Barack Obama

John McCain is now delivering the negative message against Barack Obama himself, asking a crowd in Alburquerque, New Mexico today, "Who is the real Senator Obama?"

Here's a key section of the remarks, sent out moments ago by the McCain campaign:

"My opponent’s touchiness every time he is questioned about his record should make us only more concerned. For a guy who’s already authored two memoirs, he’s not exactly an open book. It’s as if somehow the usual rules don’t apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he is above all that.  read more »

It was always difficult to understand why The New York Times felt obliged to devote regular Op-Ed space to the views of William Kristol, but as of today I get it.

What Kristol provides, unlike many writers whose opinions are equally trite and detestable, is a transparent view of the Republican operative brain. Reading him, you can almost hear the ratcheting of his mind through layers of opposition research until he thinks he has found what his candidate needs. This morning he treats us to his conversation with Governor Sarah Palin, in which they try to come up with a strategy (or at least a few tactics) to distract the country from the economic disaster created by years of right-wing governance.  read more »

Before the vice-presidential debate in St. Louis on October 2, I asked David Axelrod what he expected Republicans to produce as an October surprise this year, and whether his campaign was prepared to defend against them.  read more »

Less than a month before Election Day, John McCain’s position is increasingly desperate. Barack Obama has built (or rather, regained) a mid- to high-single-digit lead in national polling over the last two weeks and has significantly improved his standing in most swing states. McCain is more likely to lose on Nov. 4 than to win, and given the enormous built-in advantages that his opponent enjoys—the economy, most importantly—there may not be anything he can do to engineer a victory.

But he’s not doomed in the way that others have been at this same point in recent campaigns. In 1996, for instance, Bob Dole was running about 15 points behind Bill Clinton in early October.  read more »

But it certainly looks really cool!  read more »

ST. LOUIS—This time, Sarah Palin wasn’t going to let the questions get in her way.

“I may not answer the questions the way either you or the moderator want to hear,” she said. “But I’m going to speak straight to the American people.”

In her closing remarks, she suggested she’d like to debate again and answer questions “without the filter of the mainstream media.”

What she wanted to do was talk about taxes and energy (and energy, and energy). She delivered polished attack lines with derision, and made check-marks on the papers on her podium.  read more »

ST. LOUIS—Beth Bextermueller, from Rolla, Missouri, is holding up a sign that says "Rednecks For Obama" on the quad of Washington University. She said that there are two people in the group, not counting herself, because she's helping out her father, who she called a founding member. "We're just the assistants," she said.

One passing student, originally from Oklahoma, said the group would go over big back home.

Bextermueller handed him one of the group's cards.  read more »

AP points us towards the November issue of Vibe magazine, which features a personal letter from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, urging readers, "We are at a defining moment in our history."

What struck Media Mob was the juxtaposition of the cover photo, which was by renowned (if somewhat louche) photographer Terry Richardson, and Senator Obama's plea that "I am running for president to take this country in a new direction." (Say it out loud.)  read more »

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Sept. 24, The New York Times was printing its morning editions, including a front-page story reporting that Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign manager, Rick Davis, is a principal in a lobbying firm that had been receiving $15,000 a month since 2005 from embattled mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

But before those papers hit doorsteps, the McCain campaign had responded, via its Web site. Much of the morning news cycle was spent recycling the dispute: Had McCain lied? Had his campaign manager lied to him? Was the Times story flawed? And if it wasn’t, was it an example of ‘gotcha’ journalism both Mr.  read more »

This is what can happen when you gamble in politics. Last Wednesday, John McCain “suspended” his campaign – an action that sounded a lot more substantial than it actually was – to return to Washington and insert himself into the Congressional debate over a financial rescue package.

The results, for Mr. McCain and (if most financial experts are to be believed) for the economy, have been ghastly, culminating in the House’s stunning rejection of a compromise plan on Monday, which sent the Dow plummeting and Mr. McCain scrambling to save face.

It’s not that Mr. McCain’s impulse to do something “dramatic” was necessarily wrong.  read more »

John McCain just appeared before reporters to read a brief statement on the financial rescue package's failure in the House earlier today. The G.O.P. nominee "suspended" his campaign late last week in order to take part in the negotiations and attempted to portray his involvement as productive.

