was nothing that my office did that was in any way inappropriate or related to the charges that have been brought.”
Blagojevich has authority under Illinois state law to name a Senate replacement for Obama, who resigned his seat as he prepares to become president. Senate Democrats have warned the governor not to use his power, hinting they may refuse to allow his selection to take the oath of office.
There also has been talk of the legislature passing a law that would strip the governor of the power to name a replacement, and call for a special election instead.
Separately, Blagojevich has come under heavy pressure to resign, from Obama as well as Democrats nationally and in Illinois. Earlier in the day, the Legislature took the first step toward possible impeachment.
Obama held his news conference shortly after his transition office released a statement by spokesman Dan Pfeiffer saying the internal review had found no wrongdoing.
Like the president-elect, the statement left several issues uncovered.
It did not say whether Emanuel was heard on a wiretap providing the governor’s top aide with a list of names that the president-elect favored. Nor did it say who, if anyone, on Obama transition’s team had made contact with the governor or his aides concerning a replacement for Obama or whether Craig interviewed people under oath, or to whom he talked.
Pfeiffer said the review “affirmed the public statements of the president-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the president-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as U.S. Senator.”
Earlier in the day, Obama met privately with his national security team, including Vice President-elect Joe Biden, incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The president-elect’s transition office said the meeting was held to discuss opportunities and challenges around the globe and was designed to help the new administration hit the ground running as of Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
In recent days, Obama’s staff has declined to respond even to basic questions about the Blagojevich review, like how long it would take, who was leading it and what issues were explored.
Two people who have been briefed on the investigation had told The Associated Press that Emanuel is not a target of the probe. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation is ongoing. One is a person close to Emanuel, who said he has been told by investigators that he’s not a subject of their probe.
There are no suggestions that Obama or his aides were involved in the alleged sale of his seat. Fitzgerald has said prosecutors were making no allegations that Obama was aware of any scheming. And Blagojevich himself, in taped conversations cited by prosecutors, suggested Obama wouldn’t be helpful to him and called him a vulgar term. Even if the governor were to appoint a candidate favored by the Obama team, Blagojevich said, “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.” Source
Dec
5
WASHINGTON - Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama’s refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin. “He’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.
Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.
“At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time,” Frank said. “I’m afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He’s got to remedy that situation.”
Obama has maintained one of the most public images of any president-elect. He has held half a dozen press conferences, where he has entertained question after question about the economy, the mortgage crisis, and the flailing auto industry. He called for passage of extended unemployment benefits – which has passed – and even a stimulus package if possible before Jan. 20. But he has stayed away from trying to dictate remedies for the toughest problems Congress is confronting: the auto industry’s troubles and how to spend the $700 billion bailout.
Frank’s remarks came as the Bush administration considers whether it needs the second half of the $700 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program aimed at helping the financial sector before Obama takes office on Jan. 20.
An Obama official said the Bush administration reached out to the transition team about tapping into the money. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said Obama’s transition team urged the administration to talk to bipartisan congressional leaders and assemble a meeting between the White House and Congress. The official said the Obama team offered to participate in a bipartisan meeting if it would be helpful.
Earlier this week, Obama was asked whether he worried that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson might begin spending the next installment of the money before he assumes the presidency. Obama demurred.
“Until Secretary Paulson indicates publicly that he’s drawing down the second tranche, the second half of the TARP money, it would be speculation on my part to suggest that that money’s going to be used up,” he told reporters at a Chicago news conference Wednesday.
Obama did stress that a significant component of the fund should be used to reduce the number of foreclosures. But he did not specify a particular remedy.
He also declined to take a stand in a debate over the source of money for an auto loan package. The dispute has divided Democrats and hindered progress on assistance for the industry. At issue is whether to take money from the $700 billion designated for the financial sector or to take it from a previously approved loan aimed at manufacturing more energy efficient cars.
“I think it’s premature to get into that issue,” Obama said at the conference.
Presidents-elect typically spend the transition period assembling their cabinets, their White House staff and preparing to take the reins of power. But this transition is occurring at an extraordinary time, with bad economic news mounting by the day and with one of the country’s major industries begging for a hand to keep from collapsing.
Two Democratic senators involved in trying to salvage the auto companies have said Obama could help move the process along and should become more engaged.
Nov
15
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has interviewed primary election rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Richardson for secretary of state, according to Democratic officials who revealed his secret meetings with both as he weighed the decision on folding former foes into his new administration. Obama met with Richardson late Friday afternoon, a day after conferring one-on-one with Clinton at his Chicago office, said several Democratic officials.
He plans to meet there Monday with his Republican opponent, John McCain, but advisers to both of the general election rivals say they don’t expect Obama to consider McCain for an administration job.
