Barack Obama rides a choo-choo train to talk about change

WYNNEWOOD, Pa. -- As he travels by train across southeast Pennsylvania today, Sen. Barack Obama is lobbing a few shots from along the rails at his opponents.

"You asked me about Sen. Clinton," Obama said, seeking to answer a question that actually no one present had asked. "She is a fine senator from the state of New York...She and I will be working together to defeat John McCain."

But then he suggested there is a significant difference between the two Democrats vying to take on McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. "You do have a choice in this primary," he said, before charging that Clinton would represent a continuation of providing clout to "say-anything-do-anything special interests."

Obama claimed that Clinton would be more controlled by those special interests because she has been more willing to take their money.

"She's taken different positions at different times on....

issues as fundamental as trade, or even the war, to suit the politics of the moment," he said. "In the last few months, she's launched the kitchen sink strategy: throwing everything at me and seeing if something sticks."

Obama, who doesn't have much Washington experience, said he does not think Washington experience is very helpful for the presidency.

"I am in this race not to play the game better. I am in this race to put an end to the game playing," he said. "I'm not in this race to fit in to Washington. I am in this race to change Washington."

Obama also took his shots at the media, charging that the campaign has been too dominated by "fake" controversies and distractions. "That may make for good headlines. That may make for good television," he said. "But it doesn't make for good government."

Obama cited coverage and commentary about what might or might not be on his suit lapel. "I'm not interested in having debates about flag pins," he said, even though it was Obama last October who described the removal of his flag lapel pin as a statement against false patriotism surrounding the Iraq war and then he restored the pin for a day last week and removed it again for the last TV debate.

"I'm interested in having a debate about how I'm going to put people back to work, and how I'm going to make sure our kids can go to college and how we're going to bring our troops home from Iraq."

This morning, as he boarded the 1930 antique "Georgia 300" lounge car, the freshman Illinois Democrat asked whether he could pull a cable to blow the locomotive's whistle. "Am I allowed?" he politely asked.

The whistle responded loudly to his tugs. "That is too much fun," Obama said.

The day's 100-mile "whistle stop" tour, dubbed "On Track for Change," will end with a rally at the state Capitol in Harrisburg this evening. Along the way, he's making several stops, including "visibility slow rolls" to greet voters and allow for better photos by local papers and television stations.

Obama's car for the day includes a galley, meeting table, staff seating area and a twin bed, complete with a pink "Pullman" bedspread.

With the media for a change traveling in front of Obama, his car is at the back of the train, complete with red, white and blue bunting and a custom-made, lit campaign logo on the very back. Obama is traveling with his Pennsylvania pal Sen. Bob Casey, as well as Paul Tewes, his state director who also led Obama's winning Iowa caucus campaign.

-- John McCormick

John McCormick writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau.

Comments

[carmen]

Go Obama Go pull all all the stops on that train and don't get off till you get to the white house.

Shame on Hillary for going with the republicans against another member of the democratic party . i see you as a huge traitor big time.

[ARTHUR BURRIS]

RIDE THE RAILS TO DEFEAT IN NOVEMBER WITH OBAMA....THAT WHAT YOUR DOING...WAKE UP AMERICA AND VOTE AMERICAN NOT ARABS...AGB

[bb]

Do you think he actually believes what he says (or what Axelrod tells him to say)? As if he hasn't played cesspool Chicago politics -same old same old- What a hypocrite- Hard to the believe Americans continue to fall for a campaign based solely on words and aspirations -not on deeds- What happened to working hard to earn the right to become President-rather than someone who is THE ONE and whose TIME IS NOW- Obama people are not supporters they are followers- scary.

[BJ]

Obama's rhetoric sounds good indeed... "I'm in this race to change Washington". No wonder voters are hypnotized by him.

He promises so many changes to make people's lives better. He vows to fight special interests and the Washington machine that keeps politics & government moving (or not).

BUT then he puts in HIS DISCLAIMER... "I can only do this if you are with me, blah blah blah".

Wake up! Do any of you really understand what he's saying? He's already telling you that he won't be able to keep those promises!!! Other than voting him into office, HOW does he expect the population to participate in this "change-making" process?

Unless the people strike, or riot! And is that productive?

He is so sure of himself, arrogant even. He envisions, that if he were to win the election, he would march into Congress and the Senate and they will kneel down and bow their heads low and say: "Yes sir Mastah, your wish is our command!"

