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BARACK OBAMA yesterday accused President Bush and Sen. John McCain of rigidity on Iraq: "They said we couldn't leave when violence was up, they say we can't leave when violence is down." Mr. Obama then confirmed his own foolish consistency. Early last year, when the war was at its peak, the Democratic candidate proposed a timetable for withdrawing all U.S. combat forces in slightly more than a year. Yesterday, with bloodshed at its lowest level since the war began, Mr. Obama endorsed the same plan. After hinting earlier this month that he might "refine" his Iraq strategy after visiting the...

Though a majority of the American people support ending the war in Iraq and think the invasion was a mistake, Republicans have tried to put Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, into a box as he prepares for his first trip to Iraq since securing his party's presidential nomination. Weeks ago, after Obama said he would be willing to listen to commanders in the ground to "refine" his policy, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Republicans said Obama was flip-flopping. Then after Obama clarified that he is sticking by his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months, McCain and Republicans...

Tired of having his patriotism questioned, the Democratic candidate has made Old Glory a major visual element of his campaign.Barack Obama, who once considered flag pins a shallow symbol, can't surround himself with enough patriotic trappings these days. At the Fourth of July parade here, Obama sat in the reviewing stand with his wife and two young daughters, admiring the simple floats dedicated to rescue workers and local high schools. He seldom goes out in public now without a flag pin stuck in his lapel. He devoted an entire speech to patriotism this week in Independence, Mo. Visually reinforcing the...

Barack Obama may campaign at a NASCAR event As Barack Obama continues his focus on states that usually vote Republican in presidential elections, word comes that he may campaign at a NASCAR event. Why? Well, to paraphrase a supposed Willy Sutton line that he robbed banks because that's where the money is, if Obama needs white working-class voters in the fall, there are few better places to find them than at a NASCAR event.Barack_obama_may_campaign_at_a_nasc Roll Call has the news, but it's behind their subscription wall. Briefly, they quote Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki as saying a campaign appearance was a possibility...

When Barack Obama asks us to believe in one of his changes, it is never quite clear whether the rubes to be fooled are the Great Unwashed who agree with the Flop or the naifs who agreed with the Flip. The eternal question always is, "who are the rubes"? Well, in what is obviously a gust-busting turn, the editors of the New York Times are beginning to worry that they are the rubes. In this morning's lead editorial ("New and Not Improved"), they detail and denounce many of Obama's post-Hillary pivots to the center. As their irritation builds, I'm thinking...

Barack Obama's policy switches are giving the Left whiplash The Democratic nominee's policy pivots are causing anguish among liberals. He is no fool Gerard Baker Change, it turns out, wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Having campaigned for the past year as the agent of transformation, the man who would lead an historic shift in America's political direction, Barack Obama is discovering that there is quite a lot he likes about the way things are. Since securing the Democratic nomination a few weeks ago, the only change coming from the Illinois senator has been in what he...

CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday will lay out a plan to create volunteer and service opportunities to help tackle some of the nation's most pressing issues, part of his weeklong focus on patriotism and national service. "This will not be a call issued in one speech or one program -- this will be a central cause of my presidency," Obama will say in a speech at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, according to advance remarks released by his campaign. "We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we...

"Emily Hussein Nordling," her entry now reads. With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name. Mr. Obama may be more enthusiastic, judging from his response at a Chicago fund-raiser two weeks ago. When he saw that Richard Fizdale, a longtime contributor, wore "Hussein" on his name tag, Mr. Obama broke into a huge grin, Mr. Fizdale said. "The theory was, we're all Hussein," Mr. Obama said to the crowd later, explaining Mr. Fizdale's gesture.

The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."

Europe Fears Obama Might Undercut Progress With Iran By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 22, 2008; A14 European officials are increasingly concerned that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pledge to begin direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program without preconditions could potentially rupture U.S. relations with key European allies early in a potential Obama administration.

