On The HUSTINGS

OBAMA DEFENDS ON JEWISH ISSUES, EXPLAINS PASTOR'S COMMENTS

Senator Obama of Illinois is telling Jewish voters that anti-Zionist statements made by his pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, were "rooted in" anger over the Jewish state's support for South Africa during the apartheid era. "That was a source of tension," Mr. Obama told a Jewish group in Cleveland yesterday, according to Time magazine. He also said the pastor's comments were "not necessarily ones that I share."

Mr. Obama also said a publication run by Rev. Wright's family should not have given an award last year to a Nation of Islam leader who has repeatedly excoriated Jews, Minister Louis Farrakhan. "That was a mistake and showed a lack of sensitivity to the Jewish community, and I said so," the presidential candidate said.

While Rev. Wright and Minister Farrakhan traveled together to Libya in the 1980s, the two men are not close, Mr. Obama insisted. "I have never heard anything that would suggest anti-Semitism on the part of the pastor. He is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things I don't agree with," the senator said. Speaking to the Jewish group, Mr. Obama called Israel's security "sacrosanct" and "non-negotiable," but he said the current situation in the region was "unsustainable over time," Time said. The editor of the Cleveland Jewish News, Cynthia Dettelbach, confirmed last night that Mr. Obama held a mostly-off-the-record session with about 100 Jewish voters at a local function hall yesterday morning.

OBAMA HITS BACK AT CLINTON OVER NAFTA DISPUTE

Senator Obama is hitting back at Senator Clinton in their dispute over her position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying the former first lady "was saying great things about NAFTA until she started running for president." Although Mrs. Clinton has praised aspects of the trade deal that her husband pushed Congress to ratify, she has become increasingly critical and has called for a "time out" on trade agreements as president. Over the weekend, she angrily denounced Mr. Obama for fliers his campaign distributed that quote her as saying NAFTA was "a boon." "Shame on you, Barack Obama," Mrs. Clinton said in Ohio, where trade is a hot-button issue. Mr. Obama did not back down yesterday. "Ten years after NAFTA passed, Senator Clinton said it was good for America," Mr. Obama said, the Associated Press reported. "Well, I don't think NAFTA has been good for America — and I never have."

OBAMA DISMISSES QUESTIONS OVER PATRIOTISM

Senator Obama scoffed at suggestions that his patriotism would be an issue in a battle against Senator McCain, saying yesterday that "there's always some nonsense going on in general elections." Mr. Obama has had to respond over the past year to criticism over a photograph in which he was not holding his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance; his decision not to wear an American flag lapel pin, as many politicians do, and most recently, remarks by his wife, Michelle, that because of his candidacy she was "proud" of the country for the first time in her adult life. "The way I will respond to it is with the truth — that I owe everything I am to this country," Mr. Obama told reporters yesterday in Ohio. "You will recall the reason I came to national attention was a speech in which I spoke of my love for this country."

'SNL' SENDS UP PRESS 'BIAS' TOWARD OBAMA

In its return to political parody following the writers' strike, "Saturday Night Live" poked fun at the perception that the press is biased toward Senator Obama. The comedic standby opened its show this weekend with a mock debate between Mr. Obama, newly played by Fred Armisen, and Senator Clinton, played as usual by Amy Poehler. In the skit, a star-struck, fawning debate moderator can barely get a question out to Mr. Obama. "I just really, really, really want you to be the next president," the questioner stammers.