Issues, talking points: March 2008 Archives

Gallup poll shows Nearly 4 in 10 of those who least want to see Obama elected (39%) say they believe he is "inexperienced" or "not qualified" to be president.

Clinton's highest negative is on people not trusting her at 24%, but still 15% points lower than Obama's "inexperienced/not qualified."

As for McCain, he's got a negative trifecta: 27% on Iraq; 25% too much like Bush; 23 % simply because he's a Republican. Uphill climb all the way.

Clinton can help her likability negatives. There's not much Obama can do about the "inexperience" or "not qualified" quotient.

what's interesting, and almost never discussed, is that he built his entire legislative record in Illinois in a single year.

State Senator Emil Jones Jr. "I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator."...Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.

So how has Obama repaid Jones?

Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district.

CIVIL LIBERTIES

from about.com

DEFENSE

From Peter Daou of HRC campaign

The Democrat who eventually faces Sen. McCain will require a set of skills and experiences that enables them to:

a) compete on a broad playing field; 
b) confront and beat back a GOP attack machine waiting to tear them down; 
c) put forth and defend core Democratic ideas - and ideals - such as universal health care; 
d) build a solid coalition for victory; 
e) and importantly, stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain on national security.

Hillary excels on each of these fronts

here is mp3 with call with generals and senior defense officials that support hillary

ECONOMICS

Great Mother Jones article comparing Hillary and Barack's top 10 economic policies:

Housing/Subprime, Tax policy, Seniors/Social Security/Retirement Policy, College Education, Worker Pay/Sick Benefits, High Wage/Green Job Growth, Health Care, Corporate Tax Policy, Credit/Lending Policy, Family-Oriented Policy.

Clinton Beats Obama 5:3 on economic issues. (wins in bold)

LGBT Rights

Obama refuses to take photos with Mayor of San Francisco or be in same room with Mayor b/c of fear of association with LGBT rights. read huffpo article here.

HEALTHCARE

Obama's poor judgement/unbold stance on healthcare

He doesn't have everyone in the system, thus it is expensive and those with health insurance end up paying for those that don't pay.

Obama's Judgment and Empty Record by Joe Wilson from Huffpo

summary:

• Barack often implies (and sometimes outright lies) that he was in the midst of a "high stakes" Senate campaign when he gave the speech. This is not true. He gave the speech BEFORE he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. The truth is that he was running for re-election to his Illinois state senate seat -- and representing the most liberal district in Illinois.
• After his arrival in the U.S. Senate, but interestingly BEFORE he started running for President, Barack stated on numerous occassions that he doesn't know how he would have voted in the Senate because he wasn't there and didn't have access to the same information they did.
• When he finally did have a chance to actually prove his sound judgment on Afghanistan as chairman of the senate subcommittee responsible for overseeing for NATO and Europe, he neglected his responsibility completely -- failing to hold a single hearing in the 14 months he held his chairmanship.
• On Iran, Barack has waffled on whether to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. He first co-sponsored a bill that contained language stating exactly that, but later claims to have opposed the Kyl-Lieberman resolution proposing the same thing (a resolution that he conveniently was not present to vote on).full article here by Joe Wilson on Huffpo

Media Biased towards Obama?

 Media say "Hillary is a fashion victim and Obama is cool." Us Weekly is owned by Wenner Media, publisher of Rolling Stone, which published a profile of Mr. Obama last year but has not had an article about Mrs. Clinton in this campaign. 

Obama Missing In Action in his Senate duties.

How many bills has Obama passed? ONE. Barack Obama has sponsored 129 bills since Jan 4, 2005, of which 120 haven't made it out of committee (Poor) and 1 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers). Obama MISSING IN ACTION. Too busy running for president to get ANY senate experience Barack Obama missed 201 of 1121 votes (18%) since Jan 6, 2005 (Exceedingly Poor relative to peers). source govtrack Hillary Clinton missed 175 of 2429 votes (7%) since Jan 23, 2001 (Poor relative to peers). Hm. Hillary with 2x the experience in senate has missed FEWER votes.

NAFTA

-gate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvCEFmKAoB4

10.07 Obama Says He Will Vote for NAFTA Expansion

On RACE

"How Barack Obama played the race card and blamed Hillary Clinton" from The New Republic, Sean Wilentz

Reverend Wright

great post on http://koreanpower999.wordpress.com/

Barack Obama transcends ___________________? (fill in the blank) March 17, 2008

Obama's history as an Illinois state senator

For 6 years of his 7 year tenure "Obama backed legislation that went nowhere; bill after bill died in committee. During those six years, Obama, too, would have had difficulty naming any legislative achievements."

In 2002, IL Dems controlled both legislative chambers and the governor's office. Then "Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills."
"I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "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."

"On the stump, Obama has frequently invoked his experiences as a community organizer on the Chicago South Side in the early 1990s....

"as a state senator, Obama evaded leadership on a host of critical community issues, from historic preservation to the rapid demolition of nearby public-housing projects, according to many South Siders.

"Even many of his staunchest supporters, such as Black, still resent the strong-arm tactics Obama employed to win his seat in the Illinois Legislature. Obama hired fellow Harvard Law alum and election law expert Thomas Johnson to challenge the nominating petitions of four other candidates .... he knocked off all the contenders. He won the seat unopposed."

source:Barack Obama and Me, Houston Press

 the quarrel between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton came down to a matter of direct objects. Both "reject" and "denounce" are transitive verbs -- they act upon a direct object -- but the candidates weren't talking about the same objects. The object of Mr. Obama's denunciation was Mr. Farrakhan's opinions, particularly his anti-Semitic comments, whereas Mrs. Clinton was urging her opponent to reject the minister's support. The thrust of Mrs. Clinton's challenge was that her opponent was merely highlighting a particular disagreement with Mr. Farrakhan, while still accepting his -- and his organization's -- backing.

To make the distinction even sharper, suppose, hypothetically, that Mr. Farrakhan had given money to the Obama campaign. In that situation, could Mr. Obama argue that denouncing Mr. Farrakhan's views was just as good as rejecting his donation? Presumably not, as he would still face calls to return the check.source: NYT, The Object of His Rejection, Adam Freedman