What Has Barack Ever Done? Matt Yglesias Makes It Look Easy!

WaPo columnist Richard Cohen wonders what Obama has ever done.  Matt Yglesias has an easy answer - he has put up lots of cool proposals and position papers at his website!

Wow, real position papers - that is almost like accomplishing something.

Oh, yeah - Obama did oppose the war in 2002, as did 90% of the Congressional Black Caucus and all of Obama's liberal Hyde Park constituents and donors.  Courage!

Well, let's throw it out to Obama-philes - what has The One done?  First black head of the Harvard Law Review?  Wow, breakthrough stuff for the racial bean-counters, not so much for the rest of us.  And no articles published. 

A best-selling auto-biography, establishing his expertise on the topic of Barack Obama.  Marvelous.

A flurry of legislation in his final year of the Illinois Senate, as a part of a deal with the Senate Majority leader intended to give Obama a track record for a Senate run.  Heroic.

Cohn doesn't see anything because there is nothing there.  But folks who want to believe will surely continue to do so.  Obama has become the biggest faith-based initiative in American politics. And if we are lucky he will go on to become a great, or at least not-awful, President.  Come seven, come eleven - America needs a new pair of shoes!

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

The months of September and October will see a lot of people examining this guy closely for the first time. I don't think that bodes well for him at all.

[Old Dad]

I don't like the One, and wouldn't vote for him on a bet, but he has one very impressive accomplishment--he came out of nowhere to win the Dem nomination. By most accounts, he's waged an impressive campaign. Of course, Jimmy Carter got elected, too.

It's not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but it's more than a Happy Meal prize. Oh wait...didn't Al Gore trade his on eBay for the new Iphone?

[GMax]

TM

Do you ever tire of making great fun of these lefty bloggers? Is there an easy target for mockdom than Kevin Drum and Matty Y? Well besides Greenwald I mean.

[anduril]

There's plenty of research out there to show that before running for president he was also feathering his nest--and, no, I'm not just referring to his very interesting house deal with Rezko. I'm thinking more along the lines of getting la Michelle that really excellent job (after letting her really excellent law license lapse) to support her four workout a week personal trainer habit, the dance and music lessons for the little ones as well as the tuition at the VERY pricey U of C Lab School (try 15K for kindergarten--nice German word--and 20K and up thereafter).

Back to the woodwork.

As previously, I commend one and all to Steve Sailer's research on these accomplishments.

[GMax]

easy = easier I have Clarice syndrome without the insight!

[creepy dude]

Obama's not asking taxpayers to pay for his campaign. First candidate to do this since-well ever in the modern era!

Goddamn you're a grumpy old man Maguire. No wonder you like McSame.

And your nonstop Obama diatribes are going to be as futile as your Libby defense. Step away from the computer while you still have time.

[GMax]

Translation = this is starting to make me nervous as folks are reading you and figuring the empty suit soaring empty rhetoric tango.

[hrtshpdbox]

Yeah, TM, it's as if you didn't believe in hopeychangey!

[Jane]

So all the people donating to Obama don't pay taxes, creepy dude? Cause I hear him asking on a daily basis. I thought the left loved Campaign finance reform.

[creepy dude]

"I thought the left loved Campaign finance reform."

Yep! And yet the guy who's idea it was got the Republican nomination. Must be lots of smart folks voting in those primaries.

[Danube of Thought]

They especially love to see the federal funds, with their limits, used when the candidate has promised to use them.

The increasing signs of nervousness are a delight to behold.

[Danube of Thought]

Smart folks dont say "who's" in place of "whose."

[MayBee]

Perhaps President Obama can just ask people to donate to Social Security over the internet.

It will be a whole new way of doing things, to spare the taxpayers.

[MayBee]

Smart folks dont say "who's" in place of "whose."

It is a dagger to my heart when you say stuff like this, DoT.

[Extraneus]

I keep thinking how devastating the line "How is this guy qualified to be president?" will ultimately be this year.

Even if someone could answer Cohen's question, nobody can answer that one.

