Obama versus Clinton on Experience

February 26, 2008 on 8:59 pm | In Uncategorized |

It is not a new tactic by the Clinton campaign to claim that Senator Clinton has a plethura of experience versus Senator Obama. In addition to this, many of us have heard the reports of various news organizations and Clinton campaign workers who have launched “man on the street” interviews wherein they question Obama supporters and try to put them on the spot to name an achievement of Senator Obama or a firm reason as to why they are supporting him other than the “feeling” he invokes in them.

And so below you will find a listing of Senator Obama’s various accomplishments in the Senate versus Senator Clinton’s accomplishments. It deserves to be mentioned that in the Senate both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have been allies, co-sponsoring bills with one another on numerous occasions. What is more interesting is that some of Senator Clinton’s key legislation that she refers to in her campaign has no co-sponsors in the Senate whatsoever. I find this odd because one of her key issues is and has always been health-care, a key issue for most Democrats. How legislation relating to health-care cannot garner a single Democratic ally as a co-sponsor speaks either to it being poor legislation or to her inability to gain support on what has become her solitary issue of contest with Senator Obama.

In contrast you will see that Senator Obama’s legislation typically has multiple co-sponsors (including Republicans) and his legislation usually has a much more focused and effective resolution than many of Senator Clinton’s bills on similar topics. This demonstrates how Obama works to create legislation with actual end results, whether or not it creates enemies within corporate America or not.

So here are a few pieces of legislation you can familiarize yourself with to show that Obama supporters are well-informed on the accomplishments, goals and work ethic of our candidate :

On Foreclosures :
Senator Clinton’s bill - S.2114 which is “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.” This bill had no co-sponsors.

Senator Obama’s bill - S.1222 which is “”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.

Senator Obama’s legislation is clearly doing more to prevent situations like adjustable rate mortgages being written into unsuspecting home buyers’ contracts, wherein Senator Clinton’s legislation is only working for enhanced disclosures and regulation of an industry that has already proven it cannot be trusted to follow standards of ethics.

On Energy and the Environment

Senator Clinton’s negative campaign has made accusations in one of their direct mail pieces distributed in early February that Senator Obama has helped to pass legislation that put “voted for Dick Cheney’s energy bill that gives huge tax breaks to oil companies”

In actuality, the bill President Bush signed into law in 2005 actually raised taxes on the oil industry overall. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said that the Energy Policy Act “included several oil and gas tax incentives, providing about $2.6 billion of tax cuts for the oil and gas industry. In addition, [the act] provided for $2.9 billion of tax increases on the oil and gas industry, for a net tax increase on the industry of nearly $300 million over 11 years.”

In the Senate Senator Obama introduced 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.

Senator Clinton introduced 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’s bill claims the answer is a “temporary oil profit fee” and to “expand certain energy tax incentives” for alternative energy.

On alternative energy Senator Obama sponsored 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. This bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Richard Lugar (R-IN).

Here are a few other accomplishments of Senator Obama’s in the Senate :

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.

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.

Veterans Affairs S.1084 : A bill to provide housing assistance for very low-income veterans

Global Warming S.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.

Campaign Finance Reform 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.

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.

So go out into the world Obama supporters armed with this knowledge and rest assured that when you are questioned about naming definitive accomplishments of Senator Obama, you can name them without effort and prove that our candidate is not all “flash” but he’s a lot of well thought-out policy and substance.