Actions & Experience?
There was a very low point in last night’s primary coverage that will no doubt be shamelessly exploited by a very desperate Clinton campaign. Last night on MSNBC they had on a supporter of each candidate to talk about the campaign. Hillary had US Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and for Obama came Texas State Senator Kirk Watson. Chris Matthews allowed Tubbs to do her regular Clinton talking points, talking about how Hillary has a record of change, and fighting for change, etc. Then Chris Matthews turned to Kirk Watson, and asked him to list specific legislative achievements for Senator Obama on the spot. Kirk Watson was obviously not prepared for this, and was embarrassingly unable to provide a single one, as Chris Matthews repeated the question over and over again, and while Hillary’s supporter beamed on the split screen. They made it out to be as though just because this guy couldn’t list any specific federal legislation off the top of his head, somehow that confirmed that Obama has no legislative accomplishments. I was livid, not just at the stupidity of this local straw man (which I was), but also because they tried to spin it as somehow meaningful. I also knew that desperate Hillary supporters would no doubt seize on the embarrassment of this single low level local supporter, and exploit it to attack Obama, even though there is absolutely nothing here one could use against Obama. I’m sure many of Hillary’s supporters couldn’t list specific legislation she has written, sponsored or passed. Notice Hillary’s supporter wasn’t asked to provide specifics, she just had to list off issues like “health care” and “children”, while a state legislator was asked to identify specific bills. There is no way he could have listed “health care” and “children” and gotten off the hook like Hillary and all of her supporters have done this entire campaign.
Update: Kirk Watson explains himself on his blog.
And for the record, here are some of his achievements:
During the first (8) eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced:
- 233 regarding healthcare reform,
- 125 on poverty and public assistance,
- 112 crime fighting bills,
- 97 economic bills,
- 60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills,
- 21 ethics reform bills,
- 15 gun control,
- 6 veterans affairs and many others.
- the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 (became law),
- The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, (became law),
- The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate,
- The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, (became law),
- The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, (In committee), and many more.
Often overlooked by the media, and always by the Clintons and their supporters, is the fact that Obama actually has a LONGER legislative career than Hillary. He had many important legislative achievements in the Illinois legislature as well, which is notorious for being a place of hardball politics, as some more journalistically-inclined journalists have noted:
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. …Now Hillary rarely get into specifics about her record, just like she never gets into specifics about Obama’s record, because neither are convenient for her narrative of “action” and “experience”. Hillary spent most of her shorter legislative career in the Senate, playing it safe and pandering to her well-funded constituents, here is a quick rundown of her record:
I know from my time in the West Virginia legislature that the challenges faced by reform-minded state representatives are no less, if indeed not more, formidable than those encountered in Congress. For me, at least, trying to deal with those challenges involved as much drama as any election. And the “heart and soul” bill, the one for which a legislator gives everything he or she has to get passed, has long told me more than anything else about a person’s character and ability.
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.
Obama had his work cut out for him. …
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.
Obama didn’t stop there. He played a major role in passing many other bills, including the state’s first earned-income tax credit to help the working poor and the first ethics and campaign finance law in 25 years (a law a Post story said made Illinois “one of the best in the nation on campaign finance disclosure”). Obama’s commitment to ethics continued in the U.S. Senate, where he co-authored the new lobbying reform law that, among its hard-to-sell provisions, requires lawmakers to disclose the names of lobbyists who “bundle” contributions for them.
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.
She has served 6 years and authored/passed into law 20 pieces of legislation:
- Establish Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
- Support goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
- Recognize Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
- Name courthouse Thurgood Marshall.
- Name courthouse James L. Watson.
- Name post office Jonn A. O’Shea.
- Designate Aug. 7, 2003, National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
- Support goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
- Honor life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on bicentennial of his death.
- Congratulate Syracuse Univ. Lacrosse Team on winning championship. (are you kidding me??)
- Congratulate Le Moyne College Dolphins Men’s Lacrosse Team winning championship. (wtf??!)
- Establish 225th Anniversary of American Revolution Commemorative Program.
- Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
- Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to nation and express condolences on her death.
- Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost lives on duty.
- Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims 9/11.
- Pay for city projects in response 9/11.
- Assist landmine victims (yet she is against banning landmines).
- Assist family caregivers accessing affordable respite care.
- Designate part of National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in wilderness preservation system.
But let’s not forget to include her attempt health care reform back in the 90s, which was a miserable failure in large part to her handling of the issue. And oh yes, she did happen to be occupying a room in the White House as First Lady when SCHIP was originally passed, so she believes she can take full credit for that as well too.
Update: Okay okay, to be fair, I have to give her credit for lacking any political spine whatsoever and not only voting for the Republican-sponsored, jingoistic, unconstitutional, anti-free speech, political stunt, non-issue flag burning amendment, but also going as far as sponsoring the monstrosity. When the Republicans tried to exploit patriotic fervor, and make it illegal to burn the American flag, although there had been no burnt flags, Hillary not only supported it, she enthusiastically jumped on the Republican patriot train to pandertown. So okay, props there Hillary for being a total sellout and letting the GOP lead she around like a puppy about to crap all over freedom of speech, just because she was afraid of not looking patriotic enough.
Yes, this is the person who is running on “action” and “experience”, the one who is running on “talk is cheap”, the one who loves to pretend that she has so much under her belt while Obama has nothing. I don’t think she could get any more disingenuous if she tired. I’ve always said, if you can’t win an election on facts, you don’t deserve to win.
Update: Let the exploitation and distortions begin.
Update #2: More discussion of his accomplishments here and here.