Obama: A Thin Record For a Bridge Builder

[journalist3072]

Obama: A Thin Record For a Bridge Builder

By David Ignatius
Sunday, March 2, 2008; Page B07

Hillary Clinton has been trying to make a point about Barack Obama that deserves one last careful look before Tuesday's probably decisive Democratic primaries: If Obama truly intends to unite America across party lines and break the Washington logjam, then why has he shown so little interest or aptitude for the hard work of bipartisan government?

This is the real "Where's the beef?" about Obama, and it still doesn't have a good answer. He gives a great speech, and he promises that he can heal the terrible partisan divisions that have enfeebled American politics over the past decade. This is a message of hope that the country clearly wants to hear.

But can he do it? The record is mixed, but it's fair to say that Obama has not shown much willingness to take risks or make enemies to try to restore a working center in Washington. Clinton, for all her reputation as a divisive figure, has a much stronger record of bipartisan achievement. And the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, has a better record still.

-snip-

What I hear from politicians who have worked with Obama, both in Illinois state politics and here in Washington, gives me pause. They describe someone with an extraordinary ability to work across racial lines but not someone who has earned any profiles in courage for standing up to special interests or divisive party activists. Indeed, the trait people remember best about Obama, in addition to his intellect, is his ambition.

Obama worked on some bipartisan issues, such as a state version of the earned-income tax credit, after he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. But he also gained a reputation for skipping tough votes. The most famous example was a key gun control vote that he missed in December 1999 because he was vacationing in Hawaii. The Chicago Tribune blasted him and several other vote-skippers as "gutless." One Chicago pol says that "the myth developed that when there was a tough vote, he was gone."


Entire article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022902784.html

[jody]

1. BO missed "a key gun control vote"! Maybe that's why he's now trying to curry favor with the NRA. nt

[journalist3072]

2. When I look at Obama, I see political cowardice. I've been saying this about him for some time now,

this article just reinforces that view...especially when it talks about him missing key/controversial votes.

[jody]

3. Relax, look into my eyes and repeat "Hope, Change, Hope, Change . . . . . . .

[JimGinPA]

5. When I Look At Him I See The Democratic Nominee For President...

Hopefully as early as Wednesday. And it's due in large part to people like you, in support of Hillary who can not build her up but can only try and tear him down. Kind of pathetic.

[sniffa]

8. I found this book and thought of you

[frazzled]

4. Ignatius asks wrong questions, is short on facts

David Ignatius just doesn't seem to get it. Obama is not trying to "restore a working center in Washington"--not in the sense David Ignatius, from his ingrained perch in the Beltway, thinks of it at least (the "gang of fourteen"). It's not about reaching out across the aisle: it's about opening the process up and then letting the forces of sensibility see what the right answers are.

This is what Obama did when he called for legislation to videotape all police confessions in Illinois--a first in the nation kind of law. It was vehemently opposed not only by Republicans but by the police, prosecutors, etc. But when you laid the facts on the table--proof not only of scores of wrong convictions but honest-to-god torture that had been well documented in the state, Obama was able to get people behind the plan. This wasn't reaching across the aisle to split something down the middle; it was convincing people that this had to be done to save the integrity of the justice system.

I'm unclear as to exactly what Hillary Clinton has done in her tenure in the Senate to create "profiles in courage for standing up to special interests or divisive party activists"; I am sincere in not being able to think of a lot.

Who are the "divisive party activists" David Ignatius is so worked up about anyway? Chris Dodd, who threatened to filibuster a bad intelligence bill?

This op-ed piece is not at all convincing to me.

[FrenchieCat]

6. I'll be waiting for Hillary's accomplishments for her years in the Senate....

Here, I'll post Obama's....and we'll see what's thin. He may not have been in the Senate for long, but I wouldn't call what he has accomplished as thin considering...especially when jutapoxed against Hillary's accomplishments for twice her time in the senate.

And Obama actually got quite a bit accomplished in his 8 years in the Illinois State Senate.

So just because the WAPO prints something with a particular headline, doesn't make what they say so.

So here......

SEN. OBAMA US SENATE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS:
Obama holds assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Veterans' Affairs, and he is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

-------------------------

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In August 2005, he traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. The trip focused on strategies to control the world's supply of conventional weapons, biological weapons, and weapons of mass destruction as a first defense against potential terrorist attacks.<61>

Following meetings with U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq in January 2006, Obama visited Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

He left for his third official trip in August 2006, traveling to South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. In a nationally televised speech at the University of Nairobi, he spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries and corruption in Kenya.

Obama worked with Russ Feingold (D–WI) to eliminate gifts of travel on corporate jets by lobbyists to members of Congress and require disclosure of bundled campaign contributions under the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act", which was signed into law in September 2007.

