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| Term Start | Term End | Role | State | Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2010 | Senator | IL | Democrat |
Committee Membership
- Senate Foreign Relations
- Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security
- State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration (Ad Hoc)
- Senate Veterans' Affairs
Most Recent Sponsored Bills
Sponsored Bill Statistics
Recent Voting History
| Bill | Voted |
|---|---|
| On the Concurrent Resolution (H. Con. Res. 398 ) |
Abstain July 31, 2008 |
|
S.3001 Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to Consider S. 3001 ) |
Abstain July 31, 2008 |
|
H.R.4137 College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 On the Conference Report (H.R. 4137 Conference Report ) |
Abstain July 31, 2008 |
Voting Trends Analysis
- Most often votes with: Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D, NJ]
- Least often votes with: Sen. Jim DeMint [R, SC]
- Republican most often votes with: Sen. Olympia Snowe [R, ME]
- Democrat least often votes with: Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE]
Users tracking Barack Obama (366) are also tracking:
| People | Bills | Issues |
|---|---|---|
|
Show More User Statistics...
Barack Obama in the News
August 29, 2008 Kerry who? Celebs have Barack Obama now!
DENVER - While Hollywood can always be counted on to come out in force for the Democratic presidential nominee, there was a distinct feeling in the Mile High City this week that some of the celebs regard Barack Obama as a huge upgrade over the Dems’ 200
Source: Boston Herald
August 29, 2008 Barack Obama comes out firing
DENVER -- Barack Obama took his gloves off tonight. Just minutes after formally accepting the historical presidential nomination the Democratic Party bestowed on him, offering bouquets to Hillary and Bill Clinton, to his vice presidential pick, Joe
Source: Los Angeles Times
August 28, 2008 Bill Clinton: I ... support Barack Obama
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, buoyed by Democratic delegates' cheers in Denver Wednesday, joined his wife's call to unite behind Barack Obama. I am here, first, to support Barack Obama, Clinton told the Democratic National Convention attendees.
Source: Webindia123
Barack Obama in the Blogs
August 29, 2008 Barack Obama Mania!
Barack Obama is holding court at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, and half of Hollywood has joined him to get liberal with it for CHANGE! Yeah, I know John McCain picked some ex-beauty queen as his vice, but that was such a ...
Source: Socialite Life
August 29, 2008 One, two, three â hunt for faith
To tell you the truth, I donât have much to say about the press coverage of the religion elements of Sen. Barack Obamaâs speech from the mountaintop (of course, Denver is located on the high plains, but you know what I mean). ...
Source: GetReligion
August 29, 2008 As McCain prepares to announce VP, Obama works out before flying east
Sen. Barack Obama left the Westin for his first gym workout as the actual Democratic nominee at 6:16 am The motorcade was uneventful with the exception of some swerving and a debate about temperature control in the sardine-like press ...
Source: Election 2008
23,472 more posts...
See most useful blog posts
Information made available by:
Featured Members of Congress
On June 07, 2008 Barack Obama was featured on the homepage of OpenCongress:
Barack Obama's (D-IL) status at the Democratic presidential nominee was reinforced on Saturday afternoon when his competitor, Hillary Clinton (D-NY), suspended her campaign and officially endorsed him. “The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States,” Clinton said in a speech before thousands of her supporters.
Campaign Contributions
Top Contributor: Goldman Sachs ($535,678)
| Industry | Donation | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| Other | $17,254,499 | 23.1 % |
| Finance/Insur/RealEst | $16,041,331 | 21.5 % |
| Lawyers & Lobbyists | $13,998,437 | 18.8 % |
| Misc Business | $12,223,382 | 16.4 % |
| Communic/Electronics | $6,908,840 | 9.3 % |
| Health | $3,822,484 | 5.1 % |
| Construction | $1,496,270 | 2.0 % |
| Energy/Nat Resource | $880,751 | 1.2 % |
| Ideology/Single-Issue | $737,811 | 1.0 % |
| Agribusiness | $551,166 | 0.7 % |
| Transportation | $463,476 | 0.6 % |
| Defense | $145,345 | 0.2 % |
| Labor | $57,042 | 0.1 % |
| Total: | $74,580,834 |
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Displaying 1-30 of 67 total comments.
Some of the things mentioned in the technology and innovation document would be amazing for a site like this. I would love to see what could be done when the government is actively working to get more information out there. I think it would actually get more people excited about the idea of participating too.
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/20/201332/807/36/458633
A comprehensive listing of Clinton's and Obama's record. Chew on that for a little while.
Yes we can!
That article was such a fantastic record. It is kinda funny that this was (likely) inspired by all of Hillary's talk about "look at my record". Guess she never thought someone would ACTUALLY do the research. Oops!
http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm
This was the site that wit the kind of information that led me to give Obama my full support.
He is very opinionated. :)
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If you don't think he knows the risk of running for president I think you are misunderstood. If you think he is better than Hillary for president then vote for him no matter if you think he will be assasinated. If he is willing to run and take all risk associated with that then dont hold that against him. But also, don't vote for him just because of his race. Either way, he doesn't have my vote though.
