Senator Obama has touted his “experience” for the position of American President. Yet his record in the Illinois legislature, US Senate and on the campaign trail says otherwise.
As a member of the Illinois State Senate, Obama voted present an astounding 130 times. Thats not voting for or against a bill, thats merely saying he was in the building. This was Obama’s way of being in office and not having to take a tough/unpopular stand 130 times.
Although a present vote is not unusual in Illinois, Mr. Obama’s use of it is being raised as he tries to distinguish himself as a leader who will take on the tough issues, even if it means telling people the “hard truths” they do not want to hear(1) .
As a member of the US Senate, Obama has spent a 304 days as a senator (768 days total) before deciding to run a campaign. Thats 304 days the senate was in session. This, after winning election in 2004, that Obama said -
“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 may be people comfortable doing that. I’m not one of those people.”
Its amazing that in under 768 days as a US Senator Obama had acquired all of the knowledge he needed to be a United States President.
Obama has been, as little as a year ago, criticized by his own party’s members for a lack of experience and calling him out on running for a position he himself said he was not qualified to run for by most notably, his biggest critic and now running mate, Joseph Biden. Biden has also told the public that Obama is not ready and will be tested by a manufactured threat to “test the mettle of this man”. Obama has since said that Biden was being overly wordy and that Biden meant that both he and McCain would be tested. This is a lie. Biden stated it as it was. Had Biden, a seasoned politico, of wanted to say no matter who is elected he will be tested by the international community, he would have said that. Biden knows the value and impact words have, so does Obama.
As a United States Senator, Obama has voted with his party 96% of the time(2)(3) . This is an amazing and telling fact for a candidate who puts out there to the American people that he is a candidate of change. Voting the same as your party members that often is not change at all. Its almost a clone of the party line. Not that McCain’s voting across party lines is markedly better, it is still better than Obama’s.
As a candidate for Change, Obama says that he is for the poor. He is the one who has proposed “Spreading the Wealth” to the benefit of lower income Americans. Yet even in his personal life, Obama has not given to the poor in a manner that the leader of this great change would have been expected to do so all along. According to published reports Obama has donated as little as $1,050 to charity before running for the Senate up to $240,000 in 2007 after Obama decided to run for president(4) . The Obama’s have also seen their personal wealth skyrocket since Senator Obama’s election to the senate in 2004.
In 2004, before going to the Senate, the Obamas reported $207,647 in taxable income. That compared with an overall taxable income of $1.6 million in 2005 and $983,826 in 2006. As a United States senator, Mr. Obama earned $157,082 in 2006.
The bulk of that increased income was from royalties from Mr. Obama’s books, including $1.2 million earned in 2005 from the re-release of “Dreams From My Father” and $551,000 in 2006 from “The Audacity of Hope.”
Obama has also stated that he is for teaching kindergarten age children “Sex ed”. Obama told Planned Parenthood that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is “age-appropriate,” is “the right thing to do.”(5) .
When Obama’s campaign was asked by ABC News to explain what kind of sex education Obama considers “age appropriate” for kindergarteners, the Obama campaign pointed to an Oct. 6, 2004 story from the Daily Herald in which Obama had “moved to clarify” in his Senate campaign that he “does not support teaching explicit sex education to children in kindergarten. . . The legislation in question was a state Senate measure last year that aimed to update Illinois’ sex education standards with ‘medically accurate’ information . . . ‘Nobody’s suggesting that kindergartners are going to be getting information about sex in the way that we think about it,’ Obama said. ‘If they ask a teacher ‘where do babies come from,’ that providing information that the fact is that it’s not a stork is probably not an unhealthy thing. Although again, that’s going to be determined on a case by case basis by local communities and local school boards.’”
Yes, that is sure a change. As a parent I do not want the schools teaching my 5 year old about sex. Yes, I have a 5 year old in kindergarten. Teaching her about appropriate touching, where babys come from, etc. is my job. Not the school or states job.
While we’re on the subject of sex, Obama is also very pro abortion. Obama has even gone so far as to say that should either of his daughters make a “mistake”, he does not want them “punished” with a baby. In the next sentence he said he didnt want them “punished with an STD at the age of 16″. Later Obama changed his view and said abortion is a difficult issue.(6) This is sad. Obama makes a passioned statement and then backs off it. Do I want there to be a ban on abortions, no. But either you say what you mean, or shut up. Don’t say what is convenient at the moment and then change your mind the next. Best action is not to answer. I want a leader who leads, not makes a personal or policy decision one moment and then backs off it the next. Have your ducks in a row.
Obama, being a staunch Christian and having sat in church every Sunday at the 11am service, as well as being a now seasoned politician who knows that words carry weight(7) makes a simple gaffe. But is saying, “Let’s not play games. What I was suggesting – you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you’re absolutely right that that has not come up.” It was not until he was corrected by the interviewer did Obama realize his mistake.(8) What does that mean? Freudian slip?
