Obama misses ANOTHER vote - This time Feingold/Reid to end the war.

[jsamuel]

It got 28 votes including Clinton, but Obama did not vote according to this post:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/3/143521/492

For reference, he also missed the MoveOn (Cornyn) vote and they Iran War (Kyl-Lieberman) vote.

Update:
Comments posted say he is campaigning today and that he is not the front runner like Clinton. The amendment would have gone down anyway.

However, this does not help when a narrative is forming around him not voting.

[acmavm]

Bookmarked so I can check to see if there's anyone who can prove he

voted.

[AndyA]

1. There seems to be a disturbing pattern developing with him.

And I don't like it. These people should still show up to do their jobs, despite running for President.

Kudos to Hillary for being there.

[emilyg]

2. Not good. Any reason given?

[wyldwolf]

3. Some Obama supporters feel showing up to vote in the senate is a bad thing...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3574321&mesg_id=3574321

[SteppingRazor]

4. I believe he's campaigning in Iowa today.

To be fair, he's so far behind in the polls, that he needs the campaign dates a lot more than Hillary does. Couple that with the fact that even the most optimistic of souls would have to admit Feingold/Reid stood a snowball's chance in hell, and you can understand why Obama stayed in Iowa. (Understand, maybe, even if you don't approve or excuse.)

[rinsd]

9. Agreed.

If the vote was on the line, he would have likely come back for it.

At the same he should also realize the people of IL elected him to office only 3 years ago. They deserve more than half representation. If he starts missing alot of votes now, how about the heat of primary elections and if he is the nominee the strain of the GE. All of the candidate are going to miss votes but being perceived early on as missing votes is not good for his campaign.

[Clintonista2]

12. Party line or not, he should be forced to take a stand every now and then

The Iran vote would have passed even if he had shown up and voted against it. It's the principle of the matter. Every other presidential candidate can show up to vote, why can't he?

[Hippo_Tron]

16. If the people of Illinois are bothered by it they can vote him out of office

But last time I checked his approval ratings are in the 70's.

[acmavm]

21. NO I do not understand this crap. Is the man still drawing a paycheck and

is he still claiming expenses as a friggin' senator???? He needs to get his ass back and do his job.

[SteppingRazor]

42. Whatever. If it were Hillary, you'd sing a different tune.

I'm sick and tired of all the partisan hackery around here these days. Clinton, Obama, Edwards, or any other Dem. candidate would make an excellent president, and these sort of needling, pissant posts do nothing except make otherwise agreeable Democrats try to rip each others heads off. Its stupid, childish, and counterproductive.

[acmavm]

44. The hell I would, Don't tell me what I would do, you don't have a clue.

[SteppingRazor]

52. Sorry, you're right.

Remove "Hillary" from that previous post and fill in with the candidate of your choice.

[ElizabethDC]

5. Seriously?!

Unbelievable. x(

[rinsd]

6. He was doing a big campaign swing thru Iowa.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071002/IOWACAUCUS/71002024/1011/IOWACAUCUS

[gateley]

7. Biden, Clnton, Obama and Dodd refrained from voting on a couple of issues

over the past two days so I wondered if they were off doing some candidatey things.

I just went to the senate site to see the vote results but they haven't been posted yet -- they will be within the hour so I'll post at that time if nobody else has.

I wonder what's up? It doesn't make sense that Obama is "avoiding" -- he's got to know that would give fodder to opponents...

[Mass]

8. He did not vote for the war, so he does not feel he needs to help ending it.

:sarcasm:

[ellacott]

10. One of the criticisms of John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004

Was that they were among the tops on list of Senators who missed votes.

[killbotfactory]

25. Because Senators miss votes when they are campaigning

Serious debate doesn't actually take place on the Senate floor. The Senate leadership let's them know if it's important for them to be there to vote.

[ellacott]

32. This was supposed to be their entire terms including the campaigns)

I do agree that they already know how many votes they going to get even before they officially record it.

I just find it ironic that this was the criticism from the right against Kerry/Edwards. During the VP debate Cheneny lied and claimed he had never met Edwards because Edwards was never around.

[Clintonista2]

36. "criticism from the right"?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3574936&mesg_id=3575072

Edit: Just noticed who that poster was. Yep, it confirms that the critisicm comes from the right.

