Rules are Rules

Back in 2000 when Al Gore's and our nation's fate was decided by the Supreme Court, many people were devastated by that election's results. Fingers pointed to every imaginable player. I partially blame the Democratic party itself for not taking the necessary steps ahead of time to prevent that fiasco. Long before the election in Florida, the party was allowed to give their ok on the infamous butterfly ballot that was so confusing that many people intending to vote for Al Gore inadvertently cast their ballot for Pat Buchanan. HUGE difference. I sometimes wonder how different the results and our world would be like now had they requested a different ballot system. But guess what, folks? We had our chance and we ok'd the ballot and that was the rule.

Now we have the Clinton campaign trying to change the rules all over the place with regards to this election. First she agreed to the Deocratic Party's decision to strip Florida and Michigan of their convention delegates because they moved their contests up too early. She agreed and in an interview said "It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything."

NOW she wants to change those rules to have those delegates count for her because she "won" them. Obama wasn't even on the Michigan ballot and no one campaigned in either state. Why should the rules change after the fact IN HER FAVOR just because she wants them to?

Then, in Nevada...

NOW, The Clinton campaign's latest ploy is to try and challenge the caucus system in Texas because Obama has done very well in that type of contest. It's four days till election day and they want to change the rules again in their favor. C' mon..... The story below describes what they are trying to do.

Clinton may challenge Texas vote rules
Campaign concerns prompts warning from
state party about legal action

LAREDO, Texas - Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has raised the possibility of a challenge to Texas' primary and caucus rules just days before the contest, drawing a warning against legal action from the state's Democratic Party.

Aides to Clinton said earlier this week they were alarmed at the lack of clarity about many of the caucus rules and expressed their concerns on a conference call with staff for rival Barack Obama and state party officials. Texas has a two-step voting process, with a primary and then caucuses shortly after the polls close.

Here is the link to the original story.

Yet another comparison of the two candidates on various issues

Here are some of the reasons Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton, is the change America needs.

Democracy

1. In Iowa, the Hillary Clinton campaign actively worked to suppress the votes of Iowa students.
2. In New Hampshire, the Hillary Clinton campaign harassed “get-out-the-vote” workers at the polls to hinder their efforts.
3. In Nevada, the Hillary Clinton campaign’s supporters filed a lawsuit that aimed to suppress the vote of culinary union members.
4. In Nevada, the Hillary Clinton campaign shut the doors on caucus-goers 30 minutes earlier than the official rules stated. Caucus-goers were not allowed to participate.
5. It is a sad day when America becomes dominated by two political families–the Bush family and the Clintons. America should be a democracy, not a dynasty.

Economic Concerns

1. In 1998, Hillary Clinton praised NAFTA, the bill President Bill Clinton signed into law. Now she opposes it. Barack Obama opposed it. NAFTA has been devastating to rural America.
2. Hillary Clinton has gone to other countries and proclaimed that “outsourcing will continue.” However, in front of American audiences she tempers this and talks about the problems with outsourcing American jobs. Why isn’t she saying the same things in both places?
3. Hillary Clinton misled an Iowa voter about her position on social security. The voter is still unsure where she stands.
4. Hillary Clinton argued that Americans who make over $97,000 per year are the middle-class.
5. The Washington Post gave Barack Obama an A- for his economic stimulus plan and gave Hillary Clinton a C+.

Electability

1. The polls consistently show that Barack Obama does better against John McCain than does Hillary Clinton.

The Environment

1. The League of Conservation Voters gave Barack Obama a higher score on his environmental voting record than all the other Democratic nominees.

Ethics and Lobbyists Reform

1. Barack Obama has a superior record to Hillary Clinton on confronting lobbyists and special interests.
2. Barack Obama does not take federal PAC or federal lobbyist funding for his Presidential campaign, while Hillary Clinton does. In fact, Hillary Clinton said, “Lobbyists represent real Americans.”
3. Barack Obama has released his personal income tax returns to the public for scrutiny, while Hillary Clinton has not.
4. Hillary Clinton uses more earmarks and pork spending than any other Democratic nominee or Republican nominee.
5. Barack Obama agreed to take public financing for the general election if the Republican nominee will do the same. Hillary Clinton has not agreed to this.
6. Barack Obama passed the toughest ethics reform legislation in the U.S. Senate since Watergate, while Hillary has not passed a bill yet of this magnitude.
7. The majority of Barack Obama’s campaign funding comes from small donors, while the majority of Clinton’s comes from large donors.
8. Barack Obama was the leader in revealing to the public all of his federal earmark requests, while Hillary Clinton was not.

