Obama Pads His Resume on Immigration
By Katmandu2 on July 14, 2008 at 1:15 PM in Barack Obama, Immigration Reform, John McCain
The major newspapers seem to be removing their rose colored glasses and examining Obama’s statements of accomplishments realistically. Today’s clear-headed view of Obama comes from the Chicago Sun-Times — and by its top Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet, no less.
The bottom line is this: Obama has not been truthful about his accomplishments on immigration legislation. The piece opens with a clout:
WASHINGTON — No matter if you are—or are not — voting for presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), he deserves credit for trying to forge a bipartisan deal on immigration in 2005 and 2006 at great personal political risk, a situation unfamiliar to rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
The importance of the piece is that it calls into question Obama’s veracity:
In the meantime, Obama on the campaign trail inflates his leadership role — casting himself as someone who could figure out how to get something done. Obama “did not absolutely stand out in any way,’’ said Margaret Sands Orchowski, the author of “Immigration and the American Dream: Battling the Political Hype and Hysteria,” and a close follower of the legislation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a McCain ally and a key player on immigration, said Obama was around for only a “handful” of meetings and helped destroy a 2007 compromise when he voted for making guest worker visa programs temporary. A permanent guest worker program was to be a trade for a legalization program to cover many illegal immigrants.
“When it came time to putting that bill together, he was more of a problem than he was a help. And when it came time to try to get the bill passed, he, in my opinion, broke the agreement we had. He was in the photo op, but he could not execute the hard part of the deal,” Graham said,” Graham said.
This is not just the view of Graham and one reporter. The Washington Post noted Obama’s deception on his immigration “accomplishments” back in March:
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. [skip]
Immigration is a case in point for Obama, but not the only one. In 2007, after the first comprehensive immigration bill had died, the senators were back at it, and again, Obama was notably absent, staffers and senators said. At one meeting, three key negotiators recalled, he entered late and raised a number of questions about the bill’s employment verification system. Kennedy and Specter both rebuked him, saying that the issue had already been resolved and that he was coming late to the discussion. Kennedy dressed him down, according to witnesses, and Obama left shortly thereafter.
“Senator Obama came in late, brought up issues that had been hashed and rehashed,” Specter recalled. “He didn’t stay long.”
There you have it: Resume padding we can believe in.
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And then you have McCain — who disvowed his own bill!
He threw his own bill under the bus, with Phil Gramm.
Where is the outrage?
Standard troll hijacking the thread. Why does blech hate the practise of free speech, other than his own?
He has writer’s block..missing his deadline
So blech go take a walk and give it up. WE Don’t like Obama here. Period.
That’s not the point of this article…
Why don’t you just admit that you’re not at all upset that Obama takes credit for things he didn’t do?
Go ahead, just write it so we can all see you Obots for what you really are. After all, didn’t your Supreme Master Obama make a big deal about transparency?
So Lindsey Graham, who goes on every foreign trip McCain has, and Arlen Specter, a Republican, are criticizing Obama and — why is that surprising?
are you whining again?
tsk tsk….
a. hillary
b. mccain
america first!
It is not surprising, Arlen Specter is not shy about going after Republicans when they are full of shit either.
Blech:
Two writers, Sweet and Murray for the Post, have consistently been more than flattering to Obama. I read them several times a week. They separately excoriate him. I read Ben Smith and he agreed with Sweet on this, criticizing the piece because everyone already knew this.
Obama irritated not only Republicans, but Kennedy also.
The Latinos know the score on Obama. They’ll vote for him because of their longstanding Democratic tradition, but when Obama spoke at La Raza the loudest cheer was when he mentioned Clinton’s name. Read the news on that here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/clinton-obama.html
As to McCain leaving his bill behind, it was because he got thumped for it.
There is a very good analysis of the whole immigration issue here: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/the-mccain-obam.html It is much more unkind to Obama than to McCain, and Tapper is a non-biased reporter who zings both sides.
Tapper’s bottom line:
Only an intellectually vapid or dishonest person would conclude that Obama’s immigration work has been superior to that of McCain. McCain took tremendous lumps for trying to get a bill through, as did Kennedy.
Obama did next to nothing and thenn trioed to claim credit.
Tapper, Murray, and Sweet 3, your position, 0.
