Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Barack Obama Denies Snubbing Hillary Clinton

It was the top story for 2 days in the press. And it followed the humiliating defeat of Hillary in South Carolina, the race-baiting allegations, and the Kennedy clan endorsement of Obama. Do you think the establishment is trying to help out Hillary? Or do they love the squabbling? The press likes to ridicule politicians for negative campaigning and the war of words they frequently engage in. What they don't mention is that gossipy coverage gets big ratings or sells papers. Informing the public about the issues, what the state of the economy is, or the details of the Washington tax stimulus package, take a backseat (unless you watch CSpan only):

Sen. Barack Obama today sought to quell talk that he deliberately snubbed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination for president, during Monday night's State of the Union address.

Accompanied by Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill as he traveled to his grandfather's birthplace of El Dorado, Kan., and then on to Missouri, Obama, the Illinois freshman senator, sought to downplay the incident, saying he was surprised by the reports and photographs showing Obama turning away when Clinton approached to shake hands with Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy.

"I was turning away because Claire asked me a question as Sen. Kennedy was reaching for her," Obama explained to reporters aboard his campaign plane. "Sen. Clinton and I have had very cordial relations off the floor and on the floor."

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