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• Friday, February 29, 2008 04:13 AM

  @Josie Ortez on various Obama votes

  Josie Ortez: "Any thoughts on the yes vote for the Cheney Energy bill?"

  It's not actually called the "Cheney Energy bill," that's just a nickname Hillary Clinton gave it to make a stronger attack against Obama. Here is that Obama had to say about the bill:

  "It was the best that we could do right now, given the makeup of Congress."

  http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/15/obama.clinton/

  Here are details on Obama's energy policy:

  http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Energy_+_Oil.htm

  By the way, Wikipedia has a page summing up Obama positions here:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Barack_Obama

  "Patriot Act?"

  It appears Obama voted for it after several "compromise" measures were added to it. He also voted against extending its wiretap provision. Here is his statement from the House Floor, explaining his motives:

  "Let me be clear: this compromise is not as good as the Senate version of the bill, nor is it as good as the SAFE Act that I have cosponsored. I suspect the vast majority of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle feel the same way. But, it's still better than what the House originally proposed. This compromise does modestly improve the PATRIOT Act by strengthening civil liberties protections without sacrificing the tools that law enforcement needs to keep us safe."

  http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060216-floor_statement_2/

  Hillary Clinton also voted for the Patriot Act both when it was first enacted and then when it was reauthorized. So if you're going to criticize Obama on this point, then you have to criticize Clinton as well.

  Obama's Homeland Security policy:

  http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Homeland_Security.htm

  "'Present' vote on Stem Cell Research?"

  Can you provide a reference on this? A cursory Google search didn't turn up his "present" vote here. I did see that Obama voted present on state legislation for abortion, which is in effect a "no" vote.

  Obama's policy statements express strong support for stem-cell research. Here's a link that goes into detail:

  http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm

  By the way: To anybody who doesn't think Hillary Clinton has sent out misleading mailers like she accused Obama of doing ("Shame on you!"), here's a link that demonstrates otherwise:

  http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/youve_got_mailers.html

  In conclusion, I would say Obama has made some missteps here and there, but if you read his overall policies, they are very good. (People who know more than I do say that Obama's policies and Clinton's policies are about 90% the same.)

  —Xrandadu Hutman Read Xrandadu Hutman's other letters
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