[Ann]

DoT,

I thought you would enjoy these pictures of "Reporting For Duty":

John Kerry Party

[pagar]

Who would need to have the American public pay for his campaign when he has a blank check from George Soros and his multi billionaire
friends? Instead of financing Obama and his phony message, the American taxpayer should be suing him for fraud. He was elected as a US Senator, surely there is some bare minimum thing that a US senator is supposed to do.

[Mahon]

Somehow I believe in the end the American people will have a stronger instinct for self-preservation than to elect an empty suit, however finely tailored.

[Appalled]

What did Obama do?

He beat Hillary, something thought impossible by most of you folks here, and something deserving the thanks of a grateful nation.

He also seems to have brought back the creepy dude out of hiding. (Hope you haven't been stuck in a FEMA trailer, dude)

Oh, you were talking about something else? Well, didn't he get good grades in school?

Mostly, what Obama has done has been someone other than a GOP candidate, and a vessel for people who want to be done with Jesse Jackson guilt once and for all.

(In case you can't tell, Obama is leaving me very ambivalent these days.)

[creepy dude]

"surely there is some bare minimum thing that a US senator is supposed to do"

That's pretty funny pagar. Are you a lefty mole rippin' on the fact that McCain "has missed 400 votes this Congress, far more than any other Senator (including Tim Johnson, who's recuperating from a brain hemorrhage). "?

[sbw]

surely there is some bare minimum thing that a US senator is supposed to do.

Undo the damage of the previous senators?

[Jane]

Re: Kerry pix. I just sent them to my friend who is a teacher at Nantucket high School to see if she recognizes any of those girls.

That should get Kerry shunned in Nantucket for a while.

[creepy dude]

Hello Appalled. Nah, I still skim this site, and I thought Maguire could use an intervention.

He never believed me on Libby, and now he wants to spend the next 100 days railing against the inevitable.

9 Republican senators up for relection in battleground states aren't going to the Republican convention.

Do you know how effin' amazing that is???

I repeat: 9 Republican senators up for relection in battleground states aren't going to the Republican convention.

Anybody thinking McCain can or will win is a marooon.

At least TM didn't jump on the birth certificate thing-the Able Danger of 2008.

[Porchlight]

Hey creepy dude,

Obama's words:

I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests....If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.

Evidently Obama can't be relied upon to "aggressively pursue" anything but his own coronation.

[GMax]

Methinks one doeth protest a wee bit too much!

[creepy dude]

That's just devastating Porchlight, devastating.

Meanwhile, as I said, Obama's not sucking the public tit for his campaign and McSame is.

Suck that you moth attracter.

[boris]

Anybody thinking McCain can or will win ...

Doesn't have to. Obama is a loser and losers lose.

Amir Taheri:

Iraqis were most surprised by Obama's apparent readiness to throw away all the gains made in Iraq simply to prove that he'd been right in opposing the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein. "He gave us the impression that the last thing he wanted was for Iraq to look anything like a success for the United States," a senior Iraqi official told me. "As far as he is concerned, this is Bush's war and must end in lack of success, if not actual defeat."

No matter how the election turns out, BHO is a loser.

[Jane]

I can't say I'm sad to see Ted Stevens get indicted. Now can we follow suit on Dodd, Schumer, Reid and Pelosi.

[Pofarmer]

Smart folks dont say "who's" in place of "whose."

Yeah, well, smart folks won't be votin' for Barack Hussein, by and large.

[narciso]

Probably nine Senators we can do without; of the Hagel/Collins school of equivocation.
Do we have to go over this again; Comey the
Stewart/slayer discovered fairly early in the process that Armitage had leaked to Novak; they did nothing, because Armitage was against the war, although he was for working with the Syrian Baathists at Far Falestin. INR, which raised the ruckus, was
his department.Grenier was still in Afghanistan, when the controversy over Plame was going on; he wouldn't have had access to the NOC list. The jury was steered
by a Huff Post posting former employer of Woodward; who had been the recipient of Armitage's tips, as well as Novak.

[bgates]

McSame
Who's writing the material for these guys?
(Study the first word in that sentence, creep.)

Once The One comes down from the Mountaintop in Denver and has to respond directly to McCain in debates, I think a lot of people are going to be nonplussed by Senator Ob....Ahm....Uh's speaking style.