"I worked hard to play a constructive role in bring everyone to the table," he said. "The plan is now significantly improved."

"I was hopeful that the improved recovery plan would have had the votes needed to pass," he added.

Then, echoing Republican House leaders who earlier said that a partisan speech by Speaker Nancy Pelosi had prevented more Republicans from backing the plan, McCain said: "Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process."

The McCain campaign just came out with a statement that blames Barack Obama for the defeat of the proposed bailout in the House today. While McCain's decision to "suspend his campaign" to go to Washington seemed not to have had a helpful effect on the initial round of negotiations over a bill, his campaign nevertheless argues that the partisan attacks of Barack Obama, who kept a greater distance from the negotiations, have now put people at risk of losing their homes.

The McCain campaign also uses the Obama "phoned it in" attack again, presumably because Obama never announced a "suspension" of his campaign.  read more »

It’s not too surprising that the financial crisis has triggered a timely political windfall for Barack Obama, whose poll numbers have steadily climbed since the magnitude of Wall Street’s collapse became clear just over a week ago. When campaigns are defined by economic unease, Democrats tend to benefit – especially when it’s the Republicans who’ve run the White House for the eight previous years.

But the crisis has been timely in another way for Obama, because it has drowned out what otherwise might have been an unhelpful development: The re-emergence of Bill Clinton.

Officially, the former president has been making the media rounds for the same reason he always does every September, to promote his annual Clinton Global Initiative conference, which is held in conjunction with U.  read more »

FREDERICKSBURG, Va.—Barack Obama seemed to be on the verge of paying for 12,000 rain-soaked people to have their clothes cleaned here last night—but he soon thought better of squandering his money that way.

“I’d like to cover everybody’s dry cleaning bill tonight, but I can’t cause I gotta use it on the campaign,” Obama told the huge crowd at the University of Mary Washington. “So consider it one more small contribution to our effort to change the country.”

The audience had been drenched by an earlier downpour and lighter but steady rain resumed minutes after Obama began speaking. University police meanwhile estimated that a total of 26,000 people had turned up for the event, 14,000 of whom had to be turned away.  read more »

OXFORD, Miss.—It was hours before Friday night’s debate at the University of Mississippi on September 26 and rows of reporters in a hangar-size white press tent were typing the background and context graphs of their stories. Dozens of flat-screen televisions in front of them counted down the hours and seconds to the debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. University volunteers circulated, making sure each desk space had free Anheuser Busch notepads (“About one in seven Anheuser-Busch beers in the United States is expected to be brewed using renewable fuel by the end of 2009,” was printed behind the cover) and free red, white and blue Anheuser Busch pens.  read more »

Twenty-eight years ago, Ronald Reagan patiently waited his turn while Jimmy Carter verbally attacked him for about the 47th time and then, with a grin and a slight shake of his head, turned the 1980 election into a blowout with four simple words: “There you go again.”

Maybe Reagan would have won anyway without that immortal retort, but it stands as proof of how just the right delivery of just the right words at just the right time in a presidential debate can radically alter public opinion. Before the Carter-Reagan debate, the race was dead even. A week after it, Reagan won 44 states.  read more »

OXFORD, Miss.—In their first head-to-head debate, John McCain sought to portray Barack Obama, again and again, as dangerously inexperienced and naïve about the real world while Obama tried to argue that he had better judgment and understanding of the challenges facing America in the 21st century.

Throughout the debate here at Ole Miss University in Mississippi, Obama was more willing to address himself directly to McCain, but McCain often talked over Obama’s objections, which on the television sounded like muttering. McCain, time after time, on the Middle East and on the former Soviet states, sought to make the case for his credibility by saying that he had actually gone to the global hot spots while Obama had not.  read more »

Judging from the cornucopia of all things debate-related here in the center of Oxford, Mississippi (at the Bottletree Bakery in the center of town, this rendering of John and Cindy McCain was for sale for $8000), McCain's absence would not have gone over well at all. Besides the contemporary art, storefronts painted with elephants and donkeys sold debate-themed t-shirts and bunting hung from the brick facades of local bars. Venders sold Obama shirts and BBQ under a sign that said "Obamaland," and McCain signs were draped from the windows of charming Ole Miss frat houses. On a temporary stage, musicians played bluegrass music for a few hundred college kids wearing candidate buttons was called "Rock the Debate.  read more »

Maybe you can appreciate the pickle John McCain had gotten himself into. Early on Wednesday afternoon, he dramatically announced the “suspension” of his candidacy so that he could return to Washington and play the hero role in the Congressional negotiations over a bailout of the financial system.

