(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

“Just as the world is opening up, we are closing down.”

That’s a quote from a terrific Newsweek cover story by Fareed Zakaria called “The Rise of the Rest” that explores what’s happening to the United States during this global power shift.

Zakaria examines “The Post-American World” where by almost every measure – from industrial to financial, to social to cultural – the distribution of power is shifting away from the United States. It’s a stark change from the superpower status we’ve had for most of the last century. He talks about the dark mood of many Americans, with more than 80% of the country believing we’re on the wrong track.

Zakaria says that this post-American world shouldn’t necessarily be an “unsettling prospect for Americans.” He says it’s the result of a series of positive trends that have welcomed in an international climate of “unprecedented peace and prosperity.” He points to economic growth of many countries all around the globe and insists that America is benefiting from these trends of globalization.

Even as the rest of the world continues to rise around us, America remains “the most open, flexible society in the world, able to absorb other people, cultures, ideas, goods and services.”

Zakaria says American society can adapt to this new world, but wonders if our government can. He points to our narrow foreign policy and desire to be the global rule-maker but then to not always play by the rules.

Here’s my question to you: Is America fading from its position as the most powerful nation in the world?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Obama says Clinton scolded him about Iran before.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Hillary Clinton sounds too much like President Bush. That’s Barack Obama’s take on Clinton’s threat to “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacks Israel.

Clinton initially made the comments a couple weeks ago, saying: “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran. In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

Obama says this isn’t the language we need right now. He says it’s too similar to the kinds of things President Bush says, what Obama calls “bluster and saber rattling.” Obama says Clinton is changing the rules right before an election. He said she scolded him about Iran before, saying “we shouldn’t speculate about Iran, we’ve got to be cautious when we’re running for president.”

Clinton’s not backing away from her comment. She says she wants to make it “abundantly clear” to Iran that if they attacked our ally Israel, they would face a “tremendous cost.” However, Clinton adds that “nobody wants to go to war with Iran.” She refuses to say whether she would order a nuclear response.

Here’s my question to you: Is Hillary Clinton’s comment that the U.S. could “obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons appropriate?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

The 16-month fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continues tomorrow in North Carolina and Indiana.

Obama leads Clinton in the polls in North Carolina, while the latest average of polls suggests Clinton is now slightly ahead in Indiana. If Obama can deliver a pair of wins, it would be a huge psychological boost for his campaign and could bring him one step closer to winning the nomination. If Clinton wins both, she’ll still be behind but will think she’s won the nomination.

The fact is that Obama continues to lead Clinton in everything except superdelegates where he has narrowed her lead to just 14. He leads in pledged delegates, popular vote and number of states won.

A new poll out also suggests that Obama has rebounded from some of the damage caused by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright controversy. The New York Times/CBS News poll shows 60% of registered voters approve of how Obama handled the situation, and a majority say the news media spent too much time covering the story. Also, Obama’s lead over Clinton among Democratic primary voters has increased to 12 points, up from 8 points just a few days ago.

However Obama seems to have lost his edge when it comes to the question of electability. In February, 59% said Obama was the stronger candidate, compared with 28% who said Clinton. In this newest survey, the two are essentially tied.

Here’s my question to you: Considering Barack Obama’s lead, how important are Indiana and North Carolina?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Over the course of the campaign, Americans’ views of the top three candidates have changed some. According to a Gallup poll done in late April, here are some of the qualities associated with each:

John McCain: he’s “too old, he’s a “good man, likable,” he would give the country more of the same — be another George Bush, and he has a “good military background.” And the number of people who view him favorably are about equal to the number who don’t like him.

When it comes to Hillary Clinton, the most common perceptions are that she is dishonest or not trustworthy, past scandals or baggage associated with her husband, the former president, that she is qualified, capable, and strong.

But the number of people who have a negative view of her, 55%, is almost twice the number that view her favorably, 30%. Barack Obama is viewed slightly more positively than negatively, 42% to 39%.

People see him as young and inexperienced but with new ideas. He is also seen as lacking substance-all talk and no action. People disagree with his religious views (Thank you Rev. Wright) and he is seen by some as an “elitist” or “snob,” although those views are not widely held.

He is also, of course, much better known now than when the campaign began.

Here’s my question to you: How has your perception of the three major presidential candidates changed during the course of the campaign?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Republicans are going to have a very tough time getting elected this fall, except maybe for John McCain.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows only 27% of voters have positive views of the Republican Party.

It’s the lowest level for either party in the almost 20-year history of this particular poll. The last time the numbers were this low, voters threw George Bush’s father out of office and elected Bill Clinton in 1992.

And yet John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, continues to run about even in hypothetical match-ups with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Interesting in light of the fact that an overwhelming number of us, 73%, think the country is headed in the wrong direction under President Bush. John McCain embraces many of the policies of President Bush, including the war in Iraq, which Americans have really had enough of. And President Bush has now achieved the highest disapproval rating of any president in modern American history.

And it’s not just the war that has American voters in a foul mood. Our economy is struggling under the weight of high gas prices, the housing collapse and a loss of jobs. All things that have happened on the Republicans’ watch.

A majority of voters say they want a Democrat in the White House next time. Which makes John McCain’s position even more remarkable.

Here’s my question to you: Why does John McCain remain popular in light of sharply falling support for the Republican party?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

International Workers Day immigration-rights march on May Day in Los Angeles, California. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

For the last two years, May first has been the day that the estimated twelve million illegal immigrants in this country have the opportunity to rally for immigration reform. Two years ago, the turnout nationwide was staggering. More than one million people packing the streets and bringing traffic to a standstill. Chicago alone had four hundred thousand people. But yesterday they were nowhere to be found.

