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Posts Tagged ‘U S Senate’

Are Democrats also becoming sick of Obama’s ‘Chicago style’ politics?

April 28th, 2011 8 comments

We all know that Obama has won every election by underhanded means.

Illinois State Senate:
Obama got his opponent disqualified on a technicality- a favorite of Chicago Machine politicians. The Chicago machine made sure that Illinois has several conflicting election rules. They get one of their crooked judges to hold up someone’s candidacy until the election is over when they are exonerated- a bit too late! Obama was trailing in the polls at the time.

U.S. Senate:
Obama won by smearing his opponent. Obama got another crooked Chicago Machine judge to unseal Jack Ryan’s sealed divorce records- then exploited his wife’s (actress Jeri Ryan) claims of deviant sexual practices. Obama was trailing at the time.

President:
Obama saw that Sarah Palin was an instant game-changer, and dispatched 1,500 smear artists to Alaska starting the day after she was announced as V.P. candidate. He (along with the duplicitous liberal-biased media) wasn’t going to take any chances with his coronation. The lies and smears against Palin and family will likely go down as the low point of American political history.

Now America faces it’s worst crisis in decades- runaway debt!
Obama himself acknowledged the problem a couple of months ago.
He said that the crisis is so important to solve, that no partisan attacks should take place and we all have to work together to solve it.
Then Obama turns around last week and launches the most vile partisan attack against the GOP and the Ryan plan in particular- all but accusing the GOP of wanting to starve Grandma to death!
In typical Chicago style, Obama made sure Paul Ryan was sitting in the front row with no forum to answer, as Obama launched these vile attacks. It was nothing more than petty payback against Ryan because Ryan made Obama look uninformed and stupid during the Obamacare debate.

Are these petty, lack of leadership tactics what America wants to see during these very troubling times? I think not. I’ve been following Presidential politics since LBJ, and I haven’t seen behavior as slimy and shameful as what Obama engages in.

I know that there is a small segment of morally bankrupt Alinsky-ites who have an "ends justifies the means" attitude, and don’t care what Obama does as long as they get what they want- but the other 85% of Americans must be as appalled as I am, right?

Your thoughts?

Hardly any of this is true. And what is true is SOP for politics.

for those of you who think Obama has accomplish nothing?

March 12th, 2010 14 comments

Obama passed legislation with Republican Senator Jim Talent to give gas stations a tax credit for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps. The tax credit covers 30 percent of the costs of switching one or more traditional petroleum pumps to E85, which is an 85 percent ethanol/15 percent gasoline blend.

-After a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

-His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent.

-Obama created the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families in 2000 and successfully sponsored a measure to make the credit permanent in 2003. The law offered about $105 million in tax relief over three years.

-Obama joined forces with former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) to pass the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned gifts from lobbyists. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations.

-As a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan.

-He traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world.

-Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting.

– In the U.S. Senate, Obama introduced the STOP FRAUD Act to increase penalties for mortgage fraud and provide more protections for low-income homebuyers, well before the current subprime crisis began.

-Obama sponsored legislation to combat predatory payday loans, and he also was credited with lobbied the state to more closely regulate some of the most egregious predatory lending practices.

-Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.

-Obama worked to pass a number of laws in Illinois and Washington to improve the health of women. His accomplishments include creating a task force on cervical cancer, providing greater access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and helping improve prenatal and premature birth services.

-Obama has introduced and helped pass bipartisan legislation to limit the abuse of no-bid federal contracts.

-Obama and Senator Feingold (D-WI) took on both parties and proposed ethics legislation that was described as the "gold standard" for reform. It was because of their leadership that ending subsidized corporate jet travel, mandating disclosure of lobbyists’ bundling of contributions, and enacting strong new restrictions of lobbyist-sponsored trips became part of the final ethics bill that was signed into law.

I really could list many, many more but I fear it would be too much to take in at one time. I hope this helps some of you know him a little better. Everyone seems to be jumping on his "Change" bandwagon. However, he does have the record to back it up.
haha..i know jonathan..just spreading the message..u know

you stole that from me

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080214215000AAb6v16&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFPgTdVVRzCzSaBOgBagZ7cbuY8uWXkaxE3LrNz6pZU8YaxadxwjAyecEX1Don.kXuczg–&paid=answered#R8J_WTS5VWLCuRxGR3g5DEG836rd6i.WcI8smFSkv9_no5FUlyrg

but thats cool as long as its for a good cause

has anyone seen this?

March 2nd, 2010 8 comments

what has Obama done?

