Lots of Obama news to report tonight. So much we had to split it into two diaries, so be sure to check out enarjay's early edition roundup. Here's what you'll find below the fold.
- Obama will support Reid-Feingold
- Obama continues pressuring Republicans to end the war. Today he launched online petitions urging each of the 20 Republican Senator running for re-election in 2008 to end the war. Be sure to add your name if any of these Senators are your Senators!!
- Obama releases more information about his plan to make college affordable
- ABC news picks up the tax-return story
- Obama continues to lead in South Carolina and hold his ground nationally
- Fun Obama-Clinton sketch from MadTV
Obama continues to work on multiple fronts to end the war and bring our troops home. It's nice see Obama recognizing it's the goal that counts, that how we get there. I'm happy with any strategy that ends the war.
He announced his intention to vote for Reid-Feingold and Levin and to continue working to toward a veto over-ride.
Let's see what he has to say:
"Today, 1518 days after it began, the war in Iraq rages on, with no sign of a resolution. The Iraqi people appear no closer to the settling their differences. The Iraqi government is more divided and dysfunctional than ever. The Iraqi parliament speaks of adjourning for the summer, without addressing the major issues standing in the way of a ceasefire. And our brave young servicemen and women are still fighting and dying to police someone else's civil war.
I opposed this war from the start for all the reasons that are now clear.
In January, I introduced a plan that already would have begun redeploying our troops out of Iraq, with the goal of removing all of our combat troops by March 31. But it also would offer enough flexibility to delay our exit in the event that the Iraqis responded with meaningful steps toward peace. I still believe in that approach, which the President vetoed earlier this month. Ultimately, I think it will become the framework for a bipartisan coalition the President can't resist.
Today, I have reintroduced that plan.
Tomorrow, I expect cloture votes on two other proposals. One is the Reid-Feingold plan, which would begin a withdrawal of troops in 120 days and end all combat operations on April 1. The other is Senator Levin's proposal, which would create standards and benchmarks for additional funding.
I will support both, not because I believe either is the best answer, but because I want to send a strong statement to the Iraqi government, the President and my Republican colleagues that it's long past time to change course.
Meanwhile, I'll continue to press for my own plan, and work to find the 16 votes in the Senate to pass it with a veto-proof majority and bring our troops home quickly, safely and responsibly."
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The Obama campaign is simultaneously working to ratchet up pressure on Republican Senators who don't yet support withdrawal. Today they started an email campaign and online petition urging constituents to press their Senators. An added stroke of brilliance: They're starting with Senators facing re-election in 2008. Here's part of the email:
Barack has been traveling across the country asking people to speak out and let their Senators know that it's time to end the Iraq war.
One Republican colleague has already called this unsenatorial. But this isn't about Washington etiquette, it's about bringing our troops home.
This isn't a game. We need just 16 additional votes to override the president's veto and bring to a close this sad chapter in American history.
It's going to take some convincing, but Senators need to hear from people in their states that they can join us to bring a responsible end to the war.
That's where you come in. In your state, an incumbent Senator who voted against ending the war will face a re-election battle in 2008. They will have to make clear very soon whether they will continue to block efforts to bring the troops home.
Will you speak out now and add your voice to the growing public pressure to end the war?
If you live in a state with a Senator running for re-election and you want to add to the pressure, just click here.
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In other news, Obama re-emphasized some details of his 2004 plan to make college more affordable. He wants to eliminate federal subsidies for student loans and use the money to fund Pell Grants. Here are some more details:
"It is long past time to put an end to the rampant abuse by lenders of our student loan programs. One way we can help make college more affordable is by reforming a wasteful system of student loans that profit private banks at the cost of taxpayers," said Barack Obama. "The system needs to be fixed. We shouldn't be providing billions in taxpayer-funded giveaways to private banks; we should be providing an affordable, accessible college education to every American."
...
Obama's Solution:
Barack Obama will eliminate the FFEL program that provides wasteful subsidies to banks and mandate that all federal student loans be provided through the direct loan program. Converting all new federal student loans to the direct loan program will save taxpayers over $618 per $10,000 Stafford Loan. Obama originally proposed this plan in 2004, and recent scandals underscore the need for change.
Savings from the elimination of the guaranteed loan program will be redirected to fund need-based grants, such as Pell Grants. Based on the FFEL loans for 2007 alone, nearly $6 billion would be saved if those same loan amounts were disbursed through the direct loan program. Those savings could produce over one million new Pell Grants.
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ABC news picked up the tax return story today. Obama is the only major candidate to release his tax returns this year, although it is a long-standing political tradition to do so. Obama thinks it's a matter of good government
"It's very unusual," said Mary Boyle of the good government group Common Cause. "For the past almost 35 years, it has been tradition most certainly in the White House as well as almost every presidential candidate to disclose their tax returns -- and for some reason we're not seeing it this year."
"I think it's critical that people know who their candidates are, what our sources of income are, whether we have any potential conflicts," Obama told ABC News Monday afternoon just before a campaign rally in Trenton, N.J. "It's just a matter of transparency, accountability and good government. It is something I've done throughout my political career."
We don't why the other candidates aren't releasing their tax returns, but ABC takes the opportunity to talk some trash about Edwards, Clinton, and, most of all, Guiliani, who
also avoids discussing the millions he's made with his consulting and lobbying firms. One client was Purdue Pharmaceuticals, whose executives just admitted lying about the addictiveness of their drug OxyContin. What did he do for the company? Giuliani will not say, and he will not name other clients.
Really, could Guiliani be any more shady?
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And despite a lot of chatter to the contrary, Obama also got some good news from the polls:
Friday's Insider Advantage poll of the South Carolina primary shows Obama holding his lead over Clinton.
A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion automated survey of registered voters in South Carolina (conducted 5/8 through 5/9) finds:
* Among 500 Democrats, Sen. Barack Obama runs at 31%, Sen. Hillary Clinton runs at 27%, and former Sen. John Edwards runs at 16% in a statewide primary.
And rumors of his national polling decline are wildly exaggerated, as Pollster's latest update also shows Obama holding his ground against Clinton.
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Just for fun, here's an old MadTV sketch of Hillary and Barack. Warning: This video makes gentle fun of Hillary, Barack, and over-enthusiastic Barack supporters. It is not recommended for the hyper-sensitive.