The post is about whether Obama will bring about change, and there was talk of how other candidates' and Bush's words did not match actions.

The point I was making about Bush is that he was baile dout of his business failures and then went on to politics through his family connections. Bush could say whatever was necessary because he had core support and the rest was filler, spun so people would vote for him.

Obama, on the other hand, has no “built-in” connections. Obama has succeeded and over time has been able to form political networks on his own because of the strength of his intellect and ideas (agree with them or not is a different story). Obama had to succeed on his own. Granted Clinton started out with very little of this built-in support, but over the years (decades) the Clinton name has become very powerful and successful.

That's the point I was making- Bush has never succeeded at anything on his own and Obama is successful because he has worked hard and relied on his strong ideas.

giving any Senator credit for co-sponsoring something is a joke. I guess that is like having a lower college admission standard for black students.

The only credit a Senator should get is legislation that they and their staff wrote and sponsored. All you are going is giving Senator Obama credit for the work of others.

Of course, what he co-sponsored is standard Democratric boilerplate legislation that most of the Democratic Senators co-sponsored. so, once again, what makes anyone think that Senator Obama is going to be different that any other Democratic should was running for office.

Obama, on the other hand did not come from a politically connected (nor wealthy) family, got into Harvard Law on his own merits, became President of the Harvard Law Review, and went on to a successful career, working up from the ground. (Unlike Hillary who woke up one day, decided to get into politics herself and used her husband's clout and the Democratic machine to propel her into the US Senate seat- at a time when Obama had already been in the IL legislature for several years.)

So I think it's important to see what each candidate has accomplished on his/her own and whether they had a leg up due to some family (parents, husband or wife) connection.

Obama had the most to overcome and he has achieved what he has today solely on his own. All the other candidates had family connections and got a leg-up that Obama did not have. Furthermore Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, so he has a good understanding of the ideas of our founding fathers.

But what really gets closes the deal for me with Obama is that after college he wanted to do good in the community. And he did. However he learned that he could be more effective if he had a law degree, so he went to the top law school and received one. Once he met Michelle he took her to community events and after a while Michelle became involved in community projects because of his influence. I think this shows that Obama is committed to wanting the community imroved- I mean if you take your date to these events and then after a while your date (or wife) starts becoming involved, that just shows he's committed and is able to draw people in. So I think Obama really wants to do good.

However it was obvious that Bush, with his oil ties and Cheney with his oil ties (they are both neck-deep in the oil industry along with his anti-environmental policies, it was obvious that Bush was only in it to enrich his friends and family. Just like Hillary, with her ties to business and having been on the receiving end of so much corporate money over the years, Hillary sees the WH as a way of rewarding the people/corporations who have supported her/Bill over the last couple of decades. If you don't believe that, then just see who Bush's supporters were (and are) and who Hillary's supporters are.

I'm not saying Obama is perfect- no one is. But he does seem to want to do good and his supporters are the people of the United States of America. Not some elite machine group of supporters who are tightly managed and give a gazillion dollars. Obama's supporters are the average American who wants change and who want their voices heard. The average American does not want their voice drowned out by some guy with $100 million dollars who has supported a politician for the last 20 years.

I believe that Hillary has a fighting chance against McSame and that Obama will lead the Republican Party to another great victory (think Reagan vs Dukakis where Obama plays the role of Dukakis), but we shall find out in another 6 month.

You should never underestimate the innate racism of Americans.

And despite all those accomplishments, he will get his ass handed to him in November when he runs against McSame.

The fine voters of OH, PA, FL, NJ will see the choice as being between an African-American & a Republican and will vote for the Republican, and all the red states that picked Obama will go Republican.

I'm so tired of the GOP/Clinton/MSM meme that Sen. Obama is thin on specifics (which he isn't) and has a thin legislative history (which he doesn't). So, what has he done? And what has Sen. Clinton?

First a tally from Politifact and their analysis is on the link.

“The legislative accomplishments of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama reveal different interests and styles. Obama shows a consistent interest in making government more open and efficient, while Clinton has a focus on health care efforts she started as first lady, though in a more incremental way.”

I'll leave Holly to cite Sen. Clinton's key accomplishments, which I do not disparage, but as the article above is about Obama, I'll focus on his.

Most of Sen. Obama's legislative effort has been in the area of Energy Efficiency and Climate Change (25 bills), health care (21 bills) and public health (20 bills), consumer protection/labor (14 bills), the needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces (13 bills), Congressional Ethics and Accountability (12 bills), Foreign Policy (10 bills) Voting and Elections (9 bills), Education (7 bills), Hurricane Katrina Relief (6), the Environment (5 bills), Homeland Security (4 bills), and discrimination (4 bills).  

