Credit Where it's Due
Posted at 3:30pm on Mar. 24, 2008 Obama the Show Horse
Senators Come in Two Types: The Workhorse and the Obama
By Mark I
The Washington Post has an interesting article today that takes a look at the Senate records of accomplishment of the Democratic candidates for president. While both candidates are given rough treatment by the Post, Sen. Barack Obama, the Senator from H.O.P.E.™, appears to have made a particular reputation for himself in his three plus years in the Senate: Obama is a credit monger.
After weeks of arduous negotiations, on April 6, 2006, a bipartisan group of senators burst out of the "President's Room," just off the Senate chamber, with a deal on new immigration policy.
As the half-dozen senators -- including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) -- headed to announce their plan, they met Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who made a request common when Capitol Hill news conferences are in the offing: "Hey, guys, can I come along?" And when Obama went before the microphones, he was generous with his list of senators to congratulate -- a list that included himself.
"I want to cite Lindsey Graham, Sam Brownback, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar, myself, Dick Durbin, Joe Lieberman . . . who've actually had to wake up early to try to hammer this stuff out," he said.
To Senate staff members, who had been arriving for 7 a.m. negotiating sessions for weeks, it was a galling moment. Those morning sessions had attracted just three to four senators a side, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) recalled, each deeply involved in the issue. Obama was not one of them.
The article goes on to describe two other instances of Sen. Obama swooping in after all the work has been done to sign onto an idea or a piece of legislation, or otherwise coming late to the party.
Read on…
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | Barack Obama | Credit Where it's Due | Liberals | Obamafiles | senate — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »
