Jesse Jackson lashes against Obama, Obama criticizes Americans lack of bilingualism, McCain reaches out to Latinos and criticizes Obama for surveillance and Iran votes
A very interesting day of developments on the 2008 campaign. When some commentators say that the 3-4 months left to the election is like an eon in politics, days like today reinforce that sentiment.
The headline story is Jesse Jackson's comments that Obama is "talking down to black people" and that he wanted to "cut Obama's nuts out" which is tantamount to calling him a condescending elitist with a moral superiority complex. While Jackson later said he supports this historic campaign and what it represents that Obama is the head of, that type of endorsement is perhaps more significant for what he's not saying. He's not saying Obama is the great candidate. Whether its sour grapes that Obama has fared better as an African American candidate than he did, a grudge over Obama's emotional condemnation of former President Clinton's comments for ever comparing him to Jesse Jackson, or if Jackson just does not like Obama, these statements and half hearted re-endorsement show Jackson's true feelings toward Obama.
The fallout from this is that Jackson's role as a leader in the black community is going to be significantly lessened at least for a while, as Obama clearly outranks him as the premier black politician in the country. The African-American community is supporting Obama by a 94-6 margin in this campaign, so there is little doubt about that. Where this may hurt Obama is that it feeds into one of the key talking points against him - that he is a condescending elitist.
Unfortunately for Obama, this comes on the heels of some off beat comments he made yesterday that also made him sound like a condescending elitist where he stated he is embarassed by Americans who can't seem to mirror the standard Europeans have achieved of speaking multiple languages, that he doesn't get the drive for English only, that Americans should learn Spanish, sounds like he is making fun of stupid Americans, and not to worry about immigrants because they'll learn to speak English. Here is the video:
In a rare union between McCain and liberal activists, both took Obama to task for his vote today in which he reversed himself on his previously stated position that he would oppose and even filibuster FISA's immunity for telecommunication companies that assist the government in surveillance in the war on terror. While the "netroots" base which has financially and energetically supported his candidacy collected tens of thousands of signatures and swarmed Obama's own web site in a revolt over the betrayal, McCain's camp pointed out that Obama voting for this now shows that "What Barack Obama will do is show that he’s willing to change positions, break campaign commitments and undermine his own words in his quest for higher office." Obama denied that he is moving to the center at all or trying to become more centrist for the general election, insisting that he has not changed from his earlier positions on this, Iraq, or other issues, and that he is a "progressive" politician. http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/09/obama-takes-heat-from-mccain-camp-for-surveillance-vote/
See also http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa/ for an example of the type of "netroots" revolt mentality Obama is facing. Another article worth a read is one discussing the parallel revolt Obama is facing from his base over his reversal on his Iraq position where the sentiment is not so much that Obama flip-flopped but that he "betrayed" his supporters and the promises he made earlier. See http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/Story?id=5338914&page=2.
Obama also drew criticism from Pro-Life activists for being extreme on abortion, which coincides with Obama's timing on trying to persuade evangelicals that he is their candidate. See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/08/politics/main4243015.shtml.
McCain meanwhile is trying to win over Latino voters, stating that their needs are as important as border security and helping businesses, pledging to help them. McCain has publicly supported a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, bucking the portion of the conservative base that wants all illegal immigrants deported. In fact, he has cursed at a fellow Republican Senator on the Senate floor for criticizing McCain for failing to support that "no amnesty" agenda. McCain has criticized Tom Tancredo, who perhaps was the standard bearer for those activists as a "nativist" whose ideas about what makes one an American is foreign to him. McCain will speak to La Raza, a huge Latino political group in the next few days, and recently visited Mexico. At the same time, McCain supports a border enforcement policy, and continues to oppose mass deportation calls. Obama somewhat incorrectly called this a reversal of position as he stated "We need a president who isn't going to walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform when it becomes politically unpopular." Obama also supports a path to citizenship for Hispanics, has talked about border enforcement as a laudable objective, and rejected the "nativist" approach, though it has been a far easier position for Obama to take considering his own base than it was politically for McCain.