WASHINGTON -- With the Democratic presidential nomination in his grasp, Sen. Barack Obama is making a full-throttle push for centrist evangelicals and Catholics. It's a move that's caught some conservative evangelicals off guard. They say they are surprised and dismayed to see a liberal-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has done little to court their affections. "I've never seen anything quite like it before," said evangelical author Stephen Mansfield, who wrote "The Faith of George W. Bush" and has a forthcoming book about Obama. "To be running against...

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) – Barack Obama told supporters that Republicans will “try to make you afraid of me” in remarks he made Friday at a Florida fundraiser. "The choice is clear. Most of all we can choose between hope and fear. It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy. “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and...

Boca Raton, Fla. - In an unexpected move to bolster Barack Obama, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday told Jewish voters they have an obligation to repudiate persistent rumors that the Democratic presidential candidate is secretly a radical Muslim. The comments came hours before Obama, on the stump in Florida, directly referred to being black as something the GOP will use to make voters "afraid of me." In an impassioned half-hour speech before a couple of hundred members of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, Bloomberg raised the Muslim rumors and said, "Let's call those rumors what they are: lies." "Demagogues...

Here are some things we can look forward to learning about Barack Obama: That he was mentored in high school by a member of the Soviet-controlled Communist Party. That he launched his Illinois state Senate campaign in the home of a terrorist and a killer. That while serving as a state senator, he was a member of a socialist front group. That his affiliations are so dodgy that he would have trouble getting a government security clearance. That there is reason to doubt his "loyalty to the United States." These and many other implausible accusations were offered by a group...

Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but a recent survey found that about 10 percent of Americans believe he is. That perception has been fueled by a campaign of rumors and innuendo. It's a campaign that has caused pain in many Muslim communities, including one in Pennsylvania, which holds a key presidential primary Tuesday. Obama had a Muslim stepfather. As a child, he learned about Islam and sometimes went to mosque. Nevertheless, he's a devout Christian. But his middle name, Hussein, has been used by opponents to imply that he's a Muslim. In February, radio host Bill Cunningham spoke in...

WARNING: Some Graphic Language I read occasionally of former Weatherman Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn, both now not only accepted, despite their bombing campaign against America in the 1960s and 70s, but successful , establishment educators whose opinions on social issues are taken seriously. Every time I see Ayers’ name I shudder with fear and rage and realize that I will never be able to erase the mark he left on my life one evening 40 years ago. It was at the Undergraduate Library at the University of Michigan on a Friday night in November 1965. I was...

(CNN) — Barack Obama on Thursday suggested that he and Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton have debated enough and that he’d rather spend his time campaigning in the closing weeks of the campaign. The two debated Wednesday night in Philadelphia — their final meeting before Tuesday’s primary in Pennsylvania. Clinton has agreed to a debate next week, but Obama has not yet accepted the invitation.

"Obama writes in Dreams From My Father that he saw “Frank”( Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member Communist Party USA) only a few days before he left Hawaii for college. He said that Davis called college an “advanced degree in compromise,” warned Obama not to forget his “people,” and not to “start believing what they tell you about equal opportunity and the American way and all that shit.” This pro-Communist view appears to have been the mindset of Frank Marshall Davis, who spent many hours advising and reading poetry to a young Barack Obama. Barack Obama’s childhood...

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama tried to quell a political furor on Saturday over his comments about small-town Pennsylvanians, saying he used the wrong words to describe their mood. Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate John McCain kept the heat on the Illinois senator for his comments that small-town residents were bitter over job losses and turned in frustration to religion, guns and anti-immigrant sentiments. Clinton, campaigning in Indiana before the state's May 6 contest, said the comments were elitist, divisive and out of touch and did not reflect the values of Americans she met. "I...

Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night. Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say...

Barack Obama has a problem. Nearly a quarter of Democrats who hold a negative view of him believe he is a Muslim, according to a poll published by Pew Research on Thursday. Yet most Democrats who think negatively of Mr Obama also disapprove of his link to Jeremiah Wright, the pastor who introduced him to Christianity two decades ago. Ten days after he delivered what many described as a historic speech on race, Mr Obama’s relationship with the black community still remains an issue. Although Hillary Clinton has largely avoided the topic – other than to say that she would...