There are a couple main reasons I support Obama for president (along with some links which enumerate the points better than I could):
1) technology issues http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/01/28/obama/
2) ability to inspire/lead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdDzvmY1XPo
The presidency isn't (or at least shouldn't be) about making all the decisions. The president is a leader. Someone who surrounds him or herself with intelligent and trustworthy people, and who inspires those people (and others in Congress) to come up with ideas and work together to achieve them. I'd like to return to the president being the leader of government rather than the boss of government. Plus, for as similar as Obama and Clinton are on most issues, their differences are extremely important to me. Obama has consulted Lawrence Lessig on a number of technological issues, which in and of itself is an indication that he's on the right path. Aside for that, he's expressed an interest in opening up government to make it far more transparent, which is also a critical issue IMO.
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While I may not agree with your issues, thank you so much for giving us your reasons and needs rather than rhetoric and junk.
The reason for so many "abstain" votes is because he's out on the campaign trail. The records for Clinton and McCain aren't much different.
Not exactly on the topic of Obama, but I think there's an interesting question to be asked here:
Why isn't there an accepted way for senators and representatives to vote while away from Washington? There are clearly important benefits to being in Washington for debating as well as voting, but there must be some way to find a balance here.
Good point, people can absentee vote in elections and the internet will eventually become part of democracy, why not start with the Senators on campaign. They are not doing their job while they are stumping and debating on TV.
if his campaign interferes with his job, shouldn't he ... I don't know ... perhaps, quit it, and let someone else do it. Not only he is collecting salary (that you and I pay ultimately), but also think about how well his constituents are represented.
Do we really want a president that cares that little about his job?
And the presidency is definitely absolutely and only about making decisions.
While it appears there are a lot of abstains on his record, you must look at it relatively to others in congress. It is usually no secret which direction votes will go causing a lot of people to not show up when enough people will be there to get the right outcome. While it looks bad with respect to encouraging Americans to vote, he puts his time where he feels it will make the most important difference.
And it appears to be the record of nearly all other members of congress, so far as the ones I have checked.
yes, other people come up with the ideas. but the decisions (which is about choosing the right one, and ways to implement it) is exactly what we need the president for.
I am sorry, Obama is just not it. Not even close.
The president does have to make decisions, but they are more in the realm of leadership and being a role-model. Congress has our policy-makers, and the president has the power to veto policies when congress fails to have fully considered the issue.
The executive branch is in charge of enforcing policy, not making it. As can be seen Bush didn't make bad policy, he allowed bad policy, and a good speaker will encourage and inspire congress members to look at sites like this one, and inspire Americans to use sites like this to express his opinions enabling him to approve and allow good policy.
With respects to weasel's comments, I might agree he is not the kind of person we want as a senator when his qualities are much more suited for president (or technically Speaker of the House / Vice President, just on the basis of that particular argument).
"Why isn't there an accepted way for senators and representatives to vote while away from Washington?"
Great idea! While we are at it, let's come up with some ways for me to look like I am working while I am in Aruba too!
weasel: It's valid to say he should quite his job in order to campaign, but if you're going to lay that criticism on Obama, be sure to lay it equally on Senators Clinton and McCain (and all the other past and present senators and representatives that end up in the same situation when campaigning for president). It's a valid criticism, but Obama is in no way special in that regard. (Obama abstained in 25 of the last 30 votes, Clinton in 26 of the last 30, and McCain in 24 of the last 30)
I also agree it's important to be choosing the right decision, which is yet another reason I prefer Obama. A great deal of economists, for example, are against the idea of health insurance mandates. Obama's health insurance plan is more solidly rooted in behavioral economics, which I think is a huge plus.
The presidency has recently been only about making decisions, this is true. But originally the presidency was more about leadership and statesmanship. For a very long time, presidential vetoes were extremely rare, because if Congress - the elected representatives of the people - wanted to make a law, then the president signed it, unless he thought it was absolutely detrimental to the country as a whole. In recent decades, it has been that the president vetoes anything he disagrees with, which may or may not be a good thing. What is clear, though, is that the president has a very important role to play now in guiding Congress to decisions, which means working with people and inspiring them to work with each other. I have no doubt that even if Clinton's ideas are better (which I don't think they are, but even if they are), Obama would make far more progress towards implementing what are ultimately very similar ideas than Clinton would make in getting hers implemented.
We'll likely just have to agree to disagree, because it's unlikely anyone is going to change their mind over the internet. And I'm OK with that: I support Obama, but I'm certainly willing to support Clinton if she gets the nomination. I'd like to encourage you to check out the two links I posted though.
Anonymous: Heh, yes, there are clearly some issues with that. I didn't say I knew how they should do it, just that it's something which should be discussed. The trick is finding the right balance so that there is still incentive to actually be in DC for the vote. Perhaps something like counting votes from somewhere else as only half a vote, I don't know. It's just that the way the system is set up right now, it's absolutely prohibitive to anyone who would be a senator and presidential candidate simultaneously. As one of Obama's constituents, I understand this and don't hold it against him, but I do wish that he, and Senators Clinton and McCain were more able to do their jobs while also doing the rigorous work of campaigning. I certainly would have liked Obama and Clinton to have voted on the recent FISA amendments, but neither were able to.
