What Does a "Present" Vote Mean?

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ridiculed Sen. Obama tonight at the RNC. No surprise there. He commented on Obama's voting record. But it wasn't quite accurate. Giuliani said Obama voted present instead of "yes" or "no" because he "couldn't make up his mind." Only it's not always so black and white.

As a matter of legislative procedure, a "present" vote can mean a number of things:

It's true that Obama voted "present" dozens of times, part of the thousands of votes he cast in an eight-year span in Springfield. Illinois lawmakers commonly vote that way on a variety of issues, and he has countered that many of those votes were cast because of technical or legal considerations about the underlying legislation.

Often, Obama voted "present" with large groups of other Democrats to protest what they saw as Republican trickery or abuse of power. Other times, voting that way sends a message that a lawmaker supports a bill's intent, but has concerns about how the legislation is drafted. Voting this way also can be a way to duck a difficult issue, as McCain charged, although that's difficult to prove.

There are also cases where legislators vote "present" as part of a strategy. Obama did this on some abortion measures, voting "present" to encourage some wavering legislators to do the same instead of voting "yes". Their "present" votes had the same effect as "no" votes, so getting them to vote present helped defeat the bills.1

Giuliani was long on rhetoric and short on facts. It's not always black and white. In fact, it hardly ever is.

1 Source: Jim Drinkard, McCain's Obama-Palin comparison falls short (9/2/08), http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hj0INfou9GhMYE2nyalH5O9dKRUwD92UPOLG5

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RNC - Community Organizer Not a Real Job

Gov. Palin scorned Sen. Obama tonight for working in Chicago as a community organizer. She said that, unlike Sen. Obama, she had "actual responsibilities."

Wow. That seems like a low blow - a double insult to Sen. Obama and the community he served. So what did he do as a community organizer?

One report puts it this way: In 1985, he moved to Chicago to work with local churches organizing job training and other programs for poor and working-class residents of Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake.1

In Sen. Obama's words: In theory, community organizing provides a way to merge various strategies for neighborhood empowerment. Organizing begins with the premise that (1) the problems facing inner-city communities do not result from a lack of effective solutions, but from a lack of power to implement these solutions; (2) that the only way for communities to build long-term power is by organizing people and money around a common vision; and (3) that a viable organization can only be achieved if a broadly based indigenous leadership — and not one or two charismatic leaders — can knit together the diverse interests of their local institutions.

This means bringing together churches, block clubs, parent groups and any other institutions in a given community to pay dues, hire organizers, conduct research, develop leadership, hold rallies and education cam­paigns, and begin drawing up plans on a whole range of issues — jobs, education, crime, etc. Once such a vehicle is formed, it holds the power to make politicians, agencies and corporations more responsive to commu­nity needs. Equally important, it enables people to break their crippling isolation from each other, to reshape their mutual values and expectations and rediscover the possibilities of acting collaboratively — the prerequi­sites of any successful self-help initiative.2

Obama served as a community organizer from ages 24-27 between 1985-1987. It sounds like he had "actual responsibilities" as a community organizer.

At that time, Palin wasn't mayor as she implied in her speech. She was finishing her undergraduate degree in journalism, getting married and working as a TV sportscaster.

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1 Source: Kenneth T. Walsh, On the Streets of Chicago, a Candidate Comes of Age, 8/26/07, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070826/3obama.htm

2 Source: http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/obama-the-community-organizer/, citing After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois (1990).

RNC - Rudy Giuliani: "Christian Terrorism"?

My mouth dropped open when Giuliani mocked Obama. OK, it dropped open repeatedly during his "opening act" at the RNC tonight. And I say that because he told a lot of really bad jokes (and he laughed at his own jokes repeatedly).

But he wasn't joking when he mocked "the Democrats," saying they don't want to use the term "Islamic Terrorism."

He said they don't use the term because it is insulting.

Insulting to whom, Giuliani asks incredulously? He answers definitively: "It insults terrorists."

Did I hear him correctly? Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, he actually said this. There is something wrong with his logic, and I use that term loosely here. It clearly insults anyone who practices the Islamic faith. It equates Muslims with terrorists.


It is hard to imagine the outrage if anyone dared to utter the words "Christian terrorism."

Here's an even better visual, try to put those words "Christian terrorism" in a middle school textbook. Dobson and Palin would have a heyday. They would feel persecuted as hell.

Muslims are Americans too. Again, I call for us to raise the level of discourse.

Are we a beacon that inspires the world, as Giuliani proclaimed?

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RNC - Gov. Huckabee Praises His "Second Choice"

I don't create it. I just report. Gov. Huckabee opened his speech by expressing his genuine delight to speak on behalf of his "second choice," John McCain. (He acknowledged that he would rather be accepting the nomination himself).

First, he praised McCain for his "stubborn kind of integrity." He then sarcastically thanked the "elite media" for unifying the Republican party (and all of America) in supporting McCain/Palin. He blasted the recent media reporting as "tackier than a costume change at a Madonna concert." Now I have to wonder whether the Baptist minister has ever been to a Madonna concert. That's a funny visual.

Huckabee spoke of the Civil Rights Movement, and how he saw racism that caused people to do the "unthinkable" to people of color. He praised Obama's historic nomination as "not becuase of his color, but because of indifference to it." He agreed with Obama that this election is not about Obama, but it is about the country. This is where the agreement stopped.

He said Obama's "excellent adventure" to Europe concerned him, because he says Obama brought back "European ways" to expand government. He received rousing applause when he said that Gov. Palin got more votes running for mayor than Biden got running for the U.S. Sentate. (Can this be accurate?). Huckabee spoke of McCain's capture as a POW saying that his injuries serve as a "constant reminder" not of what he will receive, but "what he already has given." After a little vignette about a teacher asking students what they needed to do to earn a desk at school, he pledged his support to put McCain in the desk in the Oval Office.

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RNC Rained Out - Dobson's Prayers Answered (Kind-Of)

Two weeks ago James Dobson's Focus on the Family directed evangelicals to "pray for rain" to interrupt Sen. Obama's Presidential nominee acceptance speech last Thursday.

Dobson's mouthpiece, Stewart Shepard called for "abundant rain, torrential rain ... flood-advisory rain." . . . . "I'm talking about umbrella-ain't-gonna-help-you rain ... swamp-the-intersections rain." Shephard explained why he wanted to smite Obama and the DNC: "I'm still pro-life, and I'm still in favor of marriage being between one man and one woman. And I would like the next president who will select justices for the next Supreme Court to agree."

I haven't seen a more glorious night in Denver than Thursday when Obama accepted the nomination. The air breathed a calm, cool breeze, and the sky reflected a deep cerulean blue. The summer crickets even seemed to celebrate.

Today the Republicans announced the cancellation of the first day of the Republican National Convention due to hurricane Gustav and its 120 mph winds, torrential rains, and expected flooding. Also looming - Tropical Storm Hanna and two more storms gaining momentum in the Atlantic. Ironic?