Experience

1. Barack Obama has both sufficient experience and a record of good judgment.
2. Barack Obama will have held elected office for 12 years before becoming President. Hillary Clinton will only have held office for 8 years.
3. While Clinton claims experience from her husband’s presidency, she will not release her White House papers to let us know specifically what that experience is.
4. She cited her experience as the reason she voted to go to Iraq, so that nullified her experience argument.
5. Even Bill Clinton said when people criticized him for being inexperienced in the 1990s that, “The same old experience is not relevant.”
6. Barack Obama will be older than Bill Clinton, Teddy Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy were before they took the presidency. He can’t help that he takes care of himself and ages well.
7. As John Kerry argues, Barack Obama has more legislative experience than either Hillary Clinton or John Edwards.
8. Barack Obama has passed more progressive legislation in his lifetime than Hillary Clinton. As an Illinois Senator he passed over 200 of the bills he wrote. These bills include:
   1. A bill that expanded healthcare to over 100,000 people in Illinois.
   2. A bill that set up community health centers to serve underserved populations.
   3. A bill that provided the earned income tax credit to thousands of Illinois families.
   4. A bill that reformed the death penalty that had sent innocent people to death row
   5. A bill that banned gifts and meals from lobbyists.
   6. And much more.
9. While Hillary Clinton has spent more time in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama has gotten more substantive legislation that affects the American people passed while he’s been there. Many of Clinton’s bills were about naming post offices and buildings. However, Obama’s legislation includes:
   1. A bill with Senator Richard Lugar which bans the development of nuclear weapons.
   2. A bill that created a public database where average Americans can see how the government is spending their money.
   3. A bill that provided important assistance to address the situation in the Congo.
   4. A bill that Nancy Pelosi calls “one of the toughest ethics reform” bills in this history of the Congress.

Foreign Policy

1. Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq War, while Barack Obama opposed the war from the start.
2. Hillary Clinton did not read the National Intelligence Estimate report before voting to send troops to Iraq.
3. Barack Obama agrees that America should talk to countries that are our foes, while Hillary Clinton takes issue with his position.
4. Barack Obama understands the basic facts about Pakistan’s electoral system better than Hillary Clinton.
5. While Barack Obama has proposed a detailed foreign policy plan, Hillary Clinton has not provided Obama’s level of detail.
6. Hillary Clinton’s current foreign policy advisers were largely supportive of the war in Iraq. Obama’s current foreign policy advisers are more “forward thinking” and generally did not support the war. We need people advising our president who have good judgment on foreign policy, not people who carry the old conventional wisdom.

Health Care

1. Hillary Clinton should be applauded for her work trying to get health care passed during the 1990s. However, Obama should be applauded as well for his eight-years of writing health care legislation and getting it signed into law at the state level. Obama has a lesser known, but impressive record of getting results on health care.

Homeland Security

1. CIA Officials agree more with Barack Obama’s approach to finding Osama Bin Laden than with Hillary Clinton’s.
2. Hillary Clinton’s assessment of our America’s homeland security status contradicts the assessment offered by national intelligence agencies.

Human Rights

1. Hillary Clinton was the last Democrat to support the torture pledge.
2. Hillary flip-flopped on the issue of whether America should use nuclear weapons.

Judicial System

1. Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama for his position on mandatory minimum sentencing behind-the-scenes, while she touted her support for it in front of minority audiences.
2. Hillary Clinton was the only Democratic nominee to oppose retroactivity for mandatory minimum sentencing. All the other Democrats supported it. Even George Bush and the Supreme Court supported it.
3. While Hillary Clinton is opposed to retroactivity for crimes of poor people, she does not hold this standard for crimes of the rich.

Lying

1. News reporters have shown that Bill Clinton lied to voters about being opposed to the Iraq War from the start. The reporters have video of the Clintons expressing support for Bush’s actions back in 2002.
2. While Hillary Clinton gives traditional Washington non-answers to questions, Barack Obama has been praised by commentators for telling the truth.
3. All the Democrats made a pledge not to campaign in Florida or Michigan because the two states broke Democratic rules by moving their primaries ahead of other states. While Obama and Edwards abided by the rules and took their names off the Michigan ballot, Clinton kept her name on the ballot. Right before the Florida primary, Clinton started working to get the Florida delegates counted even though she agreed not to do so at the beginning of the primary season. If she cannot keep her promises during the campaign season, how will she keep her promises as President?

Poverty

1. Hillary Clinton has the weakest formal platform of the top three Democratic nominees on addressing urban poverty.
2. Barack Obama has gotten more anti-poverty legislation signed into law in his lifetime than Hillary Clinton has. He passed numerous bills during his work in Illinois.