I love this question…. here’s a start:

Education:

* 1983 Foreign Policy Degree from Columbia,
* 1991 Law Degree from Harvard, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, and he served as the President of the Harvard Law Review, one of the most prestigious student positions in the world.

Community Organizer, 1985

He sought to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment

* Moved the Chicago Housing Authority to remove asbestos in housing
* Established a job-training center
* Worked in the streets on voter registration to help elect President Clinton
* Registered 150,000 people to vote

Civil Rights Lawyer

Miner, Barnhill & Galland: litigated employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and voting rights cases.

* Protecting voters: seccessfully sued state of Illinois for failing to implement a federal voter-registration law.

* Successfully defended a whistleblower who lost her job, for a $5 million settlement

Constitutional Law professor/lecturer at the University of Chicago

Illinois State Senate 1996 – 2004

* Welfare legislation

* Created the Earned Income Tax Credit program that gave over $100 million in tax cuts for families throughout Illinois over 3 years.

* Expanded early childhood education

* Enlisted the support of law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

* He passed a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped. The law was at first very controversial, but due to Obama’s skills as a negotiator and bipartisanships, he won the support of the police. During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.

* Pass the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned most gifts from lobbyists. Worked with U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL), 1988. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations.

* Created a working, affordable health care plan in Illinois, that covers 70,000 kids and 84,000 adults, where all kids qualify for $40 per child. Obama sponsored and passed this legislation, working with Rod R. Blagojevich(IL Gov.) See All Kids http://www.allkids.com/ . It is a model for a workable, affordable national health care.

Honors:

* Outstanding Legislator Award
* Campaign for Better Health Care and Illinois Primary Health Care Association, 1998
* Best Freshman Legislator Award
* Independent Voters of Illinois, 1997
* Monarch Award for Outstanding Public Service, 1994
* “40 Under 40” Award, Crain’s Chicago Business, 1993.
* Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Spoken Word Recording for the audio version of his book, Dreams from My Father.

US Senate, 2004 – present

He is a member of several Senate Committees:

* Committee on Foreign Relations, that plays a vital role in shaping US policy around the world.
* Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that addresses, among other things, issues of immigration and our borders.
* Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: oversees our nation’s health care, schools, employment, and retirement programs
* Committee on Veterans’ Affairs: focused on providing our brave veterans with the care and services they deserve.
* 2005-2006: Environment and Public Works Committee, which safeguards our environment and provides funding for our highways

The Numbers

Obama sponsored 152 bills and resolutions brought before the 109th Congress in 2005 and 2006, and cosponsored another 427.

Legislation Passed in US Senate

* Lugar-Obama Act to decrease nuclear and conventional weapons proliferation around the world.

* Coburn-Obama Transparency Act transparency in federal spending, found at httP://www.usaspending.gov

* Cosponsored the Healthy Kids Act of 2007 and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007 to ensure that more American children have affordable health care coverage.

* Obama worked to pass a number of laws in Illinois and Washington to improve the health of women. His accomplishments include creating a task force on cervical cancer, providing greater access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and helping improve prenatal and premature birth services.

* As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Obama passed legislation to improve care and slash red tape for our wounded warriors recovering at places like Walter Reed. He passed laws to help homeless veterans and offered an innovative solution to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into home
I think that the people that have no substance, to my question and statement, are clearly racist.
http://factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccain-palin_distorts_our_finding.html

this one is about your barefooted moose sipping princess, that obviously don’t know JACK about foreign affairs, or the bush doctrine. Keep sipping moose kool aid

OK you convinced me, I’ll vote for Obama.

Could a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who has supported infanticide?

February 26th, 2010 15 comments

Barack Obama is the only US senator on record for voting for infanticide. As an Illinois state senator, he led the opposition to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA), which says, "A live child born as a result of an abortion shall be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under the law."

Why was such a law needed? Late-term abortions often use prostaglandin to induce contractions, forcing a premature birth. The labor contractions usually kill the baby, but not always. Sometimes preemies survive the procedure, fighting for air, nourishment, and a human touch. Standard practice has been to abandon the baby to die, lying in a pool of afterbirth and medical waste.

When BAIPA came before the Illinois Senate in 2001, Obama said it would establish that babies surviving abortion "are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a child, a nine-month old child that was delivered to term." Apparently, Obama thinks you have to be nine months old to be protected from abuse and neglect.

Three months later, the U.S. Senate passed the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act by a vote of 98-0. At the federal level, the bill included an explicit disclaimer about babies still in utero. Later, Obama claimed he would have supported the federal version.

That was a lie. When the federal language was included in an Illinois version in 2003, Chairman Obama bottled it up in the Health Committee, killing the bill.