[ellacott]

39. So the right didn't criticize him?

[Clintonista2]

40. Yes, I just confirmed that the right criticized him

That particular poster gets all his information from the right. Check out his "Clinton let Osama go" post sometime.

[ellacott]

48. You confirmed? ok

I don't care about the "Clinton let Osama go" post. Some of these things you've got to ignore.

[killbotfactory]

11. He's going to miss the entire week

The leadership in the Senate usually knows how the votes will go down, and will let candidates know if they are needed in the Senate.

[Clintonista2]

13. It's not about whether the bill will pass, it's about him taking a stand for once

Nobody knows where he stands on issues like this, because he doesn't show up to vote.

[rateyes]

15. Sounds like he's pulling a Clinton...

with all that fence-sitting...flip-flopping. I'm not voting for either one of those two. I'm not sure who I'm voting FOR yet, other than it won't be Hillary of Obama.

[Clintonista2]

17. Clinton shows up for more votes than any other candidate

She has missed less than 9% of all votes, while Obama has missed more than 25%.

[rateyes]

61. So what? She voted for Liberman/Kyl....

nuff said.

[killbotfactory]

18. Oh, bullshit

he's been pretty damn clear about the war and ending it. It was the topic of a major speech he made just yesterday.

[Clintonista2]

20. Talk is easy

As Obama apparently has learned, action is not.

[killbotfactory]

22. Running back to washington to cast a vote on a bill that was sure to lose

That's action?

[Clintonista2]

23. OK, let's play by your logic:

Even had Hillary voted against the IWR, it still would have passed. I geuss it doesn't count then?

[killbotfactory]

35. The problem is that Hillary voted for the IWR, supported the Iraq war

and continued to support it until it became political poison. Now, I'm assured, it was all Bush's fault because he went about it wrong. Great.

I would have much preferred she skip the vote altogether.

[emilyg]

58. Words are easy. Action please.

[killbotfactory]

59. Words are very easy

Especially when there is no substance or thought put behind it, as i've learned from reading numerous anti-Obama posts on DU.

[GreenArrow]

14. time to take a stand, pal

This is starting to look like a pattern.

[Cameron27]

60. Yeah, I think the same thing.

[Rockholm]

73. I believe it is a pattern.

[AZ Criminal JD]

19. I read in one of these threads

That Obama voted present on some tough votes when he was in the Illinois Senate.

[Clintonista2]

24. yes, abortion votes

He stood strongly for a woman's right to choice by voting "present" on every controversial abortion bill that passed through the illinois legislature.

[killbotfactory]

30. That was the strategy he worked up with planned parenthood

"We at Planned Parenthood view those as leadership votes," Pam Sutherland, the president and CEO of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, told ABC News. "We worked with him specifically on his strategy. The Republicans were in control of the Illinois Senate at the time. They loved to hold votes on 'partial birth' and 'born alive'. They put these bills out all the time . . . because they wanted to pigeonhole Democrats."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/obama-abortion-.html

[Clintonista2]

33. I don't give a rats ass if planned parenthood approved it

He was faced with a woman's right to choose, and he made his position clear, for what? Some political points?

[killbotfactory]

43. You're right. What does planned parenthood know about abortion rights?

Fucking losers.

[Clintonista2]

49. There's a logical fallacy called "appeal to authority" that you've apparently fallen for

[killbotfactory]

54. No, it's called legislative strategy

designed to minimize the impact of republican shenanigans.

[zulchzulu]

26. I guess when Edwards skipped a third of his votes in 2003, it was no big deal?

http://www.alternet.org/election04/19507/

22 of 62 votes were missed by Edwards in 2003. That's what happens when you're running for President.

[Clintonista2]

28. How come Hillary hasnt missed a third? or a fourth? or even a tenth?

[killbotfactory]

31. She's the frontrunner

and doesn't need to campaign as hard as the others, right now.

[Clintonista2]

34. Doing your job in the senate overrides the need to campaign

Obama was elected to represent his constituents in the senate. If he believes that running for president is more important at this time, then he should relinquish his seat. It's very simple.

