By John McCormick
AUDUBON, Iowa -- If anyone suspects the campaign for Sen. Barack Obama stages the questions he is asked at campaign events, just listen to a few of the quirky ones from the trail Saturday in Iowa.
After one on same-sex marriage, a woman here asked him what he is reading.
The Illinois Democrat first responded that he is reading a collection of speeches by Franklin Roosevelt because he is working on a few speeches of his own.
Then, he mentioned a book about some of the so-called lost children of Sudan.
Finally, he admitted his actual "favorite" reading. "I confess, though, I'm also reading the sports pages a lot," he said.
Next, a child asked him what currency his face would appear on.
"I don't know. That's a great question. Let's see, the five-dollar bill is taken. One-dollar bill is taken. Who's on the two-dollar bill? I don't know. But the truth is they don't put the president on money until long after you are dead, so I don't want to be on money anytime soon. Maybe 75, 80 years from now, I'll be on the hundred-dollar bill or something. That would be fine, elbow Benjamin Franklin aside."
He was also asked here whether he would legalize marijuana for medical use, something he said he would support only if science and doctors said it was the best way to relieve chronic pain and that it was carefully controlled.
That, of course, was followed by a question on whether he inhaled, when he used marijuana as a youth.
"I did," he said. "It's not something I'm proud of."
Still, he said he always questions the premise of the question. "That was the point," he said.
Throughout the day, Obama needled Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York by alluding to her campaign recently getting caught for staging questions in front of audiences in Iowa.
"These questions are not pre-arranged," Obama said during an evening stop in Harlan, Iowa, where a toilet in an adjacent bathroom repeatedly flushed during his speech.
Earlier in the day, Obama had faced Norma Glassburner, 79, a retired teacher from Council Bluffs. She asked about several questions all at once, ranging from trade with China to crime to gun control to Cuban relations.
"I've got a lot of questions," Glassburner later admitted.
Still, Obama seemed to have won her over.
"What I like about him is that he will negotiate with those countries," she said. "I think we should talk to people."
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Comments
"From marijuana to money, Obama gets questions"
You'll never hear any of the Wingnut candidates getting asked or answering questions like this, it's always about fear and smear getting elected for the Republic Party candidates.
Adolph Giuliani and Mitty Rommel want to continue this baseless, pre-emptive damn war in Iraq and expand it into Iran.
Watch this video and listen as Dick Cheney argues AGAINST invading Iraq because it would be "disasterous" (who knew?) and 9/11 fraud Rudy Giuliani says that there are WMD's in Iraq but the American troops just aren't "looking hard enough" to find them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9xFCBwuOJ8
Posted by: John E | November 24, 2007 10:56 PM
I like the idea of Barack (D) being on the $100.00 bill....something for our children to remember him by as they shell out hundreds more to pay taxes for-- [universal health care] And of course, the democRATic 13 trillion already spent and still going since 1964 on L.B.J's (D) [The Great Society]
Let's put both Barack (D) and L.B.J's (D) face on the [new] $100.00 dollar (D) bill so they can be remembered as the socialists they really were.
Oh...did you know,we're the only country in the world where our poor are obese?...(D)
Maybe Potato Chips, Pork Skins and Cracklins should be omitted from the (D) food stamp card.....?
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | November 24, 2007 11:28 PM
Senator Obama was looking good as these Iowans in Harlan and Audubon continued to "kick the tires and look under the hood". Trouble is, some seem like they prefer to have their votes courted by every single candidate before they'll commit.
I was at both events and felt like the crowd was supportive but many were being slow to reach potentially what could have been the best decision they would have made all day -- to sign a supporter card for Barack. There were a number of folks seemingly ready to commit (many were grabbing stickers and signing cards on the way out) but these rural Iowans can be a tough sell. Many seemed content to hold out their allegiance until the night of caucus.
I couldn't do that -- that's entirely too nerve wracking. And, the analysis was not all that difficult for me this cycle.
Senator Obama's had my vote since early August. I think it's his "Statesman" statute that wowed me early. I don't believe I've seen a candidate this strong since JFK, maybe even Reagan (though I hate to admit the charisma of the latter) or Bill Clinton.
The momentum gained during the Iowa J-J dinner has not dissipated. Barack was firing on all cylinders tonight, and so were the crowds. A great group of engaged Iowans were there tonight.
Posted by: Obiwan1250 | November 25, 2007 1:15 AM
Thanks! This was very interesting. I would think these candidates get tired of so many questions! But sincere responses are refreshing.
Posted by: JDS | November 25, 2007 1:33 AM
Woohoo!!!
Get off that Straight Talk Express and hop on the Further bus.
Merry Pranksters growin' love in the rose garden.
Next stop, Timothy Leary's magical Oval Office.
The world will once again be a beautiful place.........and round.
Posted by: Mr. Big | November 25, 2007 2:37 AM
Off subject but our Republican Commander in Codpiece just lost a couple more members of his Neonut "coalition of the willing".
