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Saturday, August 16, 2008; A05

BURNING BOOK

With the rest of the political universe buzzing about a controversial new book on Sen. Barack Obama, one person is staying quiet: Sen. John McCain.

McCain and his advisers have said nothing about "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," an innuendo-filled, mistake-riddled biography written by Jerome R. Corsi that will debut at the top of the New York Times bestseller list this weekend.

Asked about the book Friday, McCain replied: "Gotta keep your sense of humor." A McCain aide later said he had misheard the question and thought it was about a television ad.

The Obama campaign was having none of it.

"While the smears piled up and the lies were exposed, John McCain spent six days in silence and on the seventh day said we should have a sense of humor," Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said. "John McCain's response to this discredited book speaks volumes -- he is a George Bush candidate running a Karl Rove campaign with a Dick Cheney sense of humor."

Brian Rogers, a McCain spokesman, declined to comment on the book. Aides said the Republican campaign has no intention of coming to Obama's defense on every attack they have no control over -- even though, in the past, McCain has ruled out certain kinds of attacks as inappropriate. In 2004, McCain denounced another Corsi book attacking Sen. John F. Kerry's service on a Swift boat in Vietnam.

In the new book, Corsi describes Obama as a left-wing radical driven by a black-power agenda who has "extensive connections with Islam." Obama is a practicing Christian. His campaign has put out a 40-page rebuttal to the 304-page work, which the author said he wrote in the hopes of defeating Obama.

-- Anne E. Kornblut

Obama finished up his Hawaii vacation with some bodysurfing. He also honored his deceased mother by tossing a white lei into the sea. At another point, Obama visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters. He took his family and some friends snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

Almost every day while Obama was gone, the Republican National Committee sent out an e-mail titled the "Updated Obama Travel Guide" -- mocking his two-hour basketball game, his picnic under a banyan tree and his rental of a large, oceanfront vacation home.

On Friday, the Obama campaign struck back with a mocking e-mail of its own. "Breaking News Alert -- RNC attacks hamburgers, moviegoers and ice cream cones! Puppies and kittens feared to be next!" the press release said. Listing a few examples of the Republican committee's e-mails, it continued: "Apparently the folks at the RNC don't like eating cheeseburgers or ice cream with their families, and are not among the millions of Americans who enjoyed Batman."

-- Anne E. Kornblut

T. Boone Pickens, the oilman turned environmental crusader, met Friday morning with McCain at the Aspen Institute, where he peddled his plan for energy independence.

"It was a free flow of questions and answers," Pickens said afterward.

Less than two hours later, Pickens was the featured guest on a conference call with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), praising the Democrat's environmental work.

"Who would have thought last year that T. Boone Pickens and Senator Harry Reid would be in a boat pulling that oar the same way?" Reid joked on the call.

McCain and Pickens both want to expand drilling off the U.S. coast to reduce reliance on foreign sources. Pickens is also a big proponent of alternative forms of energy, such as wind power. McCain has expressed support for renewable energy, but has also voted against tax credits that the young industries experts have deemed critical.

During the conference call with Reid, Pickens sang the praises of natural gas and urged greater use of nuclear power.

-- Michael D. Shear

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