Technological Innovation

1. TechPresident rated Barack Obama’s technology platform as superior to Hillary Clinton’s.

Women’s Rights

1. In New Hampshire, the Hillary Clinton campaign misled female state senators to sign a letter attacking Senator Barack Obama’s women’s rights record. After the New Hampshire primary, the senators apologized for misleading people about his record and took issue with the Clinton campaign’s practices. This incident left great division among women’s rights activists in New Hampshire.
2. When women’s rights came under attack in South Dakota, women’s rights activists asked all the senators in Congress to write a letter and help fundraise on their behalf. Barack Obama was the only Senator who wrote a letter and fundraised on their behalf. Hillary Clinton did not.
3. Hillary Clinton also tried to mislead voters about Barack Obama’s commitment to helping victims of sexual abuse, an issue on which he has been a strong advocate.

Transparency, Ethics and Lobbyists

Here's a comparison of Senators Clinton and Obama taken from Think on These Things.

	Obama	Clinton	Winner?
Takes campaign money from federal Washington Lobbyists	No	Yes	Obama
Takes money from state lobbyists	Yes	Yes	Tie
Took lobbyist money for Senate campaign	Yes	Yes	Tie
Takes federal PAC money	No	Yes	Obama
Took subsidized corporate jets before January 2006	Yes	Yes	Tie
Took subsidized corporate jets after January 2006	No	Yes	Obama
Released complete record of correspondences from previous political position before primaries	While his State Senate transcripts are publicly available, it is unclear whether his State Senate correspondences (appointments, meetings, and policy memos) exist. If so, no.	Records from WH years and as First Lady of Arkansas do exist. Has not called for full expedited release before primaries.	Tie?
Disclosed 2006 earmarks	Yes	No	Obama
Disclosed pre-2006 earmarks	No	No	Tie
Released names of any fundraising bundlers	Yes; the first Democratic nominee to do so; (originally just did it for $50,000+)	Yes, the last major Democratic nominee to do so; just does it for $100,000+)	Tie for doing it, Obama for leadership on doing it
Released “cities or states” for fundraising bundlers	No	No	Tie
Detailed the names of bundlers at all financial levels	Yes	No, just provides info on $100,000+	Obama
Releases details about campaign fundraising events	No	No	Tie
Co-sponsored campaign finance reform legislation	Yes	No	Obama
Released income tax returns to the public	Yes	No	Obama
Use of Earmarks and Pork Spending	See The Hill’s comparison	See The Hill’s Comparison	Obama
Pledged to post all meetings as President online	Yes	No	Obama
Has posted all meetings as U.S. senator online	No	No	Tie
Has given an ethics speech and proposal	Yes - Proposal - Speech	Yes - Proposal - Speech	Tie
Passed ethics legislation at state level	Yes	No	Obama
Pushed ethics legislation in U.S. Senate	Passed a bill that created a searchable database that allows Americans to track how the government is spending their tax money! You can look at all federal government contracts. (www.usaspending.gov) Pushed new Senate ethics bill to require candidates to disclose their bundlers Pushed to create a Congressional Ethics Commission Pushed a law banning subsidized corporate flights for candidates		Obama

Comparing what the Senators have actually Done...

I wanted to sit down and pull up everything both Senators Clinton and Obama have proposed, co-sponsored and/ or got passed in the Senate but someone already did it for me.

Thearticle below was originally posed on the Daily Kos website and can be found here.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I Refuse to Buy into the Obama Hype

by Grassroots Mom

Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 05:13:32 PM PST

The next President is going to have some MAJOR challenges.
I refuse to buy into the hype, on either side, but especially on that of Obama. However the "empty rhetoric" v. "history of accomplishments" arguments have prompted me to check it out on my own, not relying on any candidate's website, book, or worst of all supporters' diaries, like this one.

I went to the Library of Congress Website. The FACTS of what each did in the Senate last year sure surprised me. I'm sure they will surprise you, too. Whether you love or hate Hillary, you will be surprised. Whether you think Obama is the second coming of JFK or an inexperienced lightweight, you will surprised. Go check out the Library of Congress Website. After spending some time there, it will be clear that there is really only one candidate would is ready to be the next president, even better than Gore. If you don't want to spend an hour or two doing research, then I'll tell you what I discovered on the jump.

