What accomplishments?
Labels: 2008
posted by Matt Friedeman at
5:16 PM
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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It took me 38 seconds to Google Obama and find out this about his career:
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Obama passed legislation with Republican Senator Jim Talent to give gas stations a tax credit for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps. The tax credit covers 30 percent of the costs of switching one or more traditional petroleum pumps to E85, which is an 85 percent ethanol/15 percent gasoline blend.
-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.
-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.
-Obama created the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families in 2000 and successfully sponsored a measure to make the credit permanent in 2003. The law offered about $105 million in tax relief over three years.
-Obama joined forces with former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) to pass the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned gifts from lobbyists. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations.
-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.
-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.
-Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting...
- In the U.S. Senate, Obama introduced the STOP FRAUD Act to increase penalties for mortgage fraud and provide more protections for low-income homebuyers, well before the current subprime crisis began.
-Obama sponsored legislation to combat predatory payday loans, and he also was credited with lobbied the state to more closely regulate some of the most egregious predatory lending practices.
-Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.
-Obama worked to pass a number of laws in Illinois and Washington to improve the health of women. His accomplishments include creating a task force on cervical cancer, providing greater access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and helping improve prenatal and premature birth services.
-Obama has introduced and helped pass bipartisan legislation to limit the abuse of no-bid federal contracts.
-Obama and Senator Feingold (D-WI) took on both parties and proposed ethics legislation that was described as the "gold standard" for reform. It was because of their leadership that ending subsidized corporate jet travel, mandating disclosure of lobbyists' bundling of contributions, and enacting strong new restrictions of lobbyist-sponsored trips became part of the final ethics bill that was signed into law.
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So he's upset Clinton huggers like Chris Matthews and his buddies from the 1960s. Maybe he can restore the Democratic Party as the home of the working class.
Interesting. I randomly picked two of these accomplishments and dug into them. Both can be traced to www.barackobama.com--word for word. Not exactly an unbiased source. I wonder how much spin there is on these.
"Not exactly an unbiased source."
I've never come across an unbiased source on anything.
It's true that Obama didn't solve all the world's problems as a junior sentator but to say that he has not accomplished anything isn't true either.
I think the one thing that most people can agree on is that Obama and McCain are both better than the brain dead moron who is in the White House now.
Bias has nothing to do with accuracy. Funny how experience becomes such a big issue now, but was not with George Bush. Bush had no foreign policy experience and it turned out to be to his detriment because it seems like he sat back and let others handle that department. It is also funny how conservatives think Reagan's words were so effective, but words do not mean anything where Obama is concerned. Experience does not always mean success. You could have years of experience and be terrible at something. Obama is obviously competent. Most jobs anyone takes are not exactly like the job he/she previously had. But if a person has the ability to think critically and react, that are probably capable. It is really sad to the see the extent that people are going to dismiss Obama. On Matt's show during his absence, callers were calling Obama the anti-Christ. On top of that, still promoting the Muslim angle as if he has not explained that in detail. It just goes back to a belief I have, you are not a good enough Christian if you are not a Conservative(at least they think that).
