Streisand adds her big-star power to Clinton campaign
Barack Obama has Oprah Winfrey. Mike Huckabee has Chuck Norris. And now Hillary Clinton has Babs.
In the presidential hopefuls' competition for celebrity endorsements, Clinton showed off award-winning actress and singer Barbra Streisand yesterday. Streisand, who has campaigned for Democratic candidates for years and who sang at Bill Clinton's 1993 inaugural gala, was effusive in her praise of the senator from New York.
"Hillary Clinton has already proven to a generation of women that there are no limits for success," Streisand said in a statement issued by Clinton's campaign. "Smart, capable, and strong in her convictions, Hillary has transcended the dictates of what is thought to be possible for our time."
But earlier this year, Streisand appeared to be hedging her bets. Within a month of giving Clinton the maximum $2,300 contribution on Feb. 14, she also gave the same amount to Obama and John Edwards, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The statement does not say how actively Streisand will campaign for Clinton. She would have to go a long way to match the star power of Winfrey, who plans to hit the campaign trail for Obama in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire next weekend.
FOON RHEE
Mansoor Ijaz, a New York financier whose family came from Pakistan, writes in an opinion article in yesterday's Christian Science Monitor that at a private fund-raiser this month in Las Vegas, he asked Romney whether he would consider a Muslim for a national security post in his Cabinet, since Romney says radical jihad is the biggest threat facing America.
According to Ijaz, Romney said that based on the proportion of Muslims in the US population, a Cabinet post would not be justified, though he could imagine Muslims serving in lower-level jobs in his administration.
"Romney, whose Mormon faith has become the subject of heated debate in Republican caucuses, wants America to be blind to his religious beliefs and judge him on merit instead," Ijaz writes. "Yet he seems to accept excluding Muslims because of their religion, claiming they're too much of a minority for a post in high-level policymaking. More ironic, that Islamic heritage is what qualifies them to best engage America's Arab and Muslim communities and to help deter Islamist threats."
Romney disputed Ijaz's account, telling reporters in Florida yesterday that while Muslims don't need to be in a Cabinet to effectively fight jihad, he would be open to appointing people of any faith to his administration.
"Suggesting that we have to fill spots based on checking off boxes of various ethnic groups is really a very inappropriate way to think about how we staff positions," he said Monday on CNN.
"I fill responsibilities based upon people's merit and their skill. And, sometimes, it includes many ethnic minorities. And other times, it includes different minorities. But I'm very pleased with my record."
FOON RHEE
Clinton's record as New York senator - along with her marriage to Bill Clinton, a former president who is very popular among black voters - earned her an 83 percent approval rating, compared with 75 percent for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the study said.
It's not that black voters don't like Obama as much, said David Bositis, senior research director for the Washington-based group. But African-Americans, especially in the South, haven't seen black candidates do well statewide and are concerned Obama can't win, Bositis said.
By a 2-to-1 margin, black voters said they valued "commitment to change" over experience in public office, a trend that would seem to favor Obama, who has emphasized change. But Clinton, seen by voters as the stronger candidate in the general election, still scored higher, according to the poll of 750 African-Americans who said they were likely to participate in primaries and caucuses.
SUSAN MILLIGAN
Jackson may be backing Barack Obama for president, but he's been giving his candidate a lot of tough love lately. His latest critique came in an opinion article yesterday in the Chicago Sun-Times, in which he charges that most Democratic presidential candidates - Obama included - have been doing a dismal job addressing the problems of black America.
"The Democratic candidates - with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans' Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign - have virtually ignored the plight of African-Americans in this country," Jackson writes. "The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention."
In September, Jackson also criticized Obama for not acting more forcefully in the case of black teenagers charged in the beating of a classmate in Jena, La., reportedly saying that Obama had been "acting like he's white."
Jackson later backtracked from the remark. Jackson's son, US Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, has been active in Obama's campaign, recording a recent radio ad for use in South Carolina.
SCOTT HELMAN