• Grassroots Mom's diary :: ::
• 
  

I looked up Obama and looked up Clinton. I looked at the bills that they both authored and introduced. Anyone who has been around politics, and is honest, realizes that there are a lot of reasons why a Senator votes one way or another on bills or misses votes. However an examination of the bills that each of these Senators cared enough about to author and introduce revealed much to me: what they care about, what their priorities are, how they tackle problems. And the list of co-sponsors showed something about how they lead, inspire and work with others. Finally, looking at which bills actually passed is pretty indicative of how effective each would be at getting things done.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, let's all be honest here. It is damn hard to get anything through Congress these days. And Obama and Clinton care about the same issues and have obviously worked together on a lot of legislation, whatever Sen. Clinton's campaign may imply. She is a frequent co-sponsor on his bills, and he on hers. They are both completely competent senators.

I started with Sen. Clinton.

I'm not a Hillary Hater, but I certainly didn't like her much either. I didn't like her DLC history; her votes on Iraq, Iran or the bankruptcy bill; her characterization of the years she spent as First Lady as "executive experience." Hillary Clinton is no Eleanor Roosevelt. Perhaps more like Lady Bird Johnson. Hillary claims to have brought us SCHIP (with a little help from Ted Kennedy). Lady Bird brought us Head Start as well as cleaner, nicer highways. Anyone 40 or older probably remembers when the nation's highways were basically disgusting garbage dumps lined with billboards. But no one thinks Lady Bird should have been president. Might as well argue for Barbara Bush because of her efforts on family literacy, or Nancy Reagan and the War on Drugs.

Hillary Clinton does have a solid record in the Senate, however.

I came away from my research really knowing a lot more about what is important to Hillary in her heart: kids and their well being. My research changed my feeling about her significantly. About 40% of her bills dealt with health care and/or kids. As a mom with small kids, I like her passion for children's issues. But curiously, her big bill to deliver health care to every child, the one she lauds on her website, S.895 : "A bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to ensure that every child in the United States has access to affordable, quality health insurance coverage, and for other purposes" had not a single co-sponsor. Not one, according to the Library of Congress. Why is that? Is it a bad bill? Or is she not able to recruit support for her signature issue? Or did she just submit it simply to put in the hopper, so to speak, so she could claim she was working on it. I honestly don't know the answer, but I find it curious and suspicious that not even Ted Kennedy co-sponsored it. Its sister bill in the house, H.R. 1535, introduced by John Dingell has 42 co-sponsors. It's just weird. I honestly don't know what to make of it.

S.895 was major. But most of her other bills are much smaller in scale and scope — more targeted and more careful.

For example, she introduced one bill that offered tax credits for building owners who clean up lead paint. Which is a very good thing. And Obama is a co-sponsor. "S.1793 : A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax credit for property owners who remove lead-based paint hazards."

Obama's anti-lead bill (S. 1306) directed the Consumer Product Safety Commission to classify certain children's products containing lead as banned hazardous substances. He had another bill prohibitting the interstate transport of children's products containing lead. (S.2132) And Hillary co-sponsored each of these.

In other words, they both care about protecting children from lead.

The difference is in the scope and the approach.

Obama's bill shows how he thinks big: do everything we can to make sure that lead-painted Thomas the Tank Engine toys don't get into the hands and mouths of millions of toddlers in this country.

Or Hillary: encourage people by offering tax credits to clean up lead paint in old buildings. People have been talking about lead paint in old buildings hurting kids in living in inner cities, since, well when I was a kid — for decades. If it is still a big problem, is offering tax credits for clean up, i.e. scrape down the walls and repaint, the best way to protect kids from lead?

How many of you parents have lead paint problems? How many have (or had) toxic Thomas the Tank Engine Toys? They are everywhere. The local bookstore and kid's shoe store and the doctor's office and the preschool and the toystore all have train tables. There is nowhere you can go anymore with toddlers that doesn't have a Thomas the Tank Engine train table covered with toxic toys. But that's just my feeling.

Obama's bills risk pissing off the toy industry and the Chinese. Hillary's risks nothing.

A lot of Clinton's health bills focus on children. Or women. She introduced a billl for research in the causes of gestational diabetes, for more pediatric research (S.895) and a rural agriculture bill to get farm-fresh veggies into schools (S.1031).

Her bill dealing with the crisis in foreclosure is actually S.2114 : "A bill to amend the Truth in Lending Act, to provide for enhanced disclosures to consumers and enhanced regulation of mortgage brokers, and for other purposes." Again, no co-sponsors. Obama also introduced a bill in the face of the mortgage foreclosure crisis: S.1222 : "A bill to stop mortgage transactions which operate to promote fraud, risk, abuse, and under-development, and for other purposes." Sponsor: Sen Obama, Barack [IL] (introduced 4/25/2007), co-sponsored by Dick Durbin.

