Obama's Real record

A recent post on another blog outlined Obama’s so-called “record”. Actually there was very little in that record other than a rendition of his education and activities rather than any real accomplishments. Among the things that were omitted from that selective “record” were: First, there is his long time association with his mentor, the blasphemous racist, Jeremiah Wright. Second, that he is acquainted with, served on various boards with, and received campaign contributions from Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn, past leaders of the Weather Underground, a violent 1960s radical organization that placed bombs at a number of government institutions. Although Obama likes to point out that he was only eight years old when those crimes were committed, his association with them as an adult leaves his judgment open to question. Third, although Obama's dealings with his hinky friend and felon, Tony Rezko, have never led him afoul of the law, they show that, despite his high-minded politics, he was no purer -- or no savvier -- than Illinois' biggest hacks in his weakness for a generous contributor. He wouldn't even say no when Rezko cooked up a deal to help the newly elected senator buy a gracious Georgian revival home. Rezko, after all, built part of his fortune by exploiting the black community that Obama had served in the state Senate, and by milking government programs meant to benefit black-owned businesses. But Obama took Rezko's money even after the businessman was sued by the city of Chicago for failing to heat his low-income apartments, and even after Rezko was caught using a black business partner to obtain a minority set-aside for a fast-food franchise at O'Hare Airport. Some community organizer!
Fourth, Obama claims that his plan to improve the economy formed the “basis” for the bi-partisan stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year were declared “not true” by his own supporters among the Democrats on Capital Hill. Obama was clearly guilty of inflating his role in the creation of that bill.
Fifth, Education Week wrote of Obama just a year ago that “In his eight years in the state senate and two years in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama hasn't made a significant mark on education policy.
Sixth, in 2005, just after Obama took office as a U.S. Senator, the Gang of 14 came together to ensure that progress could be made on judicial appointments. John McCain was, of course, a member of the Gang of 14. Unsurprisingly, Obama was not (the most liberal Senator in the country does not get involved with things like “bipartisan compromise”).
Seventh, Obama had a reputation in Illinois as someone who avoided “standing up to special interests or divisive party activists,” and further had a propensity for “skipping” tough votes (side note: he voted “present” over 100 times as a state senator). A case in point would presumably be the example of “a key gun control vote that he missed in December 1999 because he was vacationing in Hawaii,” which led to the Chicago Tribune describing Obama as "gutless." Nothing says “getting things done” like being called out as “gutless” by your own hometown newspaper!
Eighth, Obama likes to talk a lot about the importance of Afghanistan (and clearly the efforts in which our troops are engaged there are important). The trouble is he failed to hold a single hearing on the NATO mission in Afghanistan, which falls under his responsibility as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on European Affairs. This led in July to the Ranking Member of that Subcommittee blasting him for inaction.
Ninth, while John McCain has a “record of producing bipartisan alliances on tough issues,” Obama has “a much thinner record” where the tough work of bucking one’s party in order to get things done on the most difficult items is concerned
Tenth, Illinois State Sen. Dan Cronin, who served with Obama, says Obama is a “gentleman,” but he doesn’t think Obama accomplished much during his eight-year tenure in the legislature. Per Cronin, himself: “There were no bold solutions, no effort to stand up to the Chicago public schools or the unions. There really wasn't, and there were opportunities to do so.”
This is what Obama’s supporters describe that as a “proven record of getting things done.”