But by the time he finally made his way to nation’s capital a full day later – after first staying in New York for an interview with Katie Couric on Wednesday night in which he solemnly intoned that he didn’t “think in this time that we can worry much about politics, Katie,” and to deliver a speech on Thursday morning in which he declared that he “cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at hand, which it clearly is not” – a deal between some of the top Democrats and Republicans from the House and the Senate had been struck.  read more »

Introducing a panel on urban development at his Clinton Global Initiative conference, Bill Clinton said of Mike Bloomberg, “There is no job to be done in America important to our future in which he would not do better than just about anyone I’ve ever met.”

Barack Obama supporters are being warned not to wear Obama buttons and T-shirts to the polls for fear of being turned away, according to a story on NYC News Service, the CUNY outlet.

From the story:

With the election just over a month away, the law is suddenly gaining notice: an email begging potential Obama voters to “PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE” leave T-shirts and buttons home on Election Day is circulating on the Internet – spurring worried calls and emails to state election officials. The New York Civil Liberties Union plans – for the first time – to include a similar warning in its voter information materials.

 read more »

A bipartisan group of Senate and House leaders just held a press conference to announce that they have reached agreement on bailout legislation. Democrats Chris Dodd (the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee) and Barney Frank (the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee) and Republicans Bob Bennett (the ranking member on Dodd's committee) and Spencer Bachus (the ranking member on Frank's committee) said that they their compromise plan should easily clear the House and Senate.

This would seem to signal an end to John McCain's headline-grabbing suspension of his candidacy. McCain had been absent as congressional leaders worked on a compromise plan all week and—as of Tuesday—  read more »

On his way to the podium at the Clinton Global Initiative conference this morning at the Sheraton New York in midtown Manhattan, John McCain met Bill Clinton in the middle of the stage. They shook hands and grasped each other's shoulders purposefully, but when the candidate settled at the lectern he realized he had lost something along the way.

During the brief clasp-fest, the former president had accidentally fleeced McCain's speech.

There was an awkward moment before Clinton suddenly stopped in his tracks. He waved the extra set of notes in the air.

“I took his speech,” said Clinton, in an astonished, aw-shucks fashion that earned the applause of the ballroom packed with dignitaries and do-gooders.  read more »

More notable than the appearances of John McCain and Barack Obama this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative was the host's personal endorsement of the Democratic nominee—despite their fractious and friction-plagued relationship.

Bill Clinton first acknowledged that he should treat both nominees with nonpartisan hospitality and deference, which he certainly tried to do. He offered a courteous shout-out to Cindy McCain for her charitable work in Rwanda, where Clinton's own foundation is very active. Yet after listening to McCain, praising and thanking him graciously for his remarks, Clinton could not resist the chance to add a few extra words of praise for Obama when introducing the Illinois senator (who showed up on a giant screen via satellite).  read more »

It’s funny how a few minutes can change so much in politics. Initially, John McCain’s surprise announcement on Wednesday afternoon that he’s “suspending” his campaign and wants Friday’s debate postponed so that he can focus on the Wall Street bailout looked like a bold and perhaps brilliant move. But by the end of the day, once the Obama campaign sorted out what was, in retrospect, the only sensible response, it looked like the McCain campaign had reached way too far.

McCain’s intent was to steal the spotlight for a few days and to turn the Congressional bailout debate into a showcase of his own leadership style.  read more »

An Obama campaign source tells me that the candidate is planning to make an announcement shortly about the idea of suspending the campaign—he's against it—and that he will indeed push for the debate to go forward Friday.