[MayBee]

Smart folks will vote for Obama. Most smart folks don't buy the hype, though.

[Pofarmer]

Hey Jane

Wouldn't it be a hoot if we could get more convictions out of the "most Ethical Congress evah" than out of the eeeeeviiillllll Bushitler Whitehouse?

[Porchlight]

Meanwhile, as I said, Obama's not sucking the public tit for his campaign and McSame is.

So Obama's being a "long-time advocate" for "sucking the public tit" doesn't rate, because he didn't actually follow through when he got the chance? Hey, as long as he continues to not spend taxpayer money when he gets to the WH, I'm all for it. But somehow I have a feeling that "for his campaign" was the operative phrase in your statement.

Gmax,

I notice the trolls usually alight when Obama is having a bad week. And it's only Tuesday!

[pagar]

If Senator Reid and Rep Pelosi and every Democrat politican had missed 400 votes this country would be a whole lot better off today.
It's the constant messages of support to those fighting against America that is the real crime of this Congress.

[Danube of Thought]

It's the ambivalence of folks like Appalled that has me so optimistic. One thing everyone here knows is that he is very seriously dedicated to voting in the best interests of this country. I think most people are, and all I ask is that everyone ponder what those interests are come election time. I like McCain's chances.

[GMax]

Yes porchlight its a phenomenon like the spawning of coral reefs tied to the moon cycles, it can be predicted with great accuracy.

They are nervous as hell. They bought a pig in a poke, totally unvetted candidate and swooned. Now that the great speech after greater speech trick has not turned out like they planned they are ready to hurl invectives. You see its all about the 2000 election, even today.

[bgates]

Obama wins a RedGold Star for attendance by only missing 281 votes, vs McCain's 398.

Curiously, the Senators who missed the most votes tended to be the ones actively seeking the Presidency, as though that pursuit somehow prevented them from being in Washington at all on certain days.

[DaleinAtlanta]

Surrender, Socialism, Taxes: Vote Obama '08 (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW)!

[creepy dude]

Anyway, later Maguire!

Seriuosly though. Give it a rest.

[Appalled]

Obama is the eloquent gentleman insisting that canned spinach is very, very, good for you, and that for your own sake, you must, against all your instincts, consume this delightful sustenance, and not spit it back up.

There's a Jimmy Carter nag lurking at the back of Obama's policy positions. And, Like Carter, and Woodrow Wilson before him, I really wonder what will happen once the political process disregards his teachings, and goes on its merry way. I grew up in the 70s, and hated every speed limit 55, thermostat at 60 malaise-laden minute of it.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

I'd rather the Democrats not make the "Warren G. Harding" mistake, but what the heck. Si Se Lege.

[pagar]

Don't think Obama wants taxpayer money?

"First, watch (3:43 minute mark) where Obama says “Dealing with some of the legacy of discrimination is gonna cost billions of dollars.”

Maybe the average Democrat thinks that George Soros plans to pay billions.

LUN

[clarice]

That is a great post, Tom. I blogged it. Just once I wish you and DoT were on the same page--I finally got him optimistic about this election and there you are--old 70%--still playing the conservative odds.

[DrJ]

Smart folks dont say "who's" in place of "whose."

Sorry to go OT, but this one, and they're/their/there, do an amazing job for me to render the poster as an illiterate. Disinterested/uninterested does it too. There are many others (less/fewer???).

*grumble*

[bgates]

Obama is the eloquent gentleman insisting that canned spinach is very, very, good for you, and that for your own sake, you must, against all your instincts, consume this delightful sustenance, and not spit it back up.
McCain is Popeye. Same position on spinach, but that muttering old sailor can kick some ass.

[clarice]

I think as time goes on two things about his trip--which may seem silly to those who only look at images and consider and parse his words--matter:
(1) He didn't visit the wounded troops because he wasn't allowed to use them for campaign purposes;
(2) He distributed to reporters his "prayer" in Jerusalem and didn't admit to that when the yeshiva student and Maariv were being criticized without that fact being known. That is, it was wrong to steal the prayer and publish it, but no so when it was OBAMA himself who even more wrongly WANTED and took steps to make the prayer public.
(a) That emphasizes the whole prayer thing was an utter fraudulent campaign move and (b)he considered of no more significance than a photo op and (c)he was more than willing to let others take the fall for his crass exploitation of Jewish feelings about the sacred wall.

