How does Obama’s leaving church affect his chances?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Barack Obama apparently decided enough was enough.
Obama announced over the weekend he had resigned his 20-year membership at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.
Obama says he and his wife had discussed leaving the church since April, when his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright made more controversial remarks at the National Press Club.
Obama's association with the church had caused an explosion on cable news weeks earlier when video surfaced of Wright's fiery sermons, blaming the U.S. for the 9-11 attacks and saying the federal government helped spread AIDS. Obama initially said he disagreed with Wright but couldn't disown him, but later did just that by denouncing his comments as "divisive and destructive."
More questions about Obama's ties to Trinity arose last week with a guest sermon delivered by the Reverend Michael Pfleger, who mocked Hillary Clinton as weeping over "a black man stealing my show” and said he wanted to expose "white entitlement and supremacy wherever it raises its head." Father Pfleger was harshly criticized by Chicago's archbishop and has since apologized.
Obama says he's not denouncing the church, but points out that because he's running for president, every time something is said in the church, it will be connected to him, even if it's something he disagrees with. The likely Democratic nominee says he has no idea how it will impact his campaign, but that it was a personal decision and the right thing to do for his family.
Here’s my question to you: How will Barack Obama's resignation from his church affect his chances in the general election?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Message to McCain: Most say president should meet with Iran
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
We have some bad news for John McCain who has spent the last couple of weeks beating up on Barack Obama because Obama said he would be willing to meet with leaders of countries considered to be enemies of the United States. Most Americans support Obama. McCain was at it again today.
Speaking to a pro-Israel group, McCain said it's hard to see what a summit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would lead to "except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another"
Well, guess what. A new Gallup Poll suggests the country backs Obama. 59% of Americans responding to the poll say it's a good idea for the president to meet with the president of Iran. Here's the breakdown: 71% of Democrats, 58% of independents and 48% of Republicans support this kind of diplomacy. This is despite the fact that polls also suggest few people in this country view Iran favorably, and it leads Americans' list of top U-S enemies in the world.
This same poll also shows a majority of Americans, 67%, say the president should meet with leaders of other foreign countries who are considered enemies of the U.S. Apparently the American people are sick and tired of cowboy diplomacy.
Obama is the only one of the three candidates who has said he would personally meet with leaders of countries like Iran, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela. Both Hillary Clinton and McCain have criticized him for it.
Here’s my question to you: What message does it send to John McCain when most Americans say it's a good idea for the president to meet with Iran?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Will Clinton go gracefully when the time comes?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
If you're looking for clues, try this one: Hillary Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York tomorrow night. The thing is: New York is not voting, Montana and South Dakota are.
Campaign aides say staffers who worked for Clinton in those two states and Puerto Rico have been invited to attend the event or go home and await further instructions. Here's another clue: it's being reported that the campaign's finance department is asking Clinton staffers to turn in their outstanding expenses by the end of the week.
Clinton has also has planned a rally with her husband and daughter in South Dakota tonight, the kind of reunion she usually saves for election nights. Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton said that today may be his last day campaigning for his wife.
All this would seem to indicate that the end is near. The news comes on the heels of a weekend where Clinton swept up in Puerto Rico, yet was frustrated by the decision of the rules committee. With just two contests to go, Clinton continues to trail Barack Obama in the ever-important categories of pledged delegates and superdelegates.
Nevertheless, Clinton is making the argument that she leads in the popular vote and that by the time all the votes are counted, she will have won more votes "than anyone in the history of the primary process." The problem here is this is only true if you include Michigan and Florida, and don't include some of the caucus states.
Clinton has also suggested she's focusing not only on undecided superdelegates, but also those who have backed Obama and still have the option to change their minds. And finally she says she's still deciding whether to challenge the decision of the Democratic rules committee.
Here’s my question to you: Will Hillary Clinton admit defeat and go gracefully when the time comes?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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