UPDATE: He doesn't bite.

In an aggressive response, Obama says that "presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time."

He also disputes the morning-phone-call chronology as presented by the McCain campaign.

So now the McCain campaign just sent out a statement claiming that Barack Obama called this morning, as the Obama campaign says, but that the candidates never talked and that they never found out what the call was about. Here's the statement, from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers:

Senator Obama phoned Senator McCain at 8:30 am this morning but did not reach him. The topic of Senator Obama’s call to Senator McCain was never discussed. Senator McCain was meeting with economic advisers and talking to leaders in Congress throughout the day prior to calling Senator Obama. At 2:30 pm, Senator McCain phoned Senator Obama and expressed deep concern that the plan on the table would not pass as it currently stands.  read more »

Since last weekend, it's been clear that John McCain was itching to use the congressional negotiations over the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan to create a dramatic, headline-grabbing moment that would prompt swing voters – many of whom have tuned McCain and the Republican Party out on the economy – to give him a second look. Now, with his announcement that he will "suspend" his campaign (and wants Friday night's debate postponed) so that he can return to Washington to join the bailout deliberations, McCain has gone and created his moment. The question is whether it will resonate – or reek of transparent phoniness.  read more »

Here’s Democratic strategist Bob Shrum’s read on the dramatic McCain announcement:

“Just like with Sarah Palin, they are trying to find another game-changer.”

Shrum said he suspected that McCain’s move reflected debate preparations that “didn’t go so well” or a strategy to “try and crater the debates altogether – not just his, but Palin’s as well.”

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton just sent out the following statement:

At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.

So, are they now saying that McCain's statement is actually a result of their initiative?

UPDATE: A senior Obama campaign official says "the debate is on," ABC News reports.

Real estate scion Harrison LeFrak (he of the family that's No. 78 on the latest Forbes list of America's 400 richest people) had some choice words earlier this week for why he's donated so much to John McCain's presidential campaign. Here's what Mr. LeFrak told my colleague Dana Rubinstein:

“Obama will create a very, very high, socialist, European-style rate of taxation that will kill the New York City economy. And people say he will heal America’s image in other countries. Maybe he will in Belgium, because Europeans like him. But, tell me, which of America’s enemies is afraid of Barack Obama? … What’s he going to do, take his gavel and come after Osama bin Laden? Is oratory going to be his weapon that he uses to defend the country?”

To be fair, a lot of New York real estate heavies are backing Mr.  read more »

Standing onstage with Bill Clinton and Lance Armstrong at the opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative in the New York Sheraton this morning, Bloomberg appeared to hint strongly (as if his maneuverings to this point weren’t a strong enough indication) that he likes the idea of running again for mayor.

Armstrong, who was there to promote his cancer foundation and health issues, talked about his return to competitive racing after initially retiring.

Bloomberg, who spoke directly afterward, addressed himself to Armstrong and said, “I did like your comments about coming back and doing it again. But that is a whole nother issue.”

After Bloomberg spoke, Clinton commended the job he had done serving the city (and country, he said) as mayor and told the audience, "My guess is there's a lot more ahead.  read more »

Especially in the era of the 24-hour news cycle, it’s easy to overstate the significance of any given event on the presidential campaign trail—except when it comes to televised debates.  read more »

This John McCain ad hits Barack Obama for not providing a detailed plan to respond to the economic crisis, and pulling direct quotes from a number of news outlets. One outlet that is prominently cited in the ad is Bloomberg, the financial news company bearing the name of the man McCain is making a highly public show of turning to for advice, and who McCain is proposing for a spot on a hypothetical Wall Street oversight board.

Right now, about all we know about the federal government’s response to the Wall Street meltdown is that the Bush administration wants to spend at least $700 billion to buy up spoiled assets from financial institutions ravaged by the burst of the housing market bubble – and that the administration wants this bailout to be “clean,” as in free of whatever strings Congress might be tempted to attach.

