Obama is most admired American: poll

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President-elect Barack Obama has replaced US President George W. Bush as the most admired man in America, according to a poll published Friday in the USA Today newspaper.

One-third of the 1,008 respondents surveyed named Obama as their first or second choice, with Bush falling to a distant second after seven years as the country's most-admired man.

Thirty-two percent of respondents chose Obama against five percent for Bush. It was the first time a president-elect topped the poll since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

The poll was conducted over telephone between December 12 and 14.

The newspaper reported that the only higher support in the history of the survey was Bush's 39 percent rating in 2001, just a few months after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Among men, John McCain -- Obama's defeated Republican rival for the presidency -- ranked third and three others tied for fourth place: Pope Benedict XVI, the Reverend Billy Graham and former president Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton led the list of most-admired woman at 20 percent -- a spot she's held for 13 of the past 16 years.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who catapulted into the limelight after McCain named her Republican vice-presidential candidate, was a distant second at 11 percent.

Among women, the president-elect's wife, Michelle Obama came in fifth place, following talk-show host Oprah Winfrey in third and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in fourth.

The Gallup polling organization has been conducting the phone survey, which has sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, since 1948.

Gay leaders furious with Obama

Barack Obama’s choice of a prominent evangelical minister to deliver the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that – in the wake of a gay marriage ban in California – is looking for a fight.

Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty, and backed away from other evangelicals’ staunch support for economic conservatism. But it’s his support for the California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage that drew the most heated criticism from Democrats Wednesday.

“Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans,” the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. “[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.”

The rapid, angry reaction from a range of gay activists comes as the gay rights movement looks for an opportunity to flex its political muscle. Last summer gay groups complained, but were rebuffed by Obama, when an “ex-gay” singer led Obama’s rallies in South Carolina. And many were shocked last month when voters approved the California ban.

“There is a lot of energy and there’s a lot of anger and I think people are wanting to direct it somewhere,” Solomonese told Politico.

The selection of Warren to preside at the inauguration is not a surprise move, but it is a mirror image of President Bill Clinton’s early struggles with issues of gay rights. Obama has worked, and at times succeeded, to bridge the gap between Democrats and evangelical Christians, who form a solid section of the Republican base.

Obama opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposed the California constitutional amendment Warren backed. In selecting Warren, he is choosing to reach out to conservatives on a hot-button social issue, at the cost of antagonizing gay voters who overwhelmingly supported him.

Clinton, by contrast, drew early praise from gay rights activists by pressing to allow openly gay soldiers to serve, only to retreat into the “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise that pleased few.

The reaction Wednesday in gay rights circles was universally negative.

“It’s a huge mistake,” said California gay rights activist Rick Jacobs, who chairs the state’s Courage Campaign. “He’s really the wrong person to lead the president into office.

“Can you imagine if he had a man of God doing the invocation who had deliberately said that Jews are not going to be saved and therefore should be excluded from what’s going on in America? People would be up in arms,” he said.

The editor of the Washington Blade, Kevin Naff, called the choice “Obama’s first big mistake.”

“His presence on the inauguration stand is a slap in the faces of the millions of GLBT voters who so enthusiastically supported him,” Naff wrote, referring to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. “This tone-deafness to our concerns must not be tolerated. We have just endured eight years of endless assaults on our dignity and equality from a president beholden to bigoted conservative Christians. The election was supposed to have ended that era. It appears otherwise.”

Other liberal groups chimed in.

“Rick Warren gets plenty of attention through his books and media appearances. He doesn’t need or deserve this position of honor,” said the president of People for the American Way, Kathryn Kolbert, who described Warren as “someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans.”

Warren’s spokeswoman did not respond to a message seeking comment, but he has tried to blend personal tolerance with doctrinal disapproval of homosexuality.

“I have many gay friends, I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes. No church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church,” he said in a recent interview with BeliefNet.

In the same interview, he compared the “redefiniton of a marrige” to include gay marriage to legitimizing incest, child abuse, and polygamy.

Obama’s move may deepen some apparent distance between him among gays and lesbians, one of the very few core Democratic groups among whom his performance was worse than John Kerry’s in 2004. Exit polls suggested that John McCain won 27% of the gay vote in November, up four points from Bush’s 2004 tally – even as almost all other voters slid toward Obama.

But despite the symbolism of picking Warren, Obama is likely to shift several substantive policy areas in directions that will please gay voters and their political leaders, including a pledge to end “don’t ask, don’t tell” in military service.

And some gay activists were holding out hope that they would either persuade Obama to dump Warren or Warren to change his mind.

“Rick Warren did a real disservice to gay families in California and across the country by casually supporting our continued exclusion from marriage,” said the founder of the pro-same sex marriage Freedom to Marry, Evan Wolfson. “I hope in the spirit of the new era that’s dawning, he will open his heart and speak to all Americans about inclusion and our country’s commitment to equality.”

Time names Obama 'Person of the Year'

NEW YORK – President-elect Barack Obama has won another contest: He's been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2008.

The magazine has named Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Gov. Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou as runners-up.