CASPER, Wyo. - Barack Obama was the projected winner in Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday, clenching a majority of the 12 delegates, NBC News declared.

Q&A: Barack Obama "I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ." Interview by Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen | posted 1/23/2008 02:18PM Barack Obama wants to set the record straight. He is not a Muslim, as recent e-mails falsely claim.The Democratic presidential candidate is fighting the e-mails that have been widely circulated. Obama has been continually speaking about the role of faith in politics since his Call to Renewal address in June 2006.In the days before the South Carolina primary, he is driving efforts to speaking with media to emphasize his Christian beliefs. His campaign also sent...

(AP) -- For Barack Obama, it is an ember that he has doused time and again, only to see it flicker anew: links to Islam fanned by false rumors, innuendo and association. Obama and his campaign reacted strongly this week when a photo of him in Kenyan tribal garb began spreading on the Internet. And the praise he received Sunday from Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan prompted pointed questions — during Tuesday night's presidential debate and also in a private meeting over the weekend with Jewish leaders in Cleveland. During the debate, Obama repeated his denunciation of Farrakhan's views,...

I am usually quite proud of being a conservative. I know in my heart that the only way to enjoying liberty under the law AND equality of justice is through the application of conservative principles to government and society. And I am usually proud of the rational, reasonable basis on which most conservatives see the world and evaluate people and events. That’s why it embarrasses me to no end to see fellow conservatives who actually believe that Barack Obama is some kind of “Manchurian Candidate” sent by Muslims to undermine American society. Or that Obama is a closet Muslim just...

Although admitting he wasn't "very effective" as a spy, a federal judge today sentenced a Des Plaines man to four years in prison for his role as an Iraqi "sleeper" secretly placed in Chicago for Saddam Hussein's spy service. Sami Khoshaba Latchin, 61, was convicted by a federal jury in April. Latchin, who worked for American Airlines at O'Hare Airport, had lied about his intelligence links with the former government in Iraq and made false statements to U.S. immigration officials when he applied for naturalization in 1998. Now Latchin faces deportation - which the federal government wants - and Judge...

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NEW YORK - Barack Obama wants everyone to know: I am not a Muslim! Under a headline reading "Just because the L.A. Times writes it, does not make it true," the Obama campaign took issue Thursday with a story that said the Illinois Democrat attended services at a mosque and "bowed to Allah" when he was a small boy in Indonesia. "Barack Obama is not and has never been a Muslim," the campaign stressed. "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim and is a committed Christian who attends the United...

I’m embarrassed I’m embarrassed to have an “R” stamped on my voter ID card Bear in mind I didn’t say I’m embarrassed to be a conservative, but in today’s political lexicon the two are linked like democrat equals liberal, thanks to the great conservative leaders that used to lead and run the party political machine that made these terms almost interchangeable in the American mind for the last twenty years. In a larger sense, I am way past embarrassed with our political process. Looking and watching Congress between the House and Senate is like watching a bunch of children play...

<p>Homeland Security: Authorities across the pond now fear that even more Muslims — possibly numbering in the thousands — are plotting terror. On this end, however, U.S. officials still can't see anything in the pipeline.</p> <p>Either the British have better intelligence than we do, or we don't have any radicalized Muslim communities here in America. Sanguine U.S. authorities are guessing the latter.</p>

WATERLOO --- U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will appear at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Waterloo's Central Middle School gymnasium, the same day he is scheduled to make a major announcement in Springfield, Ill. regarding whether he'll move from the exploratory stage and formally announce his candidacy for the Democrat presidential nomination. Doors for the Waterloo event will open at 6:30 p.m. The public is invited to pick up free advance tickets at the following distribution centers: Central Middle School 1350 Katoski Drive, 8 a,m. to 2 p.m. daily; Black Hawk Labor Temple, 1695 Burton Ave., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily;...

