Delahunt says Obama will restore US image abroad

December 27, 2007

US Representative William Delahunt of Massachusetts, a leading foreign policy voice in the Democratic Party, will endorse Barack Obama for president today, saying he believes the senator will repair the image of the United States overseas.

"If Barack Obama is elected president, I daresay America will present a new face to the world, will restore, simply by his election, hope - not just within the United States, but from all corners of the world, that America's claim to moral authority is back on track and that our leadership in world affairs will see a renaissance," Delahunt told the Globe.

Delahunt's endorsement - Obama's first from the Massachusetts congressional delegation - will be made as Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York spar about their respective foreign policy credentials. Clinton has argued that her experiences during her husband's presidency, including extensive international travel, make her the better candidate to deal with foreign leaders and potential terrorist threats.

But Delahunt, declining to criticize Clinton by name, dismissed that notion. "Please do not equate experience with judgment. That's what this is about," Delahunt said. Voters should not "confuse experience with time in Washington," he said, noting that John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton all had limited direct foreign policy experience before taking office.

Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start, Delahunt noted, while veteran lawmakers voted to authorize force. Delahunt said he was also influenced by Obama's stated willingness - criticized by the Clinton campaign - to meet with rogue world leaders. Delahunt has met with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, negotiating a deal for home heating oil for his constituents from a Latin American leader who once referred to President Bush as "the devil."

Delahunt's backing has elevated significance for Obama, who is seeking to convince voters he would be able to deal with myriad foreign policy challenges after just three years in the Senate. The Massachusetts lawmaker is a prominent member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was selected to represent the Congress at the UN General Assembly in September.

Clinton has racked up numerous endorsements from foreign policy figures, but Obama counts several former Clinton administration officials among his foreign policy advisers.

SUSAN MILLIGAN

Governor Deval Patrick, who boosted Democrat Barack Obama's presidential bid with an endorsement and a series of testimonials during TV interviews, plans to pitch him directly to voters in three key early-voting states.

The Massachusetts governor plans to stump for Obama in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina in the final days before each contest, his political committee said yesterday.

Patrick is tentatively scheduled Saturday and Sunday to be in Iowa, where Democrats caucus on Jan. 3; on Jan. 5 and 6 in New Hampshire, where the primary is Jan. 8; and sometime during the third week in January in South Carolina, where Democrats vote Jan. 26.

FOON RHEE

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton, the former president and the presidential candidate, are at the top of Americans' most admired list, Gallup reported yesterday.

Bill Clinton was picked by 8 percent as the most admired man in the poll, just behind President Bush, who was chosen by 10 percent. Al Gore, Clinton's vice president who lost to Bush in 2000, was ranked third with 6 percent after receiving the Nobel Prize this year for his advocacy on addressing global climate change

Hillary Clinton was selected as the most admired woman by 18 percent, just ahead of Oprah Winfrey with 16 percent. Her campaign quickly touted the result, noting that she topped the list for the sixth straight year and for the 12th time overall.

"Americans know Hillary has been fighting for children and families for 35 years," campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said in a statement. "They admire her commitment and strength to make change."

Barack Obama finished fourth among most admired men, ahead of the Rev. Billy Graham; Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa; and President George H.W. Bush.

The USA Today/Gallup poll was conducted Dec. 14-16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

FOON RHEE

LARGO, Fla. - A week after a severe headache landed Rudy Giuliani in a St. Louis hospital, his campaign yesterday released the first statement from one of his doctors, who pronounced him "in very good health."

The statement, from Giuliani's personal physician, Valentin Fuster of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, detailed for the first time the medical tests that were performed on Giuliani, a battery suggesting that the doctors wanted to rule out the possibility of stroke, heart trouble, or infections like meningitis.

"These tests all came back normal," he said.

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE