Barack Obama took seven questions and one statement at his Youngstown, Ohio, town hall from - as Obama described it - a “feisty” crowd of about 2,400. He deftly fielded questions on term limits, education, veterans, and high speed rail development. And then, more than an hour into the event, announced he had time for just two more questions.

Obama called on the older gentleman standing near the top of the bleachers and noted he expected a good question based on the enthusiasm with which the man waved his hand to get the candidate’s attention.

“Quick statement,” the man began. “We the Democrats are the party of inclusion. I think what we need to do starting today is to do this – let’s try to systematically educate the opposition - rather than systemically indoctrinate them,” he continued. His bone of contention - reassessing v. flip flop. “I’m tired of hearing that word. So at this point in time, we are what you call a reassessment person. When change happens, you are not afraid of making that transition, which you would remiss to do otherwise,” he said.

As the crowd listened intently, the man added, “Now, when I’m saying this about Senator Obama, guys believe me. I’ve studied this gentleman. Two key elements of character that he has – I mean this from the heart. This gentleman here not only speaks with empathy, but he listens with his eyes, his ears, and his heart, but intellectually as well. Last but not least let me just say if this is our next president, he will in fact lead not only the Democratic Party, but this entire country. From a culture of criticism to a culture of recognition.”

With that, the audience cheered and Obama grinned. “That was pretty good. I might have to…” Obama said as the crowd continued to applaud the man’s assessment.

“What’s your name, sir?” Obama asked the 68-year-old man.

“OK, Mr. Burgess! He can speak,” Obama said. “I might have to put Mr. Burgess on Fox News!” he joked. The crowd roared and Obama added, “I’ll put Mr. Burgess up against Sean Hannity. He’ll tear him up.”

Obama has not appeared on Hannity and Colmes to date.

At his town hall in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, today, Barack Obama was asked, “What does life mean to you?”

I’ve been covering the Democrat since last October, during which time I’ve heard him address hundreds and what’s seemed like thousands of questions on foreign policy, the economy, and health care - but this one has never come up.

“Oh goodness,” Obama began. Stammering, he continued, “You don’t know where to start on a question like that. Let me just say a couple of things. Right now what I think about most are my two daughters - who are, who are 10 and 7,” he said, adding, “And not that I’m biased, but they are perfect in all ways.”

The young man who asked the question admitted to asking ex-candidate John Edwards the same soul searching question months ago. “When I was your age,” Obama told the young man, “I thought life was all about me. And how do make my way in the world and how do I become successful and how do I get the things that I want. And now life for me revolves around those two girls. And I think about what kind of place am I leaving for them. And  you know look, the truth is that Michelle and I have been incredibly blessed and so you know as long as God’s looking over my girls, they are going to be okay.”

Obama the politician then segued into a bit loftier subject. “I also think about what kind of country are they living in. Are they living in a county where there’s a huge gap between a few who are wealthy and a whole bunch of people who are struggling everyday? Are they living in a county that is still divided by race, are they living in a country where because they’re girls they don’t have as much opportunity as boys do? Are they living in a country where we are hated around the world because we don’t cooperate with other countries as affectively as we should? Are they living in a country where they are threatened by terrorism and a nuclear explosion could happen in a major American city? Are they living in a country in which because of a lack of sensible energy we are not only ransoming our future, but we’re also threatening the very livelihood of the planet?” he wondered aloud.

“And so right now what life means to me is that everyday I wake up trying to figure out how can I secure their futures and the futures of all children….How can I make sure that we are giving a planet and a country to them that is better than the one we’ve got? And you know so I guess what I’ve discovered is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re somehow giving yourself to something larger to yourself. And that’s part of my Christian faith. It’s also part of the reason I am running for president of the United States,” he concluded.

For the second time, John McCain has proposed holding joint town halls with the Democratic nominee during the course general election campaign. For the second time the Obama camp responded positively to the idea.

“As Barack Obama has said before, the idea of joint town halls is appealing and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country.  We would recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.  But, having just secured our party’s nomination, this is one of the many items we will be addressing in the coming days and look forward to discussing it with the McCain campaign,” said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Of course the idea of a Lincoln-Douglas moderator-less debate was originally Hillary Clinton’s idea.

