| | Trying to talk issues, Obama put on defense over campaign ads
 ABC's Chris Cuomo grilled Barack Obama over the weekend about whether he has been second-guessing any of his campaign decisions in light of John McCain's recent rise in the polls.
"This thing just goes in cycles," Obama told Cuomo calmly. "There are times where you're a genius, there are times where you're an idiot."
Although Cuomo introduced the segment by stating, "Voters are saying they're focused on the issues now. They're past the personalities," he appeared less interested in asking Obama about the issues than in blaming him for not focusing on them himself.
"Early on in the race, McCain was after you to try to get this series of town hall meetings going," Cuomo suggested. "They didn't happen. Now you're saying the issues are all that matter here. Why don't you pick up the phone to him and say, 'What are you doing next week?'"
In response, Obama called McCain town halls idea "a little bit of a gimmick." He told Cuomo, "The reason that we're not talking about the issues doesn't have to do with the fact that we didn't have town halls. The reason that we're not talking about the issues is because John McCain has shown a lack of interest in talking about the issues. That's how their campaign's been run."
Cuumo also accused Obama of negativity in his "new ads that come out calling McCain an old man. ... You say he can't use a computer, he's never sent an e-mail."
"Hold on ... I mean, let's be fair, Chris," Obama expostulated. "What I said was that John McCain is out of touch."
"We've got a 21st century economy," Obama continued, "and John McCain does not have a vision for how to move that forward. ... You would be hard-pressed to explain to me what John McCain's economic vision is, about how he's going to get this economy back on track."
"So no apologies for that ad?" Cuomo asked.
"Oh, no," Obama replied. "If we're going to ask questions about, you know, who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily. John McCain has not focused on the issues that matter to the American people."
This video is from ABC's Good Morning America, broadcast September 15, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.com
|
