Reality Check on Obama’s Legend
Barack Obama wants people to believe he is a “Washington outsider” who will “change” the way D.C. works. His selling points are that he decries lobbyists and special interests, says his campaign is responsible “to no one but the people,” asserts he has the ability to “get things done,” claims his 2002 anti-Iraq war speech was “courageous” and proved he has good judgment when it comes to walking against the political winds, has made a focal point of his campaign his commitment refocusing the US’ attention Afghanistan, and downplays the “experience” argument by suggesting that Washington experience is the “wrong” type of experience the country needs right now.
That’s his campaign spin. Now here are the facts:
1) On not taking money from DC lobbyists and special interest PACS: This is the type of double-talk “politics of the past” rhetoric he rails against. While his claim is technically true, what he does do is take money from state lobbyists and other big money contributors who have substantial lobbyist machines in DC, like law firms and corporations. In April 2007, the LA Times quoted the Campaign Finance Institute’s Stephen Weissman as pointing out that the distinction Obama makes on lobbyist money is meaningless: “He gets an asterisk that says he is trying to be different. … But overall, the same wealthy interests are funding his campaign as are funding other candidates, whether or not they are lobbyists.” The Capital Eye reported that “[a]ccording to the Center for Responsive Politics, 14 of Obama’s top 20 contributors employed lobbyists this year, spending a total of $16.2 million to influence the federal government in the first six months of 2007.” Obama’s no stranger to being influenced by those campaign donations, either.
2) His ability to “get things done”: Sure he has it, if you consider that every bill he passed as a State Senator was passed his last year in office by a Democrat-controlled legislature. Also, some of the more high profile accomplishments he cites now like the racial profiling/videotape confession legislation were bills where a lot of the legwork had been done by other Democrats in the legislature years prior when it was controlled by Republicans, but were given to Obama by his kingmaker, Senate president Emil Jones, Jr. in order for him to make the “close” (where he often did). When asked about this by the Houston Press’ Todd Spivak, State Senator Rickey Hendon replied, “I don’t consider it bill jacking. … But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book.” This isn’t to suggest that Obama’s achievements in the state senate are totally without merit, but instead to point out they weren’t all done by his leaping tall buildings in a single bound. He had a lot of help from Democrats. Consider this, too: if he wins, he will have a solid Democrat Congress to work with, so the only “reaching out” he’d have to do would be to the few moderate Republicans who have already proven themselves all too eager to vote with liberal Democrats.
3) His courage: Contrary to a recent hyperbolic campaign ad, it wasn’t “courageous” to give his 2002 anti-war speech, primarily because he delivered it at an anti-Iraq war rally. At the last debate, America’s former co-president claimed that it was easy to give that speech, and it wasn’t a gamble for him because he wasn’t in the US Senate and therefore wasn’t in a position of responsibility. Obama’s impassioned reply was, “I was in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign. It was a high-stakes campaign.” Wrong. In reality, Obama did not announce his intentions to run for the US Senate until January 2003.
4) Experience: He downplays the question now, but after he was elected to serve in the US Senate in 2004, he was questioned about running on a national ticket. His response was, “I am a believer in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job. And I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket I would essentially have to start now, before having served a day in the Senate. Now, there are some people who might be comfortable doing that, but I’m not one of those people.” A little over a year later, he definitively stated he would not run for president, and wanted to serve out his full Senate term.
5) His “commitment” to Afghanistan: He believes the US “took its eye off the ball” when we went into Iraq, and promises to refocus on Afghanistan as president. The reality is that since Obama began chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on European Affairs in January 2007, not a single policy hearing has been conducted on anything, Afghanistan or otherwise. When Clinton brought this up at the Cleveland debate, Obama conceded, “I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign. … So it is true that we haven’t had oversight hearings on Afghanistan.” ‘Nuff said.
Does all this mean that Obama is an evil person? Of course it doesn’t. By many accounts, Obama is a likable friendly guy, even when he’s not causing supporters to faint when he speaks. He’s someone you could play poker with, even if you’re not a state lobbyist pal. And he probably does care about the “little guy” — even though he wants to “help” him at the expense of everyone else. All this means that Obama is a mere mortal, a man who is not unlike most other politicians when it comes to, well, playing politics. And while the national media’s mostly given him a free ride the last year or so, if Monday’s combative press conference is any indication, soon he may be wishing he really was a Washington outsider — literally.
Sister Toldjah is a freelance writer who blogs at SisterToldjah.com
“Barry” Obama peaked only a few days before the elections in Texas and Ohio. It would have been to Hillary Clinton’s advantage if the vote were held today. She would most assuredly win by a larger margin. Nonetheless, the Obama train has already left the station—and the Democratic Party is royally shafted. It’s too late to turn back. Obama’s hard core supporters will be enraged and embittered if he is pushed off the train. John McCain is a lucky man. The general election is now his to lose.