The meeting with Clinton, revealed to The Associated Press Friday, excited a burst of speculation that Obama would transform the former first lady and his fierce campaign foe into one of his top Cabinet officials and the nation’s chief diplomatic voice. But where she stands in contention for the post came into question as other Democrats, also speaking on condition of anonymity about the private discussions, said Richardson was brought in as well.
The two are not the only candidates Obama has talked to about the job, Democrats said. One senior Obama adviser said the president-elect has given no evidence whom he is favoring for the post.
Obama asked Clinton directly whether she would be interested in the job, said one Democrat, who cautioned that it was no indication that he was leaning toward her.
Obama was deciding on his presidential staff as well, naming longtime friend Valerie Jarrett as a White House senior adviser. Jarrett met Obama when she hired his wife for a job in the Chicago mayor’s office years ago and has been a close confidante to the couple ever since.
Obama was silent and out of sight in Chicago. On Friday evening, he attended a birthday party for Jarrett at a high-rise building in the city. Clinton, a New York senator, addressed a transit conference in her home state and said emphatically, “I’m not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect’s incoming administration, and I’m going to respect his process.”
Obama’s aides say he would like to have McCain as a partner with him on legislation they both have advocated, such as climate change, government reform, immigration and a ban on torture.
All this fits with an idea that Obama often talked about on the campaign trail, as he praised the presidency of Abraham Lincoln as described by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book “Team of Rivals.”
“Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his Cabinet because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was: How can we get this country through this time of crisis?” Obama said at one point.
Lincoln appointed three of his rivals for the Republican nomination to his Cabinet. Obama turned to one rival for vice president, picking Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden even though Biden had questioned whether Obama had the experience to be president.
In his first two weeks as president-elect, Obama has struck a bipartisan tone. He paired a Republican and a Democrat to meet with foreign leaders this weekend on his behalf in Washington, for example.
It’s far from clear how interested Clinton would be in being his secretary of state. She’d face a Senate confirmation hearing that would certainly probe her husband’s financial dealings – something the Clintons refused to disclose in the presidential campaign.
But remaining in the Senate may not be Clinton’s first choice, either, since she is a junior senator without prospects for a leadership position or committee chairmanship anytime soon.
Democratic officials, speaking only anonymously about private negotiations, say Clinton asked Sen. Edward Kennedy to establish a subcommittee that she would lead that would allow her to shepherd health care reform through the Senate. But Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, wants to lead the effort as a capstone to his career, and there also are other members with more seniority than Clinton whom he wouldn’t want to bypass.
Nov
8
Obama apologizes to Nancy Reagan for seance remark
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WASHINGTON – President-elect Obama called Nancy Reagan on Friday to apologize for joking that she held seances in the White House.
At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said, “I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances.”
The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted with astrologers during her husband’s presidency. But she did not hold conversations with the dead.
Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect later called Mrs. Reagan “to apologize for the careless and offhanded remark.” She said Obama “expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation.”
It actually wasn’t Nancy Reagan who was linked to conversations with the dead; it was Obama’s top Democratic challenger for the presidency, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
In either case, use of the word “seance” might be overstated.
Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help set her husband’s schedule, wrote former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan. The revelation created a furor and President Reagan even broke with his policy of not commenting on books by former White House staffers.
“No policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology,” Reagan said.
In his book “The Choice,” Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward described how Clinton consulted with a spiritual adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with her personal hero, Eleanor Roosevelt. Newsweek magazine, which was promoting the book, characterized the visits as “seances,” a term that White House officials quickly tried to squelch.
“These were people who were helping her laugh, helping her think,” said Neel Lattimore, Clinton’s spokeswoman. “These were not seances.”
Nov
8
Obama to center stage, promises action on economy
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CHICAGO – Inheriting an economy in peril, President-elect Obama warned on Friday that the nation faces the challenge of a lifetime and pledged he would act urgently to help Americans devastated by lost jobs, disappearing savings and homes seized in foreclosure. But the man who promised change cautioned against hopes of quick solutions.
“It is not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in,” Obama said at his first news conference since winning the presidency on Tuesday.
The No. 1 priority, Obama said, is to get Congress to approve an economic stimulus plan that would extend jobless benefits, send food aid to the poor, dispatch Medicaid funds to states and spend tens of billions of dollars on public works projects. If the plan is not approved this month, in a special session of Congress, Obama said that “it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States.”
In his first appearance since a jubilant election-night celebration, Obama sought to project an air of calm and reassurance to a deeply worried nation. He stood in a presidential-like setting with an array of eight American flags and a lectern showing a presidential seal above the words “The Office of the President Elect.” The stage behind him was lined with advisers he had summoned, his economic brain trust.