Barack Obama is not just for abortion. Obama demands that every abortion result in a dead baby. My question is, can a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who is not just pro-choice, but pro-death?

Oh, most definitely not. Our Bishop just sent out a letter to the entire diocese last week reminding is that not only must we vote our conscience, but we must remember that our foremost duty as Catholics is to protect life, from conception to natural death, and it would therefore be an unconscionable decision and a form of self excommunication to vote for a candidate that openly supports abortion, especially when there is an opposing candidate that will work to protect life.

What are the FACTS when comparing experience: Obama/ Biden to McC/Palin?

January 18th, 2010 25 comments

Don’t be misled, look for yourself. Don’t just listen to the -hmm umm yahoos! :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama#State_legislator.2C_1997.E2.80.932004

OBAMA
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from the 13th District, which then spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park-Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[26] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.[27] He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[28] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan’s payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures,[29] and in 2003, Obama sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[28][30]

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, and again in 2002.[31] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.[32][33]

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[34] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[35] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the US Senate.[36]

2004 U.S. Senate campaign

See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004

In mid-2002, Obama began considering a run for the U.S. Senate, enlisting political strategist David Axelrod that fall and formally announcing his candidacy in January 2003.[37] Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun not to contest the race launched wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates.[38] Obama’s candidacy was boosted by Axelrod’s advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and an endorsement by the daughter of the late Paul Simon, former U.S. Senator for Illinois.[39] He received over 52% of the vote in the March 2004 primary, emerging 29% ahead of his nearest Democratic rival.[40]

Obama’s expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.[41]

In July 2004, Obama wrote and delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.[42] After describing his maternal grandfather’s experiences as a World War II veteran and a beneficiary of the New Deal’s FHA and G.I. Bill programs, Obama spoke about changing the U.S. government’s economic and social priorities. He questioned the Bush administration’s management of the Iraq War and highlighted America’s obligations to its soldiers. Drawing examples from U.S. history, he criticized heavily partisan views of the electorate and asked Americans to find unity in diversity, saying, "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America."[43] Broadcasts of the speech by major news organizations launched Obama’s status as a national political figure and boosted his campaign for U.S. Senate.[44]

In August 2004, with less than three months to go before Election Day, Alan Keyes accepted the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination to replace Ryan.[45] A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination.[46] In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes’s 27%, the largest victory margin for a statewide race in Illinois history.[47]

U.S. Senator, 2005–present

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005.[48] Obama was the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, and the third to have been popularly elected.[49] He is the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Joe Biden has been in the service of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT in 1972

So 36 years and 12 years for O/B FORTY EIGHT YEARS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LEVELEXPERIENCE

John McCain since 1982 to present = 26 years FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL
Sarah Palin , uh, well 2days if you count since her being named by Senator McCain

TOTAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL EXPERIENCE Mc/Pal = 26 years +//- 2 DAYS!

Who has the more experience to lead the country ????

Read the Question TOTAL FEDERAL EXPERIENCE boys and girls

Truth hurts?
Remember what I said about the SHOUTING Yahoo!’s
Oh and FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE BRANCH includes Senators but not Governors or Mayors.

Quit chatting

I was a Hillary supporter and I would vote for her any day! Sarah Palin????? What was McCain thinking!!! She has no experience at all….. How is she going to take on Obama/Biden? Obama looks very experienced compared to her! I was going to vote for McCain but I am not anymore….I cant even imagine if something happend and she took over…HIllary is RIGHT for president…NOT Palin!!!!!!

Thumbs down Obama?

January 15th, 2010 9 comments

Record Suggests Obama’s Views Have Changed A Bit
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ?
If he wanted, the Barack Obama of today could have a pretty good debate with the Barack Obama of yesterday.

They could argue about whether the death penalty is ever appropriate. Whether it makes sense to ban handguns. They might explore their differences on the Patriot Act or parental notification of abortion.

And they could debate whether Obama has flip-flopped, changed some of his views as he learned more over the years or is simply answering questions with more detail and nuance now that he is running for president.

The Democratic senator from Illinois hasn’t made any fundamental policy shifts, such as changing his view on whether abortion should be legal. But his decade in public office and an Associated Press review of his answers to a questionnaire show positions changing in smaller ways.

Taken together, the shifts could suggest a liberal, inexperienced lawmaker gradually adjusting to the realities of what could be accomplished, first in the Illinois Legislature and then the U.S. Senate.

On the other hand, political rivals could accuse him of abandoning potentially unpopular views or of trying to disguise his real positions.

Take the death penalty.