In her ads and speeches, Clinton claims that she's fighting to stop foreclosure while implying that Obama is empty rhetoric. Actually, Clinton is calling for "enhanced disclosures to consumers and enhanced regulation", while Obama's bill will "stop mortgage transactions which operate to promote fraud, risk, abuse, and under-development." After looking at the two bills, Obama's appears to be tougher, more directly addressing the problem.

Speaking of Obama, here's a list of some of his proposed legislation.

Four bills on energy including
• S.1151 : A bill to provide incentives to the auto industry to accelerate efforts to develop more energy-efficient vehicles to lessen dependence on oil;
•S.115 : A bill to suspend royalty relief, to repeal certain provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal certain tax incentives for the oil and gas industry; and •S.133 : A bill to promote the national security and stability of the economy of the United States by reducing the dependence of the United States on oil through the use of alternative fuels and new technology, and for other purposes.

Clinton had only one bill that I could find that addressed the same issue, S.701 : A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a temporary oil profit fee and to use the proceeds of the fee collected to provide a Strategic Energy Fund and expand certain energy tax incentives, and for other purposes.

Obama wants to "repeal certain tax incentives for the oil and gas industry". Clinton sees the answer in a "temporary oil profit fee" and to "expand certain energy tax incentives" for alternative energy. Obama's alternative energy bill (S.133) was co-sponsored by Harkin, Lugar and Salazar. Clinton's bill again had no co-sponsors.

On health care he introduced ten bills/amendments, including one amendment that passed: S.AMDT.1041 to S.1082 To improve the safety and efficacy of genetic tests. Other issues addressed in his proposed health care legislation were AIDS research (S.823 ), hospital report cards (S.692 — the V.A., and S.1824 — Medicare), better emergency care (S.1873), and drug price controls (S.2347).

Clinton's health care bills, for the most part, didn't impress me much, although she introduced many more bills in this area than Obama did:

S.CON.RES.63 : A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the need for additional research into the chronic neurological condition hydrocephalus, and for other purposes.
S.RES.176 : A resolution recognizing April 30, 2007, as "National Healthy Schools Day".
S.RES.222 : A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
S.201 : A bill to establish a grant program for individuals still suffering health effects as a result of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon.
S.907 : A bill to establish an Advisory Committee on Gestational Diabetes, to provide grants to better understand and reduce gestational diabetes, and for other purposes.
S.993 : A bill to improve pediatric research.
S.982 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for integration of mental health services and mental health treatment outreach teams, and for other purposes.
S.1065 : A bill to improve the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury in members and former members of the Armed Forces, to review and expand telehealth and telemental health programs of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
S.1075 : A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to expand access to contraceptive services for women and men under the Medicaid program, help low income women and couples prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce abortion, and for other purposes.
S.1343 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to prevention and treatment of diabetes, and for other purposes.
S.1712 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to improve newborn screening activities, and for other purposes.

and on and on. Plenty of these have plenty of co-sponsors. Obviously, Hillary Clinton really knows her stuff on the issues of health care. None of them passed, however. On Obama's side, one of his health care initiatives passed in the Senate, the aforementioned amendment to Kennedy's S.1082, the FDA Revitalization Act.

Truth be told, it was very depressing doing this research to see all these great ideas and how little actually gets done. Looking at the legislative history of Kennedy's bill is a good example. It finally passed but its sister bill in the House, H.R.2900, was the one that was finally enacted, and with it, Obama's amendment for safe and effective genetic testing. Clinton submitted two amendments to this bill, one of would have eliminated the sunsetting of pediatric data collection; the other would have begin the process to approve generic versions of complex and expensive drugs called biologics or biotech drugs. Neither were adopted.

Now let's look more closely at Obama.

I was blown away as I started going through his record. I've already mentioned his bills on health care and energy. In addition he had introduced bills on Iran, voting, veterans, global warming, campaign finance and lobbyists, Blackwater, global poverty, nuclear proliferation, and education.
On Iran: S.J.RES.23 : A joint resolution clarifying that the use of force against Iran is not authorized by the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, any resolution previously adopted, or any other provision of law.

On votingPassed out of Committee and now on the Senate Calendar for Feb. 22, 2008
S.453 : A bill to prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections Please check this out! This is a great bill. We need this. I can't believe that this time voter intimidation is not already illegal.

On veterans and military personnel: S.1084 : A bill to provide housing assistance for very low-income veterans;

On global warmingS.1324 : A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuel sold in the United States;S.1389 : A bill to authorize the National Science Foundation to establish a Climate Change Education Program; S.AMDT.599 to S.CON.RES.21 To add $200 million for Function 270 (Energy) for the demonstration and monitoring of carbon capture and sequestration technology by the Department of Energy. (This last one passed both the House and the Senate as part of the budget bill.)

