Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In |

"I want to campaign the same way I govern, which is to respond directly and forcefully with the truth,"
~ Barack Obama, 11/08/07

Legislative Record

Fact Check on ABC Claim That Obama Has Shifted on Welfare Reform
July 01, 2008

OBAMA PASSED WELFARE REFORM IN ILLINOIS THAT MOVED PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK AND GAVE THEM TOOLS TO ALLOW THEM TO DO THAT WORK, LIKE CHILD CARE AND TRANSPORTATION, AND WAS PRAISED BY REPUBLICANS FOR HIS WORK Obama Passed Law...

Fact Check on Willie Horton-Style Ad on Obama and the Death Penalty
April 21, 2008

SCRIPT: Tamika McFadden-Harris. Murdered leaving church choir practice. Cut down by gang gunfire while shielding her 6 year old daughter. Mike Boyd. Killed at 15. Beaten with bricks after a gang member crashed into his car. Severo Enriquez. Just 14...

Fact Check on New York Times Story that Minimizes Obama's Senate Accomplishments
March 08, 2008

RHETORIC: “[Obama] was cautious — even on the Iraq war, which he had opposed as a Senate candidate, he voted against the withdrawal of troops. He proposed a drawdown only after he was running for president and polls showed voters...

Obama's Strong Record on Protecting Victims of Sexual Assault
January 22, 2008

Barack Obama: "The bill with respect to privacy for victims of sexual abuse is a bill I had actually sponsored...Nobody has worked harder than me in the Illinois state legislature to make sure that victims of sexual abuse were dealt...

Fact Check on NBC's Today Show on Obama's Record of Accomplishment
January 17, 2008

RHETORIC: "But Obama went 17 months before making a major speech against the war on the Senate floor." REALITY: OBAMA FIRST ADDRESSED THE IRAQ WAR IN COMMITTEE IN JANUARY 2005 AND ON THE FLOOR IN APRIL 2005, FOUR MONTHS AFTER...

Highlights of Obama's Strong Record of Accomplishment in the U.S. and Illinois Senate
January 14, 2008

ETHICS/TRANSPARENCY Obama Was A Key Player In Assembling And Passing The 2007 Ethics Reform Law, Which Curbed The Influence Of Lobbyists And Was Described As The "Most Sweeping Since Watergate." In the first week of the 110th Congress, Obama joined...

Fact Check: Obama's Consistent Position on the Patriot Act
January 05, 2008

Rhetoric: "Sen. Obama Promised to Support Repealing PATRIOT Act, Then Voted to Extend It" Reality: Obama Has Consistently Said He Would Support A Patriot Act That Would Strengthen Civil Liberties Without Sacrificing The Tools That Law Enforcement Needs To Keep...

Fact Check: Present Votes are an Accepted Legislative Strategy in the Illinois Senate
December 20, 2007

Obama Was Praised for Showing Leadership on Tough Issues -- Representing a Safe Democratic District, He Used His Position To Help More Vulnerable Senators Do The Right Thing. Zorn wrote, "Obama, however, was in a safe district and never faced...

Fact Check On Milbank's Claim That Obama Exaggerates Experience
December 14, 2007

RHETORIC: "'I expanded health care in Illinois by bringing Democrats and Republicans together, by taking on the insurance industry,' he asserts. Actually, his signature legislation as a state senator, the Health Care Justice Act, merely set up a panel to...

Fact Check: Obama's State Senate Records Are Publicly Available
November 14, 2007

Read What Media Matters Had to Say: "The Associated Press reported that Sen. Barack Obama "says he can't step up and produce his own records from his days in the Illinois state Senate. He says he hasn't got any." But...