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Obama, McCain taking risks
02/07/2008 15:10 - (SA)
Washington - Democrat Barack Obama ripped a sheet out of the Bush administration's conservative Republican song book on Tuesday, saying he would expand federal payments to religious groups that are tackling America's social problems.
Republican John McCain, meanwhile, met with Colombia President Alvaro Uribe on the first stop of a three-day visit to Colombia and Mexico.
McCain discussed improving Colombia's record on human rights, but praised Uribe's efforts to stabilise the country and reduce the flow of drugs into the United States.
Obama has taken a series of public positions in recent days near the American political centre, a common maneuver for presidential candidates of both parties after they lock up the nomination.
While both candidates understand the need to win over the critical block of independent and undecided voters, Obama appears to be taking the larger gamble.
His promise in Zanesville, Ohio, to spend more federal money on so-called "faith-based" programmes could alienate some in his Democratic base who see the move as an abrogation of the country's constitutional separation of church and state.
Obama has also staked out other positions that may appeal to more conservative voters, recently criticising a Supreme Court decision that struck down a state death penalty law for child rapists and supporting the High Court's reversal of a gun law ban.
American renewal
Taken as a whole, the positions suggest Obama may see the possibility of picking up some conservative evangelical Christian voters.
"We know that faith and values can be a source of strength in our own lives," Obama said during a visit to the Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville. The ministry an arm of Central Presbyterian Church that operates a food bank, provides clothes, has a youth ministry and offers other services to the poor in the central Ohio city.
"That's what it's been to me. And that's what it is to so many Americans. But it can also be something more. It can be the foundation of a new project of American renewal. And that's the kind of effort I intend to lead as President of the United States."
Obama said he would not withhold federal money from religious organisations that restrict hiring to members of that particular faith, so long as there was no such discrimination in employing workers specifically involved in programs funded by Washington.
Rev Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Obama's plan would only expand programmes that he said undermined civil rights and civil liberties.
"I am disappointed that any presidential candidate would want to continue a failed policy of the Bush administration," he said. "It ought to be shut down, not continued."
But David Kuo, a conservative Christian who was deputy director of Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003 and later became a critic of Bush's commitment to the cause, said Obama's position has the potential to be a major "Sister Souljah moment" for his campaign.
'It would be a very, very, very interesting'
That was a reference to Bill Clinton's accusation before a black audience during his 1992 presidential campaign that the hip-hop artist incited violence against whites. It fed an image of him as a bold politician who was willing to take risks and refused to pander.
"It would be a very, very, very interesting thing," said Kuo, who is not an Obama adviser or supporter but was contacted by the campaign to review the new plan.
McCain, meanwhile, was seeking with his Latin America visit to burnish his foreign policy credentials and emphasise his free trade stand, one that could prove nearly as risky as Obama's proposal on faith-based initiatives.
But his first topics of discussion were humans rights and the drug trade.
"I've been a supporter of human rights for my entire life and career," McCain said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Uribe at the president's seaside mansion in Cartagena, Colombia.
"We have discussed this issue with President Uribe and will continue to urge progress in that direction. I believe progress is being made and that more progress needs to be made."
McCain is a strong supporter of a proposed free trade agreement between the US and Colombia and he planned to promote it and other hemispheric trade deals during the visit. Obama opposes the Colombian agreement, which has stalled in the House amid concerns about continuing intimidation and violence against labour leaders in the country.
Major task
McCain acknowledged during a campaign stop earlier this week in Pennsylvania that he had a major task in explaining his support for trade policies that are costing US jobs.
"I have to convince them the consequences of protectionism and isolationism could be damaging to their future," he said, pledging to improve programmes for displaced workers and unemployment insurance if elected.
"I understand it's very tough. But for me to give up my advocacy of free trade would be a betrayal of trust," he said. "And the most precious commodity I have with the American people is that they trust me."
That prompted a stinging retort on Tuesday from a prominent union supporter of Obama.
"He's hoping on a plane and going to Colombia and Mexico to talk about how much our trade agreements are going to help those countries, rather than talking about what we can do to help this country," United Auto Workers vice president Terry Thurman said in a conference call with reporters.
While McCain is spending much of the week abroad, Obama has focused on important emotional issues for Americans as they prepare for Friday's July 4 remembrance of the country's declaration of independence.
On Monday he spoke of patriotism, vowing to fight back against attacks on his own love of country and to never use his campaign to challenge that of anyone else.
Tuesday's proposals for bolstering faith-based initiatives gave him a vehicle for talking openly about his Christian beliefs.
On Wednesday, Obama's campaign said he would be in Colorado to outline a "comprehensive national service agenda, which will create new opportunities for Americans to serve and direct that service to our most pressing national challenges."
- AP
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