Why Is This Even A Contest?

I really, really don't understand the attraction to Obama beyond his obvious charisma: the man is, otherwise, nothing.

Don't believe me?

Read this and prove it otherwise.

Take Obama's first general election ad. We are told that Obama "passed laws" that "extended healthcare for wounded troops who'd been neglected," with a citation at the bottom to only one Senate bill: The 2008 Defense Authorization Bill, which passed the Senate by a 91-3 vote. Six Senators did not vote-including Obama. Nor is there evidence that he contributed to its passage in any material way. So, his claim to have "passed laws" amounts to citing a bill that was largely unopposed, that he didn't vote for, and whose passage he didn't impact. Even his hometown Chicago Tribune caught this false claim.

In other words, he's been in the senate for three years, two of which have been spent campaigning to become President, and he hasn't actually done anything. And what he does claim, he didn't even vote for.

Why is this even a contest?

Or take one of Obama's standard lines: his claim of "twenty years of public service." As pundit Michael Medved has pointed out, the numbers don't add up. Shall we count? Three years in the US Senate (two of which he's spent running for President), plus seven years in the Illinois State Senate (a part-time gig, during which time he also served as a law professor) equals, at most, ten. Even if we generously throw in his three years as a "community organizer" (whatever that means, let's count it as public service), that still adds up to just thirteen.

You can't make this stuff up.

Why is this even a contest?

At his press conference in Hamas rocket-bombarded Sderot, Obama talked up "his" efforts to protect Israel from Iran:

"Just this past week, we passed out of the US Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon." (Emphasis added.)

Nice try. But as even CNN noted, Obama is not even on that committee.

Why is this even a contest?

Look at his record: he's now completed over half of a Senate term; yet, is there even one signature issue he has taken hold of, other than his own presidential run? Similarly, as the New York Times recently pointed out, Obama spent twelve years on the University of Chicago Law School faculty--singularly famous for its intellectual ferment and incubator of scholarship--and produced not even a single scholarly paper. He was President of Harvard Law Review, but wrote nothing himself. Even as a state legislator for seven years-or community organizer for three years, there is little that shows his imprint. OK, to be fair, he did write two books. About himself.

For all his glowing job titles, Obama has never gotten much done.

At the risk of sounding tedious: why is this even a contest?

This is ridiculous, and indeed it is amazing that he has gotten this far: 12 years (!!) on the Faculty and not a single scholarly paper; President of Harvard Law Review, but no articles...

Why is this even a contest?


Obama is someone who has had opportunity given to him on a silver platter: U of C Law School faculty member, President of Harvard Law Review, State legislator, now US Senator. What has he actually done? What has he really achieved? He's been given more opportunities to shine, to show what he is capable of, than probably any living politician.

But he hasn't actually done anything.

In the real world, he's a failure, a sad example of someone with enormous potential who should of gone very, very far in actually getting things done.


Why is this even a contest???