[Peace Train]

NOW is the time for inclusion. Now is the time for the red state of mind and the blue state of mind to come together and recognize mutually inclusive issues that all of us are invested in seeing a change in. Now is the time to illustrate to disaffected voters who feel that their voice is not being heard in Washington HOW their voice will resonate through this great land. Now is the time to connect to those areas of everyone's life where our interests overlap in very far reaching ways ... it isn't just public education in the South or West - it is education in PA too. Are we getting beyond the child left behind? What will refunding of education policies do for each school? What about initiatives that connected development across states? How can we all work together ... is there a protocol for being included? Is the new presidency going to have another form of communication to "the people"? ...beyond the Gallop polls? Now is the time for inlcusion ... I'd like some inclusion please --

[pragmatists]

I'd like to know how Obama plans to change everything in Washington DC. Does he intend to declare himself dictator rather than President? Unless he does, there are a hell of a lot of other voices who have a bit to say about how things get done in our government.

America, take off the rose colored glasses! Be real! We need experience and COMMON SENSE (I'd suggest you try reading that title, written by Thomas Paine over 2 centuries ago).

We like our Constitution the way it is, thank you very much, where the three branches of government keep each other in check. We don't need/want a one-man-show.

[Young Atheart]

Another example of Obama's foreign policy judgement
You decide...

1. August 2007 debate: Obama makes vocal case for striking terrorists inside Pakistan
"Let me make this clear: There are terrorists holed up in those mountains, that murdered 3,000 Americans," said Obama during the counterterrorism address. "If we have actionable intelligence about high-valued terrorist targets and if President Musharraf will not act, we will."
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3458915

2. McCain, Hillary, Dodd, Biden all critisize him saying we should not be working against Musharraf our only advocate in the region

3. December 2007: Bhutto assassinated by terrorists

4. The Washington Post reported that in late January, a CIA aircraft fired on several buildings in the Pakistani town of Mir Ali, killing a senior al-Qaida commander and several others. The paper, quoting anonymous U.S. officials, said that the action was done without seeking approval from the Pakistani government.

5. Mid February '08, Musharraf voted out of power; US has spent $11B trying to prop. up Musharraf

6. Late February, Senator Dodd endorsed Obama

Obama's 2002 NO-HOLDS-BARRED Iraq speech took real courage. It risked his run-for-the-Senate WHILE the wise-men/women of Congress took comfort in voting as group to support the Iraq war resolution.
http://www.digg.com/politics/Full_text_of_Barack_Obama_s_2002_Speech_Against_the_Iraq_War
Hillary's shitfing war positions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMgGORbd72w

[lee]

Obama fighting for us but its hard for somes idiots to figure out obama understand what's realy going on in Washington ! I just got home from my world trips . None giving us respect like before because our politic . B4 wherever u goes evryone is pround of America ppls but now their like so r u from USA ? No a big deal

[anteesuz]

Obama rocks!

[PulSamsara]

Barack Obama for President of the UNITED States of America.

[Robbie]

Whatever happened to civility in the public space. Some of these comments deplorable and loathsome. The Los Angeles Times must do its job of moderating this board. LAT - "Comments are moderated, and will not appear until they've been approved." ( NOT!)

[rody]

Why are the Obama supporters complaining about the debate? Obama and Clinton are running on the same platform, agreeing on maybe 98% of the issues. Also, we have seen 20+ debates already, so it was refreshing to see a debate about character. C'mon, Obama supporters don't be so militant.

[Young Atheart]

"Of all the leading candidates, he [Obama] is the only one on these issues who has consistently acted like a true American." writes, Naomi Wolf the author of The End of America and the co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign.

"Lawyers for Gitmo detainees endorse Obama," read a recent headline on the Boston Globe's political blog. In the article, reporter Charlie Savage notes that "More than 80 volunteer lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees today endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama's presidential bid. The attorneys said in a joint statement that they believed Obama was the best choice to roll back the Bush-Cheney administration's detention policies in the war on terrorism and thereby to 'restore the rule of law, demonstrate our commitment to human rights, and repair our reputation in the world community.'"

The lawyers who signed this letter -- prominent names on the list included Washington lawyer Thomas Wilner, retired federal appeals court judge John Gibbons, and retired Rear Admiral Donald Guter, who was the Navy's top JAG officer from 2000 to 2002 -- applauded Obama for having stood up in 2006 against aspects of the Military Commissions Act. Unfortunately, his fight was ultimately unsuccessful -- which is why we are all still in danger. But unlike other candidates he truly fought and he understood the nature of the danger: "When we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration's bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us," the lawyers wrote. "Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. He has understood that our strength as a nation stems from our commitment to our core values, and that we are strong enough to protect both our security and those values. Senator Obama demonstrated real leadership then and since, continuing to raise Guantanamo and habeas corpus in his speeches and in the debates."