[killbotfactory]

38. Did you hold the same position with Kerry and Edwards last time?

[Clintonista2]

45. Strongly.

I don't care what fucking political party you're from, or who you are, you should NOT be campaigning so much that you miss 1/4 of ALL votes. You can say "well, they would have failed anyways", but it's impossible to know beforehand with many of the votes Obama was AWOL for (such as the Iran vote). He needs to either do the job he was elected to do, or give up his seat.

[killbotfactory]

50. I'm sure he'll do that

When he's elected president.

Pardon me if I ignore the crocodile tears from Hillary supporters on this issue.

[Beaverhausen]

69. Which vote back in 2003 or 2004 was as important as the ones Obama has been missing?

[sandnsea]

74. Because they schedule the votes to accommodate her

and sandbag Obama. DUH.

[jsamuel]

29. Why I included the update...

He isn't the front runner like Clinton and does not have the luxury of being way ahead. But like I said, you can bet Clinton will use it against him.

[SteppingRazor]

37. Ah, so, you've posted this out of sympathy with Obama, fearing he'll be smeared like Edwards was?

n/t

[jsamuel]

41. I posted it because I knew it would be an issue.

Edwards missed votes in 2003/4 are not really much of an issue in this campaign. But yes, I can see that it is unfair to criticize Obama too harshly for missed votes. However, I think he should have voted on the Kyl/Lieberman one. He was not supposed to be in Iowa that day. That one was very important even if it was going to pass anyway.

[SteppingRazor]

46. Point taken.

:thumbsup:

[killbotfactory]

47. His campaign released a statement on that bill

Senator Obama clearly recognizes the serious threat posed by Iran. However, he does not agree with the president that the best way to counter that threat is to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq, and he does not think that now is the time for saber-rattling towards Iran. In fact, he thinks that our large troop presence in Iraq has served to strengthen Iran - not weaken it. He believes that diplomacy and economic pressure, such as the divestment bill that he has proposed, is the right way to pressure the Iranian regime. Accordingly, he would have opposed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment had he been able to vote today.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/Obama_No_on_KylLieberman.html

[madmom]

55. as she should, he has a job to do NOW, campaigning isn't what he is being paid to do.

[Lucinda]

27. As I type this the thread above yours is

"Obama: "Let's be clear: without that vote there would have been no war"

Strikes me as a little ironic.

[Clark2008]

51. This is hilarious to watch.

The Obama people attack Hillary. The Edwards people attack Obama. Hillary supporter attack anyone left of center. And 'round and 'round it goes.

Sometimes, it's nice not to have a candidate.

:hi:

[SaveElmer]

56. You just described democracy in action...

Been going on for 231 years...

[Mass]

64. Democracy would be debating issues.

I do not see a lot of issues debated on GDP these days.

[ellacott]

66. There is little if any debating on here n/t

[madmom]

53. How are we suppose to know where he stand if he doesn't vote on something, anything!

Talk is cheap, he can slam others for the way they vote but he won't vote so who knows....?

[wyldwolf]

57. his supporters have a direct line to his brain. They can tell you what he is thinking at any time.

[Clintonista2]

71. L...O...L

That one needs to go to the Wyldwolf top ten!

[quinnox]

62. I'm waiting for an Obama supporter to say how brave, smart

and courageous it was for Obama to miss this vote like they did the last time he missed an important vote!

:rofl:

I guess when you are so attached to your candidate any lame excuse or feeble rationalization looks good!

[avrdream]

63. Actually, didn't McCain do the same thing?

If I remember correctly, the Bush campaign was all over him like stink on shit when he missed so many votes.

[Connie_Corleone]

65. An article this weekend said that Obama would be campaigning in Iowa all week.

He's going to miss a lot of votes. If his vote is need to pass a bill, he'll be there.

Any senator running for president will miss a lot of votes, as did Kerry and Edwards.

McCain doesn't even show up when the voting is close.

[jillan]

67. Since Dodd stood with Feingold on the Senate floor this morning and

Biden, Clinton and Dodd all voted for his amendment while Obama didn't bother to show up....

Maybe Feingold should re-evaluate who he is going to endorse?

[jsamuel]

68. all 3 of Feingold's offices said no endorsement is planned

[sandnsea]

75. Maybe that's why the vote was scheduled

To sandbag the outsider.

[AtomicKitten]

70. Thank you for your concern.

Your faux outrage is spectacular.

[ecstatic]

72. Edwards didn't vote either

Oops! :shrug: