Mission Accomplishment

Earlier in the week, I posted and posted again about Obama and Clinton's actual legislative achievements in the US Senate. This Washington Post looks at Obama's record in the Illinois Senate, Judge Him By His Own Laws:

People who complain that Barack Obama lacks experience must be unaware of his legislative achievements. One reason these accomplishments are unfamiliar is that the media have not devoted enough attention to Obama's bills and the effort required to pass them, ignoring impressive, hard evidence of his character and ability.

The article focuses several achievements, especially a bill Obama championed to videotape police interrogations to stop the beatings of suspects, a bill in which he faced strong Republican and police opposition, and succeeding in winning them over and passing it 35 to 0.

Taken together, these accomplishments demonstrate that Obama has what Dillard, the Republican state senator, calls a "unique" ability "to deal with extremely complex issues, to reach across the aisle and to deal with diverse people." In other words, Obama's campaign claim that he can persuade us to rise above what divides us is not just rhetoric.

UPDATE: The NY Times has this helpful chart about Obama's Illinois Senate Record (where he introduced over 800 bills).