Obama: A Thin Record For a Bridge Builder

[KoKo]

Obama: A Thin Record For a Bridge Builder

By David Ignatius
Sunday, March 2, 2008; B07

Hillary Clinton has been trying to make a point about Barack Obama that deserves one last careful look before Tuesday's probably decisive Democratic primaries: If Obama truly intends to unite America across party lines and break the Washington logjam, then why has he shown so little interest or aptitude for the hard work of bipartisan government?

This is the real "Where's the beef?" about Obama, and it still doesn't have a good answer. He gives a great speech, and he promises that he can heal the terrible partisan divisions that have enfeebled American politics over the past decade. This is a message of hope that the country clearly wants to hear.

But can he do it? The record is mixed, but it's fair to say that Obama has not shown much willingness to take risks or make enemies to try to restore a working center in Washington. Clinton, for all her reputation as a divisive figure, has a much stronger record of bipartisan achievement. And the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, has a better record still.

Obama's argument is that he can mobilize a new coalition that will embrace his proclamation that "yes, we can" break out of the straitjacket. But for voters to feel confident that he can achieve this transformation should he become president, they would need evidence that he has fought and won similar battles. The record here, to put it mildly, is thin.

Edited to 3-4 paragraphs to conform to DU's fair use policy for copyrighted material.

Lithos
DU Moderator
-snip-

No one who has watched Obama's sweep toward the nomination would say it's impossible that he can be the great uniter. I just wish we had more evidence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022902784_pf.html

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Whew! And there's thread #3....

[babylonsister]

2. Desperation reeks, and I'm smelling something really weird. nt

[anamandujano]

17. If hearing another side to the story really riles you so, best not to click.

[babylonsister]

19. I'm not riled; I'm finding this quite comical. Have at it...til Tuesday. nt

[BOSSHOG]

5. Yeah, lets censor everything

that isn't pro-Obama. Great Plan! Thank God the man isn't a reflection of his supporters.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. Um, that's not what I meant, at all...

Have you been following the hyperbolic rantings of the OP tonight? Counterproductive, at best. Doesn't matter what side it's coming from.

[KoKo]

8. Yeah...I'm finished for my 24 Hours...You won't have to "stick fingers in ears" after this one...

:D I'm finished for now.......

I don't have a candidate in this race...just so you know. Gore/Kucinich..possibly Edwards...

[liberalnurse]

14. You opened up excellent, thoughtful dialogue.

This is the discussion we need to have. Thank you.

[Omega3]

15. nice comeback, typical, all fluff and no answers

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. They should have run Bobby Rush. That would have at least been fun.

[KLee]

4. Interesting how there isn't names behind the quotes...

[Straight Shooter]

6. Issues such as nuclear proliferation, energy, veterans affairs, budget earmarks and ethics reform.

"The Obama campaign sent me an eight-page summary of his "bipartisan accomplishments," and it includes some encouraging examples of working across the aisle on issues such as nuclear proliferation, energy, veterans affairs, budget earmarks and ethics reforms."

Seems to me that those issues are par for the course as far as bipartisanship efforts. I do remember some controversy about his role in shaping energy policy, as it were. Some DU'er with a keener memory can elaborate.

I don't see anything outstanding that Obama has accomplished. Perhaps his voice does not soar on the floor of the Senate, in person, or on the phone, as well as it does in an 8,000-seat stadium. Or maybe it's just that his fellow Congress critters really aren't all that impressed with Mr. Lucky.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

9. Koko -- I have always enjoyed your posts...

Why the sudden compulsion to go so negative?

[KoKo]

10. Don't have a Candidate in this race...I'm trying to find one....

and that's the honest truth....... Both Obama and Hillary worry me...and I'm trying to find the difference between them. It's what I and many others are left with. Trying to find something to support from either candidate and going through the weeds to find one.

Obama is the chosen...he's go some baggage that needs to be explored.

None of us Dems want another Bush...who makes up things with BRAVADO and shuts down any negative comments. I worry about Obama on this. Clinton is the devil I know...but not entirely. She's had alot of negativity posted against her ...in fairness Obama needs more scrutiny. There's some very strange stuff there in his past. Shouldn't we look harder? Demand more accountability for his "chosen life?"

Edited: for futher thoughts.

[Auntie Bush]

11. How about Mrs. Clinton?

:shrug:

[KoKo]

16. I just edited my post to talk about her.....pleas click for read above..n/t

[HCE SuiGeneris]

22. I have no issue with discovery.

However, I do take umbrage at the amount of negative, vitriolic, comments disparaging both candidates. There are a lot of intelligent people providing great ammunition for the GOP talking points. I can;t wait to move on and spend more time dissecting the shitty Repuke nominee.

[liberalnurse]

20. Koko is not negative....on the contrary.

I find it normal and necessary to investigate and vet out our candidate. I am bewildered at that fact this has not been done at all by the investigative journalist for starters. I do wish Hillary Clinton, Edwards, Biden, Kucinich and Richardson would of done more vetting for us back in January. We might not be having Obama in the top tier today.

I asked the same, simple basic questions too and get attacked by the drones.

