David Plouffe (Obama Campaign Manager) on Our Strategy

Campaign Manager David Plouffe records a video to supporters on a laptop, sharing his presentation about the Obama campaign's strategy for the general election.

Change that Works for You: Pittsburgh, PA

Barack participated in a panel discussion about American competitiveness, and first shared these opening remarks.

Obama disagrees with Supreme Court on Capital Punishment ruling

"Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday he disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision outlawing executions of people who rape children, a crime he said states have the right to consider for capital punishment.

"I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes," Obama said at a news conference. "I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution."

The court's 5-4 decision Wednesday struck down a Louisiana law that allows capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12, saying it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The ruling spares the only people in the U.S. under sentence of death for that crime — two Louisiana men convicted of raping girls 5 and 8. It also invalidates laws on the books in five other states that allowed executions for child rape that does not result in the death of the victim.

Obama's Republican rival, John McCain, also criticized the court's decision, calling it "an assault on law enforcement's efforts to punish these heinous felons for the most despicable crime."

"That there is a judge anywhere in America who does not believe that the rape of a child represents the most heinous of crimes, which is deserving of the most serious of punishments, is profoundly disturbing," McCain said in a statement.

Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, said that had the court "said we want to constrain the abilities of states to do this to make sure that it's done in a careful and appropriate way, that would have been one thing. But it basically had a blanket prohibition and I disagree with that decision."

Obama has two daughters, ages 7 and 9.

He has long supported the death penalty while criticizing the way it is sometimes applied.

As an Illinois legislator, he helped rewrite the state's death penalty system to guard against innocent people being sentenced to die. The new safeguards included requiring police to videotape interrogations and giving the state Supreme Court more power to overturn unjust decisions.

He also opposed legislation making it easier to impose the death penalty for murders committed as part of gang activity. Obama argued the language was too vague and could be abused by authorities.

But Obama has never rejected the death penalty entirely. He supported death sentences for killing volunteers in community policing programs and for particularly cruel murders of elderly people.

"While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes — mass murder, the rape and murder of a child — so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment," he wrote in his book "The Audacity of Hope.""

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Senator Obama on the Economy and Energy

At a Press Availability in Chicago IL Senator Obama spoke about the economy, off-shore drilling and America's Energy Future.

Change that Works for You: Las Vegas, NV

Barack Obama held a discussion about energy at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 24, 2008.

Change that Works for You: Albuquerque, NM

Barack held a discussion with working women in Albuquerque, NM on June 23, 2008.

Barack Obama used his address at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami to shore up support for a $300 billion foreclosure bailout and assail McCain

"Making his pitch to a key group of power brokers, Barack Obama promised hundreds of mayors gathered in Miami that he would push back on President Bush's threatened veto of legislation aimed at rescuing homeowners facing foreclosure.

The bill would allow the federal government to insure $300 billion in new loans so homeowners who can't pay their mortgages could refinance. The legislation is a priority for many mayors whose cities are faltering under the housing crisis.

''If George Bush carries out his threat to veto the housing bill -- a bill that would provide critical resources to help you solve the foreclosure crisis in your towns and cities -- I will fight to overturn his veto and make sure you have the support you need,'' Obama said."

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