Organizing for America | Leo Klein's Blog: Obama's Accomplishments

Obama's Accomplishments

By Leo Robert Klein - Sep 6th, 2008 at 5:58 pm EDT

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Somebody sent me an email asking about Obama's "Actual Accomplishments'. Here's what I wrote:

Well, first off he was raised by a single mother and wound up a Harvard graduate and member of the U.S. Senate. People don't realize how difficult an accomplishment this is. We've got a guy who actually made it based entirely on ability alone. No silver spoon (or heiress wife) required.

Of course, a major accomplishment was getting the War in Iraq right from the very start. Considering the climate of the time, it took enormous courage to publicly condemn the war as one "based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics" -- a war requiring "a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences". This extraordinary truth eluded his current opponent.

But if we ignore personal accomplishments and judgment and focus just on the legislative record, we end up with something equally as impressive. In sheer numbers, Obama has either authored or sponsored 1,000 bills since he got into the Senate.

This session alone, he's sponsored or co-sponsored 429 different pieces of legislation at the same time as he faced an extremely grueling primary challenge that lasted through the month of July. Meanwhile his opponent who wrapped up his own nomination four months earlier has managed to come up with no more than 144 pieces of legislation -- or in other words, one third the number.

It was the same story in the Illinois State Senate. Obama's record there was noted for its "consensus building and bipartisanship". His experience in both legislatures adds up to more than a decade of service. A good summary can be found on Obama's own site under the title:

"Highlights of Obama's Strong Record of Accomplishment in the U.S. and Illinois Senate".

Of course, the moment you go into details, peoples' eyes tend to glaze over. Just the same, what's impressed me the most is Obama's work on health care, government transparency and environmental standards. Basically it's Good Government 2.0 with a dash of inspiration, moderation and sensitivity to the needs of working people.

If you can deal with that, you'll probably be voting for him come November 4.

Sincerely,

LEO

More on Obama's Accomplishments:

"In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd", includes this great graphic on "Obama's Record in the Illinois Senate" [Janny Scott, NYTimes, 7/30/2007]

"To Those Who Question Obama's 'Legislative Accomplishments' [Bob Geiger, HuffPost, 2/22/2008]

"Who Has a Record?" [Mark Kleinman, Personal Blog, 5/8/2008]

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