Of the 15 bills Senator Obama sponsored or co-sponsored in 2005-7 that became law:

Two addressed foreign policy:
Promote relief, security and democracy in the Congo (2125)
Develop democratic institutions in areas under Palestinian control (2370).

Three addressed public health:
Improve mine safety (2803)
Increased breast cancer funding (597)
Reduce preterm delivery and complications, reduce infant mortality (707).

Two addressed openness and accountability in government:
Strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (2488)
Full disclosure of all entities receiving federal funds (2590)

Two addressed national security
Extend Terrorist Risk Insurance (467)
Amend the Patriot Act (2167)

One addressed the needs of the Armed Forces
Wave passport fees to visit graves, attend memorials/funerals of veterans abroad (1184).

Of the 570 bills Senator Obama introduced into the Senate during the 109th and 110th Congress  (Senate Bill numbers are in parentheses), they can be summarized as follows:

25 addressed Energy Efficiency and Climate Change
Suspend royalty relief for oil and gas (115)
Reduce dependence on oil; use of alternative energy sources (133)
Increase fuel economy standards for cars (767, 768)
Auto industry incentives for fuel efficient vehicles (1151)
Reduce green house gas emissions (1324)
Establish at NSF a climate change education program (1389)
Increase renewable content of gasoline (2202)
Energy emergency relief for small businesses and farms (269)
Strategic gasoline and fuel reserves (1794)
Alternative diesel standards (3554)
Coal to liquid fuel promotion (3623)
Renewable diesel standards (1920)
Reducing global warming pollution from vehicles (2555)
Fuel security and consumer choice (1994, 2025)
Alternative energy refueling system (2614)
Climate change education (1389)
Low income energy assistance (2405)
Oil savings targets (339)
Fuel economy reform (3694)
Plug-in electric drive vehicles (1617)
Nuclear release notice (2348)
Passenger rail investment (294)
Energy relief for low income families (2405)

21 addressed Health Care
Drug re-importation (334)
Health information technology (1262, 1418)
Discount drug prices (2347)
Health care associated infections (2278)
Hospital quality report cards (692, 1824)
Medical error disclosure and compensation (1784)
Emergency medical care and response (1873)
Stem cell research (5)
Medical Malpractice insurance (1525)
Health centers renewal (901, 3771)
Children’s health insurance (401)
Home health care (2061)
Medicare independent living (2103)
Microbicides for HIV/AIDS (823)
Ovarian cancer biomarker research (2569)
Gynological cancers (1172)
Access to personalized medicine through use of human genome (976)
Paralysis research and care (1183)

20 addressed Public Health:
Violence against women (1197)
Biodefense and pandemic preparedness and response (1821, 1880)
Viral influenza control (969)
End homelessness (1518)
Reduce STDs/unintended pregnancy (1790)
Smoking prevention and tobacco control (625)
Minority health improvement and disparity elimination (4024)
Nutrition and physical education in schools (2066)
Health impact assessments (1067, 2506)
Healthy communities (1068)
Combat methamphetamines (2071)
Paid sick leave (910)
Prohibit mercury sales (833, 1818)
Prohibit sale of lead products (1306, 2132)
Lead exposure in children (1811, 2132)

14 address Consumer Protection/Labor
Stop unfair labor practices (842)
Fair minimum wage (2, 1062, 2725, 3829)
Internet freedom (2917)
Credit card safety (2411)
Media ownership (2332)
Protecting taxpayer privacy (2484)
Working family child assistance (218)
Habeus Corpus Restoration (185)
Bankruptcy protection for employees and retirees (2092)
FAA fair labor management dispute resolution (2201)
Working families flexibility (2419).

13 addressed the Needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces:
Improve Benefits (117)
Suicide prevention (479)
Needs of homeless veterans (1180)
Homes for veterans (1084)
GI Bill enhancement (43)
Military job protection
Dignity in care for wounded vets (713)
Housing assistance for low income veterans (1084)
Military children in public schools (2151)
Military eye injury research and care (1999)
Research physical/mental health needs from Iraq War (1271)
Proper administration of discharge for personality disorder (1817, 1885)
Security of personal data of veterans (3592)

12 addressed Congressional Ethics and Accountability
Lobbying and ethics reform (230)
Stop fraud (2280)
Legislative transparency and accountability (525)
Open government (2180, 2488)
Restoring fiscal discipline (10)
Transparency and integrity in earmarks (2261)
Accountability of conference committee deliberations and reports (2179)
Federal funding accountability and transparency (2590)
Accountability and oversight for private security functions under Federal
contract (674)
Accountability for contractors and personnel under federal contracts
(2147) Resctrictions awarding government contracts (2519)

10 addressed Foreign Policy:
Iraq war de-escalation (313)
US policy for Iraq (433),
Divestiture from Iran (1430)
Sudan divestment authorization (831)
Millennium Development Goals (2433)
Multilateral debt relief (1320)
Development bank reform (1129)
Nuclear nonproliferation (3131,977,2224).