Gosh, now that I know this and that Kennedy knew this about Obama and “dressed him down”, do you think his brain tumor had something to do with his endorsement? I can’t imagine him endorsing this lightweight, do nothing, take credit, photo-op publicity hound over Hillary! How freaking insane was that? At least he has an excuse! The other losers in the Senate have none!
blech has selective reading skills. Kennedy “dressed him down”. Ouch!
“When it came time to putting that bill together, he was more of a problem than he was a help. And when it came time to try to get the bill passed, he, in my opinion, broke the agreement we had. He was in the photo op, but he could not execute the hard part of the deal,” Graham said,” Graham said.
Obama to a tee.
Let’s not make another mistake, Americans. The Republicans voted for a totally unqualified candidate in 2000 and 2004 and look where we are. I, for one, a Democratic voter to the core, will not be voting for Obama this cycle because I will be no part of a possibly disastrous presidency. I feel the same way about Obama that I felt about Bush Jr. and I absolutely will not be voting for Obama.
So Obama tried to claim credit for a bill that he had nothing to do with … just before he derailed it. One might think that his lifelomg ambition is to make george bush look good.
Just in case you forgot why you are contributing to Senator Clinton, take a look at some of her recent efforts as Senator from New York
# Senator Clinton Welcomes Introduction of House Companion to Her Legislation Improving Foster Care Adoption
# Clinton Hails Approval By Key Senate Committee of Her Proposals to Aid Wounded Warriors and Their Caregivers
# Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congresswoman Barbara Lee Introduce Resolution Recognizing National HIV Testing Day
# Clinton Calls for Investigation into Government Contracts with KBR
# Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on the 45th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act
# Senator Clinton Speaks on the Senate Floor in Support of the Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act
# Senator Clinton Applauds House Passage Of Bishop-Clinton Bill To Extend Family And Medical Leave Act To Airline Flight Crews
# Clinton And Menendez Amendment To Prevent Blindsiding Of Homeowners In Flood Map Redrawing Passes Senate
# Clinton Announces Comprehensive Legislation to Protect Servicemembers Serving in Combat from Foreclosure and Expand Veterans Housing and Mortgage Refinancing Opportunities
# Clinton, Bayh Call on Administration, Mortgage Servicers to Cooperate with States’ Efforts to Address the Mortgage and Foreclosure Crisis
# Senator Clinton Introduces Legislation to Support Family Caregivers of Wounded Warriors
# Clinton Proudly Announces Newborn Screening Legislation Enacted into Law
# Senator Clinton Speaks In Support Of Equal Pay Legislation
# Senator Clinton Condemns Republican Obstruction of Key Breast Cancer Research
# Democratic Women Senators Stand Up for Female-Owned Small Businesses
# Senator Clinton Introduces the Mortgage Refinancing Initiative Act of 2008
Great list. Thanks.
And come November, the DNC is going to be singing, Fools Rush In. It could be their theme song this year.
Off topic, but wanted to spread the news – Heidi Li Feldman of The Denver Group will be on Your World with Neil Cavuto on FOX – today!
PUMA!!
Obambi is a liar and a scamster.
We had on low-info, lazy, punk in the WH the last 8 years.
Enough is enough!
Sweet writes:
On Thursday in Fairfax, Va., Obama was asked about his qualifications to understand Latino needs. After noting his work as a community organizer and state senator — he spoke of McCain. “John McCain bucked much of his party and worked with Ted Kennedy, worked with me and others to help shape comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the Senate. And I thought that was courageous of him.” Obama, in a sly verbal stroke, made himself an equal on immigration leadership to Kennedy and demoted McCain to a helper.
I’ll bet his fellow State and US Senators really appreciate that last line.
bleh bothers to write 2 responses to this post and yet in neither response does he/she attempt to provide us with facts or links or anything that would show the article to be false or at least exaggerated in its claims.
“yeah but other people did….” that is not a reasoned response. Bleh’s first and second attempts to attack the post are both attempts at misdirection.
Bleh you are just gonna have to try harder buddy. I won’t accept that type of non-reasoning from my kids, so I certainly don’t accept it in political argument.
Wherever it is that you get your information from Bleh, go back and read it again please. I would certainly love to hear about Obama championing any cause. Even one he lost.