On campaign finance and lobbyists S.2030 : A bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require reporting relating to bundled contributions made by persons other than registered lobbyists; and S.AMDT.41 to S.1 To require lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs, or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions, and the aggregate amount of the contributions collected or arranged.

On Blackwater S.2044 : A bill to provide procedures for the proper classification of employees and independent contractors, and for other purposes, and S.2147 : A bill to require accountability for contractors and contract personnel under Federal contracts, and for other purposes.

On global poverty S.2433 : A bill to require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.

On global nuclear proliferation S.1977 : A bill to provide for sustained United States leadership in a cooperative global effort to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals, stop the spread of nuclear weapons and related material and technology, and support the responsible and peaceful use of nuclear technology.

I counted nine education bills, but it's getting late and I've got to get my kids ready for bed.

As I mentioned earlier, Clinton is a frequent co-sponsor on many of Obama's bills. So is Ted Kennedy. So are a number of Republicans.

Finally, Obama appears to have a better record last year in the Senate on getting his bills and amendments passed than does Clinton. I've listed everything that passed the Senate for each them at the end in boxes. But check out Thomas.loc.gov for yourself. I may have missed something.

In my eyes Obama is the superior choice in every way. He cares about more of the issues that matter to me. Kids and health care are important but so is the issue of global warming, on which Clinton introduced not a single bill last year.

Obama is a leader. With bigger majorities in Congress, much of his agenda should sail through. He can inspire this country to change course on so many things, from health care to global warming, where attitudes have to be changed first. I remember Bill Clinton's endless laundry lists of small, focus group approved initiatives. For those who say Hillary will not govern like Bill did, I respond that the people who were doing the market testing of his proposed policies were Dick Morris, of course, and Mark Penn, who is now running Hillary's campaign.

It's Obama for me! I just sent him $100. My first donation this election.

Yes, We Can!

Clinton's Successes:
S.694 : A bill to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to reduce the incidence of child injury and death occurring inside or outside of light motor vehicles, and for other purposes. (This is currently in conference committee to reconcile difference with the House bill)
Passed in the Senate:
S.CON.RES.27 : A concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of "National Purple Heart Recognition Day".
S.RES.21 : A resolution recognizing the uncommon valor of Wesley Autrey of New York, New York
S.RES.92 : A resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of soldiers of Israel held captive by Hamas and Hezbollah.
S.RES.141 : A resolution urging all member countries of the International Commission of the International Tracing Service who have yet to ratify the May 2006 amendments to the 1955 Bonn Accords to expedite the ratification process to allow for open access to the Holocaust archives located at Bad Arolsen, Germany.
S.RES.222 : A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
S.AMDT.666 to H.R.1591 To link award fees under Department of Homeland Security contracts to successful acquisition outcomes under such contracts.
S.AMDT.2047 to H.R.1585 To specify additional individuals eligible to transportation for survivors of deceased members of the Armed Forces to attend their burial ceremonies.
S.AMDT.2108 to H.R.1585 To require a report on the planning and implementation of the policy of the United States toward Darfur.
S.AMDT.2390 to H.R.2638 To require that all contracts of the Department of Homeland Security that provide award fees link such fees to successful acquisition outcomes.
S.AMDT.2474 to H.R.2638 To ensure that the Federal Protective Service has adequate personnel.
S.AMDT.2823 to H.R.3074 To require a report on plans to alleviate congestion and flight delays in the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Airspace.
S.AMDT.2917 to H.R.1585 To extend and enhance the authority for temporary lodging expenses for members of the Armed Forces in areas subject to a major disaster declaration or for installations experiencing a sudden increase in personnel levels.