Obama is also a danger to U.S. National Security. This is not some Right Wing theory, this is Obama in his own words.
“I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat systems,” stated Obama(9) .
Lets look at recent, and real threats -
- North Korea – New, Long Range missiles
- Iran – New, Long Range Missiles Tested
- Russia – New ICBM, Topol-M
- China – Anti satellite Missiles Tested
Some of those developmental programs that Obama is most likely looking to cut are the Anti Ballistic Missile system(10)(11) , the F-35 system(12) and others. By halting the development of nuclear weapons, Obama leaves only 400 +/- nuclear weapons in our arsenal. Older weapons become more volatile over time and are not intended to be kept in-service indefinitely.
Obama is also a person in a constant state of “change”. Here are a few of his changing views -
Obama has not come though for the women of his party. After defeating Hillary Clinton, Obama had the opportunity before the Denver convention to select a female as his running mate. Obama failed to do it. He was not limited to picking Hillary, he had a number of strong Democratic party leaders to choose from. Speaking of Obama’s treatment of women, Obama staffers make only 77 cents on the dollar compared to men(13) .
Obama the rebel wants to remake Washington and tear down the old system. Yet, for his running mate Obama chose an old, seasoned Washington insider, Joseph Biden. Obama has also chosen well seasoned political advisers in the form of -
- David Axelrod. Chief political strategist. A former Chicago Tribune reporter and longtime Democratic consultant.
- Susan Rice. World Affairs. In the Clinton administration, Susan Rice served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
- Austan Goolsbee. Economics. University of Chicago professor Austan Goolsbee considers himself mostly a problem solver rather than an ideologue.
- Valerie Jarrett. Chicago businesswoman, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s deputy chief of staff, commissioner in the city’s Planning and Development Department and went on to chair the Chicago Transit Board.
- Jeffrey Liebman. Economics. 1998 and 1999 as the White House aide coordinating the Clinton administration’s Social Security proposals.
- Christina and David Romer. Economics. Professors at the University of California (Berkeley), jointly hold one of six spots on the academic committee of economists that decides when recessions begin and end.
- Daniel Tarullo.Tarullo worked for Bill Clinton for six years, the last three in the White House as the president’s point man on international economic policy.
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar. Immegration,Criminal justice and national security issues. A veteran of President Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, was a top Treasury Department official from 1997 to 1999.
- Preeta Bansal. Immigration. 1993-96 veteran of the Clinton White House and Justice Department.
- Tony Lake . National security. National security adviser from 1993 to 1997, and as the president’s envoy for negotiations that ended the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
- John Brennan. National Security. President and chief executive officer of the Analysis Corp., an intelligence contractor in McLean, Va.. Chairs the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a professional association.
Those are just a few of Obama’s advisor’s. Since Obama is seeking change, how many have prior Washington experience under the Clinton administration?
We are at an political as well as economic cross roads. Adding more taxes, even onto the “rich” will not help. Taxing them will cause them to stop hiring workers or to move elsewhere. Also, once a tax in enacted, even just on those “rich” enough to afford it, how long until that tax is expanded to lower incomes? A tax never dies, it just expands.
With money getting tighter Obama wants to expand government and its roll in your life. I am a moderate who believes in a smaller government, not a larger big brother. Either you make government work on the money it has now, trim it back to make it more efficient or you are wasting your time to make it bigger and need more money to operate.
We need a fiscally responsible president, not a president who will tax more, spend more, intrude more and get less done for the people.
Obama is not seeking change. His record in both Illinois and the US Senate show he is anything but change oriented. Like any politico, Obama seeking to get elected. Its that simple. He is an elitist who intends to change America into his view, not ours.
I am not Pro McCain, I am Anti-Obama.
Start Footnotes
- Source article here. [↩]
- See Obama’s full record here. [↩]
- Compared to McCain who is at 88.1% . The total for Obama is nearly 9% points higher than the Democratic average. McCain is 8% points higher than the Republican average. McCain is tied with Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). The closest Democrat to McCain in voting across party lines is Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) who is at 88.9% at the high end and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) at 86.4% at the low end. [↩]
- See New York Times article here. [↩]
- Source of quote. [↩]
- See video of comment here and video and commentary here. [↩]
- After all, 20 years with Pastor Wright and all Write said were “words”… I digress. [↩]
- See video here. [↩]
- See Source Article Here. [↩]
- Currently under active development by the US Air Force. [↩]
- In use by Russia, Israel and India. [↩]
- Called the Joint Strike Fighter and Lightning II. Will replace some 4000 older tactical aircraft and will most likely also be sold, at a profit, to allies. [↩]
- See quote source here. [↩]
End Footnotes.
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