Obama Offers Hard Truths to Supporters (great AP Article)

[Perky]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_HARD_TRUTHS?SITE=CATOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-08-29-03-24-27

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama has a habit of telling interest groups what they don't want to hear, even at the risk of alienating audiences critical to the prospects of a presidential candidate. Not to be undone by his rivals, the Illinois senator has made remarks befitting the myriad of forums and debates he's attended, praising the work of unions, upholding Israel to Jewish groups and decrying President Bush's spending on education.

But he's also uttered words not often heard, especially when Democratic constituencies gather. For example:

-Obama told the National Education Association that performance-based merit pay ought to be considered in public schools.

-Cuban exiles are considered one of the keys to winning Florida, but he disagreed with leaders who want a full embargo against Fidel Castro's government and instead called for allowing travel and money to the island.

-Michigan voters play an important role in national politics, but Obama visited Detroit to lecture the state's biggest industry for failing to improve automobile fuel efficiency.

"I don't do this for shock value," Obama said in a recent interview.

"There may be people who chose not to support me because I'm not telling them what they want to hear or reinforcing their preconceptions," he told The Associated Press. "I want to be elected to the presidency not by having pretended I was one thing and then surprise people with an agenda, but to get the agenda elected, to get a mandate for change. And you can't do that if you're not doing some truth telling."

Obama's approach was a signature of chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's husband in the 1992 presidential campaign. The strategy is known in modern politics as a "Sister Souljah."