In His Candidate’s Voice

Here's Obama's substance:

Barack Obama angered fellow Democrats in the Illinois Senate when he voted to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago's West Side. But Obama had a ready explanation: He goofed. "I was not aware that I had voted no," he said that day in June 2002, asking that the record be changed to reflect that he "intended to vote yes."

On March 19, 1997, Obama announced he had fumbled an election-reform vote the day before, on a measure that passed 51 to 6: "I was trying to vote yes on this, and I was recorded as a no," he said.

On March 20, 1997, Obama voted "present" on a key telecommunications vote.
HEY CWA members, WAKE UP and smell the TRUTH ABOUT OBAMA.

He stood on March 11, 1999, to take back his vote against legislation to end good-behavior credits for certain felons in county jails. "I pressed the wrong button on that," he said.

He was the lone dissenter on Feb. 24, 2000, against 57 yeas for a ban on human cloning. "I pressed the wrong button by accident," he said.

On Nov. 14, 1997, he backed legislation to permit riverboat casinos to operate even when the boats were dockside. The measure, pushed by the gambling industry and fought by church groups whose support Obama was seeking, passed with two "yeas" to spare -- including Obama's. He wasn't exactly up front with his constituency, telling a church group on a 1998 campaign questionnaire that he was "undecided" about whether he backed an expansion of riverboat gambling. The senator who led the opposition to the gambling measure, Republican Todd Sieben, said "He was obviously paying attention to this vote. It was a major, major issue in the state, and it was a long debate," Sieben said. "The inadvertent 'Oops, I missed the switch' -- I'd be kind of skeptical of that."
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamavotes24jan24,0,4956975,full.story?coll=la-home-center

"The one area where [Rezko] did have a political interest in Springfield that emerged - this is all pre-Blagojevich - was gaming. He was one of the minority investors in Rosemont. That's one area where he could have asked me for favors, but did not, partly because I was clearly on record as being opposed. I was a gaming opponent as [Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief] Dave McKinney will recall." - Obama


http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/844597,transcript031508.article

Here's more on Obama's substance:

Q: In November 2006, we asked you if Rezko or his company solicit your support on any matter involving state or federal government. And you said no, I've never been asked to do anything to advance his business interests.

A: That's correct.

Q: However, we later learned that you wrote a letter on Oct. 28, 1998, to city and state housing officials urging them to fund a senior-citizen building that Rezko was developing with your former boss, Allison Davis - a deal that paid them $855,000 in development fees. All of which raises for us a couple of questions.

A: Before you ask the questions, he did not solicit that from me. I think his own counsel has indicated that he did not make the request for that letter. That was a project, it may have ended up coming from the alderman's office because I think they wrote the exact same form letter. This was a project that was well-regarded in the community, has done well, and was supported on its own merits, and it was essentially a form letter of the sort that I did all time. And that I wasn't, by the way, aware of.

Q: You weren't aware that he was associated with the project?

A: I wasn't even aware that we wrote the letter. The answer that I gave at the time was accurate as far as I knew.

Q: As you know, what it appears to be is endorsing the project of a client of your law firm and a campaign contributor in your official capacity as an

Illinois state senator.

A: I recall the story that you wrote together. And as I said before, this is not a letter he solicited. I don't know who solicited the letter. I had a single district director. These are letters of the sort that we did all the time. We would find out if a project was worthy. This was one of many form letters, or letters of recommendation we would send out constantly for all sorts of projects. And my understanding is that our letter was just one of many. And I wasn't a decision maker in any of this process.

BUT HE SIGNED THE LETTER - HE WAS IN CHARGE OF HIS OFFICE - OR IS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF THE WAY HE WOULD RUN THE WHITE HOUSE?

Kathylibbey, checks and balances works when the president and congress are from different parties, otherwise it is just a rubber stamp. We can't afford that now, when vigorous debate is important to identifying the best alternatives.

Your ageism is disgusting. You assume old people have no new ideas. John McCain is proof that your assumption is false. He has been coming up with new ideas and acting on them while in Congress, something that your precious Obama has never done. Obama has only borrowed ideas from others and then taken the credit for their work. Chris Dodd and Kennedy even called him on the carpet for this, with Dodd describing it as occurring so frequently that it had become Obama's "mantra".

Does experience count when it comes to job of being president?
Not really, because our government is made up of a system of checks and balances, which makes the power of the President very limited.

First of all, the president can make very few decisions pertaining to the country without the support of the house and senate. Secondly, the president has a multitude of very experienced advisors who provide information and opinions on each situation presented. No President operates without the counsel of the most knowledgeable advisors in the country.

In addition, the job of President is more one of appearance, representation, and leadership than it is decision maker. The President must be someone who is respectable, and pragmatic. The President must also be someone who represents the ideas and beliefs of the country, and above all else the President must be viewed as a strong and vibrant leader by the world.

America needs someone who can come up with a new idea and then set the wheels in motion to develop that idea. We need someone who has the intelligence and vitality to look toward the future and see change. Not someone so old and outdated that they believe in that "if it ain't broke don't fix it" ideology.

America needs someone who can relate to the working class citizen, and is willing to stand up to the wealth mongers and say give up one or two of your houses, so that the backbone of America can afford to have at least one. We need someone who will put down their fist and say the rich are rich enough, now let's help the little guy. We need someone who will stop allowing businesses to find it more profitable to sell our jobs to overseas markets. America needs someone who will support change and not resist it.

