Senator Barak Obama - Summary of Positions

Next up on the list of U.S. Presidential candidates and a summary of their positions using the 'Summarize' feature in Mac OS X: Senator Barak Obama.

Feb. 7, 2008 - Obama on the recent Economic Stimulus Package:
"As millions of hardworking Americans face foreclosure, unemployment, and bills they can't pay, it's critical that Republicans and Democrats finally came together to pass a stimulus package that provides immediate tax relief to working families, seniors, and veterans.

"This is similar to the stimulus package I proposed weeks ago, and it will put needed money back into the pockets of working Americans in order to give our economy the boost it needs as we face down a possible recession."

Dec. 14, 2007 - Obama on the Senate's passage of the recent Farm Bill
“By passing the Farm Bill today, the Senate has taken an important step towards renewing our nation's commitment to our farming communities and a clean energy future.

...“I am especially proud that this legislation includes my proposal to ensure that thousands of African-American farmers will have an opportunity to have their discrimination claims reviewed under the Pigford settlement.

...“While the Farm Bill is a step in the right direction, I am disappointed that those who blocked payment limitations chose to put big agribusiness ahead of family farmers."

Nov. 19, 2007 - Obama on recent events in Saudi Arabia regarding human rights violations
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today sent the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking her to address human rights developments in Saudi Arabia and condemn the recent sentencing of a Saudi rape victim to six months in jail and 200 lashes. Obama also asked Rice to include this case in this year's report on human rights that is currently being prepared by the State Department.

I am writing to request your attention to a troubling human rights development in Saudi Arabia.

According to news accounts, last week a Saudi court sentenced a 19-year old woman, who was the victim of a gang rape, to six months in jail and to 200 lashes. Reportedly, this is more than a doubling of her initial sentence. The court took this step of doubling the sentence because the defendant’s lawyers raised the case in the press in an effort to call attention to it. That the victim was sentenced at all is unjust, but that the court doubled the sentence because of efforts to call attention to the ruling is beyond unjust.

I strongly urge the Department of State to condemn this ruling. Moreover, since your Department is finalizing this year’s country reports on human rights pursuant to Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), I ask that this unjust case and any efforts to correct this demeaning ruling be given a prominent place in that report.

I thank you in advance for your consideration of my request. Thank you.

Jun. 7, 2006 - Obama on tax breaks for the rich
"Because if people want their government to spend one trillion dollars - an amount more than double what we've spent on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror combined - on tax breaks for multimillionaires and multibillionaires, than the Republican Party is your party.

"If the American people want to borrow billions more from the Chinese, spend billions more in taxes to pay the interest on our debt, and watch billions cut from health care and education and Gulf Coast Reconstruction, then the Paris Hilton Tax Break is your tax break.

"...At a time like this - a time where America finds itself deeply in debt, struggling to pay for a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, security for our homeland, armor for our troops, health care for our workers, and education for our children - at a time of all this need, can you imagine opening Forbes magazine, looking at their list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, and realizing that our government gave the people on that list over half a trillion dollars worth of tax breaks?"

Apr. 27, 2006 - Obama praising the IRS for offering an alternative fuel tax credit
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today praised the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for taking steps to make available a 30 percent tax credit up to $30,000 for the installation of pumps capable of offering renewable fuels.

..."This tax credit will encourage gas station owners across the country to invest in pumps that can dispense alternative fuels like E85 and give customers a cheaper, cleaner option when they fill their cars.

...In early April, Obama sent a letter to Energy Secretary Bodman asking him to use his leverage as Energy Secretary to pressure the IRS to immediately make the tax credit available to consumers."

Sep. 22, 2005 - Obama on the confirmation of Justice John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court
Let me also say that I remain distressed that the White House during this confirmation process, which overall went smoothly, failed to provide critical documents as part of the record that could have provided us with a better basis to make our judgment with respect to the nomination.

...As some of you know, I have not only argued cases before appellate courts but for 10 years was a member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty and taught courses in constitutional law.

...He couldn't have achieved his excellent record as an advocate before the Supreme Court without that passion for the law, and it became apparent to me in our conversation that he does, in fact, deeply respect the basic precepts that go into deciding 95 percent of the cases that come before the Federal court -- adherence to precedence, a certain modesty in reading statutes and constitutional text, a respect for procedural regularity, and an impartiality in presiding over the adversarial system.

...The problem I face -- a problem that has been voiced by some of my other colleagues, both those who are voting for Mr. Roberts and those who are voting against Mr. Roberts -- is that while adherence to legal precedent and rules of statutory or constitutional construction will dispose of 95 percent of the cases that come before a court, so that both a Scalia and a Ginsburg will arrive at the same place most of the time on those 95 percent of the cases -- what matters on the Supreme Court is those 5 percent of cases that are truly difficult.

...In those circumstances, your decisions about whether affirmative action is an appropriate response to the history of discrimination in this country or whether a general right of privacy encompasses a more specific right of women to control their reproductive decisions or whether the commerce clause empowers Congress to speak on those issues of broad national concern that may be only tangentially related to what is easily defined as interstate commerce, whether a person who is disabled has the right to be accommodated so they can work alongside those who are nondisabled -- in those difficult cases, the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart.

...I want to take Judge Roberts at his word that he doesn't like bullies and he sees the law and the Court as a means of evening the playing field between the strong and the weak. But given the gravity of the position to which he will undoubtedly ascend and the gravity of the decisions in which he will undoubtedly participate during his tenure on the Court, I ultimately have to give more weight to his deeds and the overarching political philosophy that he appears to have shared with those in power than to the assuring words that he provided me in our meeting.

...I hope that this reticence on my part proves unjustified and that Judge Roberts will show himself to not only be an outstanding legal thinker but also someone who upholds the Court's historic role as a check on the majoritarian impulses of the executive branch and the legislative branch.

...I believe every Senator on the other side of the aisle, if they were honest, would acknowledge that the same unyielding, unbending, dogmatic approach to judicial confirmation has in large part been responsible for the kind of poisonous atmosphere that exists in this Chamber regarding judicial nominations.

...The issues facing the Court are rarely black and white, and all advocacy groups who have a legitimate and profound interest in the decisions that are made by the Court should try to make certain that their advocacy reflects that complexity. These groups on the right and left should not resort to the sort of broad-brush dogmatic attacks that have hampered the process in the past and constrained each and every Senator in this Chamber from making sure that they are voting on the basis of their conscience.