[Porchlight]

Pretty good, Appalled and bgates. There is even a physical resemblance of sorts between Popeye and McCain. And Popeye downs the spinach only as a matter of necessity. He is not continually forcefeeding it to others and passing it off as arugula.

[Jane]

Yikes 5.8 earthquake just hit LA

[Enlightened]

"has missed 400 votes this Congress, far more than any other Senator"

Whoah - Now that really hurts. Let me think about this one.

1) A nine-percenter of the 110th Congress with a hundred percent voting record

OR

2) A POTUS candidate not voting with nine-percenters in the 110th Congress.

Bless your little liberal heart, I'm gonna exercise some tough love here and go with door number 2. To save the planet of course.

/S/off......

[Ann]

DoT,

Did you feel the earthquake? Are you OK?

[Sue]

Let's see, how to blame Bush for the earthquake...

[DrJ]

Yikes 5.8 earthquake just hit LA

Fortunately, that is only a moderate earthquake. Out here, that shakes things about a bit, but usually is not a big deal.

[Jane]

Barack Obama is rushing to the scene of the quake as we speak. He will give a speech and heal the rift.

[GMax]

Centered on Chino Hills? A 6 on the Richter is pretty powerful. Hope everyone is ok.

[Ann]

LOL Jane!

[Enlightened]

Well, I for one would dearly love to have been a fly on the wall when The Messiah's Wall of Love 'n Prayer Tour was playing on the good Rev. Wrights 60" big screen. I'm guessing the yarmulke went over like a lead balloon.

[glenda waggoner]

CREEPY DUDE:

Maroon is a color, you moron! And marooon is ??

[GMax]

Maybe if he would not have messed with the karma of the rising oceans we would not be in this mess.

[MayBee]

Eesh.
It's because I just got an estimate for earthquake insurance but hadn't yet purchased it.

[Enlightened]

Hmmm, I'm of a mind that The Goreacle is actually more equipped to deal with Climatic Earthquakes, and then Obambi follows up with Love 'n Prayer.....

[bgates]

Heal the rift? He caused it! How did you think he was going to tear down all those walls he talked about last week?

Could also be sinkholes. It's been several weeks since The Day we will remember as the moment the waters began to recede. That's gotta be causing subsidence.

[Enlightened]

"That's gotta be causing subsidence"

Or Earthquakes. Huh. Any walls in SoCal fall today?

[bad]

Maybee

Are you okay?!

[kim]

DrJ, your a moran.
============

[GMax]

Well oil down market way up and Stevens indicted, plus Obama coming back to
Earth faster than John Glenn without a parachute on his capsule. Seems like a pretty good day all around near as I can tell.

[kim]

Creepy Dude, welcome back. Oops, too late. Oh well, hi Dale.
=======================================

[MayBee]

Thanks, bad. We're fine. I haven't lived in this house long, so I wasn't sure how it would do in an earthquake. So far, so good. Yay, house!

[Great Banana]

I love how when the question "name one thing . . . " is raised, the response is never an attempt to actually, you know, name something that Obama has ever done, but instead is simply a screed that "Obama is gonna win."

Quick logic lesson for those whose instincts are the above: even if true, and Obama were to win, it does not answer the question of what he has ever done in his life of any significance to qualify him to be president. Even after he were to win the election, that would remain true.

Now, if you want to argue whether or not he will win, I point out that despite Bush's enourmously bad approval ratings, the overall bad tide against republicans, and the overwhelming Obama love-fest by the media, Obama is not even polling as well as Kerry was 4 years ago. So, if you really believe the Obama inevitability schtick, you are the one with your head in the sand.

[GMax]

GB I dont think that sand is the reference most appropriate here...

[Enlightened]

OK then. Calling The Messiah, calling The Goreacle!