In Tucson, Arizona, only about 500 turned out yesterday, compared to 12,000 last year. In Los Angeles, a few thousand, nothing close to the 500,000 in 2006. And the streets in Phoenix were empty yesterday… no signs of the activists and banners of the last two years.

Gone too were the calls for a nationwide boycott of businesses and work. The Spanish-language D.J.’s who had heavily promoted previous marches, for the most part, stuck to regular programming yesterday.

So why the change? Some say growing deportation fears kept folks home. The United States deported almost 300,000 people last year, a 44% increase over the previous year. Others say it was because of the stalled effort in Congress to revamp the immigration law.

And then there’s the heated race for the White House. The immigration issue seems to be lost in other political headlines. The top concern for voters overwhelmingly is the economy, not immigration.

Here’s my question to you: Is illegal immigration less important to you than it was two years ago?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

President George W. Bush addressing the nation aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln May 1, 2003. (PHOTO CREIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Mission Accomplished… so read the banner prominently displayed behind President Bush on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln five years ago today.

Bush appeared in a flight suit before a cheering crowd and announced “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” I wonder if he would like to tell that to the families of the more than 50 U.S. troops who died in Iraq during the month of April, the deadliest in seven months. And this month’s first fatality has already been recorded.

The war is now in its sixth year. We have lost 4,064 troops, many of them killed long after the president announced that major combat operations were over.

Only the Vietnam War, the war in Afghanistan, and the Revolutionary War have lasted longer than the war in Iraq.

Tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and millions have been displaced. The Iraqi army which was supposed to be able to stand on its own by 2006, is pretty much worthless. During one recent battle more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers simply ran away leaving the fighting to their countrymen and the Americans.

Today U.S. and Iraqi troops are engaged in fierce fighting against Shiite militants in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a battle that began in March. More than 900 civilians and militants have died since that fighting began.

The White House admits that it has “paid the price” for the “Mission Accomplished” banner. But not nearly as high a price as the men and women of our armed forces.

Here’s my question to you: What will it take to accomplish the U.S. mission in Iraq?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

If you want to know which way the political winds are blowing, look at the young. Trends in the opinions of the youngest voters are often a barometer of shifting political tides. For the Democrats as we approach the 2008 election, this is great news. For Republicans, not so good. In fact, terrible.

The Pew Research Center did a survey of young people between October of last year and March of this year. What they found was that the current generation of young voters who came of age during the George W. Bush years is giving the Democrats a wide advantage in party identification.

58% of voters under the age of 30 surveyed during that time identified or leaned toward the democratic party, compared with just 33% who identified or leaned toward the Republican party. In fact, the Democratic Party’s current lead in party identification among young voters has more than doubled since the 2004 campaign — from 11 points then to 25 points now.

In fact, the Democrats’ advantage among young voters is now so broad-based that younger men are now the only age category in the entire electorate where men are significantly more inclined to identify themselves as Democrats rather than Republicans.

And if you’re John McCain, that’s a big problem.

Here’s my question to you: Why can’t the Republican Party attract more voters under the age of 30?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Andrew is encouraging fellow Democrats to heal the rift in our party and unite behind Sen. Barack Obama.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

This could be the beginning of the end. The leader of the Democratic party under Bill Clinton is switching his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama five days before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

Joe Andrew is a superdelegate who was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1999 to 2001. He’s from Indianapolis and endorsed Hillary Clinton on the day she announced she was running for president.

Andrew is calling on Democrats to unite “behind Obama and heal the rift in our party.” He says the primary process has devolved to the point that it’s now hurting the Democratic Party.

He says Obama never asked him to switch his support. It was Obama’s handling of the Jeremiah Wright controversy and his decision to oppose a summer gas tax holiday which Clinton and McCain are both in favor of that convinced him to switch.

Andrew’s decision puts Barack Obama just 19 superdelegates behind Hillary Clinton now and could open the floodgates for more undecided superdelegates to make up their minds. He says the Democrats cannot wait any longer.

Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that the former chairman of the DNC, Joe Andrew, is leaving Hillary Clinton to support Barack Obama?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »

A woman holds a sign during a protest against high fuel price with other truck drivers April 28, 2008 in Washington, DC. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

44% of Americans in a recent survey said paying for gasoline was a serious problem for them. Gasoline costs were the most frequently cited economic concern across all income levels. 25% of people who make more than $75,000 per year said it’s a serious problem while a whopping 63% of folks who earn less than $30,000 feel that way.

The cost of gasoline far outranks the number two economic concern, getting a good paying job or a raise at 29% and paying for healthcare and health insurance at 28%. The survey was conducted on behalf of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

And all indications are it’s going to get worse before it gets better. As gasoline shoots past $4 per gallon in some parts of the country, the president of OPEC is predicting crude oil prices could hit $200 per barrel. A year ago average gas prices were less than $3 per gallon according to AAA.

One idea being tossed around as a way of dealing with this is the four-day workweek. Several states are considering it. Staggered work schedules would be necessary in order to keep government offices open five days a week, and some have suggested that would end up costing the taxpayers more money. It’s also an idea that may gain traction in the private sector. I, for one, think it’s a terrific idea.

Here’s my question to you: Would shifting to a four-day workweek be a good way to save fuel?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

Read the rest of this entry »