McCain may have more so called experience, but his ways are what has put this country in the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer state that it is in. Not to mention that he is of the age that would rather leave things as they are because it is easier for them to understand.

Obama has displayed the courage to stand up for his belief in a country where any person can succeed if they are willing to work at it. This is the kind of leadership we need in our President.

Television stations and Newspaper owners are wealthy people. They control most of what we see and hear about the politics in this country. While they may pretend to be impartial when they report on the candidates, do you really believe they would be fair to someone who might take a few dollars out of their pockets? TV and Newspaper Ads are not to be believed. Commentators are not credible either as they report what they are told to report. Listen to the candidates, and make your decision on what you hear from them.

If you are not happy with the way things are in this country, you must vote for Obama! McCain will not support change, because old people always resist change. That is not meant to be mean, it is the simple truth.

Dude, this guys has created a MONSTER!!! O better pray that nothing happens to this guy, he's the only thing holding o up....O has NO original thoughts or proven track record....he's black, and that's the novelty....Obama sucks

If you want to see Obama speak live, many of his speeches can be found at livenewscameras.com

It is a great resource for journalists covering the race...because they can't be at all the events. It has live breaking news coverage from around the country. If you love politics, this is a resource you might want to check out.

When voters are polled about which candidate will keep us safe John McCain is assumed to be the better choice for commander and chief because of his military experience. However, it is important to note that many commanders are experts at fighting the ???last war??? making them less not more competent in confronting the most likely types of future conflicts.

The following questions would be interesting in determining voter attitudes on weather Barack Obama would make a better commander and chief than McCain.

Of the two candidates which is more likely to involve the US in another disastrous Vietnam like conflict?
Who???s policies will help bring more recruits to al Qaeda?
Which candidate is intellectually suited to deal with a complex a-symmetrical military conflict?
Which candidate is most likely to enlist the cooperation of allies in Afghanistan or some other military conflict?
If war is unavoidable which of the two will best motivate our country to focus on the engagement at hand?
Which candidate is more likely to resolve international political discord through diplomacy and avoid war?

If answered honestly these questions will show that Obama is more likely to keep us safe.

Regards,

Tony Reyes
Miami, Florida

John McCain doesn???t know Shiites and Sunnis are Bitter enemy since Saddam days, Also this spring, McCain twice appeared to mistake again twice between Sunnis and Shiites, two branches of Islam that split violently

John McCain doesn???t know where is Pakistan? , McCain responded I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border. The ABC posting added: Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border.

Somalia for Sudan: As recounted in a reporters pool report from McCain Straight Talk Express bus on June 30, the senator said while discussing Darfur, a region of Sudan: How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?
Senior adviser Mark Salter corrected him Sudan

Germany for Russia memorializes McCain referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia following a trip to Germany as President Putin of Germany by the way Germany Never have a President only Chancellor.

This spring, McCain said troops in Iraq were down to pre-surge levels when in fact there were 20,000 more troops than when the surge policy began.

In perhaps the most curious incident, McCain said earlier this month that as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he had tried to confuse his captors by giving the names of Pittsburgh Steelers starting players when asked to identify his squadron mates. McCain has told the story many times over the years but always correctly referred to the names he gave as members of the Green Bay Packers

In Phoenix earlier this month, McCain referred to Czechoslovakia, which has been divided since Jan. 1, 1993, into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also referred again to Czechoslovakia during a debate in November and a radio show in April.

""WAKAKAKAKA "" This Guy deserves to Be the President of United Fools ..........I laugh my Ass off.

Did Jon Favreau write Barack Obama's Berlin speech?

belker:
every candidate has speech writers. obama wrote his own speeches until time constraints made it physically impossible. obama and bush are not comparable. period. do you even know of one of the best presidents of all time who gave perhaps the best political speech of all time, JFK? impassioned words and impassioned delivery motivated america to public service, the moon and the prevention of a nuclear holocaust. WHAT ABOUT LINCOLNS GREAT SPEECH? AND FDR'S? they motivated americans through some tumultuous times. AND IT LOOKS LIKE OBAMA'S 2004 KEYNOTE SPEECH (which he wrote himself) MIGHT VERY WELL DO THE SAME.

Every one should admit Fevreau is a good speech writer, and Obama is great at delivering the snake oil he writes. Good speeches and good delivery do not a good president make.

Need evidence? Just look at the current oocuptant of the Whitehouse. As long as he is not speaking off the cuff, Bush is great at delivering the good speeches written by his speech writers. Remember the "Missions accomplished" speech? Impassioned words and impassioned delivery. He is still the worst president the country has produced in the last century. But he is great at delivering well written speeches.

even if obama was muslim (he says he is christian), that should not matter one bit in a country of tolerance and equality. same goes with romney a morman. lets talk about the issues here people. healthcare, immigration the war in iraq.

cowen if obama's change rhetoric is so empty WHY HAS EVERY OTHER CANDIDATE JUMPED ON THE CHANGE BANDWAGON? they all know that this current administration is abominable and want to stress that they will be different. THEY ARE ALL POLITICIANS. THEY PLAY TO THE POPULIST TIDE. and just because you only listen to soundbytes of speeches doenst mean they dont have substance. stop getting spoon fed your politics by the main stream media and be a responsible citizen and research each candidate first hand. look up debates, voting records, speeches, their stance on issues, read some books. then when you actually have an issue to talk about (ie healthcare) speak. your credibility is zilch. you have no sources. this is EXACTLY the kind of politics WE NEED TO CHANGE FROM.