“It is critical our community be an integral and active part of the debate because African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change economically, socially and through our health and well-being,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said July 29.

[bad]

Maybee

I'd love to know what you experienced if you don't mind.

[DrJ]

DrJ, your a moran.

I'll assume that is a typo.

Look, a 5.8 is not that big a quake. I have gone through bigger ones, near their epicenters, and nothing really happened. Here's the report from SFGate:

A[n] ... earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway and triggering some precautionary evacuations. No immediate damage was reported.

Sure, things can always happen, but calling someone a moran [sic] over this is just silly.

[MayBee]

Bad-
I was outside and my kids were upstairs. I heard a noise and noticed that my dining room window and sliding door was shaking, then it slowed down, then it started up again and it was kind of loud. I couldn't really feel anything, so I wondered if the plane flying overhead was somehow shaking my windows (although I knew that was ridiculous).
My kids said they could really feel it upstairs. We're kind of used to them from living in Tokyo (where we had them at least once a month), but as I said I wasn't sure how this house would do.
We're north of the quake, so we didn't get the strongest shaking.

You are wonderful.

[bad]

You are wonderful.

blush Just a total nerd....

[Danube of Thought]

Here in Coronado we felt the quake, a pretty rollicking but not very serious one, then turned on the news to watch Earthquake Follies. For those not familiar with the genre, lemme tell you a couple of the Follies' features:

First, unless it's a catastrophic quake (SF World Series '89; Northridge '94), by the time they get on the air there is no news to report. As a result, you get lots of folks calling in to report stuff falling off their shelves, dogs barking, etc. On Fox apparently a water main broke somewher (cause uncertain), and we will see the resultant three inches of water in some intersection endlessly.

Second, if a single building collpases in some two-hundred-square-mile area, all the TV footage will be of that single building, to the exclusion of all undamaged buildings. The inescapable impression for out-of-state viewers will be that the demolished building is representative of widespread carnage.

Third, everybody you know on the East Coast will call to see if you are OK. And for that I say, God bless 'em.

[GMax]

I hate it when I guess correctly:

 

Dallas-based Lone Star has some $23 billion under management, making it one of the larger buyout funds, but it has a reputation for secrecy. It was founded in 1995 by financier John Grayken, who formerly worked for billionaire Robert Bass.

[DrJ]

Quake revised downwards to 5.4 That is not even interesting.

The Northridge and Loma Prieta quakes were 6.7 and 6.9, respectively, and since the Richter scale is logarithmic (base 10), those were a big deal.

My rule of thumb is that if it is under 6, then the effects will be minor (loc cit Tom above). It is only when they go above 6 that you have to worry.

[ajacksonian]

I had always assumed that any 'great ideas' and 'proposals' that were on Sen. Obama's desk had a few million in federal funds attached to them. Not that he had anyone who he knew about that would look forward to those things, heaven forbid. No one beyond the PACs of course...

Hey, if he was so hope & changish why didn't he clean up Chitown, first? If he couldn't do that, then doing anything with some of the more tyrannical regimes on the planet really is a bit of a reach. Unless he is looking to pay them off, like he did in Chicago. Always a possibility, that.

[Danube of Thought]

My lifetime of experience of these quakes tells me that you need to know a lot more than the Richter scale reading to tell what the effects are. Number one, the depth of the epicenter; number two, you distance from it; and most important, the nature of the earth and soil between you and the epicenter, and under your feet.

The scale is indeed logarithmic, so that a 6.0 is one that has released ten times as much energy as a 5.0, but there's a lot more that goes into determining what it means to the people on the ground.

[bad]

Very glad everyone is okay and you are not involved in a massive amount of clean-up, fix and repair, etc. Hopefully there will be no aftershocks stronger than the initial quake. (Is that possible?)

[DrJ]

That's all true, and every quake differs in its energy release. Some are sharp and short, some are roller coasters. The aftershock profiles vary too.

As with any rule of thumb, there are exceptions. But this one has proven to be pretty useful over the years. Do you disagree?

[clarice]

My D-i-l says they're all fine on the West side of L A and my grand daughter never noticed anything--and nothing escapes her notice of any consequence.

