Obama wins support on opposition to gas tax holiday
Barack Obama boasts a growing list of experts and newspaper editorial boards backing his opposition to a summer gas tax holiday.
They agree with him that the proposal makes little economic or environmental sense, and they join him in accusing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain of political pandering.
But on the politics, not the policy, it's not at all clear that Obama will be the winner - not with gas prices at all-time highs and some predicting $4 a gallon this summer.
Republicans, in particular, are hammering Obama. The Republican National Committee launched an Internet ad yesterday saying Obama has no short-term plan for dealing with gas prices and accusing him of hypocrisy because he supported a similar gas tax holiday as an Illinois state senator.
The ad, however, doesn't note that Obama eventually voted against extending the gas tax suspension, saying oil companies weren't passing on the savings to motorists.
The Clinton camp is echoing a theme from the GOP ad - that Obama's stand shows he is elitist. "Does he understand our economy and what American families and businesses need?" the announcer says in the ad. "Barack Obama. Out of touch. Not ready to be president."
FOON RHEE
Iran protests Clinton threat in event of attack on Israel
Iran lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Hillary Clinton that the United States would "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.
Iran's deputy ambassador to the UN, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, sent a letter of protest on Wednesday to the UN secretary general and the Security Council denouncing the remarks, the state-run IRNA news agency reported yesterday.
Clinton made the comments in an interview on ABC last week. "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," she said when she was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," she added.
Danesh-Yazdi wrote in the letter that Clinton's comments were "provocative, unwarranted, and irresponsible" and "a flagrant violation" of the UN charter, IRNA reported. "I wish to reiterate my government's position that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention to attack any other nation," the letter said. Nonetheless "Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself."
THE
Obama, wife assert public tired of Wright controversy
Democrat Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, in a series of national TV interviews, said yesterday that the public is tired of the controversy over his former pastor.
"They don't want to hear about this division, they want to know what are we going to do to move beyond these issues," Michelle Obama said on NBC's "Today" show. "And what made me feel proud of Barack in this situation is that he is trying to move us as a nation beyond these conversations that divide."
On Fox News Network yesterday morning, John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, was asked whether he feels sorry for Obama over the controversy caused by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
"No," McCain replied. "I think we all face challenges when we are in political campaigns."
McCain also said he would not "use" Wright against Obama in the fall campaign, contending that it would be up to the voters to judge. That, of course, would not stop other groups supporting McCain from doing so.
GLOBE STAFF
Patrick pens enthusiasm for candidate in Time entry
Deval Patrick, one of Barack Obama's biggest boosters, writes the senator's entry in Time magazine's new list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The Massachusetts governor, who has campaigned for Obama and talked on his behalf on TV, said the Illinois senator "has already changed American politics."
"We often hear about the size of the crowds he attracts, as a measure of the excitement about his candidacy. It's the variety of the crowd that is the real phenomenon. . . . Every race, religion and creed. Every political party and no party at all. You can feel their excitement about being in Barack's presence - and about being in the presence of one another. They glimpse for a minute what it might be like to find common cause across differences. That's how Barack has changed politics."
Hillary Clinton is on the list, too, and her entry is written by actor-activist Rob Reiner, one of her most important backers in Hollywood.
John McCain's entry is from Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, won reelection to the Senate, as an independent, and crossed party lines to endorse McCain.
FOON RHEE
Letterman's Top 10 list details 'surprising facts'
NEW YORK - Barack Obama appeared on David Letterman's talk show last night to present "Top 10 Surprising Facts" about himself.
He joked that his first act if elected would be: "Stop the fighting between Lauren and Heidi on 'The Hills.' " Obama also admitted that in the Illinois primary he "accidentally voted for Kucinich."
Also on the list: "When I tell my kids to clean their room, I finish with, 'I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.' "
And the No. 1 surprising fact about Obama? "I have not slept since October."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