[madrchsod]

12. other articles by David Ignatius about obama

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/obamas_policy_mysteries_need_a.html
RealClearPolitics - Articles - The Obama Mystery

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/obamas_inspirational_race_jour.html
The Obama of 'Dreams'

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/tough_campaign_is_a_needed_les.html
RealClearPolitics - Articles - Tough Campaign is a Needed Lesson for Candidates

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/10/to_win_obama_needs_to_let_go.html
RealClearPolitics - Articles - To Win, Obama Needs to Let Go

and this from the last link

"Does Obama have that ability to let go? He is behind Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points in the polls, and even Democrats who like him worry that the race may soon be out of his reach. We'll find out during the next few months if Obama has that higher gear -- that ability to lose himself in the power of the moment. If he doesn't, he's going to lose."

i guess he did....

[TwilightGardener]

13. What is Ignoramus talking about? Obama doesn't "bear any scars" from

his bipartisan legislation, so it doesn't count? He managed to neither piss off his own party NOR the opposing party to get worthwhile legislation drafted and passed, and that's not good enough? WTF? What "bipartisan" achievements does Hillary have that pissed off her base and gave her "scars" besides her ill-fated health care debacle? Video-game ratings? Oh, that's important!

[anamandujano]

18. "He was blinded by his ambition,"

Obama's brash self-confidence led him into his only big political blunder. Prodded by the Daley machine, he challenged Bobby Rush, an incumbent Democratic congressman and former Black Panther, in 2000. Rush pounded Obama by more than 2 to 1 in the primary. "He was blinded by his ambition," Rush told the New York Times last year.

[stillcool]

21. the dude needs to read...

jeez, there's more than enough info for him to wade through. Maybe he just watches the talk shows?

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_year_of_the_organizer
A History of Organizing

As a community organizer for three years in Chicago in the late 1980s, Obama learned the skills of motivating and mobilizing people who had little faith in their ability to make politicians, corporations, and other powerful institutions accountable. Working with churches and neighborhood groups, Obama taught low-income people how to analyze power relations, gain confidence in their own leadership abilities, and work together to improve their housing, schools, and other basic services.

"What if a politician were to see his job as that of an organizer," he asked a local newspaper at the time, "as part teacher and part advocate, one who does not sell voters short but who educates them about the real choices before them?"

Since embarking on a political career, Obama hasn't forgotten the philosophical and practical lessons that he learned on the streets of Chicago and that are now central to his campaign for the White House.
----------------------------------------------------
A key tenet of community organizing is developing face to face contact with people so that they forge commitments to work together around shared values. Organizers are not social workers. Their orientation is not to "service" people as if they were clients, but to encourage people to develop their own abilities to mobilize others. They help people turn their "hot" anger into disciplined action. Community organizers also distinguish themselves from traditional political campaign operatives who approach voters as customers through direct mail, telemarketing, and canvassing urging them to support their candidate as if they were selling soap.

This approach is reflected in how Obama's campaign has integrated itself into local communities. In Iowa, for example, campaign organizers, both paid staff and volunteers, were required to help in community recycling projects, tree planting and garbage pick-up -- making themselves available for the day-to-day tasks required to enhance the neighborhoods they were in.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php
can_id=BS030017

Judge Him by His Laws

By Charles Peters
Friday, January 4, 2008; A21

People who complain that Barack Obama lacks experience must be unaware of his legislative achievements. One reason these accomplishments are unfamiliar is that the media have not devoted enough attention to Obama's bills and the effort required to pass them, ignoring impressive, hard evidence of his character and ability.

Since most of Obama's legislation was enacted in Illinois, most of the evidence is found there -- and it has been largely ignored by the media in a kind of Washington snobbery that assumes state legislatures are not to be taken seriously. (Another factor is reporters' fascination with the horse race at the expense of substance that they assume is boring, a fascination that despite being ridiculed for years continues to dominate political journalism.)
------------------------------------------

Consider a bill into which Obama clearly put his heart and soul. The problem he wanted to address was that too many confessions, rather than being voluntary, were coerced -- by beating the daylights out of the accused.

Obama proposed requiring that interrogations and confessions be videotaped.

This seemed likely to stop the beatings, but the bill itself aroused immediate opposition. There were Republicans who were automatically tough on crime and Democrats who feared being thought soft on crime. There were death penalty abolitionists, some of whom worried that Obama's bill, by preventing the execution of innocents, would deprive them of their best argument. Vigorous opposition came from the police, too many of whom had become accustomed to using muscle to "solve" crimes. And the incoming governor, Rod Blagojevich, announced that he was against it.

--------------------------
The police proved to be Obama's toughest opponent. Legislators tend to quail when cops say things like, "This means we won't be able to protect your children." The police tried to limit the videotaping to confessions, but Obama, knowing that the beatings were most likely to occur during questioning, fought -- successfully -- to keep interrogations included in the required videotaping.

By showing officers that he shared many of their concerns, even going so far as to help pass other legislation they wanted, he was able to quiet the fears of many.

Obama proved persuasive enough that the bill passed both houses of the legislature, the Senate by an incredible 35 to 0. Then he talked Blagojevich into signing the bill, making Illinois the first state to require such videotaping.
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Taken together, these accomplishments demonstrate that Obama has what Dillard, the Republican state senator, calls a "unique" ability "to deal with extremely complex issues, to reach across the aisle and to deal with diverse people." In other words, Obama's campaign claim that he can persuade us to rise above what divides us is not just rhetoric.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303303_pf.html