[Tully]

What has he done? I know what he HASN'T done. Kept a special promise.

[Enlightened]

I'm so bummed. I didn't even feel it up here in SF area. I love getting that butterfly-in-the-belly feeling when they hit....except for '89 which started out fun and got way too scary within about 3 seconds...

[GMax]

HOw does a richter scale measurement captured by precision instruments get revised downward? You would think we were dealing with a economic estimate of the economy growth for gosh sakes.

[Dave Schuler]

Tom, Sen. Obama isn't running on his record or his experience because he doesn't have any relevant experience. He's running on judgement and on his person. That's it.

[DrJ]

HOw does a richter scale measurement captured by precision instruments get revised downward?

I'm speculating, which is always dangerous, but the Richter scale measures the total energy released in an earthquake. So you have to locate the epicenter, and integrate the profile from all of your monitoring stations. Then you have to invoke the geology of the region to arrive at a final estimate (even the "final" number is not absolute).

I'd guess that there are a lot of assumptions that go into the initial figure since everyone wants to know how big it is.

[centralcal]

GMax - 5.8 v. 5.4 - saw some guy on Fox say that the computers register the measurement and the humans analyze it. Shep Smith, said "oh, that explains it." sigh. It sure didn't explain it for me.

[arrowhead]

Were in Glendale about 30 miles from the epicenter as the crow flies, and it really shook. I'd estimate that it lasted about 15 to 20 seconds. At the time, however, it seemed to go on forever. All seems to be okay and nothing is broken although the plates rattled around in the cupboard. For me, it was eerily reminiscent of the quake in 1971.

My sister was in Brea at the time which is very near to the epicenter. She said that the quake hit very sharply and lasted only a few seconds. Ceiling tiles and other items fell down. Some people were hit but none were injured seriously.

[PeterUK]

How could you question the achievements of Obana,the man who holds the world record for transporting the largest number of people under a bus?

[GMax]

Is Mann or James Hansen involved in the interpretation of the data? If yes, who knows what the real data on the quake is.

[Enlightened]

"He's running on judgement and on his person"

Well that's a relief. Obambi cornered the market on lack of judgement and character, ie: Person. Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Pfleger, Farrakhan.

He won't be elected based on character, judgement or experience. He is abjectly un-electable.

BUT - he is B----. (Won't say it in case Josh Marshall and the TPM Lollipop Kids are lurking about waiting to drop the r-bomb)

[Jane]

Maybee, DOT, glad you are okay. Hey Dot, I had dinner with Satch Sanders last night. ( I figure you might be one of the few people that means something to.)

[bad]

...transporting the largest number of people under a bus?

He's probably just trying to join Pelosi in saving the planet by maximizing the use of mass transit.

[Enlightened]

Well hey, lookie here - Obambi using his superior judgement skills.again. From HotAir:

“Senator Obama has explained his decision to cancel a scheduled visit there by blaming the military, which would not allow one of his political advisers to join him in a tour of the facility. Why Senator Obama felt he needed an adviser with him to visit U.S. troops is unclear, but if Senator Obama isn’t comfortable meeting wounded American troops without his entourage, perhaps he does not have the experience necessary to serve as commander in chief.”

NYT wondering WTH Obambi didn't go see the troops all by his lonesome? See what having over a 1000 advisors does for ya Obambi? Right about now if I were The One, I would be questioning the Clinton ship-jumpers to make damn sure they aren't advising him about 12,600 feet under the Atlantic, somewhere around here:
stern section sits on ocean floor at 41o43'35" N, 49o56'54" W, boilers at 41o43'32" N, 49o56'49" W, bow at 41o43'57" N, 49o56'49" W.

[bad]

O/T but quite a story from Yahoo:

More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC's "Extreme Makeover" team demolish a family's decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.

Three years later, the reality TV show's most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.

After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it's set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed.

LUN

[Enlightened]

"The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed."

Or, shorter Goreacle, maybe it was Global Warming.

[Neo]

Obama has become the biggest faith-based initiative in American politics.

Great line .. but too long for a bumper sticker

[bad]

Obama-- it takes a lotta faith