The Trail

Thursday, October 16, 2008

DENIALS AND DENUNCIATIONS

McCain Team Seizes on Jesse Jackson's Remarks

Barack Obama's campaign responded quickly Wednesday to an instant flap over comments that the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was said to have made to the New York Post over Obama's foreign policy plans.

John McCain's campaign seized on the remarks to suggest that his Democratic opponent would not be a strong supporter of Israel if elected president, while Jackson issued a statement saying his comments had been selectively reported and distorted.

Jackson has been no friend of Obama's -- earlier this year Jackson said he would like to castrate Obama -- but Jackson is a prominent Democrat, and his reported comments to the World Policy Forum in Evian, France, and in a subsequent interview at the forum with Post columnist Amer Taheri would give heartburn to any presidential candidate.

Among the most damning quotes: that although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, the "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end once Obama became president.

Throughout the campaign, Obama has struggled against the perception among some Jews that he would not be a strong supporter of Israel, so the McCain campaign saw Jackson's remarks, which have been widely covered in the Israeli press, as a potential opening.

Randy Scheunemann, McCain's senior foreign policy adviser, said in a statement: "Barack Obama claims to be a strong supporter of Israel but his supporters -- here and abroad -- know better."

In a statement, the Obama campaign's national security spokeswoman, Wendy Morigi, distanced the candidate from Jackson and said Obama has an "unshakable commitment to Israel's security."

"Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is not an adviser to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Barack Obama's views on Israel and foreign policy. As he has made clear throughout his career and throughout this campaign, Barack Obama has a fundamental commitment to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, and he is advised by people like Dennis Ross, Daniel Kurtzer, Rep. Robert Wexler, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Senator Joe Biden who share that commitment," Morigi said.

Jackson himself denounced Taheri, according to the Associated Press, for "selectively imposing his own point of view and distorting mine," issuing a statement saying Taheri was trying to "to incite fear and division."

Jackson added that he "has never had a conversation with Sen. Obama about Israel or the Middle East."

-- Glenn Kessler

'TAKING NOTHING FOR GRANTED'

In Indiana, Michelle Obama Warns Against Complacency

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Barack Obama may be leading in national polls, but his hard-driving campaign is not built for coasting, his wife, Michelle Obama, told a crowd in northern Indiana on Thursday. She urged them to keep pushing "because this isn't going to be easy."

"We are taking nothing for granted. Barack Obama will be the underdog until he is sitting in the White House," she told more than 2,000 supporters in one of the year's more surprising battleground states. Indiana hasn't supported a Democrat for president since 1964, yet it is currently rated a tossup.

Before jetting to New York for tonight's presidential debate, Michelle Obama made a pitch for early voting. She also summed the way the campaign has seen itself since last year's long march in Iowa, when the junior senator from Illinois was not a favorite to reach the Oval Office.

"We always act like the underdog, which means you have to work harder and smarter and clearer," she said. "Every hour, every day, every minute, every second between now and Election Day counts."

-- Peter Slevin

CONFIDENCE IN OHIO

Senator Relishes Idea of Fox Covering an Obama Victory

ATHENS, Ohio -- Sen. Sherrod Brown wants Ohio Democrats to watch Fox News on election night, so they can celebrate while watching conservatives in agony.

"It's going to be about 11:50 and [Sean] Hannity looks at [Bill] O'Reilly and says, 'You do it,' and O'Reilly says, 'No you do it,' " Brown said, referring to two of the network's famous commentators while warming up the crowd for an appearance by Joe Biden.

"So O'Reilly looks at the camera at 11:53," Brown continued, "O'Reilly looks into the camera and says, 'Well, folks, Ohio went for Barack Obama. He's the next president of the United States.' "

As Brown travels through Ohio on a bus tour with Gov. Ted Strickland and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, that wasn't the only sign of confidence from the team pushing for Barack Obama's election. For the second day in a row, Biden referred to "January 20" or "when we're inaugurated" -- although he quickly added, "God willing."

"When we're inaugurated, God willing, on January 20 of 2009, there are two things we're going to focus our entire administration on," Biden told the crowd of more than 1,000 at the Athens fairgrounds. "Number one, rebuilding the middle class . . . everything we do domestically will focus on that. And the second objective will be to restore our leadership and respect around the world."

Promoting some of the proposals both Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership have suggested should be passed during the post-election session of Congress, such as freezing foreclosures on mortgages for 90 days, Biden said, "We can't wait until January 20th to get things done."

The vice presidential candidate has a packed schedule of six events in two days in small towns in eastern and central Ohio. He will spend the rest of the week making stops in New Mexico and Nevada, attending fundraisers in California and taping appearances on both "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and the "Ellen DeGeneres Show."

-- Perry Bacon Jr.