Because difficulties are bound to arise between these two head strong personalities, Robert B. Barnett, a Washington renowned lawyer is working to ease a merger between Obama and Clinton. Needless to say, the hardest issue of all is Bill Clinton, who is still very bitter about the outcome.

The two basic issues of this joint venture is for Obama to help pay back some of Clinton’s campaign debt, in the amount of $12 million owed to outside suppliers, plus $10 million of her own money she put in the campaign, and for Clinton to encourage her loyalists to donate to Obama’s general election.

Obama said yesterday that he will not send any e-mail requesting his regular donors (those who can only afford less than $200) to send money to Clinton. “Their budgets are tighter,” he said. “They know that I’m going to be working with Senator Clinton, and if they want to make contributions, there’s nothing wrong with their doing so, and I encourage them.” However, Obama has asked his big-dollar fund-raisers to help Clinton pay off her debt. And Clinton asked 200 of her most generous donors to donate to Obama when they both appear tonight at a closed session.

The other issue to be discussed is what role Hillary Clinton will be playing at the August convention. No matter what is being negotiated behind closed doors between Obama and Clinton, Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman says that “Hillary is 100 percent behind making sure that Barack gets elected president. We’re instructing everybody, ‘Let’s get on board, let’s win this election.’ ”

CLINTON AND OBAMA WORKING TOGETHER
By Adam Nagourney, Jeff Zeleny and Michael Powell (NY Times 6/26/08)
Abstract by Johana Nadler
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While at the University of Nevada, McCain projected his plan for the U.S. to become independent from foreign supplies for oil as a primary fuel. He also added that he plans to build 45 nuclear reactors by 2030, without elaborating on the debate over storing radioactive waste at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain that many Nevadans oppose.

While in Santa Barbara, California, McCain further explained his energy plan and his intention to lift the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling, which only leads to memories of a disastrous 1969 spill.

McCain went on to link the energy issue with the national security. “By relying upon oil from the Middle East, we not only provide wealth to the sponsors of terror, we provide high-value targets to the terrorists themselves. Across the world are pipelines, refineries, transit routes and terminals for the oil we rely on. And Al Qaeda terrorists know where they are,” McCain said.

He additionally repeated his other energy initiatives such as “the $5,000 tax credit for buying zero-emission cars, a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions and $2 billion/year until 2024 toward developing clean-coal technology.

MCCAIN PROMISES OIL INDEPENDENCE BY 2025
By Maeve Reston and Michael Finnegan (LA Times 6/26/08)
Abstract by Johana Nadler
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Obama’s new national security panel includes former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and many former President Clinton’s top advisers, each one bringing on board his or her specific expertise.

To name a few, the Senior Working Group on National Security consists of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher and former Defense Secretary William Perry. Former Democratic members of Congress David Boren, ex-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Lee Hamilton, ex-chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and vice-chairman on the 9/11 commission and Tim Roemer, a 9/11 commissioner.

A national security expert at the Brookings Institution, Michael O’Hanlon remarked that “When you lead with the last two secretaries of state, you begin to have quite a feel of the old guard. For every seasoned veteran you also want to have some new ideas and a process that ensures the new people are not intimidated or over-ruled by the veterans.” Obama said he will add more experts in the panel at a future date.

CLINTON ADVISERS JOIN OBAMA’S TEAM
By Margaret Talev (McClatchy Newspapers in AJC 6/18/08)
Abstract by Johana Nadler