Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama yesterday pressed ahead with attempts to burnish his foreign policy credentials, while his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, promised to boost educational opportunities for students in failing schools.
Obama appeared with two Democratic heavyweights and potential vice presidential picks for an exhaustive outline of his plans to keep the US safe — especially from nuclear, biological and cyber attacks.
Obama pointedly chose Purdue University, a top institution in the US Midwest, for its location in Indiana, historically a Republican bastion where he is trying to engineer a Democratic breakthrough. He was joined by the state’s popular Democratic Senator Evan Bayh and former Georgia Democratic senator Sam Nunn, one of the nation’s top experts on nuclear issues, especially weapons proliferation.
Both men have been mentioned as possible running mates, but could also prove valuable in helping him make inroads in traditionally Republican states like those in the south.
As Obama campaigned relentlessly to overcome attempts by McCain to paint him as naive and untested on foreign policy issues, the four-term Arizona senator spoke to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, vowing to raise educational opportunities for students in failing schools, many of which are in black communities.
McCain was received politely by members of the US’ oldest civil rights organization. Obama, who would be the first African-American president in US history, was given a hero’s welcome by convention-goers three days earlier.
McCain told the civil rights organization that he would expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private school.
The Arizona Republican praised Obama’s historic campaign, but faulted the Illinois senator on his education policy, saying he was wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools.
McCain said vouchers and other tools such as merit pay for teachers were needed to break conventional thinking on educational policy.
Obama has spoken in favor of performance-based merit pay for individual public school teachers. In a speech last year he told the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers’ union, that the idea should be considered.
McCain also praised Martin Luther King, Jr, as a leader who “loved and honored his country even when the feeling was unreturned, and counseled others to do the same.”
In praising King to the NAACP, McCain used similar language to his mea culpa in April on the 40th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination, saying he had been wrong to vote against a federal holiday honoring King.
Meanwhile, Obama, fighting perceptions that McCain is better prepared to deal with issues of foreign policy and national security, outlined his blueprint for keeping the country safe. Two goals of his administration, he said, would be securing all loose nuclear material during his first term and ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
He said adhering to nonproliferation treaties pressure nations such as North Korea and Iran. North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon, and Iran has an energy program the administration of President George W. Bush warns could be a precursor to nuclear weapon development.
Obama called for investing in methods to prevent, detect and contain biological attacks and said he would appoint a national cyber security adviser. He highlighted a proposal to spend US$5 billion over three years to develop an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to foil terror networks.
“The danger ... is that we are constantly fighting the last war, responding to the threats that have come to fruition, instead of staying one step ahead of the threats of the 21st century,” Obama said.
As he prepares for an extensive trip abroad, including stops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Europe, Obama focused sharply on those wars and foreign affairs this week.
The presence of Bayh and Nunn with McCain inevitably raised questions on whether either was in the running for the vice president slot on the Democrat ticket.
Asked if he were interested in the vice presidency or had provided material to Obama’s vetters, Bayh repeatedly referred reporters to the Obama campaign. Nunn said he thought an Obama-Nunn ticket was unlikely, but he didn’t rule it out.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the