8A NEWS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008
ELECTION
Obama denounces Reverend's remarks
BY MIKE GLOVER Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Barack Obama angrily denounced his former pastor for "divisive and destructive" remarks on race, seeking to divorce himself from the incendiary speaker and a fury that threats to engulf his front-running Democratic presidential campaign.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., looks on as he is introduced during a town hall-style meeting in Hickory, N.C., Tuesday. At the meeting, Obama denounced Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments on race again.
Obama is trying to tamp down the uproar over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a tough time in his campaign. The Illinois senator is coming off a loss in Pennsylvania to rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and trying to win over white working-
class voters in Indiana and North Carolina in next Tuesday's primaries.
"I am out raged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Obama
Obama stated flatly that he doesn't share the views of the man who officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and been his
"I think he (Rev. Jeremiah Wright) felt vilified and attacked and I understand him wanting to defend himself."
minorities. "Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything," he said.
And perhaps even worse for Obama, Wright suggested that the church congregant secretly concurs.
told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
"If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," Wright said. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."
His strong words come just six weeks after Obama delivered a sweeping speech on race in which he sharply condemned Wright's remarks but did not leave the church or repudiate the minister himself, who he said was like a family member. After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons, the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago made three public appearances in four days to defend himself.
BARACK OBAMA Democratic presidential hopeful
On Monday, Wright criticized the U.S. government as imperialist and stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against
pastor for 20 years. The title of Obama's second book, "The Audacity of Hope", came from a Wright sermon.
"W h a t became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts
who I am and what I stand for," Obama said. "And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people."
Although Obama leads in pledged delegates, no Democrat can win the nomination without the support of the superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who can vote their preference. The Wright furor forces those Democrats to wonder about Obama's electability in November.
sought to distance himself further from Wright.
Facing that reality, Obama
"I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992, and have known Reverend Wright for 20 years," Obama said. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago."
The Illinois senator said of Wright's statements Monday: "All it was was a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth."
"Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed." Obama said. "I don't think he showed much concern for
me, more importantly I don't think he showed much concern for what we're trying to do in this campaign."
"His comments were not only divisive and destructive, I believe they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate," Obama said. "I'll be honest with you, I hadn't seen it" when reacting initially on Monday.
Obama said he heard that Wright had given "a performance" and when he watched news accounts, he realized that it more than just a case of the former pastor defending himself.
he said.
Wright had asserted that criticism of his fiery sermons was an attack on the black church. Obama rejected that notion.
"He has done great damage, I do not see that relationship being the same," said Obama.
Wright recently retired from the church. He became an issue in Obama's presidential bid when videos circulated of Wright condemning the U.S. government for allegedly racist and genocidal acts. In the videos, some several years old, Wright called on God to "damn
America." He also said the government created the AIDS virus to destroy "people of color."
Obama said he didn't vet his pastor before deciding to seek the presidency. He said he was particularly distressed that the furor has been a distraction to the purpose of a campaign.
"I think he felt vilified and attacked and I understand him wanting to defend himself," Obama said. "That may account for the change but the insensitivity and the outrageousness of the statements shocked me and surprised me."
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
ELECTION
McCain discusses health plan
BY LIBBY QUAID ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. — Republican John McCain wants to change how people get their health insurance, shift
ing away from job-based coverage to an open market where people can choose from competing policies.
McCain said Tuesday he would offer families a $5,000 tax credit to help buy insurance policies.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks to doctors, nurses, scientists and health care workers, Tuesday at the Moffett Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. McCain said he would offer families a $5,000 tax credit to help buy insurance policies.
Everyone would get the credit, whether he or she keeps a policy through an employer or shops for a new one.
"You simply choose the insurance provider that suits you best." McCain said in a speech Tuesday at the H. Loe Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa.
"The health plan you chose would be as good as any that an employer could choose for you. It would be yours and your family's health care plan, and yours to keep," he said.
Advisers called the speech a major policy address though McCain has talked about the same ideas for several months.
Also Tuesday, his campaign began airing a health care commercial in Iowa, where McCain plans to hold a town hall-style meeting Thursday in Des Moines. In it, McCain makes the case for his market-oriented plan.
"So, a little more detail, but remember, it is April, and the election's in November, so not everything will happen tomorrow or this week," McCain adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin told reporters Monday.
Under McCain's plan, anyone could get the credit, and those who like their company health care plans could choose to stay in them. The credit would be available as a rebate to people at lower income levels who have no tax liability, Holtz-Eakin said.
Still missing: The total cost of the plan and an estimate of how many people it would help. There are more than 40 million people in the United States who don't have health insurance. An adviser said that specifics will come later.
To pay for the tax credit, McCain would eliminate the tax exemption for people whose employers pay a portion of their coverage, raising an estimated $3.6 trillion in revenues. Holtz-Eakin said. Companies that provide coverage to workers still would get tax breaks. McCain would also cut costs by limiting health care lawsuits.
The goal is to move the health care industry away from job-based coverage toward competition among health insurance companies on the open market.