Promoted by Brendan

After a minor disagreement with Brendan I thought I would dig into Obama's campaign website a bit to see if I was being unfair. I decided to take the first subject on the list of issues and delve into it (assuming it was representative). If it had been some trivial issue I might have moved on to the second, but as it was the first matter he has listed is Civil Rights. That's certainly a hefty topic in recent years.

It starts with a short speech excerpt. Okay, whatever.

getting to the actual meat it starts with a problem section:

The Problem
Pay Inequity Continues: For every $1.00 earned by a man, the average woman receives only 77 cents, while African American women only get 67 cents and Latinas receive only 57 cents.

Hate Crimes on the Rise: The number of hate crimes increased nearly 8 percent to 7,700 incidents in 2006.

Efforts Continue to Suppress the Vote: A recent study discovered numerous organized efforts to intimidate, mislead and suppress minority voters.

Disparities Continue to Plague Criminal Justice System: African Americans and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as whites to be searched, arrested, or subdued with force when stopped by police. Disparities in drug sentencing laws, like the differential treatment of crack as opposed to powder cocaine, are unfair.

Okay. I'm frankly shocked that under civil rights there is no mention of warrantless wiretapping, Padilla detained without trial or habeas corpus, torture, The Patriot act, or all the other grotesque abuses of civil rights in the last eight years. Yes, Pay inequality and voter suppression are important issues (although I'm not sure what a president can do about the former) but compared to the US government kidnapping US citizens and holding them in foreign prisons to be tortured without any sort of review? Come on.

After "the Problem" we get "Barack Obama's Plan":

[1]Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement
Obama will reverse the politicization that has occurred in the Bush Administration's Department of Justice. He will put an end to the ideological litmus tests used to fill positions within the Civil Rights Division.

[2]Combat Employment Discrimination
Obama will work to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination. Obama will also pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work.

[3]Expand Hate Crimes Statutes
Obama will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section.

[4]End Deceptive Voting Practices
Obama will sign into law his legislation that establishes harsh penalties for those who have engaged in voter fraud and provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote.

[5]End Racial Profiling
Obama will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.

[6]Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support
Obama will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.

[7]Eliminate Sentencing Disparities
Obama believes the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.

[8]Expand Use of Drug Courts
Obama will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.

I'v added the numbers to make it easier to reference below.

1: is... kinda vague. It's certainly important but it'd be nice to know how he intends to stuff the genie back in the bottle. An end to litmus tests is good, but that only applies to one division. The entire Justice department has been compromised. How can we fix that so people will trust it again? Seems like some sort of oversight is required. What about a reported metric that details the number of investigations started, the number of conviction obtained based on the affiliation of the accused? Have that reported out to the congressional judicial comittees. That'd be a specific strategy, right or wrong that'd be substantive. Saying just "I'll fix this" isn't.

2: Work to overturn the Supreme Court ruling how? Does Obama mean by nominating SCOTUS judges who will vote the other way? Is he going to try and do an end run around the ruling by refusing to enforce it? Is he going to push Congress to make a law effectively abbrogating the ruling? What is the plan?

As far as the Fair Pay Act- okay at least that's something concrete (I assume, I don't know the act in question although there is info here).

3: I'll make the reasonable assumption that Obama understands the difference between the executive and the legislative and hence when he says "[I] will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation" he means he'll push congress to do so, making it a signature piece for his administration. As much as hate crimes laws are retarded I'll ignore that and focus on the specifics. Oh, no I won't. There aren't any. There's not a word about how he'll "strengthen" them or how he'll reinvigorate their enforcement at the DoJ.

4: is not bad. He's apparently got a specific piece of legislation (although a name would be nice) and he gives two examples of specific fixes that he believes will help end deceptive voting practices. Okay, I have some idea of what he wants to do in this regard.

5: uh, racial profiling is already illegal...

6: is borderline. "Job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling" are almost specific plans. Is this going to apply just to federal prisoners? Is it a partnership with states? Do charities play a role? It's better than most but it could still really use some meat.

7: Alright, an issue with a concrete position taken. He wants to push for a specific change in sentencing guidelines. Easy to understand. The issue seems a tad trivial to me, but at least I know where he stands on the matter.

8: kinda borderline like 6. There's enough there I wouldn't ding him for it but I'd really want to see a bit more.

I'd call 1, 3, and 5 bad. 2, 6, and 8 are mediocre (and 2 only squeaks in due to the mention of the Fair Pay Act). 4 and 7 are pretty good.

After that is "Barack Obama's Record":

Record of Advocacy: Obama has worked to promote civil rights and fairness in the criminal justice system throughout his career. As a community organizer, Obama helped 150,000 African Americans register to vote. As a civil rights lawyer, Obama litigated employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and voting rights cases. As a State Senator, Obama passed one of the country's first racial profiling laws and helped reform a broken death penalty system. And in the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting.

Fine.

And then we get to "for more information." Under this category there is "read the plan" and a speech. The plan is here (pdf). I would expect this to be a detailed policy paper. There are more specifics in terms of defining the problems (I've left these parts out to focus on Obama's plans).

