This Kos diary comparing the legislative records of Clinton and Obama is getting a lot of attention. The diarist, "Grassroots Mom," says she decided to spend a couple hours looking through the Library of Congress records, and came away convinced that Obama's legislation was better, and more often successful, than Clinton's. And maybe it is. But the diary doesn't show that. Rather, it's a pretty one-sided brief in favor of Obama. On Iran, for instance, she's blown away by Obama's introduction of "S.J.RES.23 : A joint resolution clarifying that the use of force against Iran is not authorized by the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, any resolution previously adopted, or any other provision of law." In other words, if Bush wants to go to war in Iran, he needs to come back to Congress to do it. It's a good bill. But it's a resolution -- a sense of the Senate act. We're not told, meanwhile, that Clinton is one of three sponsors on S.759, which "prohibits funds from being obligated or expended for military operations or activities within or above Iran's territory or within Iran's territorial waters except pursuant to a specific congressional authorization enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act." So where Obama's bill says an attack on Iran is not authorized Clinton's says it simply won't be funded. If I didn't know that Obama was better on Iran than Clinton, I'd give this round to her. But the diarist doesn't even mention Clinton's bill.
