Blah, blah, blah

A recent study from the National Journal found that Obama was the most liberal senator last year–his votes were the most liberal of all the senators. But this may just be because he missed more of them.

Clinton was ranked 15th most liberal. But of the measures on which Clinton and Obama both voted, they only differed in two votes:

• To establish a Senate Office of Public Integrity to handle ethics complaints against senators. January 18.

Clinton: No (conservative position) (NOTE: Majority democrat and republican position was no).
Obama: Yes (liberal position)

• To allow certain immigrants (Y-1 nonimmigrant visa holders) to stay in the United States while renewing their visas. June 6.

Clinton: No (conservative position)
Obama: Yes (liberal position) (Majority democrat position was yes)

The Study

The study analyzes 216 key roll call votes of congress members (107 votes for the senate, 109 for the house) by correlating the votes (yes or no) within three issue categories: foreign policy, economic, and social. They eliminated all votes (8 from the senate) that were not found to be related. To determine liberal and conservative positions, the analysis mainly used how well different measures related to other measures within issue categories. The votes were also weighted within each issue category by how well they correlated with the other votes in the category. They then ranked the senators and representatives by how liberal or conservative they voted–0 to 100%. This is not a measure of how often they voted with their party nor how correct they voted from a liberal or conservative perspective.

Kerry was ranked most liberal in 2003 because he missed more than half the votes in two out of three issue categories. The study has since imposed a rule that congress members cannot have missed more than half the votes in any issue area to be included. For this reason, John McCain was not ranked–he missed more than half of the votes in the foreign policy and economic categories.

The Differences

Obama voted the liberal position in 98.5% (65 of 66) of the measures.
Of mutual votes, Clinton voted the liberal position in 95.5% (63 of 66) of the measures. Overall, of the votes analyzed in the study, Clinton voted the liberal position in 93.4% (77 of 82) measures.

Obama’s one conservative vote:

1. To express the sense of Congress that funds for U.S. troops in the field should not be cut off. March 15.

Obama and Clinton: yes (conservative position) (NOTE: Majority democrat and republican position was yes)

Clinton’s five conservative votes:

1. To establish a Senate Office of Public Integrity to handle ethics complaints against senators. January 18.

Clinton: No (conservative position) (NOTE: Majority democrat and republican position was no)
Obama: Yes (liberal position)

2. To allow certain immigrants to stay in the United States while renewing their visas. June 6.

Clinton: No (conservative position)
Obama: Yes (liberal position) (Majority democrat position was yes)

3. To provide limited immunity for reports of suspicious behavior and response. July 19.

Clinton: Yes (conservative position) (Majority democrat position was no)

4. To express the sense of Congress that funds for U.S. troops in the field should not be cut off. March 15.

Clinton (and Obama): yes (conservative position) (NOTE: Majority democrat and republican position was yes)

5. To express the sense of the Senate that the Iranian revolutionary guard should be designated a terrorist organization. September 26.

Clinton: Yes (conservative position) (NOTE: Majority democrat and republican position was yes)

“The policy differences between Clinton and Obama are so slight they are almost nonexistent to the average voter,” said Richard Lau, a Rutgers University political scientist.

In 2007, there were a total of 264 measures on which both Clinton and Obama voted. Of these 264 votes, they only differed on ten.

How often do they vote party line?

Now that you know how they voted “liberal” as defined by some statistical method of issue comparison. How often did they vote with the majority democratic position?

In 2007, there were 442 senate votes. Clinton didn’t participate in 103, Obama 166.

• Clinton voted party line: 97% (330/339). Not party line = 9 votes.
• Obama voted party line: 96% (266/276). Not party line = 10 votes.

Not too much difference.

[Compiled using the Washington Post's Congress database]

How about their platforms?

Obama is more conservative than Clinton is on some key domestic issues, such as the housing market (unlike Clinton, no moratorium on housing foreclosures and interest rate freeze), energy policy, and health care (unlike Clinton, not mandatory for everyone). He is proposing less government regulation and spending (more tax credit).

But Clinton is more conservative on international issues. Iraq withdrawal time line proposal is not concrete (begin within 60days, end when?); allowing the president to basically go to war with Iran.

But Obama is better on immigration, supporting licenses to undocumented immigrants.

They’re both backed by big business, like all good liberals.

Summary: the most liberal senator

This depends on how you define liberal.

• Liberal as a characterization of the democratic party: Clinton

A larger percentage of her votes were the same as the majority democrat position–but only 1% more.

• Liberal defined by the National Journal’s issue statistics: Obama

Obama received a score of 95.5% and Clinton received 88.0%.

• The Political Compass: Obama on Economics, Clinton on Social Issues

If liberal means ending the war in Iraq and improving social services (education, healthcare, etc)?
Clinton-Obama: a domestic issue vs. foreign policy trade-off?

Conclusion

This is meaningless.

Neither Clinton nor Obama is great or even good. They’re both corporate whores. Sure, at least they pretend to care about working folks, unlike McCain and Romney.

Tonight in the debate Clinton mentioned that she was excited that the two party candidates were on stage that night. Poor Gravel. No one notices. Less than 1% of the vote.

Side note: Debates
The republican debate was much funnier to watch than the democratic debate. Obama and Clinton were so much in agreement that I didn’t catch more than passive aggression. Consequently, I didn’t pay attention to most of it.

Whereas, McCain and Romney went at it last night. With their stupid smirks, they told us, “I am way too important to debate for the public. I am way too knowledgeable to answer your questions. I cannot believe I have to pander to the voters. I can’t believe how stupid Romney/McCain is.” Romney was definitely the bigger dick with his corporate Olympics leadership bullshit.

I hate them all. I live in a “safe” “state” (DC), so I may vote for Nader, if I vote. I mean even his position on Palestine (and Lebanon) is great in comparison.