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Obama stresses faith, patriotism in Republican states

Presumptive Democrat Party presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama, continuing with his weeklong theme of highlighting his faith and patriotism while visiting traditionally Republican states, called on a nearly all-black room of churchgoers in Missouri to help fix national and local problems.

Speaking at a national meeting of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in St Louis, one of the US’ largest and most politically and civically active black denominations, Obama said the government had an obligation to address what he said are “moral problems,” such as war, poverty and homelessness, and work with religious institutions to solve them.

Obama repeatedly referred on Saturday to his Christian faith in terms that would be familiar to white evangelicals as well as his black audience.

He hopes to draw more support from evangelical Christian voters than is typical for Democratic presidential candidates, although analysts are skeptical about whether that is possible considering his support for abortion, gay rights and other issues.

The Illinois senator in the last week visited Missouri, Montana and North Dakota, which have tended to vote Republican.

This week he will be in North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, all Southern states that have been dominated by Republicans.

Acknowledging that he might be criticized for “blaming the victim,” Obama also preached individual responsibility by talking of the need for parents to help children with homework and turn off the TV, to pass on a healthy self-image to daughters and teach boys to respect women.

His Republican rival, Senator John McCain, who was taking a break from campaigning over the weekend, got some support from a national veterans group.

Vets for Freedom is spending US$1.5 million on television ads that will begin running this month, praising the troop buildup, said Pete Hegseth, the 25,000-member group’s chairman, in a telephone interview on Saturday.

“We need to finish the job no matter who is president,” the ads say, Hegseth said.

Though more recently overshadowed by voters’ concerns about the sputtering US economy, the Iraq conflict has emerged as a key difference between Obama and McCain. Obama has called the war a mistake and McCain has strongly supported keeping troops in the country.

The Democrat’s stance on the Iraq war took center stage in the campaign on Thursday after he indicated that his talks with military commanders during an upcoming visit to Iraq could refine his policy on the 16-month timetable he’s discussed for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.

His remarks quickly drew criticism from Republicans and others that he was backtracking on his commitment to end the war.

In two news conferences on Thursday, Obama said any refinement of his position on Iraq would not be related to his promise to remove combat forces within 16 months of taking office, but rather to the number of troops needed to train Iraqis and fight al-Qaeda. But he also acknowledged that the 16-month timeline could indeed slip if removing troops risked their safety or Iraqi stability.

Obama told reporters on Saturday that he is “absolutely committed to ending the war.” He said he did not misspeak in his comments earlier in the week and suggested the media and critics read unintended significance into the remarks.

“I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off by what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement,” he told reporters.

Obama has always said his promise to end the war would require consultations with military commanders and, possibly, flexibility.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Obama needs to “understand that his words matter.”

“We are all absolutely committed to ending this war, but on Thursday Barack Obama’s words indicated that he also shared John McCain’s commitment to securing the peace beforehand,” Bounds said.
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