Obama to head south to prepare for debates

Monday 22nd September, 06:12 AM JST

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina —

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama undergoes three days of preparation this week for a crucial foreign policy clash with Republican rival John McCain in the first debate of the general election campaign.

Aides say it will be an opportunity for Obama to demonstrate proficiency in an area where polls have shown voters give the edge to McCain, a 26-year Washington veteran who promotes his ties to leaders around the world.

Obama will head to Florida to prepare for Friday’s event at the University of Mississippi.

If Obama can hold his own on foreign policy, it could ease those worries, aides said Sunday as they tried to lower expectations for the first-term Illinois senator, a powerful speaker but an uneven performer in multiple debates during the Democratic primaries.

Instead, senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said it is McCain who needs to meet expectations.

“John McCain has boasted throughout the campaign about his decades of Washington foreign policy experience and what an advantage that would be for him,” Gibbs said. “This debate offers him major home-court advantage and anything short of a game-changing event will be a key missed opportunity for him.”

While Obama is cloistered in Tampa, Florida, veteran Washington lawyer Greg Craig will play the role of McCain in the debate preparations. Craig was a member of President Bill Clinton’s defense team during the impeachment proceedings. In 2004, he was a stand-in for President George W. Bush when Democratic nominee John Kerry prepared for his debates. Craig also has advised both Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on foreign policy.

The bulk of Obama’s time in Florida will be devoted to the debates, but he is also likely to hold some campaign events in the area.

Polls show a tight race in Florida. McCain won the state during the Republican primaries but Obama did not compete there because of Democratic Party sanctions against Florida because it held its nominating contest too early in the season.

Two separate Florida newspaper polls released Sunday show McCain leading Obama by one to two percentage points, both results within the surveys’ margin of error. Both polls found more voters trusted Obama to improve the economy.

Obama and McCain are scheduled to debate three times between Friday and Oct 15, sandwiched around one matchup between their vice presidential candidates, Delaware Sen Joe Biden and Alaska Gov Sarah Palin.

But the opening presidential debate traditionally sets the tone for voters and it is often difficult for a candidate to overcome a poor performance. This debate also comes as the financial markets remain turbulent and the campaign rhetoric has shifted from foreign issues to domestic and economic concerns.

At an outdoor rally Sunday in Charlotte, Obama stayed focused on the turmoil on Wall Street, and laid blame at the feet of Republican policies he said McCain is committed to continuing.

“We’re now seeing the disastrous consequences of this philosophy all around us, on Wall Street as well as Main Street,” Obama said. “Yet Sen McCain, who candidly admitted not long ago that he doesn’t know as much about economics as he should, wants to keep going down the same disastrous path.”

He criticized a $700 billion proposal by Bush to buy bad mortgage debt in an effort to unfreeze the nation’s credit markets, calling it a “concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan.” Yet he said the government had little option but to intervene.

And Obama said any bailout must include plans to recover that money, and protect working families and big financial institutions, and be crafted in a way to prevent such a crisis from happening again.

“Regardless of how we got here, we’re here today and the circumstances we face require decisive action because your jobs, your savings and your economy are at risk,” Obama said. “There must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money.”

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds accused Obama of “offering absolutely no new ideas, policies or concrete solutions.”

“We cannot afford a direction-less drive like Barack Obama,” said Bounds.

Aides said Obama had spoken with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, congressional leaders and Bill and Hillary Clinton in fleshing out his approach to the bailout.

North Carolina is a Republican-leaning state Obama hopes to win in November. After the rally he was returning to Chicago for fund-raising and a campaign swing through Wisconsin, a Democratic-leaning state he needs to win.

Separately, Obama is pulling his campaign staffers out of North Dakota, where he had been making an effort to become the first Democrat to carry the state in 44 years. Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage said the campaign will send workers from his 11 offices in North Dakota to other battleground states.

___

On the Net:

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com

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Latest 15 of 87 Total Comments Show All

Everton2 at 11:35 PM JST - 22nd September

Its about time somebody took on those community organizers who are out there helping the poor and powerless. Yes we should get rid of all those community organizers who are patrolling those disadvantaged neighborhoods, being the mediator between the poor and those who have the power to help, who needs them.
Sarge at 12:24 AM JST - 23rd September

The Germans can't believe Obama chose Biden to be his VP. In Germany, in order to please the Germans, he told them he would pick David Hasselhoff to be his VP.
SwiftBoatVet at 02:16 AM JST - 23rd September

Sarge- Great post. Have you noticed how quiet the "Obama" gang are at the moment.

They can't find answers to our posts! Ha Ha Ha.

They are squirming like a worm in bleach. Theyre Messiah has turned out to ba a hopeless charlatan. This is so funny, Obamas "fans" decrease by the day.
Sarge at 10:07 AM JST - 23rd September

The latest from Obama: McCain does well with older voters because they want to see more gray hairs.

Hee hee!
SushiSake3 at 10:11 AM JST - 23rd September

SwiftBoatVet - "They can't find answers to our posts! Ha Ha Ha."

There's almost no point answering them. Obama is ahead. :-)
SezWho2 at 01:23 PM JST - 23rd September

Well, I have no idea what is going to happen in the debates. I think Obama is clearly more intelligent than McCain and will probably be better prepared. However, to win a debate you must not only have better factual material on hand and more clever arguments, you must also connect with the judges--in this case the American people.