I would like to make a personal challenge to Matt, not honestly expecting a response. Matt, why is your pro-life perspective better than anyone elses? I have heard you say that you personally think that Ronald Reagan was the greatest President of this century. Is that merely because he had the same pro-life position as you do? My perspective on Reagan is that it was not very Pro-life to announce his Presidential ambitions in Philadelphia, MS. I feel it was very anti-Pro-life to disrespect the lives of those civil rights workers whose lives were taken, just to garner support from southerners and "states rights" folks. I also think it was not Pro-life for Reagan to tell biographer Laurence Barrett that the 1965 Voting Rights Act was "humiliating to the South". A lot of people lost their lives to get the right to vote. I do not think it was Pro-life of Reagan to attempt to reverse long standing policies of denying tax-exempt status to private schools that practice racial discrimination and grant an exemption to Bob Jones University. A lot of people lost their lives because of racial discrimination. According to www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/, I do not find it very Pro-life for the Reagan Administration under the direction of Oliver North to have knowledge of if not consent to the sell of drugs in African American communities to fund the Contras. I do not find it very Pro-life for Reagan behind the leadership of Jesse Helms(R-N.C.) to have opposed the Martin Luther King Holiday. Helms questioning whether King was important enough to recieve the honor. Martin Luther King represents every person in America that struggled to gain Civil Rights, especially those who lost their lives. So, my question to you is, why is your Pro-Life position better than mine? If Reagan had made a major campaign speech in a Pro-abortion atmosphere, you would hold that against him. If Reagan had called a Pro-life bill humiliating, would you give him a pass? If Reagan had opposed a holiday to honor a Pro-life hero, would you still be behind him? Maybe Reagan is your hero, but he does not rank at the top for me. Is your Pro-life position better than mine?
Back on topic. It is a cute thing to do, but you could ask callers into the show to name five accomplishments of Trent Lott who was in the Senate for decades and I bet they would have a problem doing it. Let's try that experiment and see if you will go so far to insult or incenuate that your listeners are "googled" eyed over Republicans. The only accomplishments conservatives know of McCains are the ones they do not like.
This guy in the video had no answers to the questions asked of him, and guess what? Obama is the same way! If he had to face real people asking real questions, he would be just as blank faced as well. Maybe someone should take it to him like this man did, and maybe that stupid smile would be wiped off his face....
annonymous,
In all fairness, you know that if you ask just about anyone about their candidate they can not name 5 pieces of legislation. The only ones conservatives know of McCain's are the ones they do not like. Your tone is interesting. First, I think you know that Obama would do well with answering a question. But why would you want to "wipe" a smile off of his face. Sounds a little personal.
aedney,
you seem to be equating the SENATOR in the video to your average guy or gal supporting the candidates. the real problem is not merely that average folk can't name a single obama accomplishment but, rather, that this SENATOR - a fellow senator who is endorsing obama - can name not one single accomplishment worthy of being mentioned. personally, i find it interesting when some of his accomplishments are mentioned such as "he was elected senator", "he's running for president", etc. wow!
for the record:
i don't think he's the antichrist. but he has become quite messianic. if i were him, i would worry about people falling out because i'm in the room, wailing and hugging one another because i'm speaking, and the likes.
Adam, if you voted for Bush, what were his qualifications for president?
anonymous,
first of all, i'm not one of his co-workers, which was the entire point of my post. please, learn to read attentively. but, although i'm far too young to have personally remembered most of his accomplishments per se, i can share with you some of his qualifications going into office... he was a successful business man for the greater part of three decades, gaining the experience as a business ownerfor during some of this time. also, he was the governor of texas (one of the largest economies of the world, please note) for six years. now, concerning qualifications, i think our president certainly have quite a better resume than barry does at this point in his life. again, please note, i was not one of bush's employees nor co-workers. the senator in this video is a co-worker who is endorsing him and cannot name a single obama accomplishment of which to proudly speak. basically, the entire time he has been in office, he has been campaigning for a white house run. i remember the night he was elected to the senate hearing everyone discuss, "is this man presidential? could he one day make a run? he's so slick and impressive. just look at how everyone just loves him. he sure is grand!"
I don't know what being one of Bush's "co-worker's" has to do with making a political judgement on him or evaluating what qualifications he has. I'll address a few things here:
1. You wrote: "[George W. Bush] was a successful business man for the greater part of three decades..."
A failure sustained by his father's cronies is a better description.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbusto_Energy
If you follow the money that Bush has "made" over the years you will find that his daddies friends were always there to help him.
2. As governor Bush executed 152 people and proclaimed June 10th Jesus Day in Texas. I don't know if you remember or not but Karla Faye Tucker, a repentant Born -Again Christain had W. sign her death warrent. He even made fun of her pleas for mercy.
3.Today Bush has a 19% approval rating. Nixon's was 24% when he resigned.
