<img title="Image: http://www.myvivvo.com/thumbnail.php?file=art.obamaplane.ap_115644714.jpg&amp;size=article_medium" src="http://www.myvivvo.com/thumbnail.php?file=art.obamaplane.ap_115644714.jpg&amp;size=article_medium" alt="Obama Florida Michigan are Clintons last slender hope">
										
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								<span>Sen. Barack Obama accused Sen. Hillary Clinton of stoking 
anger in Florida and Michigan over the Democratic Party's decision not 
to recognize the states' primary votes.<br><br>"They weren't stirring it
 up when they didn't need the delegates," he said. "Let's not sort of 
pretend that we don't know what's going on. This is, from their 
perspective, their last slender hope to make arguments about how they 
can win.<br><br>Obama, speaking to reporters on his campaign plane late 
Saturday, also took on Sen. John McCain's suggestion that Obama's lack 
of military service makes him unqualified to criticize him on veterans 
issues.<br><br>"I will cede to no one the ability to talk about veterans
 issues," Obama said. "My grandfather was a veteran. Those veterans 
benefits helped my grandparents to raise my mother. I have veterans 
throughout the state of Illinois that I've been fighting for since I 
came into the United States Senate."<br><br>Obama returned to his home 
base of Chicago, Illinois, Saturday night after a campaign swing through
 in Puerto Rico, which holds its primary June 1, and spending three days
 in Florida.<br><br>Obama said he wants a resolution of the controversy 
over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations so that they 
"feel that they've been treated fairly and they're seated."<br><br>"I want to be looking at them when I'm standing on the stage in Denver in August," Obama said.<br><br>He said the "anger will go away once it's resolved" and it will not be a deciding factor in the November general election.<br><br>"I
 think the Democrats are going to be focused on who's going to stop the 
war, who's going to be making Supreme Court appointments, who's going to
 have a serious energy policy, who's going to bring good jobs and good 
wages, who's going to continue the Bush tax cuts and who's going to give
 a middle class tax cut," Obama said.<br><br>"The notion that the folks 
in Florida, who are trying to struggle with $4 gas and not being able to
 get property insurance for their house during hurricane season, are 
going to be making a decision based on a political tempest that occurred
 during a primary, I don't see it," he said.<br><br>Obama said he 
predicted a "substantive debate" with McCain during the general election
 over veterans issues, especially if McCain continues to oppose the 
expansion of the GI Bill.<br><br>"John McCain will have to decide 
whether he thinks that the current level of benefits or the current 
performance of the VA is sufficient," Obama said.<br><br>After Obama 
took to the Senate floor last Thursday to criticize McCain's opposition 
to legislation, which passed by a 75-22 vote margin, McCain quickly 
responded that Obama was taking "cheap shots" on an issue that "he has 
less than zero understanding of."<br><br>"I will not accept from Sen. 
Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country 
in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did," McCain said in
 a written statement.<br><br>Asked to respond Saturday, Obama said "the 
notion that somehow I can't speak out on behalf of veterans because of 
the fact that I didn't serve makes no sense whatsoever."<br><br>Obama 
said that he, and many others his age, did not serve in the military 
because the Vietnam War -- and the draft -- ended before he was of draft
 age.<br><br>"Obviously, I revere our soldiers and want to make sure 
they are treated with honor and respect," he said. "I think the GI Bill 
is one way to do that. I hope that John McCain and George Bush decide 
they believe the same thing."<br><br>The updated version of the GI Bill,
 which has now passed the Senate and House, proposes to essentially 
provide a full scholarship to in-state public universities for members 
of the military who have served for at least three years.<br><br>McCain 
supports enacting legislation to expand education benefits for veterans,
 but he, as well as President Bush and much of the military brass, 
oppose this specific measure because they worry it will deplete 
retention rates among those currently serving in the military at a time 
when recruitment efforts are already struggling.</span>
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