Posted on 03/23/2004 7:58:49 AM PST by Mike Bates
Democrat Barack Obama is the odds-on favorite to win Illinois’ open Senate seat this November. Mr. Obama has said he’ll pattern himself after the late Senator Paul Simon.
Mr. Simon was regarded very highly by members of both major parties. I have no reason to doubt that the stories of his honesty and personal decency are true. He seemed, unlike the many pols who flip flop all the time, enormously principled and voted his conscience. The problem, from this conservative’s perspective, is that the Senator was hopelessly, numbingly, irredeemably liberal.
So is Mr. Obama, who in the primary campaign ran television ads featuring images of the late Senator. He also gained the endorsement of Mr. Simon’s daughter, who says that Mr. Obama is "cut from the same cloth" as her father.
My guess is the Senator, who died unexpectedly last December, would have endorsed Mr. Obama had he lived a little longer. He remained politically active until the very end. Too bad he wasn’t buried in Chicago; he could still be a registered voter.
You’ll recall that Mr. Simon endorsed Howard Dean for the presidency only days before he passed away. That endorsement struck me as remarkable insofar as he had been elected to the Senate the same year as John Kerry. They spent a dozen years serving together. Then again, perhaps watching Mr. "I voted for it before I voted against it" at close range for that length of time was the reason Mr. Simon favored an obscure former governor of a tiny state over Kerry, who’s beginning to make Mr. Dean look rational.
But I digress. Barack Obama suggests he’ll be another Paul Simon. That’s profoundly disturbing. He says of Mr. Simon: "For 50 years he was at the forefront of every progressive fight, often giving voice to people who otherwise would not have been heard."
Let’s consider the people for whom Paul Simon didn’t speak. Taxpayers are one example. In his last six years in the Senate, the highest grade assigned to the Illinoisan by the National Taxpayers Union was a "D."
He rarely spoke for Americans who believe a strong national defense is an essential element to maintain peace. In his last year in office, Senator Simon was given a zero rating by the Center for Security Policy, a nonpartisan organization committed to peace through strength.
Paul Simon didn’t talk for the entry-level worker with marginal job skills. His consistent support for increases in the minimum wage inevitably led to greater unemployment among those he misguidedly thought he was helping.
He didn’t speak for parents who’d like to see God back in public schools through constitutionally protected, student-led prayer. When Mr. Simon had the opportunity, he voted against it.
The Senator didn’t speak for the millions of citizens who wanted to see welfare policy overhauled. Clinton had vetoed welfare reform twice, but finally agreed to it. When he signed the legislation, Paul Simon said that Clinton "is marring his legacy by signing this bill. He may gain a few more votes on Nov. 5, but he is hurting history’s judgment of his performance."
This wasn’t the only time Mr. Simon concerned himself with Clinton’s legacy. He was one of only three Senators to vote against holding an investigation of the Whitewater affair. Though the Clintons, as usual, protected themselves via amnesia, the investigation led to nine guilty pleas and three jury convictions. Yet the conscience of the Senate, as Mr. Simon was described by no less a moral authority than Teddy Kennedy, didn’t even want to look into it. Paul Simon didn’t speak for the Americans who did.
Senator Simon didn’t speak for the victims of violent crimes and their survivors. He staunchly advocated the abolition of capital punishment.
At the same time, he was a strong supporter of the death penalty for unborn children. Mr. Simon supported using tax dollars for abortions. He opposed judicial nominees he suspected of pro-life leanings. Even the extraordinarily grisly partial birth abortion procedure was acceptable to him. No, Mr. Simon never spoke for unborn babies.
Nor will Barack Obama. He’s much too liberal, just as his hero Paul Simon was. We don’t need another politician at the forefront of every "progressive" fight.
As the late Senator’s daughter declared, Mr. Obama may well be cut from the same cloth as her father. It’s simply not a fashion we can afford any more.
Absolutely! Turnout is always important but it is what this election is about at both the state and national levels.
Hatred is driving the left. We need to motivate our side to equal intensity, if not in kind.
I lived in downtown Oakland for nine years. I now live in Santa Cruz County, California, home of the UN Agenda21. You can't tell me anything I don't already know about tough neighborhoods or communists.
Do it anyway, one vote at a time. That's what "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor," really means. Those are the stakes and always have been.
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