Senator Clinton also opposed the law. In 2006 she said: "If enacted, this law would give license to this Administration to pick people up off the streets of the United States and hold them indefinitely without charges and without legal recourse." She gets the danger; many of her colleagues do too. But this issue requires bold language and action. Senator Clinton has not foregrounded the issue of the subversion of the rule of law in her appearances or speeches; and I am very VERY sorry to say that she did not oppose torture until she opposed it.

Remember: when activists started to push hard to raise awareness of the dangers of torture and indefinite detention, many on the Hill were scared to join the fight because it was then politically unpopular. But to me, if you are not really against torture -- always and under every political change in climate, and let us note that former torture victim and prisoner of war John McCain shamefully dropped his fight against the torture loopholes in the law as well -- then you are not really, in my view, fit to be an American President.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/why-barack-obama-got-my-v_b_89017.html

[Emily]

WIth all of Obama's past associations, I cannot help but wonder how he will survive the general election.
We are a country and war, and fairly or unfairly, those associations will not be good for him. Michelle hasn't help him either with her "feveryone get their fair share" pie and "not pround of my country" comments. I think he's got his heart in the right place, but unfortunatly, even this ardent Obama supporter has grave doubts about his electibility at this point. Obama should have faced up to Wright a year ago. And he should have had a stern talking with his wife. Too many weird charcters in his past. Where will it all end?

[Max]

Obama is complicit in the atrocities visited on the ethnic East Indian communities in Kisumu and Mombassa because he acted as an agent provocateur for his first cousin Raila Odinga. Raila Odinga agitated violence and terror to force the government of Kenya to share power with Odinga. Obama misused federal government funds to travel to Kenya on the pretext of a Senate fact finding mission. When Obama reached Kenya in August 2006 he publicly criticized the Kenyan government and promoted the presidential candidacy of his first cousin Raila Odinga by campaigning for Odinga in the Kiberia sector of Nairobi - - while having the American taxpayers pay for Odinga campaign rallies. Odinga used rape, murder, mutilation, sodomy and arson to gain power through violence and terror. Check out: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/04/wkenya204.xml . Also check out: http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?status=article&id=285292746454291&secid=1501. Over 1200 have been killed in Kenya, 350,000 displaced and are refugees and tens of thousands mutilated by Odinga's machete wielding goons, yet Obama has failed to condemn his first cousin. Is this the type of change America needs in 2008. Obama and his cousin are racists who openly vilify East Indians who have borne the brunt of Odinga's atrocities because they are different from the Kenyan Muslims who back Odinga and Obama. Read this : http://88.80.13.160/leak/MOU_between_Ralia_Odinga_and_Muslims.pdf .

ODINGA'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN WAS FUNDED BY MUAMMAR GADDAFI( http://www.eastandard.net/archives/?mnu=details&id=1143972118&catid=4 ). ODINGA SIGNED A PACT WITH RADICAL MUSLIMS AS A CONDITION OF GADDAFI'S FINANCIAL SUPPORT (http://wikileaks.cx/leak/MOU_between_Ralia_Odinga_and_Muslims.pdf) THAT STATES IN PARAGRAPH 5(f) "NO MUSLIM RESIDING IN KENYA WHETHER A CITIZEN, VISITOR OR RELATIVE OF ANY OF THE OF ABOVE SHALL BE SUBJECTED TO ANY PROCESS INVOLVING THE LAWS OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND IN PARTICULAR ANY MUSLIM ARRESTED FOR OR SUSPECTED OF TERRORISM OR ANY OTHER INTERNATIONAL CRIME SHALL ONLY BE TRIED WITHIN THE BORDERS OF KENYA AND SHALL BE GRANTED A COMPETENT LAWYER OF HIS/HER CHOICE AT THE EXPENSE OF THE GOVERNMENT." THE STANDARD OF NAIROBI REPORTED IN SEPTEMBER 2006(http://www.eastandard.net/archives/?mnu=details&id=1143957753&catid=4). " In June[2006], Raila flew to the US, where he held talks with Senator Barack Obama, who made a triumphant visit to Kenya — his ancestral home — last week."

BARACK OBAMA HAS MADE FOREIGN POLICY JUDGMENT AN ISSUE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. IN DOING SO THE PRESS SHOULD LOOK INTO BARACK OBAMA'S AFRICAN TRIP IN AUGUST 2006 WHEN ON OFFICIAL SENATE BUSINESS. FIRST HE PUBLICLY INSULTED THE SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT, THABO MBEKI, RESULTING IN MBEKI CANCELING A MEETING WITH OBAMA. HERE IS A LEGITIMATE FOREIGN POLICY JUDGMENT QUESTION: SHOULD AN INDIVIDUAL SENATOR CONDUCT AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, IF THAT FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT IS GIVEN TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT BY THE CONSTITUTION?