I think it's Obama's mission to be smart but sound more folksy than his natural tendency would be, at the same time avoiding excessive stammering. McCain's challenge is to be folksy but sound more intelligent than he would otherwise be, at the same time avoiding gaffes.
Sarge at 01:30 PM JST - 23rd September

"I think Obama is clearly more intelligent than McCain"

That must be why Obama said McCain does well with older voters because they want to see more gray hairs. Hee hee!
bluespaceoddity at 07:58 PM JST - 23rd September

I just watched a YouTube clip of Joe Biden addressing the National Guard. It was good to see Joe Biden challenge the perception that John McCain is the candidate who supports the troops the most. Biden compared McCain's voting record with that of Obama. It appears that several veterans' organizations give Obama a better mark for his voting record than McCain. While Biden praised McCain for his service in uniform and was very respectful he nevertheless made the point that McCain's positions and actions have not always benefitted the troops and veterans. A quick look verifies what he said.
Loki520 at 09:02 PM JST - 23rd September

Exactly WHAT voting record are you, and those vets groups (of which I am one) comparing??? Obama HAS no voting record beyond naming post offices, commemorative stamps, allowing abortion survivors to die, so forth and so on.
Sarge at 09:41 PM JST - 23rd September

"It appears that several veterans' organizations give Obama a better mark for his voting record than McCain"

Appearances can be deceiving.
bluespaceoddity at 11:09 PM JST - 23rd September

2008 G.I. Bill for example. Yes from Obama. No vote from McCain.

The record I found shows that it isn't merely appearance. Biden mentions these.

Disabled American Veterans: McCain 20%, Obama 80% voting record.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: McCain a D, Obama a B pus rating.

These links show the same numbers. Inaccurate or unreliable source? Please correct if they are. http://www.votesmart.org/issueratingdetail.php?rid=3483 http://www.votesmart.org/issueratingdetail.php?rid=3439

You can also get the voting record for each candidate at this votesmart site by clicking their name in the lists.

Here is a link to the video of Biden's address to the National Guard. He mentions the ratings around 30min. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQCAKawrvfI
barfly08 at 04:57 PM JST - 24th September

Japan best be careful about rooting for Obama, the guy is a staunch protectionist with eyes on securing American jobs over imports... bad news for Japan !
bluespaceoddity at 02:21 AM JST - 25th September

In case you return to this topic, and since the video is kinda long, here is an excerpt from the transcipt of Joe Biden's address to the National Guard on Sept. 22, 2008, relevant to the comments I made above.

"John McCain is a friend, a patriot, and a hero.

But John and I have some fundamental disagreements as it relates to the Guard, and the interests of veterans.

John McCain voted against billions of dollars in additional funding for veterans’ health care – against $2 million for TBI research… against $500 million for mental health issues… against $400 million for inpatient and outpatient care.

John wants to ration veterans’ health care to those with combat injuries, which would mean that millions fewer veterans would have access to VA medical care.

And while Barack and I supported Senator Jim Webb’s bipartisan bill to update the GI Bill from the get-go, John initially opposed it because he thought it was too generous.

John’s version treated the Guard as second class citizens when it came to educational benefits.

Those are the facts. But don’t take it from me. Ask Disabled American Veterans, which represents millions of vets. They keep track of these things… John voted with DAV 20 percent of the time.

Barack Obama – 80 percent of the time.

Or ask the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. They keep track, too. They give letter grades, and they gave John McCain a “D”. Barack got at B+.

So as much as I admire John, I disagree with him.

Being a veteran isn’t the same as being there for veterans.

We need more than a great soldier, we need a wise leader."
SezWho2 at 12:41 PM JST - 25th September

Sarge,

Since you are hee-hee-ing you must be joking, right? I think you are going round Robin Hood's barn to try to put words in Obama's mouth.

Obama was speculating on why McCain does well with older voters. That's a legitimate speculation given what the older voters know about their own health. He offered the much-traveled "a few gray hairs" theory and said he was sprouting some of his own.

This saying has been around forever. When I still had hair and broke started into financial consulting, my bosses always told me that it didn't matter how smart I was. That businessmen would not trust me until I had a few gray hairs. They were right.

Age has always been an issue. Kennedy was thought to be too young for the job (in addition to being too Catholic). In television addresses the young try to look older and the old try to look younger. That's just something people do.

I think McCain is too old for the job. At present, he is campaigning on the energy of his vice-presidential selection. Obama is comparatively young, but in his case it is not age that is the question mark, it is experience.
zurcronium at 07:46 AM JST - 27th September

work has it that it costs $5000 per make up session for mccain before his TV appearances to try to make him look like he is still alive. Amazing.

Well, he is super rich so he can afford that no problem. He has, what 8, 10 houses. Even he does not know how many.

Looks like John McCain, who has called Obama out for being a “celebrity,” is trying to make his own bright, shiny Hollywood star. And he is willing to pay a very, very, very high price.

The Senator used makeup artist Tifanie White, who’s worked on So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol, to make him look glam for a TV spot and paid her $5,583.43.

Yes, it really takes that much money to make him look good. Which, I guess comparatively is not that bad—Mariah Carey, a noted diva, spends $7,200 a day for a personal hairdresser and make-up artist.