Questions for Obama

Notwithstanding Senator Clinton's victory in New Hampshire, she is locked in a tight contest for the nomination with Senator Obama, the 46-year-old who four years ago was an Illinois state senator. With televised debates scheduled for the Democrats on January 15, 21 and 31, plenty of time exists to try to get him to answer the questions down on which he has so far avoided being pinned. After all, rhetoric about unity will only go so far.

1) What sort of Supreme Court Justices would you pick? What are the names of justices now on the court that you admire and of judges or lawyers not on the Supreme Court that you think would make good justices?

2) When the Senate considered President Bush's nomination to the Supreme Court of John Roberts, you said you that were "sorely tempted to vote for Judge Roberts" and that "there is absolutely no doubt in my mind Judge Roberts is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. Moreover, he seems to have the comportment and the temperament that makes for a good judge." Yet you voted against his confirmation, saying, "I hope that I am wrong." Were you wrong to oppose him and why?

3) You have promised to close the detainee camp at Guantanamo. What will you do with the hundreds of enemy individuals detained there?

4) You say you want to build bipartisan consensus. Yet you voted not only against the nomination of Chief Justice Roberts, but also against Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court and, in voting against John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, you even questioned his integrity. You publicly opposed Judge Mukasey's nomination as attorney general, though you did not show up for the vote on the nomination. Given this record, why should Republicans give you any latitude in staffing your own administration if you are elected president?

5) One of your foreign policy advisers, Zbigniew Brzezinski, has been an outspoken and harsh critic of Israel. What role would Mr. Brzezinski play on Middle East policy in an Obama administration?

6) You are promising both to reverse the Bush tax cuts and to increase the payroll tax so that it applies to all of a person's income rather than only the first $100,000 or so. Do you think such large marginal tax increases will have any negative effects on economic growth or productivity?

7) You have also talked about a gap in the payroll tax increase so that it doesn't apply to the income between $100,000 and, say, $110,000 but that it would apply to Warren Buffett. At what income level will working Americans see a payroll tax increase under your plan? At what income level will Americans see an income tax increase under your plan?

8) The last time Democrats raised taxes, in 1993, voters revoked their control of the Congress the following year. No Democrat running on a promise to raise taxes has won the presidency in recent memory. What makes you think your tax increases are politically palatable?

9) You have called for increased funding for transit security. Do you support the New York Police Department's program of random bag and package searches at subway entrances, which the New York Civil Liberties Union has challenged as unconstitutional?

10) You said you would meet with the leaders of Iran and Cuba; what would you say to them?