Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Obama Campaign Communications Director Robert Gibbs Promote the Presidential Hopeful's Stance on Earmarks

The Obama Campaign today hosted a conference call to discuss the presidential hopeful’s position on earmarks featuring Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Obama campaign Communications Director Robert Gibbs.

Gibbs emphasized the fact that Senator Obama is “a leader in ethics reform.” He referred to Obama’s “Google for Government” plan, used to allow citizens to use the internet to clearly see where government money is spent.

Senator McCaskill endorsed Gibbs’ comments, backing Obama’s stance on earmarks and his condemning of wasteful government spending.

Obama Campaign Responds to Geraldine Ferraro in a Press Conference Call

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky hosted a press conference call to address recent comments made by Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY 9) that “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position … And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” Campaign representatives criticized the Clinton campaign for failing to distance itself from the comments and denounce such divisive sentiments. They claimed that campaign leadership comes from the very top, and hold Sen. Clinton responsible for accepting this kind of behavior asking “Is she serious about policing the tone of this campaign?” The whole affair was described as a continuation of the kind of detrimental “tear-each-other-down” politics against which they are striving, said Obama surrogates. Calls were also made for Ferraro to be censured and removed from her positions within the Clinton campaign.

Clinton Campaign Conference Call

Ohio State Director Robby Mock and Howard Wolfson

Early this week United Food and Commercial Workers Union ad all over Ohio designed to influence the campaign. The Clinton campaign supports Union involvement. Senator Obama has flip flopped in outside political spending. Obama was critical of Edwards and outside groups that were spending on Edwards’s behalf and that they were getting around the outside groups. In Ohio he is completely silent. His campaign had a conference call of a group that may be of support to the Clinton campaign. Sen. Obama has a pattern of backing away from promises. He says one thing in one part of the country at one time and another at another time.

This is not about principal for Senator Obama it is about politics.

Robby--- He said Senator Edwards had to be consistent on 527 groups and he is not backing that up now.

Question: American Leadership Project has supported the Clinton campaign. Any difference?

Clinton campaign believes that organizations have the right to do this, but the issue is using the same standard. The standard he set for Senator Edwards was that in Iowa these ads should not have been run. We are asking that Senator Obama hold himself to the same standards. We do not know anything about the American Leadership Project.

Question: Is she positioning herself as having been a co-president?

Wolfson: Senator Clinton is clear about the areas that she was involved. She was a key and valued advisor of her husband.

Robby: We have an aggressive program on the ground. We have staff and volunteers in every Congressional district. We have been running an early vote program. We are not just running in the “three C’s” but also in rural areas.

Question: Senator Clinton discussed NAFTA. What does a time out on trade mean?

Senator Clinton has laid out a bold plan. She believes we need to fix NAFTA and that we need to review all of our trade agreements every five years. We believe that we have the best program to jump-start the economy. When he was running for Senate he said positive things about NAFTA and the WTO. Those are not consistent with how he is presenting himself to the voters of Ohio.

Question: What about District 11 in Ohio?

Robby: We are competing in every district. We have the support of Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones. She has been an integral part of the team. She is one of closest advisors.
Wolfson: Tubbs-Jones has really worked hard, and a wise guide through Ohio politics.

Question: Tuesday’s debate?

Wolfson: I will not preview strategy. We think the debates have benefited us. Senator Clinton shines when there is a good detailed discussion of issues.

Question: Clips of the mailers. Looked like she had not seen them before.

Wolfson: They had obviously not been mailed to her house. She felt when she was given to them on a rope line. She wanted to set the record straight. These pieces of mail have been discredited and debunked but the Obama campaign keeps putting them out.

Question: Where does Pennsylvania figure in?

Wolfson: We believe that we will be successful on March 4th. We have a great surrogate in Ed Rendell.

Question: What is Senator Clinton’s position on 527’s? Vote Hope group is getting four million dollars from one couple.

Wolfson: We believe that all candidates could opt in the system and not pay a financial penalty to do so. Currently they are allowed under the law. Candidates ought to be consistent on their views on this.

Question: Winning Ohio and Texas?

Wolfson: Less than two percent between the two. We believe the support and math will be there for Senator Clinton to win the nomination. This will give us a springboard to go into PA?

Question: If the ads don’t run to Tuesday, then is this enough time for the Obama campaign to respond?

Wolfson: Judging by the standards of what they said in Iowa they should try and get the ads not to run. Gloves off? He has taken then off on a daily basis via the email etc.

