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Murdoch impressed by Obama
30/05/2008 08:45 - (SA)
Washington - Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said he was impressed by Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama's "rock star" status and found that his Republican rival, John McCain, "has a lot of problems".
"You have possibly the making of a phenomenon in this country," Murdoch said without actually mentioning Obama by name, at the "All Things Digital" conference held on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal in Carlsbad, California.
"Politicians and Washington are at an all time low, they are despised by 80% of the public ... And you've got a candidate who is ... trying to put himself above it all ... and he's become a rock star. It's fantastic."
The News Corp chairperson admitted he had some influence over the New York Post's endorsement of Obama, 46, over Hillary Clinton, 60, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.
McCain 'a decent guy'
With regards to presumptive Republican candidate McCain, who also got the daily newspaper's backing during his party's primaries, Murdoch said the 71-year-old Arizona senator faced some problems.
"You've got the Obama phenomenon, undoubtedly a recession," he said, adding that McCain had "been in Congress a long time, and you've got to make too many compromises" as a lawmaker.
"He's a patriot, he's a friend of mine, a very decent guy. I think he has - and I say this sympathetically - I think he has a lot of problems," Murdoch said.
According to a pro-Clinton commentator for HuffingtonPost.com, Hilary Rosen, Murdoch suggested Obama would win the Democratic nomination and made a prediction for November: "I don't think he will win Florida... but he will win in Ohio and the election."
"I am anxious to meet him ... I want to see if he will walk the walk," said Murdoch, 77.
Helped Blair to victory
In Britain's 1997 elections, Murdoch turned his back on the incumbent Conservatives and threw The Sun tabloid's weight behind Labour's Tony Blair, in a move widely viewed as contributing to his overwhelming victory.
Murdoch's News Corporation is the umbrella company for an empire that also includes the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, the New York Post, the Fox Hollywood film studios and television network and the rapidly growing social networking site MySpace.
Other holdings include The Australian newspaper, London-based satellite TV company BSkyB and the US-based book publishing giant HarperCollins.
Murdoch became a US citizen in the 1980s and reincorporated the former Australian firm as a US company in 2004.
- AFP
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US Elections Special Report
