 |
         
|
A tanned Barack Obama, fresh off his Virgin Islands vacation, was in New York City for a formal speech on the woes of the financial markets. He took time to sit down for interviews with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo (part of the Cowan videostream), CBS substitute anchor Harry Smith and ABC anchor Charles Gibson. Obama complained to Smith about "no overarching strategy, no clear definition of success" in Iraq: "When the violence was high John McCain and George Bush said we cannot leave because 'the violence is high.' When we reduced the violence they said we cannot leave because 'we have made progress.'"
Obama reassured ABC's Gibson that his protracted contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton would leave no lasting scars: "There are going to be some bruised feelings whoever the nominee is. We are going to have to come together and remind ourselves that there is a heckuva lot bigger difference" with McCain. Concerning his speech last week about his longtime minister Jeremiah Wright, Obama declared that he has no interest "in wallowing in a lengthy conversation about race…Politicians often use racial divisions as a way of ignoring the common problems."
NBC's Lee Cowan covered Obama's speech about the financial system. Obama decried a failure of regulation that resulted in "a distorted market that creates bubbles." ABC's Jake Tapper picked up on Obama's precedent-setting use of the word "recession" and noted that Obama criticized tolerance for "financial manipulation" not only during George Bush's current administration but also under his predecessor Bill Clinton. Tapper used the speech--as Dean Reynolds did on CBS Wednesday and NBC's Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday--to compare and contrast the candidates' platforms on the economy. "I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis," was his McCain soundbite.
You must be logged in to this website to leave a comment. Please click here to log in so you can participate in the discussion.
