We can't afford NOT to put this man in office!

[hoarsewhisperer]

I wish Perot would run again

[Highwayman]

Originally Posted by Highwayman

Can someone list the accomplishments that Obama has made during his career in public office?

I guess not.

So far we have Obama isn’t as big of a liar as the other guy. I guess that reinforces the inexperienced argument.

[Sherry_Giskie]

Originally Posted by Highwayman

Can someone list the accomplishments that Obama has made during his career in public office?

Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In | Meet the Candidate

moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Political Career

It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.
In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.
In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.
As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.
Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, live on Chicago's South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.

[Army_of_One]

Obama Ranked Most Liberal Senator in 2007
It may or may not be a trophy that he wants to pick up right now.

The National Journal is out with its 27th Annual vote ratings and it ranked Sen. Barack Obama as the most liberal Senator in the entire Senate. (His first year he was 16th, and last year he was 10th.) But he wasn't alone in his shift to the left. Sen. Hillary Clinton was 16th herself in 2007 after being 32nd in 2006.

And there really wasn't much room between them. The Journal notes of the 267 measures on which both senators cast votes in 2007, the two differed on only 10.

The ranking can sometimes be used as a weapon by opponents. In 2004 Republicans used Sen. John Kerry's liberal rankings against him. And some Republicans are attacking Obama now for being too liberal.

At a January 16 Republican National Committee meeting, Karl Rove, President Bush's former campaign architect, called Obama "a straight-down-the-line United States Senate national Democrat." Rove pointedly added: "Nonpartisan ratings say that he has a more liberal and a more straight-party voting record than Senator Clinton does. Pretty hard to do."
But the liberal ranking also comes after a prominent British magazine labeled Obama the ideal "conservative" candidate for America, and after several prominent conservative pundits have tossed bouquets his way.

[Army_of_One]

He voted against a bill that would add penalties for crimes committed as a part of gang activity and against a bill that would make it a criminal offense for accused gang members, free on bond or probation, to associate with other gang members. In 1999, he was the only state senator to oppose a bill that prohibited early prison release for criminal sexual offenders.


As a state senator in Illinois he twice voted “present” on an Illinois ban on partial-birth abortion and was “absent” on a third vote. In 2001, he voted “present” on a parental notification bill for minors and in 2002 he voted against a bill to protect babies that survived failed abortions.

Obama introduced the “Bernardin Amendment,” which would have inserted language from a pastoral letter by the late Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernardin into a universal health care program. The amendment contained Bernardin’s line: “Health care is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity, and there is an obligation for society to ensure that every person is able to realize that right.” The bill, which did not pass, was to be funded with money taken from tobacco companies.

When speaking out against various tax cuts, Obama has likened the “Ownership Society”—which entails such things as personalized Social Security accounts, health savings accounts and school choice—to “social Darwinism.” In a November 2005 speech to the National Women’s Law Center, he said: “The idea here is to give everyone one big refund on their government—divvy it up into some tax breaks, hand them out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own unemployment insurance, education, and so forth.”

In November 2003, he told the Chicago Sun-Times that if he were in the Senate he would not have voted for the President’s $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations package for Iraq and Afghanistan.


So which of these Obama votes impress you the most. The income redistribution, the soft attitude on sex offenders and gang members? Him voting for partial birth abortions? Maybe it's the part that he would have voted to defund our troops that are in harms way? I'm just curious.

[wordsmythe]

Keep grasping at those straws fellas.

All I can say is if you were all pumped up about a 51% "mandate" in 2004 from the people you just wait and see what happens this year.

The Dem voters are coming out in droves now while the republicans stay home.

The Dem voters have the difficult choice of picking from 2 candidates they really like while the Republicans have nobody they do like.

This is gonna get interesting.

[wordsmythe]

Originally Posted by Army_of_One

In November 2003, he told the Chicago Sun-Times that if he were in the Senate he would not have voted for the President’s $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations package for Iraq and Afghanistan.


So which of these Obama votes impress you the most. The income redistribution, the soft attitude on sex offenders and gang members? Him voting for partial birth abortions? Maybe it's the part that he would have voted to defund our troops that are in harms way? I'm just curious.

That one does.

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by wordsmythe

Keep grasping at those straws fellas.

All I can say is if you were all pumped up about a 51% "mandate" in 2004 from the people you just wait and see what happens this year.

The Dem voters are coming out in droves now while the republicans stay home.

The Dem voters have the difficult choice of picking from 2 candidates they really like while the Republicans have nobody they do like.

This is gonna get interesting.

You are right...It is going to be an exciting election regardless of who wins. Dems are turning out in droves for the primary and will probably do the same for the general election. The Republicans just seem flat. I think it's because there isn't a candidate that sets them on fire and engenders what true convservatism is. It could spell disaster but we'll see. Hill and BO are PRETTY FREAKING LIBERAL...and there are a lot of people in the country that are not ready for that. On the other hand though there is a HUGE base of Dems that are frothing at the mouth with their hand out waiting for the Dems to get in charge so they have a free ride.

[wordsmythe]

Originally Posted by Army_of_One

You are right...It is going to be an exciting election regardless of who wins. Dems are turning out in droves for the primary and will probably do the same for the general election. The Republicans just seem flat. I think it's because there isn't a candidate that sets them on fire and engenders what true convservatism is. It could spell disaster but we'll see. Hill and BO are PRETTY FREAKING LIBERAL...and there are a lot of people in the country that are not ready for that. On the other hand though there is a HUGE base of Dems that are frothing at the mouth with their hand out waiting for the Dems to get in charge so they have a free ride.

After 8 years of ultra freaking reactionary republicans this kind of reaction is to be expected.

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by wordsmythe

After 8 years of ultra freaking reactionary republicans this kind of reaction is to be expected.

The good thing is after 4 years of BO/Hillary tax increases and such people will be begging for a Republican back in office.