Last, a budding story is that an Ethics complaint has been filed against Obama by a group called Judicial Watch for improperly accepting a below market interest rate from mortgage company Northern Trust. The interest rate of 5.625% was given to Obama at a time when the market was about 6%, resulting in $125,000 in savings for Obama, which might constitute a "gift" in violation of Senate ethics rules. The complaint alleges that the loan rate was given to him because he was a Senator. A number of Democrats, including Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) have come under fire lately for these same types of "VIP loans" that the Senate members are prohibited from accepting.
Also relevant perhaps to this allegation is that Obama's endorsement of a mortgage reform plan that had several provisions in it that would not so much help those suffering in the mortgage crisis as it would lenders like Northern Trust and Countrywide who engaged in the "predatory lending" Obama denounced. Specifically, giving a $7000 tax credit to those who buy a house that has been foreclosed upon by a bank raises the market value of the houses only that have already been foreclosed upon, makes it easier for banks to move those and thereby frees up resources to foreclose on other properties (and removing that glut would remove the one thing that was preventing a slew of foreclosures - that it was in banks' self-interests to be more patient with endangered homeowners when they already had their hands full with other properties that had been foreclosed), and gives an extra incentive to engage in predatory lending. Unlike McCain who wanted to authorize lawsuits to hold those who engaged in predatory lending to account, Obama's approach was more regulation-centric, and while not condemining any litigation against those predatory lenders, the Obama endorsed plan (generated by his fellow Senate colleagues in his party) did not include any initiatives that would facilitate holding the responsible parties to account.
Again, this is a budding issue that may amount to nothing. Anyone can file a claim or a lawsuit or a complaint, and some groups have filed complaints against McCain as well on the grounds they suspect he may have used the promise of public financing to secure a loan during the primaries, although there has not been any evidence that established that violation as yet. Public financing advocacy groups at this point, however, have largely condemned Obama's reversal on his pledge to accept public funds and vigorously fight for the GOP candidate to do the same when Obama opted for the lure of far larger sums he could raise on his own while commending McCain's follow through in taking public funds.
The headline story is Jesse Jackson's comments that Obama is "talking down to black people" and that he wanted to "cut Obama's nuts out" which is tantamount to calling him a condescending elitist with a moral superiority complex. While Jackson later said he supports this historic campaign and what it represents that Obama is the head of, that type of endorsement is perhaps more significant for what he's not saying. He's not saying Obama is the great candidate. Whether its sour grapes that Obama has fared better as an African American candidate than he did, a grudge over Obama's emotional condemnation of former President Clinton's comments for ever comparing him to Jesse Jackson, or if Jackson just does not like Obama, these statements and half hearted re-endorsement show Jackson's true feelings toward Obama.
The fallout from this is that Jackson's role as a leader in the black community is going to be significantly lessened at least for a while, as Obama clearly outranks him as the premier black politician in the country. The African-American community is supporting Obama by a 94-6 margin in this campaign, so there is little doubt about that. Where this may hurt Obama is that it feeds into one of the key talking points against him - that he is a condescending elitist.
Unfortunately for Obama, this comes on the heels of some off beat comments he made yesterday that also made him sound like a condescending elitist where he stated he is embarassed by Americans who can't seem to mirror the standard Europeans have achieved of speaking multiple languages, that he doesn't get the drive for English only, that Americans should learn Spanish, sounds like he is making fun of stupid Americans, and not to worry about immigrants because they'll learn to speak English. Here is the video:
In a rare union between McCain and liberal activists, both took Obama to task for his vote today in which he reversed himself on his previously stated position that he would oppose and even filibuster FISA's immunity for telecommunication companies that assist the government in surveillance in the war on terror. While the "netroots" base which has financially and energetically supported his candidacy collected tens of thousands of signatures and swarmed Obama's own web site in a revolt over the betrayal, McCain's camp pointed out that Obama voting for this now shows that "What Barack Obama will do is show that he’s willing to change positions, break campaign commitments and undermine his own words in his quest for higher office." Obama denied that he is moving to the center at all or trying to become more centrist for the general election, insisting that he has not changed from his earlier positions on this, Iraq, or other issues, and that he is a "progressive" politician. http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/09/obama-takes-heat-from-mccain-camp-for-surveillance-vote/
See also http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa/ for an example of the type of "netroots" revolt mentality Obama is facing. Another article worth a read is one discussing the parallel revolt Obama is facing from his base over his reversal on his Iraq position where the sentiment is not so much that Obama flip-flopped but that he "betrayed" his supporters and the promises he made earlier. See http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/Story?id=5338914&page=2.
