Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama gestures while speaking at the UNITY Journalism Convention Sunday. (The UNITY News Photo Jennifer Dronkers)

Sen. Barack Obama addressed thousands of journalists at a live forum on the final day of the UNITY convention in his first appearance since returning to the U.S. after a spending a week overseas.

The senator was greeted with a standing ovation when he walked onto the stage. He addressed issues such as immigration, the economy and race and gave a recap of his trip.

“When you think about the big problems we face at home, they are connected to the problems abroad,” Obama said.

Hundreds of empty seats in the back of the Skyline Ballroom at the McCormick Place convention center were noticeable as CNN broadcasted the event. Many attendees had already departed the convention by the time Obama spoke.

In weeks prior to the convention, UNITY organizers had heavily promoted a forum between Obama and Sen. John McCain, but neither candidate had confirmed the appearance, originally scheduled for Thursday night.

Karen Lincoln Michel, UNITY president, said McCain could not make the forum because of scheduling conflicts, although repeated invitations were sent.

Obama said although he was away from the country for a week, he was in touch with what was happening on this side. He expressed his pleasure with the passing of a landmark housing bill that will offer up to $300 billion in loans for troubled homeowners and establish a government rescue plan for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“We’ve got to prevent people from losing their homes,” he said.

In response to criticism he faced for going on the overseas trip, the presumptive nominee said he met with the same leaders that McCain met with when he won the nomination.

“I was puzzled by the notion that what we did was any different,” Obama said. “We just did it better.”

Obama said the trip offered him key insight into what it would be like as a leader, should he win the election.

In anticipation of both candidates’ arrival, The UNITY News sent an informal survey to members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and National Association of Black Journalists, and interviewed journalists planning to attend the convention. The Asian American Journalist Association and the Native American Journalist Association did not participate.

The journalists were surveyed about the most important issues they wanted each candidate to address, and the strengths and weaknesses of the presumptive nominees. Each member surveyed was also asked to identify their gender and race.

The 38 NAHJ members who responded to the survey chose immigration reform as the most important issue facing the next president, while the 15 NABJ members who responded identified stabilizing the economy. But many respondents expressed doubt about Obama’s security and immigration policies.

“We are a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” Obama said. “The fact that we’re getting people who want to come to this country that is good.”

Obama said he will work to make a comprehensive immigration policy and work with immigrants currently in the country to help them become legal citizens.

The senator was asked a handful of tough questions, including if he would issue an apology to Native Americans for past mistreatment if elected.

“The most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer apologies, but offer deeds,” Obama said. “I have to confess, I’m more concerned with providing a better way of life.”

An apology was issued to Native Americans in 2000 by Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

By DIONI L. WISE and APRIL YEE
The UNITY News

Senegal president Abdoulaye Wade said he does not presume that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, if elected president, would be a better ally for his country than Sen. John McCain.

“I don’t push people behind color…I don’t believe Barack Obama will be at the service of Africa,” Wade said in an interview with The UNITY News and the Chicago Sun-Times. “They’re all Americans, anyways. I’m not making any postulates. He has to prove it.”

His views on Obama, whose father was African, were among several he offered in response to journalist’s questions. Wade was invited to Chicago by the National Association of Black Journalists to address UNITY membership about Senegal’s plan to increase agricultural production. His speech is at 1:30 p.m. today.

Wade then will fly to Washington, D.C., to meet with White House and State Department officials. He will not be in Chicago when the senator arrives to speak to UNITY on Sunday.

“You can say hello to him for me,” he said in a private meeting in a Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers suite.

Senegal made headlines Monday when media outlets across his country staged a press blackout to protest the police beating of two journalists and Wade’s refusal to condemn the beatings. He said the matter was in the hands of the justice system.

“If there is an incident between a journalist and a policeman, what would you like a president to do with this?” he said.

He said the reporters involved suffered from a lack of journalistic integrity that he lamented has become common in Senegal. He said many Senegalese journalists have not had formal accreditation to practice journalism.

Under Wade’s eight-year tenure, Senegalese authorities have used criminal libel laws to detain and question at least 15 journalists because of political stories, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Another 10 have been handed suspended prison sentences for defamation, though those terms were seldom applied. Wade said he wanted more journalists to be trained.

“They think in the newspaper you can write anything you want,” Wade said. “I should have been more vigilant than this. I should have been tougher.”

By Zettler Clay IV
The UNITY News

First, they were both coming: Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., both presumptive presidential candidates together on stage.

Then, Obama went to Europe and the Middle East and McCain opted for Ohio.

Now, only one is coming: Obama will appear before UNITY convention-goers Sunday, the last day of the gathering for minority journalists.

UNITY organizers had heavily promoted a forum between the two candidates, but neither candidate confirmed the appearance, originally scheduled for Thursday night.

The convention comes while Obama is on an international tour. McCain is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser Thursday at Ohio State University. Unity organizers say they still have hopes that McCain will change his schedule to appear.

Obama’s speech is now scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday and will be televised live by CNN, organizers say.

