Nielsen’s Nook

A radio interview from WBEZ Chicago, some time before Obama’s announcement to run for president.

Key Terms and Cases

• The Warren Court (1953-69)
• The “Commerce Clause”

Mark Traphagen just started a thread at Conn-versations which should shape up to be interesting:

Here’s what I would like to discuss with my fellow Conn-versation bloggers and all you gentle readers. Not why or why not Obama or McCain is the best candidate, but the far more interesting (to me, anyway) question of can one be a true Evangelical in all the usual earmarks (Deity of Christ, salvation by faith in him alone, Bible is the Word of God, etc.) and vote for Obama? And to get the 50,000 pound elephant out into the open, what about the Big A, abortion? For those of you who oppose Obama, is that the biggest reason why? For those who, like me, plan to vote for Obama, how do you “handle” the abortion question when it comes up? Is that the make-or-break issue for Evangelical Christians? Should it be?

Read the whole post.

I was at a lunch recently with some who seemed taken by the recent Republican rhetoric leveled at Barack Obama. As I listened to the conversation and the regurgitation of all the lines we all heard at the Republican National Convention, one claim in particular stood out to me as questionable:

Barack Obama has not passed any bill into law.

First, I thought, “Neither had George W. Bush.” After all, Mr. Bush went from co-owner of the Texas Rangers with an MBA from Harvard to the first back-to-back two term governor in Texas History to back-to-back terms as President of the United States (more on Bush).

Obama goes from working closely with the poor and disenfranchised (read oppressed), gets a doctorate in law from Harvard and serves two terms in the US Senate, not to mention passing significant legislation as an Illinois State Senator. Hmm, we’re selective in whose legislative record we consider (more on Obama)

Next, the Executive Branch is not generally the originator of bills. So comparing the legislative experience between McCain and Obama does not seem to be considering experience that is required for the Office of President.

Regardless, I would encourage you the reader to take a moment to get a nuanced presentation of Obama, one like Obama: From Promise to Power, by David Mendell of the Chicago Tribune. If you don’t vote for Obama, at least you’ll know why for yourself.

To follow up on the post I wrote this morning on the Supreme Court decision to strike down the death penalty conviction against a father who raped his 8 year old daughter, I thought it was encouraging to see Barack Obama making public statements against the decision today.