Obama Needs to Explain How He Helped Wounded Troops

by Sean Hackbarth

In Sen. Barack Obama’s latest tv ad (running in Wisconsin), “Country I Love,” he touts his record (albeit limited) on taxes, welfare reform, and most interestingly, helping wounded troops. Take a look:

In the ad he says, “That’s why I…extended health care for wounded troops who had been neglected.” To back that up Public Law 110-181 is cited. With a little research at Thomas.gov you find P.L. 110-181 is the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Obama wasn’t present for that vote. Getting a bill through the Senate is a tedious process with many different votes, but Obama has to offer some evidence he actually did something to do what he takes credit for doing. His campaign forgot many eyes are watching and digging.

Taking a different angle, James Joyner has a minor problem with Obama playing the poverty card.

[Note: Sen. John McCain also didn’t vote on the defense authorization bill, but I don’t know of him running a commercial taking credit for items contained in it. I’ll update this post if I’m corrected.]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Barack Obama. You can trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “Obama Needs to Explain How He Helped Wounded Troops”

Probably ’cause he would have also had to go on record has granting veterans the right to salute the flag…you know…be patriotic and all that…

Section 594 of that bill gave us that ability….

Probably didn’t sit well in his stomach….

Posted by Pete Fanning on June 19th, 2008

Pete, that’s sort of a funny quip, but I don’t buy the whole “Obama doesn’t salute the flag” shtick. Yes, there’s the infamous video, but he’s led the Senate in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Also, there have been multiple occasions where I’ve not held my hand to my heart during the National Anthem. (I, however, always remove my hat.)

Posted by Sean Hackbarth on June 19th, 2008

Actually, there was but one vote in the Senate on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. Indeed, it was the first vote cast by the Senate this year.

Posted by steveegg on June 20th, 2008

[…] Sean Hackbarth found yet another “exaggeration” from Obama. It seems he wasn’t around when the bill that extended health care benefits for veterans, something he’s taking credit for, was considered and voted upon in the Senate. […]

Posted by No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » The Morning Scramble - 6/20/2008 on June 20th, 2008

You just got ripped off by the Chicago Tribune.

Posted by steveegg on June 20th, 2008

[…] Sean Hackbarth wondered the same thing, and noticed that “With a little research at Thomas.gov you find P.L. 110-181 is the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Obama wasn’t present for that vote.” […]

Posted by Not a Great Way to Start « Keeping It All Together on June 22nd, 2008

While it may be dubious for Obama to say he “passed” the law, given he was hot on the election trail the day of the vote that was sure to pass, in fact it is Obama who INTRODUCED Senate Bill 713. (See full text of S. 713 here, called the “Dignity for Wounded Warriors bill”.) This was the Senate version of HR. 1268, whose ideas made it largely into the final authorization bill cited in the ad. Obama introduced the bill in February 2007 and 34 senators co-sponsored it. It is a windy path that makes a bill become a law, as many of you will recall from high school civics, but in fact, the ideas for the Defense Authorization bill cited in his commercial did come from Obama. Sloppy citation, yes. Lying or taking credit for someone else’s work? Definitely not. Sorry ya’ll, go back to the drawing board.

Katie Stauss

Posted by Katie Stauss on June 24th, 2008

Katie, there’s no accusation of lying in my post. But since Obama’s record is so thin it behooves his campaign to get their facts right. It’s not like they have to dig through a lot of Senate material.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth on June 24th, 2008