Another Hit Piece from the Associated Press; suggesting the foreign trip is a political ploy

[TeamJordan23]

Voters greet Obama trip with praise, skepticism

BY JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago

Calculated political ploy. Timely foreign outreach. A dash of each? Ask voters across the country about Barack Obama's image-packed week of foreign travel and you'll get a mix of admiration, suspicion, even a couple of bored shrugs.

"I didn't know they could vote in our elections," Phil Wadlind, 62, deadpanned as he worked the children's train at The Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, N.H.

Interviewed this week in bus stops and coffee shops, bookstores and shopping malls in six battleground states, these voters ranged from wide-eyed enthusiasts to gimlet-eyed skeptics and many viewed the trip through their own ideological lens.

Yet others worry the exposure could backfire.

"It's showing his inexperience, which is a concern for a lot of people, especially Democrats like myself who liked Hillary Clinton," said George Londono, 42, from Merrimack, N.H., who said he now backs Obama.

If Obama was seeking to reassure doubting voters, among the more skeptical blocs have been American Jews. His Democratic primary rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had 66 percent support among Jews and Obama has been trying to rally them to his side since he secured the Democratic nomination last month.

It has not been an easy task. Jews, who vote heavily Democratic, do support Obama and he is well ahead of McCain, according to public opinion polls. But his support is not as strong as that enjoyed in 2004 by John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential nominee.

Ahron Leichtman, a Jewish writer and film producer from suburban Cincinnati, supports Obama, but wondered how well the senator knows the history and sources of strife for Israel and the Middle East.

"Does he really understand the hatred that exists there?" said Leichtman, 65, as he visited the new Jewish community center in Amberley Village on the Cincinnati outskirts. "I don't know if he's naive enough to believe that he can be the catalyst to make peace, but he's a charismatic person."

Obama may have had an answer to Leichtman this week, when he cautioned that it is "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."

While some may harbor doubts, others are downright suspicious.

Bobbi Lopez-Albright, a 75-year-old independent attending a political affairs discussion at the Jewish community Center in Philadelphia, said she was disturbed by Obama's friendship with Rashid Khalidi, an advocate of Palestinian rights and the director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

"I think this is just a political move on his part," Lopez-Albright said of Obama's trip. "He has shown nothing in my eyes that says that he cares anything about Israel."

Full Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_el_pr/obama_trip_voter_views

[Thrill]

1. LOL.

"It's showing his inexperience, which is a concern for a lot of people, especially Democrats like myself who liked Hillary Clinton," said George Londono, 42, from Merrimack, N.H., who said he now backs Obama.


WTF?


How the hell does taking the trip show inexperience? That makes no sense. Clearly a person who listens to that moron Hannity

[monmouth]

2. Wait until the next cycle of numbers come out..lol...n/t

[cbc5g]

3. This is the new AP ...more RW opinion news like Fox and ABC

[Connie_Corleone]

4. WTF happened to just straight reporting from the AP?

Good God they are truly pathetic now.

[indie_voter]

5. Gone. Like those halcyon days of youth. n/t

[mloutre]

14. It's the direct reaction to AP's DC bureau chief Ron Fournier's new "advocacy journalism" policy

And, imho, it's fucked.

[screembloodymurder]

6. The AP is a CIA front.

It's our Pravda.

[bigwillq]

7. If McCain went abroad

some here on DU would probably think it was a ploy.


That's the way it goes.



Some people are going to believe what they want to believe and, sometimes, there's really not much we can do about it.

Like this person: "I think this is just a political move on his part," Lopez-Albright said of Obama's trip. "He has shown nothing in my eyes that says that he cares anything about Israel."

[otohara]

8. I Would Think The Jewish Voters

are now feeling more comfortable about him since he did so well in Israel.

Gawd I hope so!

[Barack_America]

9. Wow. Looks like they're trolling senior centers for respondents...

If 75% of the people you're polling are 60 and older, what the hell do you think you're going to hear.

But then again, if you're trying to get a certain kind of response, the 60 and older crowd are the perfect target.

I think we all know what's up here and it's shameful.

[ErinBerin84]

10. not that there's anything wrong with running a children's train at the mall....

But I have to admit, that part made me laugh.

[windbreeze]

11. Seems to me, they have forgotten the gauntlet thrown down by McCain..

They can't have it both ways...IF he had refused to go...he would have been blasted for that...and because he DID go...and the trip has been so successful, they will blast him for that instead...FOR SHAME, AP...FOR SHAME...and for that Independent, Bobby Lopez-Albright...this isn't about Israel or Palestine, First...First, it's about America..wb

[high density]

12. Wow, so the AP is now acting like Jay Leno, quizzing random people on the street

That's real deep reporting there!

[ErinBerin84]

13. they did a similar thing on ABC nightly news tonight.

They mixed in good and bad responses to the Obama trip, but the bad responses seemed particularly harsh, like one guy said "I haven't seen him do or say ANYTHING that suggests he RESPECTS the TROOPS!" uh, ok. I doubt that they would ever mix in "man on the street" attacks like that of McCain, with someone saying (of McCain) "I haven't seen him do or say ANYTHING that suggests he RESPECTS the INTELLIGENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!" Or for that matter, the troops, given his voting record.

[Doctor_J]

15. Same thing from All Bush Channel

this must be a Rove meme.

[Doctor_J]

16. McSame goaded him into going

and now his clinically insane supporters are pissed at how it came out. Repukes are sub-human filth.