He joined Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in sponsoring S. 453, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, including fraudulent flyers and automated phone calls, as witnessed in the 2006 midterm elections.

Obama also introduced the "Iraq War De-Escalation Act", a bill to cap troop levels in Iraq, begin phased redeployment, and remove all combat brigades from Iraq before April 2008.<68>

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored with Kit Bond (R-MO) an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges, and calling for a review by the Government Accountability Office following reports that the procedure had been used inappropriately to reduce government costs.

joined Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in introducing legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.A provision from the Obama-Hagel bill was passed by Congress in December 2007 as an amendment to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill.

Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. After passing both houses of Congress with bipartisan majorities, SCHIP was vetoed by President Bush in early October 2007, a move Obama said "shows a callousness of priorities that is offensive to the ideals we hold as Americans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

THESE ARE BARACK'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE U.S. SENATE TO DATE:

** First legislation, the HOPE Act, which increased Pell Grants to $5100, and later joined Senator Kennedy on the Higher Education legislation that passed July 20, by a vote of 78-18. That legislation also included funding for Predominantly Black Colleges to assist with counseling, tutoring and other needs of low income students. It also creates the Teaching Residency Act which will create a school-based teacher preparation program in high needs schools to provide each teacher with a mentor, content instruction, classroom management skills, a master’s degree and state certification, and a 2 year follow-up program.


**The Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006
is an act that requires the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by the Office of Management and Budget.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Funding_Accountability_and_Transparency_Act_of_2006


**The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act
Authored by U.S. Sens. Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Barack Obama (D-IL), the Lugar-Obama initiative expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons. It also expands the State Department's ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction.
Signed into Law on January 11, 2007.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/chrisblask/gGCPsK


**The 2007 Government Ethics Bill
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_17/news/19664-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/9/14/164837/331

** The “Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2125

** S116 - Summer Learning demonstration project to provide summer learning grants and encourage new teaching methods.
http://www.pasesetter.org/demonstrationPrograms/nasd.html

and this one, moved out of committee just a few days ago:
Obama's Global Poverty Act of 2007, passed out of committee just a few days ago
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) today hailed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's passage of the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), which requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses and NGOs. This legislation was introduced in December. Smith and Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) sponsored the House version of the bill (H.R. 1302), which passed the House last September.
http://obama.senate.gov /



Amendments, that have all passed:

S.Amdt.159 to S.Con.Res.18 - To prevent and, if necessary, respond to an international outbreak of the avian flu.

S.Amdt.390 to H.R.1268 - To provide meal and telephone benefits for members of the Armed Forces who are recuperating from injuries incurred on active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.

S.Amdt.670 to H.R.3 - To provide for Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV) refueling capability at new and existing refueling station facilities to promote energy security and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

S.Amdt.808 to H.R.6 - To establish a program to develop Fischer-Tropsch transportation fuels from Illinois basin coal.

S.Amdt.851 to H.R.6 - To require the Secretary to establish a Joint Flexible Fuel/Hybrid Vehicle Commercialization Initiative, and for other purposes.

S.Amdt.1362 to S.1042 - To require a report on the Department of Defense Composite Health Care System II.

S.Amdt.1453 to S.1402 - To ensure the protection of military and civilian personnel in the Department of Defense from an influenza pandemic, including an avian influenza pandemic.

S.Amdt.2301 to H.R.3010 - To increase funds to the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program and to the Office of Special Education Programs of the Department of Education for the purposes of expanding positive behavioral interventions and supports.

S.Amdt.2605 to S.2020 - Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should immediately address issues relating to no-bid contracting.

S.Amdt.2930 to S.2349 - To clarify that availability of legislation does not include nonbusiness days.
S.Amdt.3144 to S.Con.Res.83 - To provide a $40 million increase in FY 2007 for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program and to improve job services for hard-to-place veterans

S. Amdt 41 to S. 1 To require lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs, or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions, and the aggregate amount of the contributions collected or arranged.

----------------------------------------------

Barack has Written a total of 890 Bills and Co-sponsored Another 1096 since he started serving in the U.S. Senate.

[casus belli]

7. Political hit piece.

How difficult would it have been to actually back up statements such as 'One Chicago pol says that "the myth developed that when there was a tough vote, he was gone.'" with a concrete number of present or missed votes while in the state senate. Instead, he chooses to quote an anonymous source and doesn't even bother to do even a superficial examination of the evidence to see if the allegations hold up. Exactly ONE example is cited in the article - hardly a "trend" when you consider the volume of issues he has voted on.

I'm sorry, but there's just too much shit being flung about for me to give any serious consideration to any op/ed or political article that doesn't supply any concrete facts or figures to back up the claims. And before someone asks, yes, that applies to articles about both candidates.