The Voting Records

Barak Obama would prefer to be running against George Bush rather than John McCain.   Since he is not running against Bush, he is doing everything possible to link McCain with Bush.    He refers to “Bush-McCain” or “Bush-Cheney-McCain” repeatedly during most of his speeches.   It’s actually a pretty good strategy, and it may work due to Bush’s unpopularity.   

During his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, Obama, in a further effort to link McCain with Bush, said McCain has voted with Bush some 90% of the time.    Let’s ignore the fact that Bush doesn’t have a vote in the U.S. Senate and assume Obama meant to say McCain votes with the Republican Party 90% of the time.  There are still a couple of problems with Obama’s statement.  First, he neglected to mention that he has voted with the Democratic Party 97% of the time.    Second, these statistics are fairly meaningless because most issues that come before the Senate are non-controversial and receive a unanimous or near unanimous vote.   

Anyone who follows politics knows that McCain is a maverick and has made a habit of sticking his finger in the eyes of conservatives and his fellow Republicans.   The conservative wing of the Republican Party was extremely unhappy when McCain clinched the Republican nomination for President.   The reason for the unhappiness was that McCain has a long record of exercising independent judgment and doing what he thinks is best for the country without regard to party politics.   McCain has opposed the Republican Party’s position on a number of major issues, including campaign finance reform, the original Bush tax cuts, climate change, interrogation methods, spending and earmarks, immigration reform, and the conduct of the war in Iraq prior to the surge, to name just a few.    He also has promised to appoint Democrats to his Cabinet if elected President.  I have not always agreed with McCain’s positions, but I have always admired his independence, which is what we need in a leader.   

What about Obama?    He has only been in the Senate for approximately two years, so his record is much more limited than McCain’s.    I am aware of only a few major issues, however, where Obama has taken a position in conflict with the Democratic Party’s position.   While running for President, he voted in July of this year in favor of amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that were opposed by many members of his party.    He also voted against a bill supported by most members of his party to fund the war in Iraq, and he voted against the confirmation of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and General Michael Hayden to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.   In most cases where Obama has voted against his party, he has taken a more liberal rather than a more moderate position. 

Although Obama has been attempting to move to the center since locking up the Democratic nomination, his voting record clearly identifies him as a hard-core liberal.    According to National Journal’s 27^th annual vote ratings, Obama in 2007 had the most liberal voting record in the United State Senate, a distinction that helped him get the Democratic nomination.   His running mate, Joe Biden, was not far behind.   The National Journal ranked Biden as the third most liberal member of the Senate.    To his discredit, McCain did not receive a composite rating from the National Journal for 2007 because he missed too many votes to qualify under its rating system.    On social issues, which include immigration, McCain received a conservative score of 59, which means there are 58 more conservative members of the Senate on social issues.   In 2005 and 2006, McCain received a composite conservative score of 45 and 46, respectively, which places him squarely in the middle of the pack of all U.S. Senators.   

In politics, I think you have to judge candidates by their records rather than by what they say during the course of a campaign.   McCain has a record of showing independence and going against his party on important issues.  Obama says he wants to end partisanship and bring people together, but I am not aware of anything in his record to back his talk.    

Which candidate has the most credibility when he says he will take a non-partisan approach to governance?    Let the record speak for itself.