Obama's father was not a former President. Obama's grandfather was not a United States Senator. Obama did not have an Uncle Herbert Walker to bankroll his family.
You said: "he's so slick and impressive. just look at how everyone just loves him. he sure is grand!"
That's funny to hear. I remember that I once voted for a man who was described by the media in the same terms. His name was Ronald Reagan.
anon.,
1. that's ridiculous. you can certainly feel free to decry the accomplishments of those who have clearly been successful, if you'd like. after all, that's quite a popular method of political engagement nowadays: "stick it to man!"
2. okay, so am i to believe that the death penalty is immoral, uncivilized, etc.? i don't know about the Jesus Day thing, but... okay. karla faye tucker was fully deserving of the death penalty, if anyone ever was. have you ever heard of jeffrey dahmer? did he not still deserve death, or should society have also given him a pass? i'm not saying that he wasn't truly born-again. i'm simply saying that cold-blooded murder simply cannot go ignored in civilized society. [unless i'm remembering incorrectly, i think he even admitted that he deserved to die for what he had done.] i quite seriously would doubt that "w" would have "made fun of her pleas for mercy". he might have dismissed them as ridiculous or something, but to have mocked her? come on.
3. actually, you need to re-check your sources. bush's approval rating this very day in history stands just above 33 percent (rcp), while our wonderful democratically controlled congress (during the first time we've had a congressional leadership of 1960s protestors, i might add) sits on 24 percent (again, rcp) - just in line with nixon. it sure would be nice if they'd all follow nixon's lead.
again, you can bash bush because his family has had a history of success (even in the political arena), but that's just cheap complaining.
reagan (like bush) at least had had some executive experience. barry? nada.
* and, one more time - the SENATOR on the video is a FELLOW SENATOR with a man who is running for the presidency of the USA (a man he has ENDORSED, not merely voted for but publically ENDORSED, himself being a public figure). that means, he's a CO-WORKER who cannot name a single obama accomplishment for which he has any public pride. [i am not a co-worker with anyone running for president. i am not a public figure. i have not publically endorsed anyone who is running for the presidency of the USA. (therefore, my situation is quite different from that of the senator here shown.)]
Adam,
1. "Arbusto Energy (sometimes referred to as Arbusto Oil)[1] was a petroleum and energy company formed in Midland, Texas, in 1977, by future President of the United States George W. Bush and a group of investors which included Dorothy Bush, Lewis Lehrman, William Henry Draper III, Bill Gammell, and James R. Bath.
It was later revealed that Bath made an investment of $50,000 while representing Salem bin Laden of the Saudi Binladin Group. This fact became controversial after the September 11, 2001 attacks due to Salem bin Laden being an older, half-brother of Osama bin Laden, who planned and financed the attacks. Upon Salem bin Laden's death in a 1988 airplane crash, in Texas, his interest in Arbusto (along with other Binladin Group assets), passed to Khalid bin Mahfouz.
In 1982, Arbusto became known as Bush Exploration, a year after George H. W. Bush became Vice President. A friend of the Bush family, Philip Uzielli, invested $1 million in 1982 in exchange for a 10% stake in the company, at a time when the whole company was valued at less than $400,000. As it neared financial collapse again in September 1984, Bush Exploration merged with Spectrum 7 Energy Corp., a company owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. Bush became Chairman and CEO of Spectrum 7.
In 1985 Spectrum 7 reported a net loss of $1.5 million and was bought in 1986 for $2.2 million by Harken Energy, with Bush joining the Harken board of directors and finance audit committee.
In 1987 the Saudi investor Abdullah Taha Bakhsh bought most of Union Bank of Switzerland's shares in Harken becoming its third largest investor owning 17% of the company. He was represented on the board by Talat M. Othman. Another investor was Ghaith R. Pharaon, a partner of Bakhsh's, who would later be involved in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, and is currently the target of an international dragnet.