Obama also drew criticism from Pro-Life activists for being extreme on abortion, which coincides with Obama's timing on trying to persuade evangelicals that he is their candidate. See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/08/politics/main4243015.shtml.
McCain meanwhile is trying to win over Latino voters, stating that their needs are as important as border security and helping businesses, pledging to help them. McCain has publicly supported a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, bucking the portion of the conservative base that wants all illegal immigrants deported. In fact, he has cursed at a fellow Republican Senator on the Senate floor for criticizing McCain for failing to support that "no amnesty" agenda. McCain has criticized Tom Tancredo, who perhaps was the standard bearer for those activists as a "nativist" whose ideas about what makes one an American is foreign to him. McCain will speak to La Raza, a huge Latino political group in the next few days, and recently visited Mexico. At the same time, McCain supports a border enforcement policy, and continues to oppose mass deportation calls. Obama somewhat incorrectly called this a reversal of position as he stated "We need a president who isn't going to walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform when it becomes politically unpopular." Obama also supports a path to citizenship for Hispanics, has talked about border enforcement as a laudable objective, and rejected the "nativist" approach, though it has been a far easier position for Obama to take considering his own base than it was politically for McCain.
Last, a budding story is that an Ethics complaint has been filed against Obama by a group called Judicial Watch for improperly accepting a below market interest rate from mortgage company Northern Trust. The interest rate of 5.625% was given to Obama at a time when the market was about 6%, resulting in $125,000 in savings for Obama, which might constitute a "gift" in violation of Senate ethics rules. The complaint alleges that the loan rate was given to him because he was a Senator. A number of Democrats, including Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) have come under fire lately for these same types of "VIP loans" that the Senate members are prohibited from accepting.
Also relevant perhaps to this allegation is that Obama's endorsement of a mortgage reform plan that had several provisions in it that would not so much help those suffering in the mortgage crisis as it would lenders like Northern Trust and Countrywide who engaged in the "predatory lending" Obama denounced. Specifically, giving a $7000 tax credit to those who buy a house that has been foreclosed upon by a bank raises the market value of the houses only that have already been foreclosed upon, makes it easier for banks to move those and thereby frees up resources to foreclose on other properties (and removing that glut would remove the one thing that was preventing a slew of foreclosures - that it was in banks' self-interests to be more patient with endangered homeowners when they already had their hands full with other properties that had been foreclosed), and gives an extra incentive to engage in predatory lending. Unlike McCain who wanted to authorize lawsuits to hold those who engaged in predatory lending to account, Obama's approach was more regulation-centric, and while not condemining any litigation against those predatory lenders, the Obama endorsed plan (generated by his fellow Senate colleagues in his party) did not include any initiatives that would facilitate holding the responsible parties to account.
Again, this is a budding issue that may amount to nothing. Anyone can file a claim or a lawsuit or a complaint, and some groups have filed complaints against McCain as well on the grounds they suspect he may have used the promise of public financing to secure a loan during the primaries, although there has not been any evidence that established that violation as yet. Public financing advocacy groups at this point, however, have largely condemned Obama's reversal on his pledge to accept public funds and vigorously fight for the GOP candidate to do the same when Obama opted for the lure of far larger sums he could raise on his own while commending McCain's follow through in taking public funds.
