Jun 20, 2008 | 5:28 AM
Category:
Political
OIL AND TERROR: POSITIONS HARDEN
Barack Obama and John McCain sat next to each other at the memorial service for the great Tim Russert this week. Presumably some friendly words were exchanged. But during much of this week the presidential combatants traded barbs over how to fight terrorism after Obama called for suspected extremists to be tried in the courts.
They also argued over campaign dollars. But on that later.
First the fight against terror. The McCain camp said Obama showed a preference for a legal approach instead of fighting militants on the battlefield. That – in McCain’s view -- betrays a "September 10 mindset" that had been rendered obsolete forever by the September 11 attacks of 2001.
Obama backers shot back that McCain was recycling the ominous rhetoric of President Bush's "war on terror" which has left the United States bereft of allies, embroiled in Iraq and facing new threats in Afghanistan.
Then we had the clashes over McCain’s call for the federal government to scrap its 27-year-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling. Obama mocked that as "political posturing." And Richard Clarke, Bush's former top counter-terrorism aide who is now advising Obama, said he was a "little disgusted" by the McCain campaign's use of "the same old tired tactics... to frankly frighten Americans."
THE LATEST POLLING
In any case, polls suggest that this year's election will not be fought on the 2004 theme of who can best keep America safe, but who can best revive its economy and help hard-pressed voters at risk of losing their homes and jobs.
In a Washington Post-ABC News poll this week, nearly 80 percent said soaring gas prices were causing them financial hardship. The Post says that’s the highest figure in surveys this decade.
The poll gave Obama a narrow lead of 48 percent to 42 percent over McCain among all voters. McCain had a slight edge in international affairs and terrorism, but Obama had a 16-point lead as the best candidate for the faltering economy.
Also this week, Zogby had Obama ahead 47-42. Then, three polls by Quinnipiac University in New York State – find that for the first time, Obama leads John McCain in three of the biggest battleground states. The poll has Obama besting McCain 52-40 percent in Pennsylvania, 48-42 in Ohio, and 47-43 in Florida.
Finally the Quinnipiac findings suggest one in five voters see McCain's age as a reason to vote against him. At 72 in January, the Republican would be the oldest president sworn in to a first term. In your view, how big an issue is McCain's age? For that matter, is Obama's age any concern to you (he's 46 with less than one full term in the U.S. Seante)?
OBAMA ABANDONING PUBLIC FINANCING
A big political headline this week was that Obama is abandoning public campaign financing, reversing his earlier stance. In doing this, he's obviously certain he can raise millions more on his own. After all, he shattered fundraising records during the primary season.
Some $85 million in taxpayer dollars in available to each major party nominee for the fall campaign. But there’ s a big IF: They have to agree not to accept other contributions. So Obama’s decision to give the $85 mil thumbs down is hardly a surprise. He knows he can rustle up hundreds of millions of dollars courtesy of his web wise supporters and other private sources.
In response, McCain said his campaign will take public financing. He no doubt needs it after being badly outspent so far. McCain points out that Obama is going back on a pledge not to reject public bucks in favor of a much bigger private windfall. McCain will obviously try to use this as a campaign issue, but I don’t think it will have much traction.
APOLOGY IN ORDER
And finally an item that conservative radio hosts took some delight in reporting.. and, of course, repeating. In Detroit, in two separate incidents, Obama volunteers had told two Muslim women they could not stand behind the candidate at a rally. The women were wearing head scarves and the campaign volunteers obviously wanted to keep them out of camera view.
False assertions that Obama is Muslim dogged the candidate through the primary season, forcing him to walk a delicate line between reaching out to Muslims and Arab-Americans while not providing fodder for those who may believe the rumor.
Campaign officials apologized for moving the two women in Detroit… a spokesman saying: “This, of course, is not the policy of the campaign.” The women said that wasn’t good enough; they wanted to hear from Obama himself. They did – days later. It was the right thing for him to do, but he took too long to do it and has a minor firestorm to snuff out. There will be more of those – impacting both campaigns. How the nominees themselves react will say much about each of these men.
