Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama said Sunday he does not
think voters have a litmus test on the issue of religion,
whether the focus is evangelical Christianity or
his childhood years in a largely Muslim country. ''If
your name is Barack Hussein Obama, you can expect it,
some of that. I think the majority of voters know that I'm a
member of the United Church of Christ and that I take my
faith seriously,'' Obama said in an interview with the
Associated Press in Iowa Falls, Iowa.
''Ultimately what I think voters will be looking
for is not so much a litmus test on faith as an
assurance that a candidate has a value system and that
is appreciative of the role that religious faith can play in
helping shape people's lives,'' he said.
In the interview Obama also said his race
might be a ''novelty'' this early in the presidential
contest, sparred with the prime minister of Australia
over Iraq, and said he has a higher burden of proof with
voters because of his relative inexperience. Obama formally
announced his candidacy in Illinois on Saturday and
made a beeline for Iowa, site of the first nominating
contest next January 14.
Obama, who was born in Hawaii, lived in mostly
Muslim Indonesia with his mother and stepfather from
1967 to 1971. He subsequently returned to Hawaii to
live with his maternal grandparents. He attends a Chicago
church with his wife and two young daughters.
The 2008 presidential field also includes
Republican Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Sen. Sam
Brownback, a Republican from Kansas and an
evangelical Christian who converted to Catholicism in recent years.
Obama's leading rivals for the Democratic
nomination are far better known to voters, the U.S.
senator from Illinois said. He was elected in 2004.
''At least two of my fellow candidates have been
campaigning nationally for years,'' Obama said,
referring to New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
and former North Carolina senator John Edwards. ''They have
an infrastructure and name recognition that are higher
than mine, so there will probably be a higher burden
of proof for me.''
Few minorities reside in early-voting Iowa and
New Hampshire, but Obama said his race--his
mother is white, his father is black--will not play a
determining role.
''I think that early on it may spark some
curiosity or a sense of novelty, but I think very
quickly people will be judging me on the merits. Do I
have a message that resonates with people's concerns about
health care and education, jobs and terrorism?'' he said.
''And if they do, then I think race won't be a major factor.''
At a press conference later in Ames, Obama said
he was proud to have opposed the Iraq war from the
start while Clinton and others authorized the U.S.-led
invasion. ''I don't think there is a more significant set of
decisions than the decision to go to war,'' Obama said. ''I
think the war was a tragic mistake, and it never
should have been authorized.''
Obama made a habit of stressing his position at
every stop, to loud applause. Clinton, meanwhile, ran
into some tough questioning while campaigning over the
weekend in New Hampshire. One man demanded that she
repudiate her 2002 Senate vote to send U.S. troops into battle.
Obama told reporters he thinks his early
opposition to the war shows ''it was possible to make
judgments that this would not work out well'' and that
it speaks ''to the kind of judgment that I will be bringing
to the office of president.''
The senator has called for capping the number of
U.S. troops in Iraq and then beginning to withdraw
them on May 1. He wants a complete pullout of combat
brigades by March 31, 2008. Clinton says she is working to
pass legislation capping troop levels and bring to a
vote a resolution disapproving of Bush's planned troop increase.
''I am not clear on how she would proceed at
this point to wind down the war in a specific way,''
Obama said. ''I know that she's stated that she thinks
the war should end by the start of the next president's
first term. Beyond that, though, how she wants to
accomplish that, I'm not clear on.''
In his speech before thousands at Iowa State
University, Obama did not mention Clinton, but he did
draw a clear comparison. ''We ended up launching a war
that should have never been authorized and should have
never been waged,'' Obama said to cheers.
In the AP interview Obama laughed off criticism
Saturday from Australian prime minister John Howard,
who said Obama's plans for Iraq ''encourage those who
wanted to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq.'' ''It's
flattering that one of George W. Bush's allies feels obliged
to attack me,'' Obama said.
Obama said that if Howard did not think enough
was being done in Iraq, he should consider sending
more Australian troops to the region. Australia has
about 1,400 troops in Iraq, mostly in noncombat roles.
The senator dismissed concerns about his own
security but would not answer directly when asked if
he had received death threats. The Reverend Jesse
Jackson drew early Secret Service protection because of
violent threats during his campaigns for president in
the 1980s. ''I face the same security issues as
anybody,'' he told the AP. ''We're comfortable with
the steps we have taken.''
Obama campaigned in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo on
Saturday after his kickoff announcement in
Springfield, Ill. On Sunday, Obama met with party
activists at a private home in Iowa Falls and attended the
Ames rally.
He won the endorsement of two top state
officials: Attorney General Tom Miller and Treasurer
Michael Fitzgerald. Miller called Obama ''a
once-in-a-generation talent.''
On Sunday night Obama returned home to Chicago,
where he was greeted by a roaring crowd of more than
7,000 people. ''I am an imperfect vessel for your
hopes and dreams,'' Obama told the crowd during a raucous
rally at the arena of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
From Washington, D.C., Obama came under
criticism from a presidential rival, 26-year veteran
Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, for his lack of
experience. ''I think experience matters to people. The
stakes are very, very high right now,'' Dodd said on
Face the Nation on CBS. ''This is not a
time for on-the-job training.''
At the house party in Iowa Falls, Obama said,
''I'm going to have to be run through the
paces--people are going to have to lift up the hood,
kick the tires, and be clear that I have a grasp of
the issues that are of utmost importance in people's lives.''
In that vein, Obama said he has quit his
cigarette habit and now chews nonprescription
Nicorette gum all day. (Henry C. Jackson, AP)
