Obama Enters Kentucky-Oregon Primaries Closest to the Democratic Presidential Nomination

Obama Enters Kentucky-Oregon Primaries Closest to the Democratic Presidential Nomination

ccun.org, May 20, 2008

Senator Barak Obama enters today's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon with the closest chances to the nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate.

Before today's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, Barack Obama had 1,918 delegates compared to Hillary Clinton's 1,722. He needs 108 more delegates for the 2,026 number required by the Democratic National Committee for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama is expected to declare himself as the nominee today. However, Hillary Clinton may not concede and may go all the way to the Convention but this is highly unlikely.

The Billings Gazette:

[Barack Obama] told the packed venue of 3,000 that he was running for what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of the now."

"We're at a defining moment of history, at two wars, one against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. We're also involved in a war that I believe should have never been authorized and never been waged, the war in Iraq."

The crowd, which had formed a line for entry more than two hours before Obama spoke, roared with agreement.

The first presidential candidate of either party to visit Billings this year, Obama spent half of his hourlong appearance answering questions from onlookers such as 13-year-old Damus Ard, who wanted to know what Obama would do as president to boost the economy on American Indian reservations.

Recognizing the sensitive politics of tribal sovereignty, Obama prefaced his answer by saying that any federal help offered to the tribes would have to be negotiated between governments. He then said the Bureau of Indian Affairs needed to work with other federal government agencies to provide high-quality housing on American Indian reservations. The candidate also tackled Indian health care, which he said was terrible and increasingly underfunded.

Health care in general was a recurring theme of the Obama event. When one local business owner said she now paid $1,700 a month insuring herself and three employees, Obama said he planned to lower premiums by shifting the burden of catastrophic illness coverage onto the government. But he also called for insurance industry reforms to be made by Congress, openly, on C-SPAN, so Americans could scrutinize any deals brokered between their lawmakers and the health insurance lobby.

"The health insurance system will bankrupt America if we don't get a handle on the costs," Obama said.

But the candidate's call for "doing the public's business in public" didn't end with televised health care reform. Obama said he would put an end to presidential signing statements. The statements are something like a footnote by the president expressing his intention not to enforce legislation signed by Congress. President Bush has issued more than 150 signing statements in nearly eight years.

The candidate also said he would not allow members of his staff to lobby for past employers or to return to the White House as lobbyists after leaving his staff.

... With just four primary races left, including Montana's on June 3, Obama zeroed in on Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

... "Whatever happens in November, the name George Bush isn't going to be on the ballot, and that means we've got to make sure Mr. Bush's policies aren't on the ballot," Obama said. "I respect and honor John McCain's service to our country. He's a respected war hero, but John McCain has decided to run for George Bush's third term."

John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama

The New York Times | May 14, 2008

By John Sullivan and Julie Bosman

At a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday evening, John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama, who was on the stage with him, to be the Democratic nominee for president.

Sounding a theme of a nation divided into parts by walls, Mr. Edwards said,"The reason I am here tonight is that Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I."

Mr. Edwards then went on to say,"There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to tear down that wall and make one America, Barack Obama."

Mr. Obama, who had introduced Mr. Edwards as"one of the great leaders we have in the Democratic Party, " responded by saying he was grateful to him for coming to Michigan and giving his endorsement.

Mr. Obama also noted how Mr. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, had emphasized health care as an issue that is of primary concern, then said it would be a major issue in his administration.

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

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