Yesterday Barack Obama published a statement on his former pastor’s incendiary sermons on the Huffington Post blog and conducted interviews on the three cable networks. Today, he brought it up the hot topic on the campaign trail at a high school in Plainfield, Indiana - an effort to take ownership of the problematic issue rather than let it fester on its own. At times like these when our divisions become the focus, it is important to remember that we can come together as a nation in spite of the things that divide us, Obama told the racially diverse crowd.

Senator Obama waited until the end of his Indiana town hall meeting to bring up the sore subject. He began by recalling Bobby Kennedy’s speech in Indianapolis after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. Read his remarks, in full, below.

“[RFK] said at that moment of anguish, he said we’ve got a choice in taking the rage and bitterness and disappointment and letting it fester and dividing us further, so that we no longer see each other as Americans, but we see each other as separate and apart and at odds with each other. Or we can take a different path that says we have stories, but we have common dreams and common hopes and we can decide to walk down this road together and remake America once again. You know, I think about those words often, especially in the last several weeks because this campaign started on the basis that we are one America. As I said in my speech in the convention in 2004, there’s no black America, white America, or Asian America or Latino America. There’s the United States of America.

“I noticed over the last several weeks, the forces of division have started to raise their ugly heads again. I’m not here to cast blame or point fingers because everybody senses that there’s been this shift. You’ve been seeing it in the reporting. You’ve been seeing it in some of the commentary of supporters on all sides. Most recently, you’ve heard some statements of my former pastor that were incendiary and that I completely reject although I knew him and know him as somebody in my church who talked to me about Jesus and family and friendships, but clearly if all I knew was those statements I saw on television, I’d be shocked. And it reminds me that we’ve got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country. We’ve got a lot of pent up anger and bitterness and misunderstanding. But what I continue to believe in is that this country wants to move beyond these kinds of divisions. This country wants something different,” he said. The crowd of some 3,000 began to cheer and chant, “Yes we can,” a mantra many Obama supporters have repeated since the candidate used it throughout his speech following his New Hampshire primary defeat.

“I just want to say to everybody here that as somebody who was born into a diverse family, as somebody who has little pieces of America all in me, I will not allow us to lose this moment where we can not forget about our past and not ignore the very real forces of racial inequality and gender inequality and the other things that divide us. I don’t want us to forget that we have to acknowledge them and lift them up. When people say things like what my former pastor said, you have to speak our forcefully against them, but what you have to also do is to remember what Bobby Kennedy said that it is within our power to join together to truly make a United States of America.

“And that we have to do not just so our children live in a more peaceful country and a more peaceful world, but that is also the only way that we’re going to deliver on the big issues that we’re facing in this country. We can’t solve health care – divided. We cannot create an economy that works when we’re divided. We can’t fight terrorism divided. We can’t care for our veterans divided. We have to come together. That’s what this campaign is about, that’s why you’re here, that’s why we’re going to win this election,” he concluded.

During the question and answer period of a Portsmouth, NH, town hall event tonight, Senator Barack Obama told voters that the reason why there is an argument that the country is not ready for an Obama presidency is because a certain Democratic candidate for president has “pushed” the argument.  That unnamed  candidate (but most certainly Senator Clinton) “starts off with a 47% disapproval rating,” he said. “The notion that a viability or an electability argument is being made by somebody who starts off with almost half the country not being able to vote for them, doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Welcome to America,” someone in the crowd yelled out.

Here are his full remarks:

“I keep defying this notion that somehow the American people are not ready for me. That just is not borne out. And right now, among all Democratic nominees or Democratic candidates, I do better in a general election matchup than the other candidates. And this argument is being pushed by the way of a candidate who starts off with a 47% disapproval rating. You know, so, I’m not going to mention names, but I mean, the notion that a viability or an electability argument is being made by somebody who starts off with almost half the country not being able to vote for them, doesn’t make sense. But, you know, in the end, don’t vote for your fears - I’m stealing this line from my buddy (Massachusetts Governor) Deval Patrick, who stole a bunch of lines from me when he ran for the governorship. But it’s the right one. Don’t vote for your fears; vote for your aspirations. Vote what you believe.”