Obama, Jackson disavow column about Israel [View All]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign sharply rejected on Wednesday a conservative columnist's report that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson expects Obama to reduce Israel's clout at the White House.

Jackson himself denounced New York Post columnist Amir Taheri for "selectively imposing his own point of view and distorting mine" in the column that appeared Tuesday.

The column said Jackson predicted to a policy forum in France last week that "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end and added in an interview that Zionists would lose a great deal of their clout if Obama is elected.

Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said the column presented "vague quotes — recorded by a columnist it (the campaign) considers hostile in a tabloid newspaper it considers biased against them — from an interview with a man last publicly seen threatening to castrate Sen. Obama."

In July, Jackson apologized for a crude off-air remark he made about Obama in what he thought was a private conversation during a break in taping for a Fox News show. Jackson was reported by Fox to have been saying the Obama appeared to be talking down to blacks in remarks about parental responsibility.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxj2BhMmRULxCoPVb4GLLLZIpIWwD93R1LO81

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McCain seeks to renew doubts about Obama on Israel
Email|Link|Comments (2) Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor October 15, 2008 11:11 AM
Jesse Jackson, a key figure in the older generation of black political leaders, has not been exactly helpful to Barack Obama, at the vanguard of the new generation of African-American president in US history.

There have been tensions between the two during the campaign, and in July, Jackson, who sought the presidency himself in 1984 and 1988, apologized and was rebuked by his son after accusing Obama of "talking down to black people" and using a vulgarity in the process.

Now, Republican John McCain's campaign is trying to jump on comments that Jackson reportedly made to a New York Post columnist that could renew concerns for Jewish voters, whom Obama has struggled to win over.

more:http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/mccain_seeks_to.html