Almost 20 minutes late to his first meeting with reporters, Obama spoke for just 20 minutes and broke no ground with new policy announcements or disclosures of who would be in his Cabinet. In lighthearted moments, he joked about seances with dead presidents and the appeal of animal shelter dogs that are “mutts like me.”
Constrained by the fact he will not take office until Jan. 20, Obama deferred to President Bush and his economic team on major decisions. “The United States has only one government and one president at a time,” he said.
Declaring he would not respond to issues “in a knee-jerk fashion,” Obama declined to say how he would deal with Iran, whose president sent a letter of congratulations to Obama. “I want to be very careful that we are sending the right signals to the world as a whole that I am not the president and I won’t be until January 20th,” he said.
A new jobless report offered no comfort. The unemployment rate climbed to a 14-year high in October,and 10.1 million people were out of work. In Detroit, General Motors reported a huge third-quarter loss and said it may run out of cash next year. Ford planned more job cuts after burning through billions of dollars of its own.
While standing back as long as Bush is president, Obama said his advisers would keep close watch on the administration’s efforts to unlock frozen credit and stabilize financial markets. Obama said he wanted to make sure the Bush administration was “protecting taxpayers, helping homeowners and not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.”
Obama spoke after he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met privately with economic advisers to discuss ways to stabilize the economy.
“We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we’re going to have to act swiftly to resolve it,” Obama said.
He said he was confident that “a new president can have an enormous impact,” but he tempered that optimism by adding, “I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead.”
“Immediately after I become president, I will confront this economic challenge head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity,” Obama said.
“Some of the choices that we’re going to make are going to be difficult,” he said. “It is not going to be quick. It’s not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in.” But he said he was confident the country could do it.
Obama left the door open to the possibility that economic conditions might prompt him to change his tax plan that would give a break to most families but raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 annually.
“I think that the plan that we’ve put forward is the right one, but obviously over the next several weeks and months, we’re going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what’s taking place in the economy as a whole,” Obama said.
Democratic congressional leaders want to pass a broad economic aid package in a postelection session later this month, but prospects appear dim because of Bush’s opposition.
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader, said the House wouldn’t reconvene for a postelection session unless Bush did an about-face and drops his opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., isn’t sure such a package could get through the Senate either, he added.
“Clearly there’s no point in us doing something if the administration’s going to take a position that they’re not going to sign something,” Hoyer said.
If Congress and Bush can’t come to terms on a stimulus bill this fall, lawmakers have spoken with Obama’s team about a Plan B: The new Congress could quickly pass an economic aid package when it reconvenes in early January, readying it for Obama’s signature as his first official act after being inaugurated, Democratic leadership aides said.
That measure would probably be just the first installment of a broader package, including a middle class tax cut, that Congress could pass separately after Obama is in the White House.
Nov
7
CHICAGO – President-elect Obama accepted congratulations from nine presidents and prime ministers Thursday, returning calls from world leaders who reached out after his presidential victory.
The global financial crisis was among the topics Obama discussed with key U.S. allies he’ll deal with during his administration.
Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect spoke to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sarkozy’s office says they spoke for 30 minutes and characterized the discussion as “extremely warm” as the president congratulated Obama on a “brilliant” election victory. The statement said they discussed international issues, particularly the financial crisis, and agreed to meet in the “quite near future.”
Harper’s office said in a statement that they spoke about an international financial summit in Washington on Nov. 15 and its importance for addressing the global financial crisis. Obama had no plans to attend the meeting.
The prime minister’s office says the two leaders emphasized that there could be no closer friends and allies than the United States and Canada and vowed to maintain and further build upon the relationship. Harper’s office called it a warm exchange and said they agreed to talk again soon.
Calderon’s office said Obama pledged continued U.S. support for Mexico’s fight against organized crime and drug trafficking. A statement from the Mexican president’s office says Obama told Calderon he was “conscious of the difficulty of the battle” and offered “decisive” U.S. support.
Congress approved $400 million in anti-drug aid for Mexico last June, but has yet to release the money.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday congratulated Obama on his election win in a letter, – the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Iranian leader also said he hopes Obama will “use the opportunity to serve the (American) people and leave a good name for history” during his term in office.
In his conversation with Lee, Obama said the U.S.-South Korea alliance is a “cornerstone” of Asia’s peace and stability, and promised improved relations between the countries, Seoul’s presidential office said.
The United States helped defend South Korea during the Korean war and is its No. 1 ally. About 28,500 American troops are still stationed there to deter threats from communist North Korea.
Brown’s Downing Street office says he and Obama spoke about several issues, including reform of the global financial system. Britain’s Press Association newswire said the two had a “very friendly and positive” 10-minute conversation, covering topics including the world economy, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Middle East peace process.