"It's a valid criticism, but Obama is in no way special in that regard."
I never said he was special. In that regard or in any other.
That's exactly why I am not voting for him. And I don't know how anyone else could unless they are a racist. The only "special" thing about this candidate is his color.
"But originally the presidency was more about leadership and statesmanship."
You don't know the first thing about leadership if you don't understand it is all about decision making.
"I support Obama, but I'm certainly willing to support Clinton if she gets the nomination. "
Frnakly, I don't see much differnce between the two. Except for the race and gender, of course, but I, although it is so unpopular nowadays, I am not going to make my decisions based on those factors. I think they are irrelevant, unless you are a racist.
"The trick is finding the right balance so that there is still incentive to actually be in DC for the vote."
The incentive is you and me. If you are going to continue cutting slack to them and trying to justify their skipping work for personal gain, they'll continue doing that. After all, why the hell not?
"it's absolutely prohibitive to anyone who would be a senator and presidential candidate simultaneously."
So what? If I wanted to move to Hollywood and become an actor, I should not expect they'd let me to keep my present job for a while as well, should I?
Oh, and about his health care plan.... Just like all other socialist ideas, it doesn't affect me or my family in any way, except, that we are going to have to pay for it.
If you got a job, you are in the same boat too.
If you don't I'd suggest that you go find one - that'll change your perspective quite a bit.
OK, first, the implication that the only reason somsone would choose Obama over Clinton is because of racism is ridiculous. That's no different than saying the only reason to choose Clinton over Obama is sexism. Both are obviously not true (and, by that logic, one must be either a racist or a sexist to have any preference in the Democratic nomination).
Second, it appears you've essentially outed yourself as a Republican supporter seeking to make negative comments on Obama's page, in which case I have no interest to continue discussion here beyond this comment. Calling either of their health care plans "socialist" is clearly not something a supporter of *either* would do. (It's also further from the truth in the case of Obama, since he is opposed to mandates for adults).
Lastly, suggesting that I may not have a job - and the implication that you consider me to be an ignorant youth - is quite insulting to me. I'll admit to being in the 18-29 demographic (though I won't bother describing where), but I most certainly have not only a full time job, but I spent my years in college earning my degree in political science. I know plenty about the role of the president and the different variations in leadership style it has gone through over the years, and I have no interest in accepting being insulted by someone whose only purpose here appears to be criticizing Obama in hopes of helping Clinton gain the nomination, so that your own candidate can have a better shot at the presidency. (For those who are unaware, recent polls indicate that if the election were held today, Clinton and McCain would be very close, where Obama would win by about 7%.)
Seriously..."socialist ideas?" Give me a break.
Oh I am sorry. I did not know this page was off limits for "non-supporters".
I did not suggest that you did not have a job, much less imply anything about your age. You have to learn to actually listen to your opponent if you want to ever be able to have an intelligent discussion. It is quite characteristic for socialists to ignore the real arguments, and instead respond to imaginary ones.
I support Obama's candidacy. It is time everyone is able to witness and participate in a changing process. I offer my services translating into Spanishdocuments for the campaign. Counsel advisers to remind him that he needs to secure Puerto Rican votes by addressing the island leaders. Leonora
How Dangerous is Obama?
This article proves that he's merely a tool for the world government and promoter of a tax to be paid to the UN to fuel its totalitarian control over us and to redistribute the wealth to other countries.
"A nice-sounding bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations."
"The bill defines the term "Millennium Development Goals" as the goals set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, General Assembly Resolution 55/2 (2000)."
"In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that declaration commits nations to banning "small arms and light weapons" and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child."
Read the rest here: http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/ckincaid/2008/ck_02131.shtml
the republicans are voteing for obama so that he will get the nomination,i'v heard this on two talk shows ,bill oan c-span washington jurn.
HELP OUR KIDS IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM ALL OVER WE NEED FOSTER CARE REFORM TO STOP THESE KIDS FROM BEING RAPED AND BEING USED AS SEX TOYS IN 2008! THE POOR PROPLE'S CAMPAIGN INC MR JERRY ROBINSON TIME TO STAND UP IN 2008 !!
HELP OUR KIDS IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM ALL OVER WE NEED FOSTER CARE REFORM TO STOP THESE KIDS FROM BEING RAPED AND BEING USED AS SEX TOYS IN 2008! THE POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN INC MR JERRY ROBINSON TIME TO STAND UP IN 2008 !!
STOP BILL HR 1955 AND S BILL 1959
we need hope and help to spot discrimination in the va hospitals. we as vets are treated so bad at va clinic . we are told to stop looking for hand out. to detour us from getting. i had my fore head allmost blow off . 33 years ago. i can;t even get help . the va has me a post tramaic sydrom it is ptsd. try to explain it to the va .no help we need a change in our gov for the best for our troops that severd this to protect us i did vote for obama. we need change not a pacon place affairs and disgace in our country
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