Pubdate: Fri, 01 Feb 2008
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2008 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

OBAMA ON THE RECORD

Candidate Barack Obama frequently promises to soar  above partisan 
politics. But the theatrics of such  declarations keep bumping into the 
reality of Mr.  Obama's left-liberal record in Washington and the 
left-liberal record in Illinois state politics which  preceded it. The 
latest reminder: As recently as 2004,  Mr. Obama supported decriminalizing 
marijuana, opening  relations with Communist Cuba and providing health 
care  for illegal aliens.

In a little-noticed 2004 video featured today in The  Washington Times, Mr. 
Obama sounds quite comfortable  voicing his leftist leanings. "I think we 
need to  rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws," Mr.  Obama told a 
Northwestern University audience as he campaigned for the Senate in 2004. 
"But I'm not  somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana."  Fast 
forward to the fall of 2007, and Mr. Obama can be  found hedging these 
views -- meekly raising his hand at  a Democratic presidential debate to 
oppose  decriminalization. Wrongly, it turns out. Mr. Obama  still supports 
it, according to a spokesman.

It is not just marijuana, relations with Cuba or health  care for illegals. 
Mr. Obama is also one of the most  pro-choice presidential contenders in 
history. His 100  percent rating from the Illinois Planned 
Parenthood  Council as a state senator was just the beginning. Mr.  Obama 
is known in pro-life circles for arguing  cold-bloodedly on the Illinois 
Senate floor that babies  who survive botched late-term abortions should 
not be  considered "persons" because this would be tantamount  to admitting 
"that they are persons that are entitled  to the kinds of protections that 
would be provided to a  -- a child, a 9-month old -- child that was 
delivered  to term." This should horrify the two-fifths of  Americans who 
consider themselves pro-life. It surely  won't "unify."

Let's be realistic. Mr. Obama scores a 95 percent in  the liberal activist 
group Americans for Democratic  Action's ratings. He scores in the single 
digits when  judged by conservative groups.

To be sure, Mr. Obama's personal story inspires, even  unifies. But it 
would take much more to govern in  unity. As a conventional left-liberal, 
Mr. Obama would  be perhaps marginally likelier than John Kerry or 
Ted  Kennedy to unify America. Indeed, much as the notion of  Mr. Obama as 
the grand unifying force of the 2008 presidential election owes to the 
man's personal  attributes, it is remarkable how often one hears  "unifier" 
given how weak this case is on the policy  merits. Indeed, the mirror 
opposite is true.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D