9 address Voting/Elections
Prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections (453)
Voter access to polls and services in Federal elections (737)
Voter intimidation and deceptive practices (1975)
Senate campaign disclosure parity (185)
Require reporting for bundled campaign contributions (2030)
Election jamming prevention (4102)
Campaign disclosure parity (223)
Presidential funding (2412)
Integrity of electronic voting systems (1487)

11 addressed Education
Increase access of low income African Americans to higher education (1513)
Establish teaching residency programs (1574)
Increase early intervention services (2111)
Middle school curriculum improvements (2227)
Public database of scholarships, fellowships and financial aid (2428)
Summer learning programs (116)
TANF financial education promotion (924)
Higher education (1642)
Build capacity at community colleges (379)
Campus law enforcement in emergencies (1228)
Support for teachers (2060).

6 addressed Hurrican Katrina
Hurricane Katrina recovery (2319)
Emergency relief (1637)
Bankruptcy relief and community protection (1647)
Working family tax relief (2257)
Fair wages for recovery workers (1749)
Gulf coast infrastructure redevelopment (1836)

5 addressed the Environment
Drinking water security (218, 1426)
Water resources development (728)
Waste water treatment (1995)
Combat illegal logging (1930)
Spent nuclear fuel tracking and Acountability (1194)
Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act (Introduced in Senate)[S.726.IS ]

4 addressed Discrimination
Claims for  civil class action based on discrimination (1989)
Domestic partnership benefits (2521)
Unresolved civil rights crimes (535)
Equality or two parent families (2286)

4 addressed Homeland Security
Judicial review of FISA orders (2369)
National emergency family locator (1630)
Amend US Patriot Act (2167)
Chemical security and safety (2486)

Here's what the NY Times has to say about Obama in the Illinois statehouse. Here's a summary of his legislation there. Here's what the Washington Post says. A detailed history of all his and her significant legislation is here, here, here, here and here.

Maybe you should try opening your eyes. Median income has stayed stationary while cost of living has been going up. Life is getting harder for people under the GOP ideal of economic prosperity. Our standing in the world is a ghost of what it used to be, and we are now counted among nations for whom torture is in the playbook as standard operating procedure. I don't know about you but that is not something I am proud of.

National Debt has ballooned and the Dow Jones has posted how much growth since Jan 21st 2001? The US dollar is where? Our top notch financial institutions from wattchdog companies like Arthur Andersen(remember them?) to Bearn Stearns seem unable to see the forest for the trees when it comes to making a quick billion by trying ot rig the system. And our energy solutions proposed by the president? We'd like to comment on that but he hasn't even allowed us to know who was in the secret meetings about it in 2002 and 2003. But now oil is over $100/barrel and the VP's former company went from $6/share to $42 with two splits in there.

And oh yea, while the rest of the up and coming nations are churning out engineers and scientists our president thinks creationism should be taught alongside biology. Meanwhile the nation is starving for technical specialists in just about every field. You hear that laughter? Lets get a real president in there and stop it.

If Senator Obama was a miracle worker,, he would have found at least one public school to send his children.

To borrow a line from Mitt Romney… that's “a non-sequitur. It's a non — null set.”

There is no reasons to defend the Republicans. They have been a total failure and will soon be irrelevant to politics. However, no matter how bad the Republicans have been, Senator Obama will lead as president similar to the way that most of the Democratic Senators would lead if they were president. He will have virtually the same cabinet that many other Democrats would have. He has the same special interest to answer to. He has the same value system. He will have programs and policies similar to those that most Democrats would have.

In the end, it will be business as usual. If Senator Obama was a miracle worker,, he would have found at least one public school to send his children. Yet, he has made the same personal choices of entitlement that every other Democratic Party leader has made. Until Senator Obama demonstrate the ability to say no to the special interest he is just another career politician. However, he gives a great speech doing it.

Or how about that Taylor argument that Obama is flawed because he's an actual liberal, whereas McCain is just a pandering cynic–is that supposed to make McCain look Presidential?

a) Saying he is going to do things differently is what is going to get him elected. You have to take that as an article of faith because he hasn't been able to demonstrate that he's done it in the past, do things differently that is.

b) I didn't realize that the country had fallen down and couldn't get up. Sorry that you're among the 5% that is unemployed and that your American Dream has died.

However, poor performance can be judged on its own merits, or lack of merits.

How should the performance of Republicans be judged?

Should there be no negative consequences for Republican performance on the war or the economy?

And should there be no negative consequences for Republicans because–I can hardly believe this argument is being made with a straight face–Obama is scary?

You know what scares me? Another term with a Republican in the White House.