The Truth About Barack Obama's Iraq War Record

[maximusveritas]

There's a post up right now claiming Obama has a "PRO-WAR RECORD" in the Senate:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4643795&mesg_id=4643795

To make that claim, it cuts and pastes from a poorly-researched and misleading article from Paul Street of Zmag.org. It lists a bunch of funding and confirmation votes which supposedly show Obama to be "pro-war". The problem is that, by their definition, every single Senator has a "PRO-WAR RECORD".

You see, I went through the roll calls for all those funding votes and it turns out that they all (and I do mean ALL) passed unanimously among Democrats.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00109
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00254
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00326
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00366
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00112
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00171
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00261
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00117
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00126

So unless you're ready to call the likes of Feingold, Boxer, and every other Senator who voted against the IWR "pro-war", you're barking up the wrong tree. The bottom line is that these Senators opposed the war from the beginning, but saw the need to support funding (until recently, when many like Obama changed course).

I'm really perplexed as to how a confirmation vote could be seen as a referendum on the war, especially when so many of those votes were also passed unanimously. Even those that had opposition were generally split among anti-war Senators. Obama has always had the position that Presidents should be able to pick who they want to work for them (this obviously doesn't apply to judicial nominees). When he's President, he wants to be able to pick the best people and not have them rejected because they're too liberal.

Has Obama's record been perfect since entering the Senate? No. He's made a number of mistakes in my opinion, including being a little late to wake up to the fact that our presence in Iraq was making things worse and we had no choice but to defund and set a date certain in order to withdraw. And maybe if he was running against Russ Feingold, there'd be a legitimate argument here.

But for Hillary Clinton supporters to be attacking Obama on this score makes me angry when I know that their candidate voted for the Iraq War resolution and has never apologized or even admitted she made a mistake on that vote. And especially when she has the same supposedly "PRO-WAR" record once the war started.

[ossman]

1. An attack from Hillbots or Repugs?

Its getting hard to tell them apart. They play in the same sandbox.

[jackson_dem]

2. Recommended on principle

Thanks for sharing the fucking context. Now you know how we Edwardians felt when you Obamites ripped Edwards for a year without giving any context to the five bills that were flyspecked out of the thousands he cast...

[andyrowe]

3. Umm... wasn't he wrong from day one on Iraq.

I will credit him for changing his mind and for his apology. It should have come down to Edwards and Obama.

[jackson_dem]

5. THE PATRIOT ACT PASSED 98-1

98-1!!!!!! Not ONE Obamite had the damn integrity to ever post the fucking vote total. Edwardians should never forget this....

[andyrowe]

6. Why are you bringing up the Patriot Act?

I was referring to the IWR which passed 296 to 133. Edwards unlike Hillary has expressed regret, apologized and explained why he's changed his mind since voting Yes to the war resolution.

[jackson_dem]

7. Post 2. It was one of the chosen 5

That and the No Child Left Behind (91-8 overall, 47-2 among Democrats including Wellstone, Kennedy, Boxer, Leahy, and new saint Kerry) wee the most obvious examples of what Obama would later decry in the South Carolina debate. Obamites never gave the vote totals for those bills because that would ruin their attack.

[MADem]

4. BAM!!!!! Point made, and point TAKEN! You're quite right! NT