American Muslim community express disillusionment with Obama; Obama and Clinton hold first joint public appearance; AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor union, supports Obama; McCain proposes a $300 million prize for a battery operated car
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  • Recent reports have indicated that the American Muslim community was increasingly getting disillusioned by Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign that has consistently attempted to distance itself from them. American Muslims were among the earliest of Obama supporters, attracted by his message of “change” that they believed would go a long way in assuaging the negative opinion that most Americans have of them. The fact that Sen. Obama was yet to make a public appearance at a mosque has not gone down well with the community. Incidents like Rep. Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim congressman, being asked to cancel the speech he volunteered to make on Mr. Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids - one of the nation’s oldest Muslim enclaves, on grounds that it might stir controversy, have also exacerbated a sense of betrayal within the community1.

    Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton meanwhile began hectic parleys to unify the Democratic vote that was splintered by the divisive and emotive primary contest. Discussions between the two sides were being held to crack a thicket of issues, including the repayment of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign debt of over $12 million, her role at the Democratic convention, among other issues. Clinton on her part introduced some of her top donors to Obama on June 27 and on the next day, both of them appeared together in their first-ever post-primary public appearance in the town of Unity, a heavily choreographed event held on the grounds of an old elementary school attended by a 30,000-strong audience2. However, other prickly issues remained, including the role of former president Bill Clinton. Mr. Obama was also yet to make the symbolic gesture of writing a cheque for $2,300, the maximum allowable campaign donation, to help retire her debt. The Obama side has also pointed out that they were constrained by the financial demands of the upcoming November elections3.

    Adding another feather in the Obama hat, the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor organization, endorsed the candidature of Sen. Obama on June 26, calling him "a champion for working families." The umbrella organization, which has more than 56 labor unions with an outreach of more than 13 million registered voters in 24 states, planned to send volunteers to the homes of 300,000 union voters and spend $200 million in the 2008 presidential, Senate and House races4.

    After having alienated the environmental groups for supporting the Bush proposal to lift the congressional ban on offshore drilling, Sen. McCain has proposed, if elected, to announce a prize of $300 million to anyone who could make better battery-operated cars. The Obama campaign’s economic policy director, Jason Furman pointed out that McCain was focusing on relief for oil companies “struggling with record profits” and that he had also voted against a bill imposing better fuel-efficiency standards in the Senate. The McCain camp responded by highlighting their candidates strong opposition to corn-based ethanol subsidies that have led to a spike in the prices of corn. Mr. McCain on his part has reversed his earlier position of completely opposing the use of corn-based ethanol as a fuel - a position he has espoused when he competed for the presidential elections in 2000, due to the present steep rise in oil prices. He however continued to oppose ‘subsidies’ given to the production of ethanol.

    The Obama and McCain camps continued to trade barbs on economic issues. In a speech in Albuquerque, New Mexico, keeping in mind the crucial working women constituency, Obama proposed among other measures 7 paid sick days for all employees, extending the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover any company with 25 or more employees (the act now applied to those with 50 or more employees), and criticized Sen. McCain for his opposition to legislative action to help bring wages of women equivalent to those of men. The McCain campaign retorted by charging that the legislation would do more to help trial lawyers, who have supported Obama’s campaign5.

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