In January 1990 with the company in the same state as its previous incarnations, it was awarded a contract to drill for crude oil off the coast of Bahrain, a move that shocked industry insiders as Harken had no previous experience outside of the US or of drilling offshore.
In June 1990 Bush sold most shares in Harken to a Los Angeles broker named Ralph D. Smith. One week later Harken announced an overall loss of $23.2 million triggering an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into the sale."
Is this what you mean by the "accomplishments of those who have clearly been successful..."
Again if Dubya's daddy had not been president, and if his grandfather (who by the way was a liberal Republican) had not been a senator do you really think he would have been anything more than an oil supply salesman from Austin?
2. I was just pointing out the irony of Bush being "pro-life" and then killing off all those people. The morality of the death penalty is another topic.
The other irony is that Tucker supposedly repented and accepted Jesus only to have Bush, a fellow Christian sign the order to execute her.
As for mocking her, I remember it well:
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In 1999, during the 2000 Republican Presidential primary race, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed Bush for Talk Magazine (September 1999, p. 106). Excerpt from this interview is quoted below:
In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, a number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them", he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, 'What would you say to Governor Bush?'" "What was her answer?" I wonder. "'Please,'" Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "'don't kill me.'" I must look shocked — ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel — because he immediately stops smirking.
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Bush denied doing it, but why would a fellow conservative make up a story like that? Bush was known for his sarcastic smirks at the time anyway.
3. Yes, you were right here. I went to the Gallop polling site and found the following:
"The net result is an overall job approval rating that's more than 2-to-1 negative: 65% of Americans disapprove of how Bush is doing overall, and only 31% approve. Bush's approval rating has consistently fallen below 40% for more than a year -- since September 2006."
It was another polling organization that got it at 19% and not the stellar, shining 31% approval he has now.
The Democrats deserve to get kicked in the head. They are just going along with Republican borrow and spend policies.
The guy in the video is a STATE senator from Texas. The two current U.S. Senators from Texas are:
Kay Bailey Hutchison (senior)
John Cornyn III (junior)
Both are Republicans.
A state senator is different from a U.S. Senator.
anon.,
1. my thoughts still stand. we all play the hand we're dealt. i could be just as jealous of al gore. i.e., what would he be if it weren't for his family? okay. so.
2. the whole "pro-life" wise-crack is pretty lame. you could pull the same play on words with the "pro-choice" opinion. i.e., the babies aren't being given much of a choice, now are they? the fact is that tucker was well deserving of death, while whether or not bush actually mocked her is debatable. i honestly can't see him intentionally mocking her as you are speculating. also, is there never any room for one christian to punish another? certainly there is. in fact, often duty demands it.
3. the 19 percent you had come up with was no where even close to any of the other respectable polling averages. i'm wondering where you even found it. i googled it before my last response, and - honestly - i only found 19 percent mentioned on some liberal bush-mocking blog. honest.
while his approval rating is certainly not as high is most of his supporters would hope and, admittedly, is quite low, he is still the president. it's amazing how well liked he was following 9/11 and in the early stages of the war on terror - that is until an election was approaching. but, you know, there seems to be something about war that creates a love-hate relationship. though we were told repeatedly about how much angst there was for "w" when his first term ended, he sure was re-elected quite convincingly.
okay, so, i don't know my texas senators as well as you do, but - even still - would it not seem appropriate for a public figure (even if but a mere state senator) endorsing a man for president to at least have something positive to say concerning the candidates accomplishments? quite frankly, if i were obama and i kept hearing such concern, i would come up with a list or something for these endorsers to share with the public. i mean, reading off a list of accomplishments sure would come across a bit better than staring blankly. come on, matthews wasn't asking if he could recite the gettysburg address or even the greek alphabet; he was simply asking what his candidate has done for which to be proud. let's face it... this was a softball pitch and not only did he go down watching, but he didn't even take a bat to the plate.