Even if you are not a Muslim, calling someone a Muslim in America is a common political technique to destroy a candidate’s chances for election. Barack Obama is best known as an overnight political success story. Only a few years ago, he was just a local legislator in the Illinois State Senate. Two years ago, we was slated for the US Senate and won. Today, he is seen as a potential candidate for president of the United States. And, he is African American. And, his middle name is Hussein, and his father was, in Obama’s own words, an African “goat...

“Swift boating” is a term that came into use during the 2004 presidential election to reflect Senator John Kerry’s flaccid response to attacks on his wartime record in Viet-Nam. The term, a noun, adjective and verb, has entered the political lexicon and is usually invoked when liberals and Democrats are stung trying to defend themselves against unpleasantly truthful accusations hurled by conservatives. Well, “swift boating” is obviously a two-way street in politics. Democrats are equally adept at hurling painful accusations at Republicans and conservatives. I have no problem with people bringing the truth to light, digging up unpleasant facts and...

**** UPDATE, 01/19/07: Looks like Hillary Clinton's camp agrees with me and has dug up more info that confirms my suspicions about Obama and his Muslim background, including his attendance at a Wahabbi (ie., extremist Sunni) Madrassa (Islamic religious academy). Hillary's camp says Obama is covering up his Muslim past. Why? **** Many months ago, readers began asking me whether Barack Obama is Muslim. Since he identifies as a Christian, I said, "no," and responded that he was not raised by his Kenyan father. But, then, I decided to look further into Obama's background. His full name--as by now you...

AMERICAN presidential contender Barack Obama has dismissed an allegation by a conservative website that he was educated at a radical Islamic primary school in Indonesia. The contention that Senator Obama was educated at a radical Muslim school surfaced on Insight magazine's website, the day after he announced his 2008 presidential race. Conservative internet blogs and the Fox News Channel picked up the story and spread the charges just as his candidacy was getting off the ground. The Democrat candidate, a member of the United Church of Christ, today called the reports "scurrilous". "I think they recognise that the notion that...

Like a dutiful dancing partner, Senator Barack Obama has begun courting the evangelical right, and some are already waltzing along in perfect time. With his attendance at Rick Warren‘s church, Saddleback Valley Community, a mega-church in California for a large conference about AIDS, Obama has begun to align himself with an important base of voters to gain what conservatives lost this last year. Already lauded by some prominent evangelical publications for his outstanding "Christian faith" and a person Rick Warren called a "good friend" and a someone he'd like to work with on important issues, Obama is in perfect position,...

Let's be generous and chalk it up to the early-morning hour. Otherwise we'd have to come down hard on radio host Mike Gallagher, who as a guest on this morning's Fox & Friends Weekend went ga-ga for Barack Obama. It's one thing to acknowledge as did Mike that Obama has appeal as a candidate. But, interviewed by Keran Chetry, it was Gallagher's praise for Obama's substance that shocked, coming as it did from a putative conservative. Said Gallagher: "He's got some pretty solid ideas. He's a moderate." Moderate?? If Mike would check Obama's record, he'd find that in addition to...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday he was considering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous statements that he would not do so. The Illinois Democrat said he could no longer stand by the statements he made after his 2004 election and earlier this year that he would serve a full six-year term in Congress. He said he would not make a decision until after the Nov. 7 elections. "That was how I was thinking at that time," said Obama, when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" about his previous statements. "Given the response I've been getting...

I DVD'ed Olbermann overnight to check just how fawning of a performance Keith would put in with his guest Barack Obama - whom FCC regulations require me to describe as "the rising star of the Democratic party." When it came to Olbermann's sycophancy, I wasn't disappointed. After accusing Republicans of "terrorizing" Americans, the MSNBC host continued: "proposing an alternative course for American politics, one that replaces fear with - of all things - hope, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and his new book, The Audacity of Hope." The toughest question Olbermann posed to his guest, touted as a possible 2008...