Last year's winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Previous individual winners have included Bono, President George W. Bush and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

Obama campaign mulls what to do with $30M surplus

WASHINGTON – Democrats carrying significant campaign debt after winning a string of House and Senate races are grumbling about President-elect Barack Obama's financial reserves, saying the party's leader is sitting on a pile of cash while Democratic leaders are broke.

Obama's organization retains some $30 million after his successful presidential bid, but it's unclear how the Democratic president-in-waiting might use the money. Members of his party are doing their best to appeal for the funds without appearing greedy, ungrateful or hostile to their new leader.

"If I was a top adviser to the president elect, I wouldn't necessarily be advocating saving those dollars," said Raymond Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "It was critically important that we not repeat what happened in '93, '94," when President Bill Clinton held the purse strings and Democrats lost 54 U.S. House seats and eight senators during midterm elections.

"We need the resources to build the national grass roots network for the Obama agenda. We need to make sure the president is successful and that the administration fulfills his promises," Buckley said.

The Democratic National Committee is carrying about $5 million in debt, with almost $12 million cash on hand. DNC officials say they expect to have the debt paid by the end of the year. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee carries some $19 million in debt and less than $3 million on hand. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is nearly $13 million in debt.

Obama raised more than $745 million during his marathon campaign, more than twice the amount obtained by his rival, Republican John McCain. In his latest finance report, Obama reported raising $104 million in more than five weeks immediately before and after Election Day.

"This is the first presidential candidate and president who has not been publicly financed in the general election," said Ken Gross, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer. "Every other president since Jimmy Carter has not had excess funds."

Obama opted not to participate in public funding system. In exchange, he was able to continue raising money, while McCain accepted $84 million in taxpayer money, and the spending restrictions that went with it, through the public financing system.

"The only example that comes to mind is John Kerry," Gross said. "He finished his primary campaign with a $15 million surplus. That created some grumbling, since he lost."

Democrats blamed Kerry's loss, in part, on a campaign hierarchy that didn't spend wisely or aggressively. Kerry's own campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, called it "gross incompetence to hoard that money when the race was bound to be so close."

Obama aides are aware of the stigma and don't want to appear inelegant or selfish. They are weighing whether to keep the money to build a massive grass roots program to support his agenda, or to cycle that money to the party apparatus. Both ideas have strong advocates, but it's unclear to those involved which way Obama will go.

"We aren't in a position to announce what the next steps for our organization are today, but are continuing a dialogue with our supporters about their vision for how we move forward," said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt.

Party officials around the country say the campaign leaders have signaled they shouldn't expect the money to come to them directly, if at all. Instead, many party officials expect Obama to use his funds to advance his own priorities, to support his massive Internet-based organization and to have cache for special causes. With almost 4 million donors, Obama's fundraising list could prove golden for future Obama-backed drives.

"Right now, it looks like the sky is the limit," Gross said.

Obama aides emphasize the campaign expects to continue having expenses, along with tax obligations and political operations. They also say Obama has little interest in bankrolling state committees or individual candidates. Those involved say the logical option is the Democratic National Committee, although no one is pressing for a quick transfer.

On Wednesday, Obama send a fundraising e-mail to his supporters asking them to help retire that debt by buying coffee mugs or fleece sweat shirts. Obama and Democratic aides alike say they would use similar efforts going forward, but were aware that asking too often could dilute the effectiveness of the list.

Legally, Obama can donate the extra money to charity, transfer it to another political campaign, or dole it out in $2,000 increments to local candidates, Gross said.

"That's not too attractive, but it's something," Gross said.

Governors urge Obama to help the poor, boost economy

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – U.S. state governors urged President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday to pump money into infrastructure and help support the poor as a sinking economy hits state budgets hard.

Obama, who takes over from President George W. Bush on January 20, pledged to involve states in his plans to tackle the U.S. recession and create or save 2.5 million jobs.

The president-elect has spent much of the time since his November 4 victory over Republican John McCain forming his economic team and advocating a massive new stimulus package.

"I'm not simply asking the nation's governors to help implement our economic recovery plan, I'm going to be interested in having you help draft and shape that economic plan," Obama told a meeting that included Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate.

"I'm going to listen to you, especially when we disagree because one of the things that has served me well in my career is discovering that I don't know everything," Obama said.

The meeting came the day after the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed that the United States had entered recession in December 2007. The downturn, which many economists expect to persist through the middle of the next year, is already third-longest since the Great Depression.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, touted as a possible energy secretary in the Obama administration, opened the meeting by pressing for Congress to extend unemployment benefits and increase food stamp availability.

"Those are things that don't go to us as governors, don't go to our budgets but help our citizens," he said.

Rendell said on Monday governors would ask for $136 billion in infrastructure funds to stimulate the economy immediately and cover health care for the poor.

Obama acknowledged that, unlike the federal government, U.S. states had to balance their budgets. He said immediate measures were needed to help deal with the crisis.

"Forty-one of the states that are represented here are likely to face budget shortfalls this year or next, forcing you to choose between reining in spending and raising taxes," Obama said. "To solve this crisis and to ease the burden on our states, we need action and we need action swiftly."

Nearly all 50 governors attended, including California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, who on Monday declared a fiscal emergency and called lawmakers into a special session to tackle a widening budget gap.