IT IS INDISPUTABLE AS RECORDED ON VIDEO IN THE CBS2 OF CHICAGO REPORT ON THE OBAMA VISIT TO KENYA IN 2006( http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Barack.Obama.Kenya.2.331658.html ), THAT THE KENYAN GOVERNMENT WAS OPENLY DISPLEASED WITH OBAMA'S CAMPAIGNING, "Sen. Obama has to look at critically about where he's receiving his advice from," said government spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua. "Just because somebody, somewhere wants to run for president and is using Sen. Obama as his stooge, as his puppet to be able to get to where he wants to get to."

[Palar Escobar]

Thugs R US – The Obama Campaign

Obama’s state-senate candidacy was launched at Weather Underground bombers Ayers house in 1995.

Obama is nasty, ruthless and utilizes techniques not unlike those of a street hoodlum. He recently gave Hillary the finger and laughed about it on national TV. How did he get away with this? He also stole his position as senator by stealing it from the other contenders by having all his competition unfairly disqualified.

Besides this Obama is surrounded by unsavory characters such as Ayers; or the white and American hating Rev. Wright and super delegate Senator Meeks who hates whites even more than Rev. Wright; a wife who openly hates America; his Kenyan half brother Islamic Jihad terrorist Abongo “Roy” Obama; or his Jewish/Israeli hating best friend Rashid Khalidi; or his close advisor Robert Malley who advocates supporting and helping the terrorist group Hamas; or Mr. McPeaks, Obama’s military advisor who open believes American Jews are the "problem" and “Christian Zionists were driving America's policy in Iraq to benefit Israel”; or Obama’s most dangerous affiliation to Mr. Auchi who was Saddam Hussein right hand man and made billions in Iraq and has been a important supporter and behind the scene man throughout Obama’s rise to power.

Is this the role model we want for our children?
Do we hate ourselves so much as to elect someone into office who is so clearly intent on destroying this country, intentionally or inadvertently? Or are we blinded by our fear of not wanting to seem racially prejudice so we vote for skin color and not the man.

[Dude]

Obama is the best choice, let's just elect the guy.

Thanks.

[Dorrett]

Go Obama 08. The cynics can only lie about your association to Ayers, Hamas etc...They have nothing on you and everything on Hillary. Wake up America, Obama is for real, stop waiting for something to pop out of the closet because nothing is there.

Politics have let so many people become so cynical that they believe a Human being could not have had an outstanding life like Obama. A man of deep Christian faith and a great sense of what it will take to restore America positive image to the world.

[Rob]

Wow, who are all the racist kooks on here? Such hatred against someone offering a hope and a change for the future is truly amazing. The other candidates simply offer the same thing we have now ... or the political divisions we had back in the 1990s. You people scare me.

[Andrew Kenneth]

its a movement Obama = General election + Dem majority . Watch and see. we are the change we've been waiting for and we mean business.
We will keep the republicans out of the white house for a generation

[Sean]

Obama is the messenger of the wearied and frustrated. That is why the "bitter" remarks didn't hurt him. There is a swelling discontent in this nation that has given Obama his case and rationale for running. Those who support him are demanding change. We are as mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. Give us Obama!

[Gary Nowlin]

Obama accepted a flag pin from a veteran, put it on the suit he was wearing then, (what else could he have done?) but did not transfer it to other suits. Why should he have? Neither McCain, nor Clinton, nor the ABC debate moderators wear flag pins. Does that mean that they are not patriotic? Oh, but they are white. I get it. You can't say "Don't vote for him, he's black." You can say "Don't vote for him, he doesn't wear a flag pin" with a smirk and a wink.

[Liza]

So much racist trash talk in this comment thread.

Especially the first commentor. It's not clear to me why the LA Times allows this.

[Javalation]

If experience were the most important thing then why shouldn't we simply appoint the politician with the most experience, which would be Robert Byrd... gee, maybe there are characteristics more important than experience. Maybe intelligence, temperament and a willingness to listen to others without getting POed would be valuable qualities.

[Lord Falcon]

One of the unfortunate things about internet anonymity is people who choose to exploit it. Trolls and people who post whatever they want knowing they won't be held accountable for it.

Obama's train tour is brilliant. I can't believe Hillary didn't think of it since her husband used the same strategy during his campaign.