Thursday Obama Digest

I’ve got a lot of ground to cover on the Barry Oh! front. Here goes:

The top story now on Memeorandum is a post from the New York Times’ Caucus blog which quotes Barack Obama as saying at a press conference this morning that his upcoming visit to Iraq (whenever that is) may cause him to “refine” his Iraq policies. It’s generated such an uproar amongst The Ususal Suspectsâ„¢ that in the same NYT Caucus blog, post, there’s an update which notes that Obama held a second news conference this afternoon to “clarify” that his position on Iraq has not changed. One question to the outraged: Did you seriously not see this coming?

Quite frankly, I’m not even sure what his position is on Iraq anymore. I’m not even sure he does. The higher-ups in his campaign sure as hell don’t.

The AP reports: “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says “mental distress” should not qualify as a justification for late-term abortions, a key distinction not embraced by many supporters of abortion rights.” How dare he try to control a woman’s womb!

Oops! Gosh, a rabid feminista took control of the keyboard for a few seconds. Seriously, tho, why does Barack Obama view as “wrong” a woman having a late-term abortion for so-called “mental distress” when he doesn’t even believe that a baby that survives a late-term abortion should be legally defined as a “person” who would be “accorded immediate protection under the law,” and also believes that such laws would be “one more burden on women”?

Aww heck, who cares anyway? After all, according to Donna Brazile, we’ve got bigger issues to tackle than babies born alive after an abortion, oh, like gas prices.

The O-man expressed his displeasure today over the news that black jazz singer Rene Marie, who was asked to sing the National Anthem at Denver’s State of the City speech, instead sung the “Black National Anthem”:

“Well, ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song that has been sung in African-American churches and other events for a very long time,” the presumed Democratic presidential nominee told the Rocky in a telephone interview on his way to North Dakota. “We only have one National Anthem. And so, if she was asked to sing the National Anthem, she should have sung that.”

Here’s video of Marie singing the so-called “Black National Anthem”:

All righty then.

Here’s an interesting one: CAIR’s Greater Chicago Director of Public Affairs Junaid M. Afeef has penned an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal titled, “Obama Should Embrace His Muslim Heritage.” In it, he impores Barry O. to use Independence Day to:

“[….] liberate all Americans from what you described as “the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge.” The way to do that is to embrace your Muslim heritage with the same vigor and eloquence with which you have embraced your white and black heritage.”

Newsflash, Mr. Afeef: It’s not going to happen. Muslims were among the first people he started throwing underneath the bus. He’s not going to dig through all the others he’s thrown there since just to pull ya’ll out.

Obama responded today to the backlash from the far left over his newfound fondness for the FISA bill. Suffice it to say that it won’t change the minds of those who believe he has betrayed them on a multitude of issues since the general election campaign season started, but no matter. They’ll still vote for him in November, because they hate “McBush.”

Fact Check’s all over Obama again, this time over his second general election ad (they’ve already zinged him on the first one), in which he claims he “worked” his way through college. FC’s analysis suggests that the claim his highly dubious. Imagine that.

Is Barack Obama preparing to give the big speech-to-end-all-big-speeches in Denver at the Democratic National Convention in August? The Denver Post’s Politics West blogger Chuck Plunkett writes that the idea is under consideration:

Barack Obama’s campaign is considering moving his nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention from the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field at Mile High to allow tens of thousands to witness the historic moment, sources say.

The move would mark a major departure from tradition, but would be in keeping with the candidate’s desire to build a large grass-roots campaign focused on “change.”

Should the Illinois Senator give his speech — which occurs on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech — at Invesco, the move would leave behind the multi-million-dollar broadcast studios and high-tech podium and stage to be constructed at the Pepsi Center.

“No decision has been made in regards to this” wrote Matthew Chandler, the Colorado press secretary for the Obama campaign in an e-mail. A spokesperson at Obama’s Chicago headquarters declined to elaborate and Denver’s convention host committee declined to comment.

The move, mentioned early Thursday on www.demconwatchblog.com, would not be unprecedented. In 1960, the Democratic National Convention was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. But nominee John F. Kennedy delivered his acceptance speech next door at the Memorial Coliseum.

Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos, seats 76,125 and presumably several thousand more could fit on the field. The Pepsi Center holds less than 20,000 and is to be restricted to delegates, media, high-dollar donors and guests of the Democratic Party

I think the real reason they’re considering moving it to Invesco Field is due to mounting fears that Obama’s ego will eventually become to large too fit into the Pepsi Center. That goes double if he picks John Edwards as his VP …