The flood-ravaged communities of the Midwest became a new battleground in the presidential election as Democratic Senator Barack Obama criticized Republican Senator John McCain for opposing federal spending on flood prevention programs, attacks McCain’s campaign called typical partisan politics.
Both candidates have visited the flood zones in the past two weeks, since heavy rains sent rivers surging over their banks, forcing thousands of people from their homes and inundating towns and cities along rivers in six US states.
The storms have caused the deaths of at least 24 people and injured 148 since June 6.
Obama canceled a visit to eastern Iowa last week at the request of state officials and instead went to fill sandbags in Quincy, Illinois. McCain toured flood damage in Iowa on Thursday.
During a speech on Saturday at the US Conference of Mayors in Miami, Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, criticized McCain for opposing a measure to spend US$23 billion on water projects.
It passed Congress overwhelmingly and was vetoed by US President George W. Bush because he said it spent too much on lawmaker’s pet projects.
Congress voted to override the veto, for the first time in Bush’s presidency.
Talking about the separate trips by the candidates to flood-affected areas, Obama said both he and McCain felt “enormous sympathy for the victims of the recent flooding.
“I’m sure they appreciated the sentiment, but they probably would have appreciated it even more if Senator McCain hadn’t opposed legislation to fund levees and flood control programs, which he considers pork,” Obama said, a reference to McCain’s condemnation of wasteful so-called “pork barrel” spending on legislators’ home districts.
The bill funded hundreds of projects — such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration — that are important to local communities and their representatives. It also included money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts.
McCain’s campaign said Obama opposed an amendment that McCain cosponsored to prioritize flood control spending.
The bipartisan amendment, which failed overwhelmingly on a 69-22 vote, would have made sure “lifesaving levees like those that so tragically failed in Iowa and Missouri are given the highest priority and fixed first,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
“Barack Obama’s willingness to continue the status quo pork-barrel politics in Washington, and then engage in political attacks that entirely disregard the facts, once again fundamentally shows that he’s nothing more than a typical politician,” Bounds said. “It is beyond the pale that Barack Obama would attack John McCain for actually trying to fix the problem and change the way Washington works.”
During his talk on Saturday, Obama told city leaders that as president he would appoint the first White House director of urban policy to help them cut through federal bureaucracies
The promise sparked a standing ovation.
He promised money for police, higher-paid teachers, transit, housing, broadband Internet and vowed to create jobs by rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.
“That will be the cause of my presidency,” he said.
Next week, Obama will be joined on the campaign trail by former rival Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a step toward bringing together a Democratic party that was split by their combative primary fight.
Obama and Clinton will meet with some of her top fundraisers on Thursday in Washington, and then the two former rivals will campaign together on Friday.
Obama also got some support from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who on Friday urged Jewish voters in Florida to denounce the online rumors maintaining that Obama is secretly a Muslim — claims that have lingered despite the candidate’s repeated denials.
The deceptive campaign against Obama, who is Christian, “threatens to undo the enormous strides that Jews and Muslims have made together in this country,” said the New York mayor, who is Jewish.
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
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