McCain's attack on war stance disappointing, says Obama

Senator John McCain appeared with Lance Armstrong at the LIVESTRONG Summit at The Ohio State University yesterday. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)

Barack Obama said yesterday that he was "disappointed" by Republican rival John McCain saying Obama "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign" - a line of attack that McCain introduced Tuesday at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.

"You know, we disagreed on going into the war in Iraq. We disagreed, until recently, about the need to get more troops into Afghanistan," Obama said in an interview that aired last night on "NBC Nightly News." "But I've never questioned that he wants to make America safer. And for him to suggest that I don't - for him to suggest that somehow I'm less concerned about the safety of my wife and daughter than he is - I think was unfortunate."

McCain elaborated yesterday on his accusation, saying that he is referring to Obama currying favor with liberal antiwar groups, such as MoveOn.org, by vowing to withdraw US troops from Iraq.

"I stand by my comments," McCain told reporters in Columbus, Ohio.

Obama also said he understood why a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 55 percent of voters believe he is the riskier choice for president, compared with 35 percent who think the same about McCain.

"John McCain's been around 25, 30 years in public life. I have just recently emerged in terms of our national politics," he told NBC News anchor Brian Williams in Berlin. "And so it's not surprising that people would say that the guy we're more familiar with is the less riskier choice. . . It's the devil you know versus the devil you don't."

FOON RHEE

Maybe this will enable John McCain to compete for air time.

His campaign announced yesterday that he will meet with the Dalai Lama today, when Barack Obama will be hobnobbing with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

McCain will meet the Tibetan spiritual leader in Aspen, Colo., where the Dalai Lama plans to address a symposium on Tibetan culture. He has been in exile in India since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. The plight of the Tibetan people has drawn more attention leading up to the Olympics in Beijing.

"I have been a great admirer of the Dalai Lama," McCain said yesterday in Columbus, Ohio, calling him a "transcendent national role model."

In March, after China cracked down on monks demonstrating in Tibet, McCain urged the Chinese government to open a "genuine dialogue" with the Dalai Lama and urged the release of monks detained for "peacefully expressing their views."

In response, the Dalai Lama sent a letter to McCain, thanking him for "concern you have shown regarding the sad turn of events in Tibet and for your efforts to persuade the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with the demonstrations."

FOON RHEE

Barack Obama appears to have won over Hispanic voters, including those who supported Hillary Clinton over him in the Democratic primaries, according to a poll out yesterday.

Obama leads 66 percent to 23 percent over Republican John McCain among Latino registered voters nationwide, with 11 percent undecided, according to the poll by the Pew Hispanic Center.

More than three-quarters of Latinos who had voted for Clinton now say they are for Obama, while only 8 percent say they plan to support McCain. That's more support for Obama among Clinton voters than among non-Hispanic whites, Pew said.

Obama's favorability number - 76 percent - is now higher than Clinton's 73 percent, and far higher than McCain's 44 percent.

While Hispanics make up only about 1 in 10 eligible voters nationally, they could play a pivotal role in four potential battleground states: Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.

But other new polls show McCain making up ground in several swing states. McCain and Obama are in a statistical tie in Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota, states where similar polls last month found Obama ahead, according to polls released yesterday by Quinnipiac University.

FOON RHEE

Looking for any chance to sully Barack Obama's trip abroad, John McCain's campaign blasted him yesterday for canceling a visit to wounded US troops in Germany.

Der Spiegel magazine first reported that Obama nixed planned visits today to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, then a spokesman confirmed the decision, saying Obama "decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a US military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."

But McCain spokesman Brian Rogers responded: "Barack Obama is wrong. It is never 'inappropriate' to visit our men and women in the military."

GLOBE STAFF AND AP