"...How will we ever persuade him to give up his modeling gigs in Men’s Vogue, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair and Washington Life? How can we lure the lanky young senator from Illinois out of the glossy celebrity pages and back to gritty substance, away from Annie Leibovitz’s camera and back to Abraham Lincoln’s tradition? He may not want to come back, now that he has mastered that J.F.K. casual glamour pose in shirt sleeves and tie, suit jacket slung over his shoulder, elegant wife and pretty children accessorizing. The Washington Post’s fashion reporter, Robin Givhan, analyzed the Men’s Vogue spread,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Senator Barack Obama, a rising political star who generates extensive media coverage, is reportedly leaving the door open to a 2008 presidential run. The Democratic lawmaker appears on Time magazine's cover, coinciding with the release of his latest book, "The Audacity of Hope," which sets out his political views. Asked if he will enter the race for the White House once November's midterm legislative elections are out of the way, Obama, 45, avoids offering a definitive answer, but appears to be more seriously weighing the idea. "When the election is over and my book tour is...

In his second memoir in 11 years, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Sen. Barack Obama paints a picture of America as it is and as he believes it should be. Obama, 45, tackles faith, politics, values, race, opportunity and the United States' place in the global village in the 288-page tome from Crown Publishing Group scheduled to hit bookstore shelves Tuesday. The title of Obama's new book comes from the keynote address he delivered at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004, in which he said the "audacity of hope" is "God's greatest gift to...

Sen. Barack Obama has the charisma and ambition to run for president, but is he ready to answer the tough questions? Foremost among them is whether he will run in 2008, and he's not denying it. But the mania surrounding the Illinois Democrat's book tour is reminiscent of the Colin Powell mania in 1995, when the general leveraged speculation of a presidential run into huge book sales. And that's not all they have in common.

The "cover story" isn't on the web, but the link goes to a Freepable poll, and the photos tell the story of a gushing puff piece timed to leverage His trip to Africa.

KISUMU, Kenya (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of Kenyans lined the streets of Kisumu on Saturday, giving U.S. Sen. Barack Obama a hero's welcome as he arrived to visit the nearby village where his late father and grandfather lived. Massive crowds screamed "Obama, Obama" and waved flags emblazoned with his name and face, as the 45-year-old junior senator from Illinois rode through the streets in a truck flanked by a lengthy convoy. "I greet you all," he shouted in the local language, Luo, waving.

Sen. Barack Obama leaves today for a 17-day, six-country African visit, returning to his deceased father's Kenyan home, scrambling to retool the trip at the last minute because of the reluctance of Sudan to grant him a visa. Though members of Congress routinely visit nations on the troubled African continent with no media fanfare, Obama departs for Cape Town at the tip of South Africa followed by a local, national and international press corps that could swell to 25 by the time he hugs his Kenyan grandmother, Mama Sarah Obama, with his wife, Michelle, and two daughters. In the works...

Sen. Obama: Iraq is a dumb war By Eric Fodor Staff Writer Published: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 4:53 PM CDT E-mail this story | Print this page JUNCTION - Sen. Barack Obama combined sharp criticism of the Bush administration and Congress with thoughts about his own priorities at a town hall-type appearance at Gallatin County schools Monday. During a question-and-answer session, Obama pointed to many problems he perceives with the conduct of the war in Iraq. Sometimes war is a necessary option, he said. But Iraq is, "A dumb war. We haven't thought it through," Obama said. Enemies in Iran...

Obama Warns of Gas Guzzling Cars in Town Hall Meeting -- Leaves In SUV-This page temporarily unavailable Went directly to the site-- the story has been pulled. Management got a "advisory call" from Screaming Dean and the Rev. Al Enforcers. The best part is this story was also yanked from http://www.greencarcongress.com. This same story is referenced by Google with the same date and title but not on the site.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama warns citizens at his 50th Town Hall meeting about gas guzzling. It was among many points made to the standing room only audience at the Metropolis Community Center. Obama spoke on everything from DC politics to global warming. He says part of the blame for the world's higher temperatures rests on gas guzzling vehicles. Obama says consumers can make the difference by switching to higher mileage hybrids. Today the Senator said, "It would save more energy, do more for the environment and create better world security than all the drilling we could do in Alaska." After...