Adam,
You all are trying to make the claim that Obama "may" not be a good President. But I would argue that he has all of the tools and has demonstrated the capacity to do so. But, at the same time, you all can not admit that Bush never demonstrated the ability to be President. Time and time again, the bar was lowered so he could be acceptable to Republicans. That is fine, but do not try to raise the bar now because Obams demonstrates some good qualities. Conservatives have a problem with facts. A lot of you all seem more than willing to ignore very serious issues just to have an argument. No one has even attempted to debunk the things I said about Reagan because they know they are true. The sad thing is that because they are true should effect conservatives' perspective on history, but it does not. I bet alot of people do not know that Clinton's lowest approval rating was higher than Reagan's lowest and Clinton's highest was also higher than Reagan's highest. There is a concerted effort to make Reagan seem like a "god-like" figure as well as make G. W. Bush seem competent. As for the "pro-life" argument, there is a whole lot more to it than just abortion. I will say it once again, Reagan saying that the Voting Rights Act was "humiliating" to the South is at the least pandering to racists and definately not "pro-life".
Adam:
Without looking them up, can you name 5 accomplishments of McCain? What about Lott?
Adam,
1. You continue to cop out on this one. I can't believe you can read up on the massive Bush failure at Arbusto Energy and continue to say "my thoughts still stand". Conservatives have never wanted to face the fact that G.W. Bush was a trust fund kid who would have been nothing without his father, grandfather and Uncle Herbert.
Can you say that about Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, or a host of other presidents? Can you say that about John McCain?
Sure you can say that about Gore but he isn't president.
2. Let me say I'm against abortion so the "pro-life" Bush killing a repentant born-again Christian still stands and still stings.
3. I found the 19% at American Research Group, Inc.
http://americanresearchgroup.com/economy/
People always rally around a leader in time of war. Bush ruined it by going into Iraq to avenge his daddy's honor.
He was re-elected by less than 100,000 votes in Ohio while running against the worst Democratic candidate since Michael Dukakis.
4. You wrote "quite frankly, if i were obama and i kept hearing such concern, i would come up with a list or something for these endorsers to share with the public."
Adam I asked you to come up with George W. Bush's qualifications for office. All you could mention was that:
A. He was a successful businessman. (He was not as is referenced in his ArBUSTo Oil failure. His daddy’s friends propped him up.)
B .He was governor of Texas. That means nothing. Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. Jimmy Carter was governor of Georgia. Ronald Reagan was governor of California. None had experience in Washington and it worked against them.
I listed what Obama has done in the senate. Just because some minor official in Texas looks like a buffoon on national T.V. does not mean that Obama has not done anything.
As a side note, the Bush Presidency has been a colossal failure. Why can't conservatives just admit that? When I was a kid, I once supported a guy named Jimmy Carter for president. As time went on I saw that I had made a mistake. Carter was a good man, but not a good president. In 1980 I supported Ronald Reagan.
What sort of cult like trance does Bush have you people in!?! Is he your personal Kim Jong-il? He has been a failure as president. Let's just admit that fact and move on.
I only want the BEST person for president. I don't care if it's Obama, Clinton, McCain, or even Ralph Nader or some yet unknown, we must put this country ahead of ideology. American just can't stand another 8 years of dumbness.
Whether it be George W. Bush or Reagan, Conservatives will not be completely honest about them. It is a sad thing to see that people will accept anything just as long as they get a few things that make them happy. Matt, a Christian, commented on the accuracy of Rasmussen polls saying they were probably more accurate because whites are more likely to be honest about not voting for a black guy with a "robo-call" than with a real person. He focus was on the fact that in that particular poll, McCain edges out Obama. Totally ignoring the fact that a good number of folks on his side would not vote for Obama because he is black. It seems it is better to accept the support of racists and win than seperate from them and lose. So whether it be the flaws that Reagan exhibited or that reluctance to accurately describe Bush, you are not going to get Conservatives to admit to things that make them look bad.
He's not a "fellow Senator."
He's a Texas STATE Senator. I think y'all can name at least one dumb state Senator here.
Try to know what you are talking about.
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