Obama's Leadership? A Strip-Club Outside Your Child's Daycare

Photo credit: Children's Learning Institute

This is the problem for America. We are facing a U.S. President who does not see the depravity of allowing a strip-club outside a daycare or school, a late term abortion, or refusing medical care for a child surviving an attempted abortion. In the Wall Street Journal's The Ever-'Present' Obama by Nathan Gonzales, Gonzales asks how Obama will handle questions about his record of non-committal 'present' votes (some 130 while in the Illinois State Senate) during his run for the White House, adding that a non-position is just not an option for "the occupant of the Oval Office."

Gonzales points out that Obama's history of voting 'present' was especially revealing as these votes were not for "naming a state office building," but rather on issues "relfecting an officeholder's core values:"

For example, in 1997, Obama voted "present" on two bills (HB 382 and SB 230) that would have prohibited a procedure often referred to as partial birth abortion. He also voted "present" on SB 71, which lowered the first offense of carrying a concealed weapon from a felony to a misdemeanor and raised the penalty of subsequent offenses. In 1999, Obama voted "present" on SB 759, a bill that required mandatory adult prosecution for firing a gun on or near school grounds. The bill passed the state Senate 52-1. Also in 1999, Obama voted "present" on HB 854 that protected the privacy of sex-abuse victims by allowing petitions to have the trial records sealed. He was the only member to not support the bill. In 2001, Obama voted "present" on two parental notification abortion bills (HB 1900 and SB 562), and he voted "present" on a series of bills (SB 1093, 1094, 1095) that sought to protect a child if it survived a failed abortion. In his book, the "Audacity of Hope," on page 132, Obama explained his problems with the "born alive" bills, specifically arguing that they would overturn Roe v. Wade. But he failed to mention that he only felt strongly enough to vote "present" on the bills instead of "no." And finally in 2001, Obama voted 'present' on SB 609, a bill prohibiting strip clubs and other adult establishments from being within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, and daycares.

In otherwords, Obama thumbed his nose and took a pass. Let's face it, a strip club located only 1,000 feet from schools and daycare - what's to fuss about? The late Ohio U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubb Jones said this:

The president of the United States needs to take a tough stand on tough issues -- and not say, 'I'm here, but I'm not going to take a position,'" said Tubbs Jones, referring to today's New York Times report that Obama voted "present" nearly 130 times as a state legislator on issues ranging from juvenile crime to abortion.

Rep. Weiner (D-NY) characterized the non-votes as showing "a lack of leadership, saying Obama took "the easy way out on a lot of controversial votes. Gonzales: A 'present' vote in the Illinois Senate is the same as a 'no' vote and is generally used to:

...provide political cover for legislators who don't want to be on the record against a bill that they oppose.

In February 2007, soon-to-be-two years ago, Gonzales was positing that a candidate for the Oval Office will have a very difficult time explaining a history of voting 'present.' We are now a week away from the election...two years of no hard questions. Not to harp on the obvious, but, about those abortion-related 'present' votes: They were the result of an arranged strategy between Obama and Illinois Planned Parenthood - and, he approached them:

We [Illinois Planned Parenthood] worked with him specifically on his strategy We at Planned Parenthood view those as leadership votes, said Pam Sutherland, the president and CEO of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council..."

ABC reports Sutherland as saying:

He [Obama] came to me and said: "My members are being attacked. We need to figure out a way to protect members and to protect women."

A 'present' vote, Sutherland said, was hard to "pigeonhole which is exactly what Obama wanted." More about Obama-Biden's plans for children: Obama's Education Plan: All About Reparations? All About White Supremacy? Choose Your Own Day Care - Don't Let the Government Do It for You PRE-PRE-Kindergarten is Daytime Adoption: Obama's Plan Obama's Sex Ed: All About Inappropriate Touching?