Obama fibs on his latest ad

Barack Obama's apologists are calling his post-primaries move to the center as "pragmatic." I call it lying. Newsweek has more:

Obama's latest ad repeats an often-stated claim, saying he "worked his way through college and Harvard Law." We know Obama took out loans to get himself through school. But the campaign provided information on just two jobs Obama had in those years, and they were both in the summer.

The ad also says he "passed a law to move people from welfare to work, slashed the rolls by 80 percent." Actually, the Illinois law was a required follow-up to the 1996 federal welfare reform law worked out by President Clinton and the Republican Congress. Welfare rolls did go down by nearly as much as the ad says, but Obama can't claim sole credit.

One of those summer jobs was at Sidley & Austin, one of Chicago's most prestigous law firms. And a summer job there is a hard gig to land--unless you happen to be an Ivy League law student. Obama met his future wife there, she's another Ivy Leaguer. Students at Compass-point State University need not apply.

As for welfare, Obama has made it clear that he opposed Bill Clinton's welfare reforms, which led to the drop in Illinoisans on public aid.

Thirdly, as be link below explains, Obama's state legislative record was largely the creation of State Senate President Emil Jones.

Related post:

Obama's state legislative record--he got a lot of help

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