In anticipation of both candidates’ arrival, The UNITY News sent an informal survey to members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and National Association of Black Journalists, and interviewed journalists planning to attend this week’s convention. The Asian American Journalist Association and the Native American Journalist Association did not participate.

The journalists were surveyed about the most important issues they wanted each candidate to address, and the strengths and weaknesses of the presumptive nominees. Each member surveyed was also asked to identify their gender and race.

The 38 NAHJ members who responded to the survey chose immigration reform as the most important issue facing the next president, while the 15 NABJ members who responded favored stabilizing the economy. But many respondents expressed doubt about Obama’s security and immigration policies.

“Journalists love change,” said Tim Chavez, columnist for The Tennessean. “That’s why we got into the business. And there are so many things wrong locally and around the world. That’s not to say journalists are right in favoring Obama. Many people I talk to, including mothers, are worried about security. McCain holds the advantage on security.”

Coley Harvey, a reporter for the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, planned on attending the forum. However, like many convention attendees, his flight home is Sunday morning. He will miss Obama’s appearance.

“It’s kind of discouraging because you hoped that a candidate who is in his home town would give a definite ‘Yes, I will be there’ answer,” Harvey said. “But it’s understandable because he is out strengthening his knowledge on foreign policies, which is what many feel to be his weakness.”

Last year, McCain and other Republican presidential candidates declined to speak at NABJ’s convention in Las Vegas. Missing this year’s convention could be costly, said Harvey.

“I think (not showing up) will be a political misstep on his part,” he said. “He has been targeting them aggressively, but if he doesn’t show up now, then that will send a totally different message.”

By Dioni L. Wise
The UNITY News Online

It’s official. Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama will speak to the UNITY membership on Sunday – the last day of the convention.

“It’s better that he comes Sunday than not at all,” said Derrick Henry, UNITY BToard of Directors member.

Obama’s Republican counterpart Sen. John McCain has yet to accept or decline his invitation to attend the convention.

According to a UNITY news release, Obama will speak at the Presidential Candidates Forum on Sunday for about an hour.

UNITY coordinators plan to have Obama speak by 11 a.m., according to UNITY Executive Director Onica Makwakwa.

Coordinators received confirmation for Obama last week, but didn’t release the information then due to security concerns, Makwakwa said.

She said CNN still plans to broadcast the event.

Planners initially invited Obama and McCain each to speak one hour at the forum on Thursday, in which journalists from the four alliances would moderate the forum.

McCain is committed to speak at the LIVESTRONG Presidential Town Hall on Cancer at The Ohio State University in Columbus on Thursday. Obama is scheduled to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.

“(UNITY) is his first stop after his historic trip,” Henry said, of Obama’s European tour. “He might say something new. Wouldn’t it be great to hear him saying it here?”

Henry, senior producer for New York Times Digital, said scheduling conflicts with presidential nominees also occurred in the 2004 UNITY Convention in Washington, D.C.

That year Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry ran against the incumbent and eventual winner, President George W. Bush. Both men made it to the convention.

UNITY invited the two presumptive presidential nominees and former candidate Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton shortly after the Iowa primary in January.

According to the latest convention schedule posted on www.2008unity.org, the Media Diversity Roundtable from 9 a.m. to noon is the only other event slated for Sunday.

“Yes, we are concerned that it’s a different schedule than what we had intended initially,” Makwakwa said. “But, this whole decision was really one that we had to look at all of the options that we had. And the option was no candidates at all or one candidate available for Sunday.”

By Dioni L. Wise
UNITY News Online

*Update: UNITY has issued a press release announcing that Sen. Obama will appear at the convention on Sunday, July 24, after his return from a trip abroad. No word yet about Sen. McCain.*

If the UNITY workshops were supposed to be the appetizers and media receptions were supposed to be dessert, the presidential forum was touted as the main course. But for right now, it looks like convention-goers will have to leave the table hungry for more.

Maynard Institute’s Richard Prince reports that Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain are scheduled at other events on Thursday, July 24, the same day as the presidential candidate forum.

Senator John McCain will speak at LIVESTRONG Presidential Town Hall on Cancer at The Ohio State University in Columbus. Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France champion, will moderate the forum.

On the other side of the world, Obama will be well into his much-publicized European tour. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is slated to visit German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

A UNITY press release said the presidential forum would be broadcast live by CNN from 8-10 p.m. ET. The statement reads: “Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) are each expected to take part in separate 60-minute conversations with representatives of the UNITY alliance partners to discuss their candidacy, current issues and concerns pertinent to communities of color.”

In Richard Prince’s Journal-isms, UNITY Executive Director Onica Makwakwa said: “We’re still working on it. We’re still working on both campaigns. We know there are some changes with the schedules for both of them. We should be able to make an announcement in a few days of what adjustments, if any, we will make.”

The first three UNITY gatherings occurred every five years, in 1994, 1999 and 2004. In the fall of 2003, the alliance’s Board of Directors decided to have the convention every four years to coincide with the presidential elections. In 2004, President George W. Bush and his democratic opponent John Kerry spoke at the event in Washington, D.C.