Please, it doesn’t have to be immigration. Pick any topic. Pick anything. One thing is all I ask. Please provide some information on Obama’s leadership skills and his commitment to improving the lives of others.
Please.
Please, I’m begging you Bleh, because I haven’t been able to find anything. And I’m a bit worried because this guy might be President. We already had 8 disastrous years of an empty suit owned and operated by corporate interests. I really would love to have a real leader.
Please Obama supporters, help Bleh out!
Give us ONE DAMN EXAMPLE OF OBAMA ATTEMPTING TO MAKE THE LIFE OF SOMEONE ELSE BETTER.
If you can’t, then please stfu.
You’re right cdo — and I don’t mind critiques of anything I’ve written as long as they are fair and based on evidence.
Everyone in Washington, except a few spinmeisters, realize that McCain put his career on the line on this issue. That was why he was counted out in the early going — too many ultra right wingers — the Tancredos of the world — were furious with him.
I don’t have the quote at hand, but when Obama spoke in Virginia a few days ago on immigration, he suggested it was he, and not McCain, who was a principal architect of the legislation. That was slimy in the extreme.
Obambi pads and misrepresents all his past “accomplishments” or he would have nothing to run on (which of course he does not).
Like when BO stated he was in a high stakes U.S. Senate race at the time he made his little Iraq War speech in 2002 – which is false – Obama would not enter the race until several months later.
It’s this kind of outright lying and skirting the truth that makes BO completely untrustworthy in my view. This, and his ever-shifting policies geared toward political expediency; his terrorist association with Bill Ayers; his lying about Trinity and Wright; the smear campaign waged against Sen Clinton, etc, etc.
I’d like to add some evidence that McCain was taking the high road on this issue. I’ll let these excerpts from the Washington Post speak for themselves:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062702823.html
Anybody have articles talking about Obama’s principled immigration stands?
There are a host of things I do not like about McCain’s policies, but this effort is not one of them. Obama just needs to clam up about this issue.
Looks like even when she’s not at an event, HRC is still more popular than Pampers.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/clinton-obama.html
No problem for Obama – She endorsed him!
And he’s winning hispanics 2-1 over McCain.
blech = Winston
Obama = Big Brother (FISA- freedom is slavery)
blech’s words= newspeak
Obama pads his resume? That stretched it out to what? Half a page.
Girlly man padding?
“When it came time to putting that bill together, he was more of a problem than he was a help. And when it came time to try to get the bill passed, he, in my opinion, broke the agreement we had. He was in the photo op, but he could not execute the hard part of the deal,” Graham said,” Graham said.
Like I told an ObabiBot earlier, name me some legislation that Obambi actually put together, lol. The guy is a flake, he intertwines himself into a piece of legislation or a surrogate friend will write the legislation and attach Obama to it, it’s all smoke and mirrors to pad Obambi.
Hey blech,
You said you had to go get some writing done. Why are you still here?
Is your assignment to pad Obama’s resume? You must already be finished. Nothing to write, huh. That’s too bad.
“Blech” probably writes Science Fiction, because he(she) lives in a fantasy world.
This is Obama’s MO his entire political career, climbing on the backs of others, taking credit for the hard work of others as his own. Why do you think he avoids debates like the plague? He has no core beliefs because he’s never done the hard work that it takes to develop and nuture beliefs and policies and agendas. Sure, he can give a speech written by others, about policies and strategies developed by others, but he can never defend those policies with any history, any reasoning, any intelligent debate, because he owns none of them. This man is not POTUS material, period.
Obama took credit for something he didn’t do??
Why am I not surprised?
There was an artical about BO’s life in Jakarta. In it there was a first hand account of BO wanting “tag along” with the “big kids”. The end result was BO got thrown in the “creek” by them.
You think he would learn. How much of his life was spent in an attempt to “belong”? He has rejected people thaat oppose him out of a fear of being alone. Not that I have anything but a lack of respect for him.
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OK. What part of THE PRINT AND BROADCAST MEDIA IS IN THE TANK FOR REPUBLICANS don’t you guys get?
As it looks more and more certain Obama will be crowned by the Troika of Timidity (Reid,Pelosi,&Dean), the more and more will they find all those skeletons. If there are no skeletons