Obama's Success:
S.AMDT.1041 to S.1082 To improve the safety and efficacy of genetic tests.
S.AMDT.3073 to H.R.1585 To provide for transparency and accountability in military and security contracting.
S.AMDT.3078 to H.R.1585 Relating to administrative separations of members of the Armed Forces for personality disorder.
S.AMDT.41 to S.1 To require lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs, or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions, and the aggregate amount of the contributions collected or arranged.
S.AMDT.524 to S.CON.RES.21 To provide $100 million for the Summer Term Education Program supporting summer learning opportunities for low-income students in the early grades to lessen summer learning losses that contribute to the achievement gaps separating low-income students from their middle-class peers.
S.AMDT.599 to S.CON.RES.21 To add $200 million for Function 270 (Energy) for the demonstration and monitoring of carbon capture and sequestration technology by the Department of Energy.
S.AMDT.905 to S.761 To require the Director of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education to establish a program to recruit and provide mentors for women and underrepresented minorities who are interested in careers in mathematics, science, and engineering.
S.AMDT.923 to S.761 To expand the pipeline of individuals entering the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to support United States innovation and competitiveness.
S.AMDT.924 to S.761 To establish summer term education programs.
S.AMDT.2519 to H.R.2638 To provide that one of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5 million or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee certifies in writing to the agency awarding the contract or grant that the contractor or grantee owes no past due Federal tax liability.
S.AMDT.2588 to H.R.976 To provide certain employment protections for family members who are caring for members of the Armed Forces recovering from illnesses and injuries incurred on active duty.
S.AMDT.2658 to H.R.2642 To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability.
S.AMDT.2692 to H.R.2764 To require a comprehensive nuclear threat reduction and security plan.
S.AMDT.2799 to H.R.3074 To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability.
S.AMDT.3137 to H.R.3222 To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability.
S.AMDT.3234 to H.R.3093 To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability.
S.AMDT.3331 to H.R.3043 To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability.
Senate Resolutions Passed:
S.RES.133 : A resolution celebrating the life of Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson.
S.RES.268 : A resolution designating July 12, 2007, as "National Summer Learning Day".

Added:I realize, of course that several of these amendments are exactly the same. They were added to spending bills. My only reason for including them is for completeness. They are not here to pad out Obama's record. Furthermore, I want to make clear that I only looked at one single year, 2007. This is not meant as a comprehensive review of either candidate's entire Senate record. If you are interested in doing your own research, please go to http://thomas.loc.gov and look it up.

Read up, Communicate, and stand by your Principles

Obama is an open communicator who is not opposed to open discussion and diplomacy with people with whom he vehemently disagrees, be it foreign leaders who are “enemies” of the United States, or those who represent opposing views to his own. He is a listener, which would be a huge change from the current administration. Bush didn’t read intelligence reports, he would have people summarize them for him and go with his gut feeling. He would not listen to the other side’s argument. Obama does exactly the opposite. Many senators caught up in the patriotism rush that overwhelmed us after 9/11 (either you’re with us or against us) jumped on board with whatever Bush said because they feared for their political life. Many, including Senator Clinton acted just like Bush out of political fear and voted to give him authorization to go to war WITHOUT READING THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE. Here’s a breakdown of who DID read it. At that same time, Senator Obama was running for his senate seat. He took the principled stand and objected to the war and STILL won his seat.

How did we get here?

Passions have run very high as of late when it comes to the current debate surrounding the democratic nomination. People on both sides of the fence (both of which have very green grass mind you) are solidly behind their candidates. I think that is great. This is one of the most exciting and monumental elections amongst the many earth-rattling elections that have come within anyone’s lifetimes. Sometimes, the rhetoric has gone out of hand. Passion has a way of doing that. I will admit that I too have succumbed to these passions.

One thing we can all agree on is that the past 8 years have been the most damaging, divided and darkest times in our nation’s history. The ramifications of what was begun in these eight years will take decades to be fully realized and undone. The fabric of our democracy was forever been tainted. The election of 2000 set the definitive course of change in our nation that began even back in the 80’s. Yes, as far back as Reagan’s time as president, the nation started to be severely divided. Trickle down economics forced a deep wedge between the haves and the have-nots. The one thing that prevented a complete divide in our people was Reagan’s ability to communicate and bring people together to swallow the bitter pill of his policies. I was only a child in the 80’s but I have read quite a bit about that period and know that this “great communicator” was able to at least bring people from the other side of the isle and the nation, the Reagan Democrats, under his wing to lead the nations. Unfortunately, the policies the brought the nation together behind, were very damaging and were the very pathway to the greater divide that plagues our country to this very day. He ignored the AIDS crisis, began the coalescing of the Religious Right movement and lead secret dirty deals, such as the Iran Contra debacle that harked back to the underhanded madness of the Nixon era, but that’s a whole other story. Things of course did not improve under his successor, George H.W. Bush. The divide continued, but fortunately, he was not in office but one term.

