 IN THE HEADLINES
Obama defends plans for direct talks with Iran; McCain campaign says Obama is backtracking ... McCain credits Bush for drop in oil and gas prices ... Economy top issue, but energy concerns grow in AP-Ipsos poll ... McCain airs radio ads in little US Berlins ... People Magazine: Obama girls offer irreverence, boundless energy
Obama defends plans for direct talks with Iran
SDEROT, Israel (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama defended his proposal to negotiate with Iran Wednesday and said he would use "big sticks and big carrots" to persuade the country's leaders not to develop nuclear weapons.
"My whole goal in terms of having tough, serious direct diplomacy is not because I'm naive about the nature of any of these regimes. I'm not," Obama said at a press conference. "It is because if we show ourselves willing to talk and to offer carrots and sticks in order to deal with these pressing problems, and if Iran then rejects any overtures of that sort, it puts us in a stronger position to mobilize the international community to ratchet up the pressure on Iran."  He said a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to both Israel and the United States.
Republican rival John McCain's campaign quickly responded that Obama was backtracking on his expressed willingness to meet with Iran's leaders without preconditions.
A year ago, Obama was asked whether he would meet personally, without preconditions, with leaders of Iran and other hostile nations during the first year of his administration to resolve differences with the United States. Obama said he would.
On Wednesday Obama said, "I think that what I said in response was that I would at my time and choosing be willing to meet with any leader if I thought it would promote the national security interests of the United States of America. And that continues to be my position."  He said there was a distinction between meeting without preconditions and meeting without preparation.
This was Obama's second press conference during his trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe. He spoke in Sderot, near the Gaza border.
McCain credits Bush for drop in oil prices
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Republican John McCain on Wednesday credited the recent $10-a-barrel drop in the price of oil to President Bush's lifting of a presidential ban on offshore drilling, an action he has been advocating in his presidential campaign.
The cost of oil and gasoline is "on everybody's mind in this room," McCain told a town-hall meeting.  He criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for opposing drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Bush recently lifted the executive order banning offshore drilling that his father put in place in 1990. He also asked Congress to lift its own moratorium on oil exploration on the outer continental shelf which includes coastal waters as close as three miles from shore.
"The price of oil dropped $10 a barrel," said McCain, who argued that the psychology of lifting the ban has affected world markets.
The White House didn't go that far. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the price drop also could reflect diminished demand.  "I don't know if we fully deserve the credit," Perino said.
Poll: Economy top issue; energy worries grow most
WASHINGTON (AP) — What's rising faster than gas prices this summer? Americans' worries about them.
The economy is the nation's top concern by far, but anxiety about energy has grown more since spring than any other issue while the focus on Iraq continues to fade, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The findings by the Associated Press-Ipsos poll provide the latest confirmation of how economic woes — including job losses, rising inflation and the ailing financial and housing markets — are dominating voters' worries as this fall's presidential election approaches.  Forty-four percent said the economy was the country's most important problem, a small increase from the 39 percent who said so in April.
Another 22 percent named energy problems including rising gasoline costs, an enormous boost from the 4 percent who said so last spring. Gasoline averaged about $3.33 per gallon in early April, about 70 cents less than it does now, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
The Iraq war and other foreign affairs issues were named by just 15 percent in the poll. Iraq was cited by 25 percent in April and 40 percent in January, illustrating how rapidly the war has plummeted from its long-held perch as the No. 1 problem.
McCain has Berlin moment too — in little Berlins
WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain can be a Berliner, too.
The Republican National Committee decided to have a little fun with Barack Obama's widely anticipated speech Thursday at Berlin's Victory Column. It is airing anti-Obama ads in Berlin's namesakes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.
Not a lot of audience reach in these tiny radio markets, but certainly a poke in the ribs to Obama.
The 60-second ad accuses Obama of voting against allocating money for military troops.
The reference is to Obama's vote on May 24, 2007, against a $120 billion appropriation, most of it for troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama had voted for a similar bill weeks earlier that required the administration to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2007. That bill passed, but President Bush vetoed it. The legislation that replaced it contained no withdrawal language and it passed 80-14 with Obama among the dissenters.
At the time of that vote, Obama issued a statement: "After he vetoed a plan that would have funded the troops and begun to bring them home, this bill represents more of his stubborn refusal to address his failed policy. We should not give the President a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path."
Obama has otherwise voted for every spending bill for troops in war zones. His campaign denounced the ad as a "distasteful and misleading attack."
Magazine: Obama girls have youthful zeal, manners
WASHINGTON (AP) — The rules in the Obama household for Malia and Sasha are clear-cut:
_"No whining, arguing or annoying teasing," their mother, Michelle Obama, told People Magazine.
_Make the bed. "Doesn't have to look good, just throw the sheet over it," said the mother of 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.
_Set your own alarm clock. "They get themselves up, get their own clothes," said their grandmother Marian Robinson.
_And the allowance from Dad for doing chores is $1 a week. Barack Obama conceded that "I'm out of town for weeks at a time, so Malia will say, 'Hey you owe me for 10 weeks.'"
The likely Democratic presidential nominee and his wife are determined that his bid for the presidency not disrupt the normal, happy childhood of their two daughters.
DAILY TRACK
Democrat Barack Obama holds a slight lead nationally over Republican John McCain — 46 percent to 42 percent — among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.
THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama visited Jerusalem and Ramallah, West Bank.
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain met with voters in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He canceled a visit to New Orleans because of weather, and then planned to head to Ohio.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I think it would be fun." — Republican John McCain, on whether as president he would regularly submit himself to questioning before the House speaker and minority leader.
STAT OF THE DAY:
Independents are more bored with the campaign than any other group of people — 28 percent of them say so — according to an AP-Yahoo News survey conducted in June.
Compiled by Ann Sanner. |