Why did Barack Obama, when he was in the Illinois State Senate, vote to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago’s West Side? Seems like that wouldn’t make much sense for one of the most liberal U.S. Senators to have a vote like this in his past.
Well, he didn’t mean it. It was an accident.
“I was not aware that I had voted no,” he said that day in June 2002, asking that the record be changed to reflect that he “intended to vote yes.”
Obama has a record of voting “present” on controversial issues to avoid taking a stand. And then every once in a while he just can’t figure out how to press the right button.
The LA Times paints a not too flattering picture of the Democratic frontrunner’s early years in state government…
On March 19, 1997, he announced he had fumbled an election-reform vote the day before, on a measure that passed 51 to 6: “I was trying to vote yes on this, and I was recorded as a no,” he said. The next day, he acknowledged voting “present” on a key telecommunications vote.
He stood on March 11, 1999, to take back his vote against legislation to end good-behavior credits for certain felons in county jails. “I pressed the wrong button on that,” he said.
Obama was the lone dissenter on Feb. 24, 2000, against 57 yeas for a ban on human cloning. “I pressed the wrong button by accident,” he said.
But two of Obama’s bumbles came on more-sensitive topics. On Nov. 14, 1997, he backed legislation to permit riverboat casinos to operate even when the boats were dockside.
The measure, pushed by the gambling industry and fought by church groups whose support Obama was seeking, passed with two “yeas” to spare — including Obama’s. Moments after its passage he rose to say, “I’d like to be recorded as a no vote,” explaining that he had mistakenly voted for it.
Obama would later develop a reputation as a critic of the gambling industry, and he voted against a similar measure two years later. But he was clearly confused about how to handle the issue at the time of his first vote, telling a church group on a 1998 campaign questionnaire that he was “undecided” about whether he backed an expansion of riverboat gambling. And, months earlier, he had voted in favor of a version of the bill.
The senator who led the opposition to the gambling measure, Republican Todd Sieben, said he took Obama at his word that the initial vote was an error. But Sieben also said the thin margin of victory was a sign that perhaps there was more to the vote than met the eye. “He was obviously paying attention to this vote. It was a major, major issue in the state, and it was a long debate,” Sieben said. “The inadvertent ‘Oops, I missed the switch’ — I’d be kind of skeptical of that.”
On June 11, 2002, Obama’s vote sparked a confrontation after he joined Republicans to block Democrats trying to override a veto by GOP Gov. George Ryan of a $2-million allotment for the west Chicago child welfare office.
Shortly afterward, Obama chastised Republicans for their “sanctimony” in claiming that only they had the mettle to make tough choices in a tight budget year. And he called for “responsible budgeting.”
A fellow Democrat suddenly seethed with anger. “You got a lot of nerve to talk about being responsible,” said Sen. Rickey Hendon, accusing Obama of voting to close the child welfare office.
Obama replied right away. “I understand Sen. Hendon’s anger. . . . I was not aware that I had voted no on that last — last piece of legislation,” he said.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:59 am
If he would just say he meant to do it, it would actually make me think more highly of him. I have no problem taking money away from social programs and the like.