Saturday, May 24, 2008

UNPOPULAR PRESIDENT, POPULAR PASTIME

President Bush is hitting the fundraising circuit for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the White House announced yesterday. The president will be featured at three McCain campaign fundraisers in Arizona and Utah next week. The events will be closed to the media, but the White House told reporters that there could be a joint public appearance.

"President Bush is fully committed, 100 percent committed, to making sure that John McCain is elected to be the next president of the United States of America," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

McCain has been walking a fine line between receiving fundraising and other assistance from the president and not appearing too close to the unpopular Bush. This will be the first time the two have appeared together since March 5, when the Arizona senator came to the White House for a formal presidential endorsement.

-- Michael Abramowitz

MIAMI -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) outlined a comprehensive Latin America policy aimed at bolstering diplomacy, security and investment in the region, asserting before a Cuban American audience here, "The situation has changed in the Americas, but we've failed to change with it."

Obama's speech Friday to the Cuban American National Foundation came four days after Sen. John McCain addressed Miami's Cuban community and advocated a continued hard-line approach to the Cuban government by enforcing the existing trade embargo and travel restrictions.

Obama devoted a large portion of his speech to Cuba and called for a starkly different approach, reiterating his pledge to lift travel and money-transfer restrictions, and to negotiate directly with the Cuban government while still maintaining the embargo as leverage.

McCain's campaign accused Obama of advocating an "unconditional summit" with Raúl Castro's Communist government. The heated exchange underscored the battle line that Cuba has become between the two likely nominees in Florida, a swing state that could decide the election.

Obama also proposed a new regional energy initiative, said he would increase resources to battle crime and drug trafficking in Latin America, and advocated more development assistance and Peace Corps volunteers. Obama said he would resist trade deals that give short shrift to Latin American workers and would erase Cold War-era distinctions between governments.

-- Shailagh Murray