Obama Flip Flopping and other comments

Clinton Conference Call -Sunday February 17th

Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer and the Clinton people say that Obama
is flip flopping on taking public financing. He is backing away from
a specific promise. This is not the first time that he has done this
in his political life. In primaries he runs on promises and then does
not deliver on it. A reporter said that it was not a specific pledge
but the Clinton campaign quotes Bill Burton from the campaign as
saying he would. Clinton campaign quotes a Common Cause questionnaire.
They say he has broken a commitment. " here is a promise that he is
breaking right before our very eyes" Senator Clinton will assess the
situation on public financing when the situation comes. That would
have been fine for Senator Obama. He took a specific position and then
decided to renege on it. It is fair for voters to ask for someone does
not have a long history, it is fair for people to look at his
promises. Does oratory and promises deliver results?

Obama has taken money from people who work in special interests and
companies. If he is interested in not having special interests and he
still takes contributions from people that hire those lobbyists. Once
again you hear great speeches from Senator Obama that are not backed
up by the facts.

Impact on future contests-- they do not believe that momentum is the
driver of actual votes
Senator Obama had momentum and lost many of the big states. Among rank
and file Democrats people are enthusiastic. Senator Clinton would be
the nominee of a united party. We believe that we will have 2025
delegates and we will be the nominee.


Our expectation will achieve the result to put Senator Clinton on the
road to the nomination. We have asked our delegates to seat Michigan
and Florida. Over two million people voted in those elections.

Health care- facts are crystal clear- Obama has used Harriet and
Louise tactics to attack our health care plan when he leaves fifteen
million people out.

Super Tuesday in a drowning nation

By Ellen Ratner

Twenty-four hour campaigning, 7,000 person rallies, political ads filling every TV and radio spot, political pundits spewing their latest guesstimates … overall, there is a lot of noise and promises, but no one is dealing with two of the biggest issues facing America – debt and health care crises.

In fairness, Ron Paul has attempted to elevate the debt crisis to the national scene, but he has been sidelined. And yes, the Democrats are talking about health care for all, and even Mitt Romney is touting his Massachusetts health care plan, but neither party is taking a hard look at the facts with debt or health care.

According to Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending, credit card debt has almost tripled since 1989 and risen 31 percent in the last three years. Many people are using credit cards as safety nets instead of relying on savings. Low and middle-income households have an average $8,650 in credit-card debt. Most people with this amount of debt have carried it for more than one year. Almost half of all card debtors have used their credit cards to pay for automobile repair. Not just paying the minimums, most people in this study paid $700 last month and are making a median payment of $300 per month. This kind of debt for so many Americans is clearly unsustainable.

On the health care front, the issue has been focused on the ability of people to purchase health insurance policies. Mitt Romney worked with the Democrats in his state to fine people who did not buy health insurance policies and to underwrite part of the costs for people who could not afford it. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each have plans to get the majority of Americans to be able to purchase health insurance. None of the candidates are discussing the real problem – the cost of health care, whether it is paid by insurance or the government, is going to rise astronomically. Insurance is not going to pay these rising costs because they will go broke doing so. Health care is now almost 17 percent of our GDP, up from 13 percent in 2000, and it is rising about a percentage point a year.

You do not have to be a Nobel laureate in economics to know that these numbers are unsustainable – health care will not be affordable to individuals or taxpayers as it takes a larger and larger chunk out of our overall economy.
Even though the candidates don't want to address these problems, there are solutions. First, on the credit crisis, we can provide real incentives for people to save by providing some kind of matching program in the same way that we are giving out treasury checks in the stimulus program. Congress can support legislation that would provide a tax break to those who save. Second, start making some deals with the credit card companies in the form of tax savings if they stop handing out easy credit and start reducing the monthly interest rates for people with high debt.

In addition, Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending recommend that credit card companies be required to disclose the overall cost of minimum payments and require meaningful underwriting standards so that credit card limits are not pushed beyond what they know can be paid for by the consumer.
With health care taking such a bite out of our GDP, the only solution is to turn the rising health technology costs into a plus on our national balance sheet. Other countries recognize our expertise. Johns Hopkins and the Cleveland Clinic are going to be managing hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. With our advances in equipment and other technology, there is no reason why we can't pay for our increasing health care bill by supporting research and exporting it. We have given tax breaks to tobacco companies to export their products, why not the same for health care innovators and providers?

The above are just a few solutions to major economic problems but nary a word from the major presidential hopefuls. You have to dig deep on their websites to find any in-depth thinking and forget about policy specifics. They are convinced that the American people don't want to hear anything but sound bites. If you don't believe that, watch one of the debates. They simply respond to one generality with another unless it's about "who" said or did "what" "when," and then the exchange becomes so sophomoric, as it did with Sen. McCain attacking Romney last week, that the other candidates have to redirect the focus to real issues when moderator Anderson Cooper lost control.

President Bush is no different than the candidates. He prefers to fly in the stratosphere on issues versus rolling up his sleeves and addressing root causes. He signed an executive order to put together a panel on increasing financial literacy for the greater population; that is great, but it hardly helps people caught in the vise now. Americans aren't dumb; they want real talk about real solutions. Too bad Super Tuesday won't move the candidates to enter into the discussion.