Then, came Bill Clinton’s fresh face onto the scene. He and his wife set into motion a lot of great changes in direction. The economy boomed, crime decreased, and things started to feel better. However, the divide within our nation did not heal. In fact, the partisan divide became a chasm. As much good as they did, they could have accomplished even more, had partisan politics not guided their every move. Yes, they had good intentions and produced some good results, but things were not as idealistic once you look back. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement was one of Bill Clinton’s first accomplishments in office. It sounded good on one level, but it has since cost our country a lot of jobs and has devastated the agricultural economy of Mexico. Mexico’s poor have become poorer and the rich have become FLITHY rich. It’s no wonder many of my people come across the border illegally to be able to feed their families. Mexican’s have come to the US long before NAFTA, but this misguided treaty has only made things worse there as well as in the states. Also adding to the woes of our struggling poor in the United States was the Clinton administration’s overhaul of the welfare system. Under the enacted changes, no one could receive more than 5 years of consecutive or nonconsecutive welfare aid and access to it was more difficult. Many of the provisions to welfare reform were arbitrary and did not take into consideration the lives of the real people who would need this assistance. Working in schools on the east side of Austin with predominantly economically disadvantaged families, I see firsthand the struggles many of these people are faced with. There are some who are able to pull themselves out of dire poverty onto the lower rungs of economic stability, but there are many many others who work two and three jobs, take ESL classes, and try everything they can to better themselves but cannot get ahead. I’ve worked with children from kindergarten until they leave for middle school after their 5th grade year, and their families are in the same situation that they were when I first met them five years prior. I often wonder what will become of these families after their fifth year on welfare assistance is up. Many students have parents who cannot help them with their homework because they work several jobs (some as many as four) just to be able to feed the family. Others cannot help their children with homework because they cannot read themselves. We all do what we can, but the system is not set up to deal with the real-world situations that exist.

Bill Clinton was the first president to acknowledge and listen to the LGBT community. I think he is owed a lot of credit for that. However, he passed two extremely damaging pieces of legislation as far as that community is concerned. One of his first acts as president was to pass the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for the military. In essence it says that “There’s nothing wrong with being gay, just keep it a secret or you’ll be kicked out.” This was a huge slap in the face of the LGBT community who had finally thought they had a president who respected them. Then came DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as being between a man and woman, ONLY! I don’t think a president should ever support any act, legislation or policy that marginalizes or discriminates against a group of people. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what he did.

I think the most dangerous seed that was planted during the Clinton years, though was the increased polarization of the American electorate. There should have NEVER been a George W. Bush presidency. The 2000 election should never have been as close as it was. Yes, politics have always divided people. However, we are all Americans and should not see each other as enemies no matter how much we disagree on the issues. There are some things that should never be compromised, but we must realize that our language and the way we speak to and about each other defines who are as a people. It decides if and how things are done, especially in the current divided mindset within which we live. The harder we push, the harder they will push back.

There are many other things that have occurred between Reagan’s time in office until now. And at this point, I could write pages and pages about the horrors and denigration that our democracy has suffered through during the time George W. Bush took the reigns as president. There are volumes of writings out there that discuss the damage our standing in the world has suffered under his command particularly since we are still experiencing this dark time in history firsthand. For a mini sampling of the what damage has been done feel free to depress yourself reading here. It only goes up to the end of his first term, but you see the disasterous pattern. If anyone can find a more comprehensive timeline of his administration, please tell me about it so I can include it.

It is now almost March of 2008. We stand at the precipice of hopefully a new direction in our history as a nation. First of all, we have two strong candidates vying for the democratic nomination. Yes, one is a woman and the other an African American. That is significant, but not what’s wholly great about them. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both very intelligent and capable legislators who both have a history of working for the American people, and they are strong candidates for winning the Whitehouse in November. After much research, reading, listening, and thinking I however feel that Barack Obama is the stronger of the two on many levels.

Obama wants School Vouchers????

Recently a dear friend of mine who also works in the field of education protested that Obama is “in favor of school vouchers.” In actuality, he is not the case at all. He has, however said in the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal that:

(He was) surprised to learn from Gov. Jim Doyle that "there was no assessment process" for the Milwaukee program but indicated he might be open to supporting voucher programs if studies show they work."If there was any argument for vouchers, it was 'Let's see if the experiment works,' " Obama said. "And if it does, whatever my preconception, you do what's best for kids."

(For anyone who cares to hear the actual context of what he said, the video can be found here.)

In otherwords, if there were proof he would be open to what’s best for the kids. Is he saying he is FOR vouchers? No. Just that he is open to listening to both sides of the argument. In saying so, he opens himself up to blind criticism, because it would be a break from what a democratic candidate “should” say. However, he’s more concerned with children’s learning, and doing what’s best, however unpopular being open to it, it is. I would hope that ANY candidate for the presidency is open to listening to both sides. However, that is not the case. Many nowadays are merely driven by partisan politics, toeing the party line and saying what they think the majority of their base wants to hear. That is not what Senator Obama does.