Democrat Obama Intensifies Criticism of Republican Rival McCain

[Wretched Excess]

if this is the best that he has, mccain will eat his lunch in november.

Democrat Obama Intensifies Criticism of Republican Rival McCain

 May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama intensified his criticism of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain with the approach of the May 20 Democratic presidential primaries that may allow him to claim he's locked up a majority of delegates picked by voters.

Campaigning in Oregon today, Obama linked McCain, 71, to President George W. Bush's record on everything from gasoline prices and the war in Iraq to tax cuts for the wealthy ``that never trickle down to you.''

Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, 60, of New York, joined Obama today in turning her fire on McCain.

Campaigning through central Kentucky, Clinton said McCain's economic agenda is ``nothing but four more years of George Bush economics: Corporate special interests first, middle class families last, borrow from China and stick our children and grandchildren with the bill,'' she said.

Obama now has 1,610 of the 1,627 pledged delegates needed to gain a majority, according to an Associated Press count. Polls suggest Clinton will win Kentucky, which has 51 pledged delegates at stake. Obama is leading in Oregon, which has 52. Obama is likely to take away more than the 23 he needs to claim a majority of pledged delegates under the party's apportionment rules.

Obama also has 294.5 of the officials and officeholders designated as superdelegates, compared with 276.5 for Clinton, according to lists and announcements by both campaigns. Obama, who needs a total of 2,026 delegates to secure the nomination, is previewing his general election campaign strategy against McCain.

Meeting With Iran

During a town hall forum in Roseburg, Oregon, today, Obama defended his position that he would be willing to meet unconditionally with the leaders of hostile nations such as Iran during his first year in office.

``If George Bush and John McCain have a problem with direct diplomacy led by the United States then they can explain why they have a problem with John F. Kennedy because that's what he did with Khrushchev,'' said Obama, referring to the former Soviet leader.

The McCain campaign quickly fired back.

``Senator Obama is missing the point,'' said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. His ``pledge to unconditionally bring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the world stage isn't `new politics,' it's incredibly weak judgment,'' said Bounds, referring to Iran's president.

Four More Years

McCain is ``promising four more years of the exact same foreign policy that George Bush has been perpetrating,'' said Obama, including a war that's cost thousands of lives and trillions of dollars and which he called ``the best recruiting tool al-Qaeda ever had.''

He also said Osama bin Laden is still sending out videotapes and that Iran poses the greatest threat to Israel and the U.S. in a generation. ``This is his idea of strong leadership and strong judgment,'' said Obama.

He also attacked McCain on health care, saying he has no plan to cover all Americans and no plan to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to individuals who need it.

The average American family is paying 78 percent more on health care than it was when Bush took office, said Obama. ``He wants to give you the failed'' health care policies of the past eight years, he said.

Much More

[Wretched Excess]

while I dislike mccain, I must say that his campaign is doing an outstanding job.

``If George Bush and John McCain have a problem with direct diplomacy led by the United States then they can explain why they have a problem with John F. Kennedy because that's what he did with Khrushchev,'' said Obama, referring to the former Soviet leader.

The McCain campaign quickly fired back.

``Senator Obama is missing the point,'' said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. His ``pledge to unconditionally bring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the world stage isn't `new politics,' it's incredibly weak judgment,'' said Bounds, referring to Iran's president.

[Tess Anderson]

Heh, Juan will rip him to shreds if and when he get ahold of Obama - I think Hillary could have won against him, but BO has no prayer. His supporters consist of mostly frothing-at-the-mouth leftists, Juan has everybody but the far right, who'll just stay home in disgust.

The Obama lap dog media won't be able to save him, either - this is what MSNBC has the nerve to write:

Obama expects more scrutiny of McCain

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/18/1036625.aspx

He's doing that old Democratic trick of trying to scare old people into mvoting for him. He'll fail there, too.