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Do Obama’s Democratic Critics Differ From Obama So Much?

By John A. Tures
Associate Professor of Political Science
LaGrange College

July 25, 2008 — In his June 13, 2008 “Grits” column in the Southern Political Report, Hastings Wyman notes that several Democratic Party members of Congress are backing away from their support of Illinois Senator Barack Obama, now that he’s the likely Democratic nominee.  But are they really so different in their voting records?  It’s time to take a closer look at these representatives.

One, Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren said he would not endorse Obama.  In fact, he cited the National Journal’s article stating that Obama was the most liberal United States Senator in 2007 (which is tested in a different column of mine), according to the Fox News story “Centrist Democrat Won’t Endorse Obama Because Of ‘Liberal’ Voting Record” written by Fin Gomez on June 11.

Wyman listed several other cases.  Tim Mahoney, a freshman Democrat in the US House of Representatives, announced he would remain neutral at his party’s convention, and a less-than-enthusiastic cheerleader for the national ticket.  Allen Boyd (my former Congressman from Florida), Lincoln Davis (of Tennessee) and Marion Berry (of Arkansas) also declined to offer Obama much support.  Georgia Congressman Jim Marshall did not say whether he preferred Obama or Republican nominee John McCain, an Arizona Senator.  Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has already supported McCain.

So how different are these congressional members from Obama’s record?  Since his successful election in 2004, Obama has compiled a career voting record of 7.67, according to the American Conservative Union, on a scale of 0-100 (with zero meaning fully liberal), with a score of seven in 2007.

In 2007, only Congressman Marshall posted a voting record above 60 among this bunch, weighing in with a score of 61 (and a career record of 50.97).  Dan Boren did notch an ACU score of 57, down from his 72 in 2006 (and off his career record of 64.33).  Lincoln Davis posted a score of 38, but that’s way off his mark of 80 in 2006 or his career score of 60.64.

The others differed little from Obama in 2007.  Congressman Mahoney likes to tout his National Journal distinction of being “the most centrist” congressional representative, but his ACU voting score was a 16.  Congressman Boyd’s score was only a 12 (five points above Obama).  Congressman Berry was just one point above Obama in 2007, as was Senator Lieberman!

And, as for Congressman Boren, there’s another question mark.  His father, the former Oklahoma Senator David L. Boren, has become an adviser to Barack Obama.  That’s not too surprising though, given that Senator Boren had only an ACU score just five points above Obama’s in the Sooner’s last year in the US Senate.

In Fin Gomez’s Fox News article (which surprisingly does not mention the Senator Boren connection), Dan Boren cited another reason for his views on Obama: the majority of his constituents voted for Senator Clinton during that state’s presidential primary.  Yet her voting record was only 0.4 points different from Obama’s between 2005 and 2007.