The rest is up in the air. Criticism is flying from all directions. Such a massive federal intervention in the private sector is anathema to much of the right. And to the left, the notion of a strings-free bailout smells like a giveaway to the Wall Street fat cats whose recklessness led directly to this crisis.  read more »

This week, I'll spend some time liveblogging from the Clinton Global Initiative—the remarkable annual event where, between celebrity sightings, hundreds of smart and knowledgeable people discuss big problems and practical ways to solve them.

At this year's C.G.I., there will be a major pre-debate appearance by John McCain and Barack Obama, virtually together. On Thursday morning, at a conference plenary titled "Integrated Solutions: Water, Food & Energy," Senator McCain will deliver the opening remarks in person—and Senator Obama will make the closing presentation (reportedly via satellite).

In between, the plenary panel discussion will feature NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw, oil and gas tycoon T.  read more »

Yesterday in her New York Times op-ed column, Maureen Dowd presented one of her signature imaginary dialogues. But instead of imagining her own little Sunday morning playhouse production about the head of Lehman Brothers talking to the Monopoly Guy on a bread line or whatever, she outsourced the effort to her ex-boyfriend, West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin.

This isn't the first time Ms. Dowd has relied on someone else to write her column: On October 14, 2007, she had Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert write I Am an Op-Ed Columnist (And So Can You!) for her.   read more »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the country's highest-profile experts on financial markets, has been remarkably careful in the past week not to publicly favor either Barack Obama or John McCain when discussing the Wall Street crisis. And after speaking with Obama about the economic challenges in a telephone conversation last night, Bloomberg seemed to agree with McCain--and not agree with McCain--on one contested issue relating to the meltdown.

McCain's remarks this week that he would, as president, fire the S.E.C.'s chairman, Christopher Cox, prompted criticism from the Obama campaign, which, in another effort to paint McCain as ignorant on economic issues, pointed reporters to articles arguing that the S.  read more »

“There’s something lonely about Obama’s universe,” said philosopher Simon Critchley at a lecture titled “Barack Obama and the American Void."

Speaking to a crowd of more than 100 at the New School last night—standing room only—Critchley, a professor of philosophy, decided to present an argument that Obama's beliefs are not, in fact, rooted in the work of 18th-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (There are people who believe otherwise, apparently.)

Obama, these Rousseau-ists say--according to Critchley--has a “sentimental, sometimes teary-eyed belief in the Constitution.”

Critchley finds this idea simplistic.

Obama's genius, the professor said, stems from detachment, not sincerity.  read more »

Famous French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy is optimistic about Barack Obama's chances in November. "My feeling is that Barack Obama will win this election from far," he said last night at the 92nd Street Y. A native French speaker in the next seat assured me he meant "by far."

This, by the way, was not a "prediction," which Levy pointedly refused to make when asked to do so by the moderator, Sam Tanenhaus, the author and New York Times editor.

"Not a prediction," he said, "but a bet."

He wore one of the custom white shirts he wears at all times (rumored to cost $700) and a slim-fitting black suit, with no tie, and he made almost constant outward-reaching circular motions with his left hand, as if imploring the audience to understand him.  read more »

Regrettably but predictably, the success of Barack Obama has revived traditional knee-jerk racism on the American far right – and the latest examples are more blatant than latent.

In Michigan, right-wing operatives are seeking to aggravate white Democrats by linking Obama to Kwame Kilpatrick, the disgraced mayor of Detroit who leaves office today in a deal with prosecutors that included pleading guilty to two felony charges of obstructing justice. A brief clip of Obama praising Kilpatrick last year, long before his indictment, is the centerpiece of an inflammatory ad appearing on cable channels in Macomb County outside Detroit, where white Democratic voters reside who may be susceptible to such appeals to prejudice.  read more »

All spring and summer gas prices soared and the debate over energy policy played out on the front pages of newspapers across the country, with the Republicans unquestionably getting the better of it.

They deserve some credit for their strategic craftiness, but they wouldn’t have been nearly as successful in reducing so complicated an issue to the catchy slogan “Drill, baby, drill!” had it not been for the ample cooperation they received from tone-deaf and incoherent Democrats, who first failed to recognize the power of the G.O.P.’s message and then, upon realizing their error, disastrously overcompensated with a slogan of their own – one that they still can’t seem to believe never caught on.  read more »