Australia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in Sydney that he spoke by telephone with Obama Friday to congratulate him on his historic win and discuss the various challenges the lie ahead for the world, chief among them the global financial crisis. The two also talked about the issues of national security and climate change during the 10- to 15-minute conversation, Rudd said.
“It was a good conversation, it was a friendly conversation,” Rudd said. “The challenges we face are great….But I believe we have a strong partner in the U.S.”
Nov
6
US, European stocks fall after Obama victory
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Wall Street and European stocks fell back on Wednesday as investors buckled down for an expected gloomy economic ride after the euphoria of Democrat Barack Obama’s US presidential election victory.
Dealers said gains made on Tuesday on hopes for fresh efforts to tackle the global financial crisis were surrendered quickly on Wall Street and in Europe although Asia did better despite signs of gathering economic problems.
They said the markets realise that little can happen immediately, with Obama due to be sworn in only in late January, and the global economy faces serious headwinds regardless of the political leadership involved.
“The feel-good factor which may have been generated … from the historic nature of Obama’s victory is unlikely to filter through to financial markets,” said Martin Slaney, head of derivatives at financial spread betting group GFT in London.
“Given the much bigger economic picture there is little chance of a post-election rally,” Slaney said.
“There is an element of ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ that is driving some profit-taking to kick in,” he added.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.39 per cent at around 1700 GMT.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 2.34 per cent at 4,530.73 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 index fell 1.98 per cent to 3,618.11 points and in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 2.11 percent to 5,166.87 points.
In Asian trade earlier, however, Tokyo ended with a gain of 4.46 per cent, Hong Kong jumped 3.2 per cent and Sydney rose 2.9 per cent.
US stocks staged a powerful rally on Tuesday, with the DJIA up 3.28 per cent which gave the Asian markets a good start but this was not carried over into Europe.
Obama faces a global financial crisis and a host of domestic problems in the economy, including rising unemployment, falling home values and slowing exports when he takes office on January 20.
World leaders hailed Obama’s historic triumph but there were also calls for the global superpower to change the way it does business.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso called for the election to usher in a “new deal” between the United States and the rest of the world to tackle the global financial crisis and other troubles.
“Back to the realities of financial world and it seems that the euphoria didn’t last that long with stock markets around the globe peering into what they increasingly believe will be a long and protracted period of global recession,” said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners.-AFP
Oct
30
Obama goes prime-time; McCain goes after Obama
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SUNRISE, Fla. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama plunked down $4 million for a campaign-closing television ad Wednesday night and summoned voters to “choose hope over fear and unity over division” in Tuesday’s election. Republican John McCain derided the event as a “gauzy, feel-good commercial,” paid for with broken promises.
“America, the time for change has come,” Obama said in the final moments of the unusual ad, a blend of videotaped moments and a live appearance before thousands in Sunrise, Fla.
“In six days we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates jobs and fuels prosperity starting with the middle class,” Obama said.
The 30-minute ad, aired on CBS, NBC, Fox and several cable networks, came days from the end of a race in which Obama holds the lead in polls nationally and in most key battleground states as he bids to become the first black president.
And while it is unusual for candidates to acknowledge the possibility of defeat, Republican running mate Sarah Palin said she intended to remain a national figure even if the ticket loses next week. “I’m not doin’ this for naught,” she told ABC News in an interview.
Republicans and even some Democrats said the race was tightening as it neared the end. Although Obama made no mention of McCain in his paid television ad, both men sharpened their rhetoric during the day.
McCain, in Florida, argued that Obama lacks “what it takes to protect America from terrorists” as he sought to shift attention away from the economy.
“The question is whether this is a man who has what it takes to protect America from Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and the other great threats in the world,” he said. “He has given no reason to answer in the affirmative.”
Obama, in North Carolina, said if, “Sen. McCain is elected, 100 million Americans will not get a tax cut … your health care benefits will get taxed for the first time in history … we’ll have another president who wants to privatize part of your Social Security.”
For weeks now, the race has tilted Obama’s way as the two men traverse traditionally Republican states – Obama angling for a sizable triumph and McCain hoping to win the White House in a close finish.
Associated Press-GfK polls taken within the past several days showed Obama ahead in four states that supported President Bush in 2004 and essentially even with McCain in two others. A separate survey suggested even McCain’s home state of Arizona was not safely in his column.
The 30-minute campaign commercial, purchased at a cost that campaign aides put at roughly $4 million, not only marked Obama’s attempt to seal his case with the electorate, but also underscored his enormous financial advantage in the race. He has outraised McCain by far after first committing – and then reneging – on a pledge to limit spending to the $84 million available under federal matching funds.
Obama used his commercial to pledge a rescue plan for the middle class in tough times. “I will not be a perfect president,” he said. “But I can promise you this – I will always tell you what I think and where I stand.”