In 1996, when he was running for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Obama’s campaign filled out a questionnaire flatly stating that he did not support capital punishment. By 2004, his position was that he supported the death penalty "in theory" but felt the system was so flawed that a national moratorium on executions was required.

Today, he doesn’t talk about a moratorium and says the death penalty is appropriate for "some crimes — mass murder, the rape and murder of a child — so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage."

Then there’s another crime-related issue, gun control.

That 1996 questionnaire asked whether he supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns in Illinois. The campaign’s answer was straightforward: "Yes." Eight years later, he said on another questionnaire that "a complete ban on handguns is not politically practicable" but reasonable restrictions should be imposed.

His legislative record in Illinois shows strong support for gun restrictions, such as limiting handgun purchases to one a month, but no attempts to ban them. Today, he stands by his support for controls while trying to reassure hunters that he has no interest in interfering with their access to firearms.

Obama’s presidential campaign contends that voters can’t learn anything about his views from the 1996 questionnaire, which was for an Illinois good-government group known as the IVI-IPO. Aides say Obama did not fill out the questionnaire and instead it was handled by a staffer who misrepresented his views on gun control, the death penalty and more.

"Barack Obama has a consistent record on the key issues facing our country," said spokesman Ben LaBolt. "Even conservative columnists have said they’d scoured Obama’s record for inconsistencies and found there were virtually none."

IVI-IPO officials say it’s inconceivable that Obama would have let a staffer turn in a questionnaire with incorrect answers. The group interviewed Obama in person about his answers before endorsing him in that 1996 legislative race, and he didn’t suggest then, or anytime since, that the questionnaire needed to be corrected, they said.

Since he came to Washington, one piece of legislation that raises questions is the USA Patriot Act, the security measure approved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

When he ran for the Senate, Obama called the act a "shoddy and dangerous law" that should be replaced. After he took office, the Senate considered an update that Obama criticized as only a modest improvement and one that was inferior to other alternatives.

Still, Obama ended up voting for that renewal and update of the Patriot Act.

Another disputed issue is health care.

Obama was asked in the 1996 questionnaire whether he supported a single-payer health plan, in which everyone gets health coverage through a single government program. The response was, "Yes in principle," and probably best to have the federal government set up such a program instead of the state.

Today, health care is a hot issue, and Obama does not support creating a single government program for everyone. In fact, rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards have criticized his health proposal for potentially leaving millions of people uninsured because they wouldn’t be forced to buy insurance.

Political analysts don’t see much danger for Obama in the changes. They aren’t major shifts akin to Republican Mitt Romney’s changes on abortion and gun control, so voters aren’t likely to see the senator as indecisive or calculating.

"I think they allow for some adjustment," said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire. "It depends on whether they’re changing the core of what they’re about."

In the general election, the Republican nominee would be more likely to go after the first-term senator on another front.

"If Obama is the Democratic candidate, I don’t think the Republicans will be attacking him on a particular issue," said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. "They’d be attacking him on his experience."

Obama’s Democratic opponents, concerned about turning off voters who dislike negative campaigning, haven’t been aggressively using his shifts against him. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign does quietly argue that they amount to a pattern that should concern the public.

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer noted Obama’s positions on handguns, health care and the Patriot Act. "Voters will ultimately decide whether these are significant shifts in his views or not," he said.

One area where Obama’s campaign acknowledges his views have changed is on the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In January 2004, Obama said he was opposed to repealing the law. By February, one month later, he supported a repeal.

His campaign says Obama always thought the Defense of Marriage Act was a bad law but didn’t believe it needed to be repealed. After hearing from gay friends how hurtful the law was, he decided it needed to be taken off the books.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/barack.obama.democrats.2.616645.html

I stopped reading after the second sentence since he’s done nothing that other politicians haven’t done, and I quite frankly get annoyed by people who copy long questions from other sources. Politicians will say whatever they think will get them more votes. And if he really has changed his mind on some issues, who cares? Aren’t people entitled to changed their minds? I doubt if you have identical views to what you had several years ago. I know I’ve changed my mind on stuff a few times.

Thumbs down Obama?

January 15th, 2010 9 comments

Record Suggests Obama’s Views Have Changed A Bit
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ?
If he wanted, the Barack Obama of today could have a pretty good debate with the Barack Obama of yesterday.

They could argue about whether the death penalty is ever appropriate. Whether it makes sense to ban handguns. They might explore their differences on the Patriot Act or parental notification of abortion.

And they could debate whether Obama has flip-flopped, changed some of his views as he learned more over the years or is simply answering questions with more detail and nuance now that he is running for president.

