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March 3, 2008

Questions For Obama The Media Won't Ask

As Peter Kirsanow points out in his piece at National Review today, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama (yes, I have indeed used his middle name, and do so because he's apparently ashamed of it - evidenced by the fact that his wife accuses those who use it as invoking the fear bomb) "has received the most fawning media coverage of any serious presidential contender in memory" and despite some indications that the press may now "poised to demand greater specificity and pierce the senator's vaporous rhetoric," Obama continues to coast along on a free pass in an empty suit promising hope, unity, and leadership - but no substance or details.

However, should the media eventually wake up from their obsession with their messiah, Kirsanow offers up a sampling of the many questions Senator Obama has not adequately addressed. Here's a sampling:

1. You've stated that as president you'd transcend the sharp partisanship that pervades Washington, but you favor a rapid pullout from Iraq, plan significant tax increases, oppose any and all restrictions on abortions, and favor Supreme Court justices in the mold of Stephen Breyer -- positions strongly opposed by most Republicans. Accordingly, on which of these issues would you be willing to compromise, and to what extent? Which Democrats do you think would give a little, and how would you convince them? How would you get interest groups and donors to go along?

2. Do you dispute the National Journal's assessment that you're the nation's most liberal senator? If you do, which senators do you consider to be more liberal, and why?

3. Could you please cite three things you've done as senator to help win the war in Iraq?

4. Your campaign stresses your leadership abilities. Please provide specific examples of your leadership, either in the Senate or Illinois legislature, on the following issues: The War on Terror, taxes, immigration, health care, energy, and education.

5. Recently, one of your supporters appearing on the cable news show Hardball seemed blindsided when asked to name one of your legislative accomplishments. Please identify each and every Senate bill you've authored that has been passed by Congress. Also explain any benefits the country has derived from your legislation.

6. Stephen Moore calculates that your tax increases would result in a 52.2 percent income and payroll tax. Moore also states that your estate tax would be 55 percent, the dividends tax 39.6 percent, and the capital gains rate 28 percent. Do you dispute these numbers? If so, please provide your respective rates.

7. You admit that you won't extend the Bush tax cuts. What's the highest personal-income-tax rate you'd support?

8. You've been campaigning on a theme of "change," yet your stated positions on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, taxes, education, income redistribution, affirmative action, tort reform, and reducing poverty aren't appreciably distinguishable from the positions Democrats have maintained over the last 40 years. What specifically would you change, beyond shifting nomenclature and tinkering around the edges?

In addition to Kirsanow's questions for Obama, I'd like to know more - from Obama - about his association with a Chicago-based Marxist group with access to millions of labor union dollars and connections to expert political consultants, including a convicted swindler, as well as other communist associations and connections.

Posted by Richard at March 3, 2008 9:06 PM