Say Anything Blog

Here’s Obama’s latest campaign ad:

The script:

OBAMA: I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message. Announcer: He worked his way through college and Harvard Law. Turned down big money offers, and helped lift neighborhoods stung by job loss. Fought for workers’ rights. He passed a law to move people from welfare to work, slashed the rolls by eighty percent. Passed tax cuts for workers; health care for kids. As president, he’ll end tax breaks for companies that export jobs, reward those that create jobs in America. And never forget the dignity that comes from work.

A few things.

First of all, Obama himself didn’t “pass” any of the laws he talks about.  From that script you’d get the idea that he’s been some sort of benevolent dictator telling the folks of Illinois, while he was a state legislator, and America, since he’s become a US Senator, how things are going to be.  In reality he’s just sponsored and/or voted for laws.  But I guess when you’re running on a record as flimsy as Obama’s even the most petty exaggerations are necessary.

Second, it’s worth noting that the law Obama claims to have singlehandedly “passed” which slashed welfare rolls by 80% was simply legislation in Illinois to bring the state’s laws into accord with federal welfare reform passed in 1996.  Welfare reform that I’d remind readers was jammed down Clinton’s throat by a conservative Republican Congress.

Nothing like taking credit for other people’s deeds, no?