Bush jinx spreads down under:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/kos102/2007/04%20April/News/5howard.jpg
Another Bush poodle gets sent to the pound.
....and more "good news" for the Republic Party:
The Coalition of the "Willing" (Poland still-had-troops-there?) just got smaller:
11-23-07
(AP) New Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed in a speech to parliament Friday that Warsaw would pull its 900 troops out of Iraq in 2008.
"We have decided that 2008 is the year in which the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq will both begin and end," Tusk said in his first policy speech since defeating Poland's conservative government in a snap election last month."
Somewhere in Springfield, IL. tonight, Jerry White is calling up the Rush Gasbag show complaining about all of this recent "good news" from the "drive-by media".
Posted by: John E | November 25, 2007 2:44 AM
Now, McCormick, with all due respect, why couldn't you give us Obama's answers to Ms. Glassburner, instead of reports on the faulty toilet? And though the fact that Clinton had staged questions at some events is pertinent, so is the fact that Obama answers all the questions, at length, honestly. I won't stand in line or buy a ticket to hear Clinton regurgitate platitudes, but since you're on the campaign trail, tell me, how do Obama's answers compare to Clinton's? Oh, by the way, I do buy tickets and get lots of other folks to buy tickets to Obama events - we broke a record of over 6,000 people who paid $15-30 to hear/see Barack in-person!
Posted by: V | November 25, 2007 6:00 AM
It's refreshing to hear someone be open and honest about himself for a change. I hope Hillary/Bill gets a chance to be asked if she smoked or snorted. Of course she might say, "well, Bill smoked and didn't inhale, but I lit the joint for him and got a little contact high. Just a little bit." Then she' pull out her megaphonic voice and scold Obama about inhaling the stuff and how a president shouldn't inhale.
Posted by: GW | November 25, 2007 10:00 AM
Obama doesn't need staged questions, when he has stooge reporters.
The NY Post just published the results of a Ohio U. poll detailing the beliefs of the constituency Obama is trying to appeal to:
"November 24, 2007 -- Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government had warnings about 9/11 but decided to ignore them, a national survey found.
And that's not the only conspiracy theory with a huge number of true believers in the United States.
The poll found that more than one out of three Americans believe Washington is concealing the truth about UFOs and the Kennedy assassination - and most everyone is sure the rise in gas prices is one vast oil-industry conspiracy.
Sixty-two percent of those polled thought it was "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that federal officials turned a blind eye to specific warnings of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Only 30 percent said the 9/11 theory was "not likely," according to the Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll.
The findings followed a 2006 poll by the same researchers, who found that 36 percent of Americans believe federal government officials "either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action" because they wanted "to go to war in the Middle East."
In that poll, 16 percent said the Twin Towers might have collapsed because of secretly planted explosives - not hijacked passenger jets flown into them.
And what hit the Pentagon? Twelve percent figured it was a US cruise missile.
..."
For the full article, see
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11242007/news/nationalnews/blame_u_s__for_9_11_idiots_in_majority_318165.htm
Posted by: Bruce | November 25, 2007 11:23 AM
Obama's campaign has failed to learn that the American public doesn't care if questions are staged. We didn't care during the Bush campaigns and we don't care now. What we want to see are large crowds waving American flags, not farmers looking at you like you're from Mars.
Obama's campaign has let us focus on his weakness - i.e. inablity to speak from the hip - rather than his strengths - speeches from the pulpit that inspire the crowd.
Posted by: Bud McFarlin | November 25, 2007 4:28 PM
Anyone saying they are not voting for Obama because he tells the truth. Was not voting for Obama anyway.
1. Your kid could probably tell you more about drugs then you care to hear.
2. Your piers/ coworkers probably can tell you anything your kids left out.
3. Your parent/grand parents (the hippy generation) that now are the senior members in Congress, the Administration and the Senate. Can look over items 1 & 2 above for accuracy.
Everyone Respects Truth Obama08
Posted by: Dave, Cheverly, MD | November 25, 2007 5:59 PM
America is still America, I see. Free will, free press, and free speech. God Bless.
Posted by: deno | November 25, 2007 7:14 PM
According to Obama, Giuliani, Clinton, Romney, Thompson, Tancredo, and Huckabee, Barrack Obama should have been thrown in jail for smoking marijuana. Only Ron Paul, a doctor, views substance abuse as a medical problem rather than a criminal one.
Posted by: John Foster | November 25, 2007 10:56 PM
"Sixty-two percent of those polled thought it was "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that federal officials turned a blind eye to specific warnings of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon."
Well, it is a verifiable fact. Spelled out in the 9/11 Commission. http://www.slate.com/id/2098861/ I guess what Brucie is really appalled about is that fewer and fewer people believe that Saddam Hussein (remember- THE REAL ENEMY!!!) had WMD's when the U.S. invaded.
Let's see, a majority of Americans (according to the poll) believe in something that is verifiably true... now if only we could bring down those Creationist support numbers.
When was your lobotomy, Brucebot?
Posted by: Jones | November 26, 2007 11:52 AM