The Democratic senator from Illinois hasn’t made any fundamental policy shifts, such as changing his view on whether abortion should be legal. But his decade in public office and an Associated Press review of his answers to a questionnaire show positions changing in smaller ways.

Taken together, the shifts could suggest a liberal, inexperienced lawmaker gradually adjusting to the realities of what could be accomplished, first in the Illinois Legislature and then the U.S. Senate.

On the other hand, political rivals could accuse him of abandoning potentially unpopular views or of trying to disguise his real positions.

Take the death penalty.

In 1996, when he was running for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Obama’s campaign filled out a questionnaire flatly stating that he did not support capital punishment. By 2004, his position was that he supported the death penalty "in theory" but felt the system was so flawed that a national moratorium on executions was required.

Today, he doesn’t talk about a moratorium and says the death penalty is appropriate for "some crimes — mass murder, the rape and murder of a child — so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage."

Then there’s another crime-related issue, gun control.

That 1996 questionnaire asked whether he supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns in Illinois. The campaign’s answer was straightforward: "Yes." Eight years later, he said on another questionnaire that "a complete ban on handguns is not politically practicable" but reasonable restrictions should be imposed.

His legislative record in Illinois shows strong support for gun restrictions, such as limiting handgun purchases to one a month, but no attempts to ban them. Today, he stands by his support for controls while trying to reassure hunters that he has no interest in interfering with their access to firearms.

Obama’s presidential campaign contends that voters can’t learn anything about his views from the 1996 questionnaire, which was for an Illinois good-government group known as the IVI-IPO. Aides say Obama did not fill out the questionnaire and instead it was handled by a staffer who misrepresented his views on gun control, the death penalty and more.

"Barack Obama has a consistent record on the key issues facing our country," said spokesman Ben LaBolt. "Even conservative columnists have said they’d scoured Obama’s record for inconsistencies and found there were virtually none."

IVI-IPO officials say it’s inconceivable that Obama would have let a staffer turn in a questionnaire with incorrect answers. The group interviewed Obama in person about his answers before endorsing him in that 1996 legislative race, and he didn’t suggest then, or anytime since, that the questionnaire needed to be corrected, they said.

Since he came to Washington, one piece of legislation that raises questions is the USA Patriot Act, the security measure approved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

When he ran for the Senate, Obama called the act a "shoddy and dangerous law" that should be replaced. After he took office, the Senate considered an update that Obama criticized as only a modest improvement and one that was inferior to other alternatives.

Still, Obama ended up voting for that renewal and update of the Patriot Act.

Another disputed issue is health care.

Obama was asked in the 1996 questionnaire whether he supported a single-payer health plan, in which everyone gets health coverage through a single government program. The response was, "Yes in principle," and probably best to have the federal government set up such a program instead of the state.

Today, health care is a hot issue, and Obama does not support creating a single government program for everyone. In fact, rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards have criticized his health proposal for potentially leaving millions of people uninsured because they wouldn’t be forced to buy insurance.

Political analysts don’t see much danger for Obama in the changes. They aren’t major shifts akin to Republican Mitt Romney’s changes on abortion and gun control, so voters aren’t likely to see the senator as indecisive or calculating.

"I think they allow for some adjustment," said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire. "It depends on whether they’re changing the core of what they’re about."

In the general election, the Republican nominee would be more likely to go after the first-term senator on another front.

"If Obama is the Democratic candidate, I don’t think the Republicans will be attacking him on a particular issue," said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. "They’d be attacking him on his experience."

Obama’s Democratic opponents, concerned about turning off voters who dislike negative campaigning, haven’t been aggressively using his shifts against him. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign does quietly argue that they amount to a pattern that should concern the public.

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer noted Obama’s positions on handguns, health care and the Patriot Act. "Voters will ultimately decide whether these are significant shifts in his views or not," he said.

One area where Obama’s campaign acknowledges his views have changed is on the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In January 2004, Obama said he was opposed to repealing the law. By February, one month later, he supported a repeal.

His campaign says Obama always thought the Defense of Marriage Act was a bad law but didn’t believe it needed to be repealed. After hearing from gay friends how hurtful the law was, he decided it needed to be taken off the books.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/barack.obama.democrats.2.616645.html

I stopped reading after the second sentence since he’s done nothing that other politicians haven’t done, and I quite frankly get annoyed by people who copy long questions from other sources. Politicians will say whatever they think will get them more votes. And if he really has changed his mind on some issues, who cares? Aren’t people entitled to changed their minds? I doubt if you have identical views to what you had several years ago. I know I’ve changed my mind on stuff a few times.