I was among the very first individuals to warn that “Barry” Obama was being given a free pass because of the color of skin. Far too many well meaning people were anxious to prove “I’m not a racist.” They refused to ask some hard questions that eventually had to be answered. In back of their mind, they knew that Obama’s resume was weak and he was merely uttering vapid platitudes. The proverbial crap has now hit the fan. The resulting train wreck at the Democratic national convention is going to be very ugly. Violence may even occur. The Democrats have been playing race card politics for decades. They deserve everything that is going to happen to them.
ALL waves break before they reach the shore.
It looks like the big Barack Obama balloon is deflating and I don’t think they can pump it back up again. Which isn’t to say that Hillary can take the nomination away from him, though my bet is that she’ll come close.
It does mean that when Obama runs against McCain, he’ll just be a rookie with many questionable statements and links on his record. He’ll have the hardcore anti-war vote, but that won’t be enough to win, anymore than it was for McGovern in 1972.
…and it wasn’t a gamble for him because he wasn’t in the US Senate and therefore wasn’t in a position of responsibility. Obama’s impassioned reply was, “I was in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign. It was a high-stakes campaign.” Wrong. In reality, Obama did not announce his intentions to run for the US Senate until January 2003.
I’ve had a lot of problems with Barack’s claim to prescience (and “courage”) in opposing intervention in Iraq. It strikes me as pretty thin stuff.
He constantly uses it as an example of his judgment and political creds but, as noted, he wasn’t even in the US Senate in October 2002, to even cast a vote on the Authorization for use of force in Iraq.
Obama is falling apart, and it’s wonderful to see and good for America that he and his racist wife will not occupy the world’s highest position perhaps.
Quotes like this:
“He believes the US ‘took its eye off the ball’ when we went into Iraq…”
are the same ones I hear from 15 year olds. No wonder they support him. Totally naive. He must have gone to Harvard to have that little knowledge on world affairs.
I think obama is very strong politician and we as GOP scarring of him more then we scare clinton and thats why we let him down . but this is game let see finalists .
Hillary Clinton’s battle with Barak Obama is not about who would make a better president, but of affirmative action’s presumption that the outcome of equality can be achieved by the forced replacement of top candidates with brown skin and boob quotas.
While they could never achieve the universal equality now celebrated in Cuba and North Korea, liberal Democrats kept racial discrimination alive in America by shifting its historic intolerance for performance-driven black men and women toward performance-driven white men – and by forcing Americans to accept the consequence of mediocrity in silence to avoid indefensible charges of racism.
As lifelong beneficiaries of affirmative action, Hillary and Barak both suffer from delusions of entitlement. Their implacability is fueled by Hillary’s refusal to become Barak’s bitch, which is as unthinkable as Barak becoming Bill and Hillary’s houseboy. Conservatives have waited decades to see this play out.
As entertaining as this donnybrook is for accomplished conservatives of all genders and races, Democrats are correspondingly pained as they are forced to examine their own mediocrity. Had they promoted success and achievement without quotas since 1964, they would be choosing their candidate based upon accomplishment and character rather than melanin and menses.
So I for one will grab a beer, don my raincoat, and watch the flying mud, tomatoes, and claws. We’re about to witness the fruition of affirmative action in all its glory.
Had they (Democrats) promoted success and achievement without quotas since 1964, they would be choosing their candidate based upon accomplishment and character rather than melanin and menses.
Great line
It has been in the interests of many of the self-anointed leaders of the Democrat party (e.g. Teddy Kennedy) to continuously harp on the inequities of the human condition.
Accomplishment and character are dull by comparison to melodrama and bombast.
Sounds to me like the conservative wingers are worried!
what frank said
Sounds to me like Frank and Dick(less k) are part of the neo-stalinist apparatus that the Democratic People’s Party has evolved into since the great hijacking of 1972. Think of this: John Kennedy would be too far to the right for the Howard Deans of the DNC. He would be hounded out just like Joe Lieberman in Ct.
Barack Obama is a perfect candidate for the new left; malleable, empty headed, totally without conscience or integrity, and full of the need to execute his divine sense of entitlement.
For the son of an African Muslim, whose family ties to American slavery were more likely on the side of the slave raider (most African slavery was conducted by muslims and Arabs, by the way. The Dutch were merely retailing their Arab supplier’s product), to claim any kinship to Americans descended from African slaves is absolutely on a par with the best political delusion spinning by the masters of the trade; Stalin, Castro, Hitler, with an honorable mention to Saint Albert the Gorical.
Mr. Obama will not be able to vote “present” as POTUS. Sorry.
thank would be choosing their candidate based upon accomplishment and character rather than melanin and menses
I think obama is very strong politician +1
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