Christopher Wills of the AP has written a pretty good summary of Barack Obama's major career experience. (The dumb headline about his "thin record" is contradicted by the actual article.) The idea that he's an "empty suit" who has very little track record relative to Hillary Clinton or John Edwards -- or that he hasn't demonstrated his progressive credentials and beliefs -- just doesn't stand up after you read this piece.
Community Organizing: Obama didn't just take on the powers that be -- he helped people learn to do it themselves. And he worked hard to enfranchise more voters, something too many prominent Democrats have shown very little interest in:
After college, Obama moved to Chicago for a low-paying job as a community organizer. He worked with poor families on the South Side to get improvements in public housing, particularly the removal of asbestos.
"Nobody else running for president has jumped off the career track for three or four years to help people," said Jerry Kellman, who first hired Obama as a community organizer.
Obama also fought for student summer jobs and a program to keep at-risk children from dropping out of school. More importantly, say those who worked with Obama, he showed people how to organize and confront powerful interests.
"He had to train residents to stand up for their own rights," said former organizer Loretta Augustine-Herron, who was part of Obama's Developing Communities Project.
Obama left that job to get a law degree. Afterward, he returned to Chicago and ran Project VOTE. The organization recruited hundreds of registrars to sign up new voters, particularly within the city's black population. Registration jumped nearly 15 points between the 1992 primary and the general election.
The registration wave was credited with making Carol Moseley Braun the first black female senator and helping Bill Clinton carry Illinois in his first presidential race.
Illinois State Senate: Obama fought and won battles for better health care, ethics reform, videotaping of police interrogations, and studying racial profiling. He has more experience in elective office than either Clinton or Edwards.
Obama was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996, when Democrats were in the minority. He proposed hundreds of new laws, including universal health care, tougher gun control and expanded welfare, but saw most of them spiked by Republican leadership.
He did have some successes, though — particularly in passing legislation sharply restricting the gifts that Illinois politicians could accept from lobbyists. ...
Obama also helped set up Illinois' "KidCare" program that provided health care to children in families that did not qualify for Medicaid.
John Bouman, president of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, said Obama's work helped make the program more consumer-friendly. He also said Obama was often willing to give up credit for the legislation if that helped win Republican support. ...
Police weren't happy about recording their interrogations of murder suspects or having to study racial bias in traffic stops. Initially, they opposed both pieces of legislation.
But Obama made clear that something was going to pass with or without their support. Ultimately, police groups endorsed both bills and they won unanimous approval in the Senate.
Obama was generally regarded as an effective and practical, although decidedly liberal, state lawmaker. ...
Obama was a part-time state senator in that he served in the Illinois legislature at the same time he practiced law. He became a state lawmaker in 1997, four years ahead of Hillary Clinton's entrance into elected office, as U.S. senator.
U.S. Senate: Many know about the ethics reform bill he championed with Russ Feingold, but the AP piece highlights some of his other accomplishments since arriving in D.C., including work on climate change and nuclear proliferation -- and mentions one particular senator whose work ethic he admired:
When Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate, he said he wished to get things done rather than grab headlines, and cited Hillary Clinton as the sort of workhorse he wanted to be. [Heh. -M]
He teamed with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to study the dangers of nuclear proliferation and pass legislation meant to keep nuclear material from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Obama also joined with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., after Hurricane Katrina to improve oversight of federal spending.
And he shared billing with a Republican presidential hopeful when he joined Arizona Sen. John McCain in sponsoring legislation that called for sharp, mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The effort failed.
The article also discusses his work as a civil rights attorney, and his experience teaching at the University of Chicago law school.
Something important to note about his work with Republicans: It is not the all-too-familiar DLC model of endless triangulation and surrender. Instead, Obama seems to form working relationships on particular issues with Republicans who hold moderate views (at least on the issue in question). In other words, he builds issue-specific coalitions across the aisle, rather than selling our party out in the name of "compromise". If anyone should be mad about this, it's the GOP -- because he seems to be very good at peeling off the moderates from the hard-core conservatives!
Say what you will about Obama. But he does not lack for very impressive experience, and through it all he has demonstrated a very solid commitment to progressive issues and values.