Barak Obama: The Democrats' Great Moderate Hope

A couple of years ago my wife and I were having dinner with some friends and one of our friends began raving about how smart she thinks Illinios Senator Barak Obama is. She commented on how he is not like other Democrats, he was a "moderate." To this I replied she needs to get away from getting her news only from NPR and inform herself of his true nature. Sen. Obama has been labeled the anti-Hilliary, a centrist and, most importantly, very intelligent. To the last description, I cannot say. After all, it does take some brains to win a Senate election--even if you are running in a state known to be heavily Democrat against an opponent who is considerably weaker. But "anti-Hilliary" and "centrist" are not two adjectives that I would attach to the junior Senator from Illinios. Barak Obama is a soft spoken, well packaged Liberal who may not sound like some one who blogs over at the Daily Kos, but he deffinitely votes that way.

Yesterday on NBC's Meet the Press, Obama fielded several questions from host Tim Russert in which his answers were very well stated. He was asked about his vote against confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts to which he said that he was not in favor of a fillibuster. He was asked about his views on Iraq where a year before he was pretty much in line with the President and now he is ready to get out. One of Russert's questions prompted Obama to say that people are no longer fighting the big-government/smaller-government debate. The people want "smarter government." I am hard pressed to ask Obama, when it comes down to it, when does big-government loose out to "smarter government?" Obama is a media created political star who is no different than the other Liberals in the Senate.

Let's first take a look at a New York Sun article from today, shall we? Reporting on Sen. Obama's attempted campaign visit to Massachussettes Seth Gitell writes, "If it wasn't a presidential campaign in anticipation of the 2008 contest in name, Mr. Obama did almost everything that he needed to prepare for one." Obama was creating Presidential buz at a gubenatorial campaign rally. Many of the supporters at this campaign rally were ecstatic to get a chance to be upclose and personal with Obama. One of them commented this way, "'I am not a Hillary supporter,' Marty Ray said, adding that he would consider volunteering for Mr. Obama in 2008. 'We need someone with a bigger vision, a vision for the future with new ideas.'" And the Massachussettes Democrat Party Chairman said that Obama represents something young and fresh where a Clinton or Kerry are more of the old-guard. Obama, the new new Democrat (and that was not a typo).
http://www.nysun.com/article/42043?page_no=2

Obama represents a means to get votes from Evangelical Christians, a traditionally solid Republican voting block. But Obama's voting record should serve to disenchant the Evangelicals away from him. In March of 2005 Obama voted in the affirmative for an amendment brought forth by Hilliary Clinton that funded prevention for unintended pregnancy. The description of this amendment noted that one of the goals was to reduce the number of aboritons, however; it increased funding for family planning centers. Now, when you read "family planning center" think Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is not interested in reducing the number of aboritions. Obama voted no on the flag protection amendment, an amendment aimed at preventing flag burning. Obama is in favor of pay-as-you-go spending in Washington, which means that the Federal Government cannot spend on anything unless the revenue is there helping to curb deficit spending. This sounds good right? Well, it means that there will never be taxcuts so long as this is in effect in Washington. Legislators do not need a pay-go bill to prevent them from deficit spending; they need discipline and discretion when it comes to what they spend money on. Obama voted no on allowing oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, which would serve to make us more independent when it comes to our energy. Go here to get all of his voting record: http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=BS030017

Looking through his voting record as a whole, and it is hard to come to any other conclusion about Obama being a "centrist." Obama is not; he is a full-fledged Liberal. He is no different than Clinton, Kerry or Harry Reid. He is just nicely packaged with a big bow tied around his head.