Here's how he wants to "strengthen civil rights enforcement":

Obama will issue an Executive Order asking all new hires at the agencies to sign a form affirming that no political appointee offered them the job solely on the basis of political affiliation or contribution. It will also require that all employees engaged in and making hiring decisions also certify that they will not take political affiliation into account as they make hiring decisions for career positions. The Obama Executive Order will create an additional and effective enforcement mechanism of the Hatch Act’s prohibitions by giving any nonpolitical civil servant who believes a Hatch Act violation has occurred the right to submit a written complaint with the Inspector General. Within 60 days of receipt of the complaint, the Inspector General will be required to investigate and issue a written report detailing the scope of the investigation and findings indicating whether the complaint has merit. When the agency head’s decision is challenged, the report shall be made to the president. A finding by the Inspector General that activity was improperly based upon political considerations shall be a basis for discipline, up to and including termination. Finally, Obama will direct the Attorney General to include career attorneys on the committees that hire new attorneys at DOJ – including the committees charged with hiring summer interns and new attorneys in the Honors Program.

Okay, that's certainly got more meat on it. I'm pretty happy with that as far as giving detail. It should be regarded as the standard for policy paper proposals.

For "refocus the criminal section's enforcement priorities" we get this:

Barack Obama believes that, while it is important to go after human traffickers, it is also critically important to investigate and, if necessary, bring enforcement actions in cases involving hate crimes or civil rights abuses by local officials. As president, Obama will ensure that the Section vigorously pursues such cases. And he will also require the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights to provide him with a report for its plan to diversify the Division’s
workforce in his first 100 days, particularly in the Criminal Section.

That's not nearly as good. It might have passed for his website boiler plate (being on par with number 2 above, vague declaration followed by one unrelated specific) but in a policy paper? Weak.

For "Ensure the Voting Section protects the right to vote":

His Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, which has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee, will enable investigations into deceptive and fraudulent practices. It establishes significant, harsh penalties for those who have engaged in fraud, and it provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote. As president, Obama will sign this bill into law and charge the Voting Rights Section with vigorously enforcing that law and the provisions of the
Voting Rights Act.

Eh. It says nothing more than what we found in the website. It's only saving grace is the reference to a specific piece of legislation, but why are the details of the legislation not summarized? He certainly doesn't seem to want to make it easy on us.

For "Strengthen EEOC enforcement":

Obama will fully fund and increase staffing for the EEOC to reduce these charge backlogs and to prosecute efforts to remedy systemic discrimination. To ensure that the federal government holds itself to a high anti-discrimination standard, Obama will appoint a Chair of the EEOC and nominate commissioners who are committed to enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

Increase staffing by how much? Where will the funds come from? How will a committment to "enforcing anti-discrimination laws" be determined? There's nothing concrete here. Just a statement of guiding principles. Principles are necessary, but without plans they go no where.

For "Strengthen the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance":

Barack Obama will restore funding for the OFCCP and will direct his Secretary of Labor and Solicitor of Labor to allocate these resources to a reconstituted Civil Rights Division tasked with aggressive enforcement of matters referred by OFCCP. Obama will also direct that the Secretary of Labor or her delegates ensure that OFCCP, through a reinstated Equal Opportunity Survey or other similar document, has available to it the data it needs to monitor the conduct of contractors who are benefiting from the expenditure of taxpayer dollars.

Again this would be passable on the website, for a policy paper it is pretty lacking.

For "Fight Pay Discrimination":

As president, Obama will support legislation to promote paycheck equity – the right of women to receive equal compensation to that provided comparably qualified men. Along with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Senator Obama introduced the Equal Remedies Act of 2007 to do away with the caps on compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII that presently impede the ability of victims of racial and gender discrimination to fully recover for the wrongs they have suffered, and he will sign that legislation into law as president. Moreover, Obama will be vigilant in responding to other Court decisions that unfairly limit
the rights of racial minorities, women and others both by supporting litigation where necessary to overturn such decisions and by selecting a Solicitor General capable of and committed to vigorously enforcing the nation’s anti-discrimination laws.

Meh. It's diet.

For "Eliminate Crack/Cocaine Disparity":

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 imposes a five-year mandatory
minimum penalty for a first-time trafficking offense involving 5 or more grams of crack cocaine, the weight of less than two sugar packets and yielding between 10 and 50 doses. To get the same 5 year mandatory minimum for powder cocaine, an offender would need to traffic 500 grams of powder, yielding between 2,500 and 5,000 doses. Against the recommendation of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, these mandatory minimums were signed into law again in 1995. Barack Obama believes the disparity between crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong, cannot be justified and should be eliminated.

...

As president, Obama will work in a bipartisan way to eliminate these
disparities. He will also repeal the mandatory minimum sentence for first-time offenders convicted of simple possession of crack, as crack is the only drug that a non-violent first-time offender can receive a mandatory minimum sentence for possessing.

This is fine. I wonder that he puts so much focus on just this one aspect of the drug war but at least he actually says something about it.

For "Reform Mandatory Minimums":

Obama will immediately review these sentences
to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the ineffective warehousing of non-violent drug offenders.

Oh, well then I have no question as to how he'll tackle the topic in light of separation of powers issues. I mean I got a whole sentence saying he'd review the issue. What more can I ask for? Obama gave me a noun and a verb! For ^%$&'s sake this is a joke. That whole segment has 245 words, of which 24 "detail" what Obama will do.

For "Drug courts":

Currently, the Department of
Justice makes grants available to state and local governments to establish drug courts. Barack Obama will replicate these efforts within the federal criminal justice system by signing a law that would authorize federal magistrates to preside over drug courts and federal probation officers to oversee the offenders’ compliance with drug treatment programs. Obama will ensure that our federal courts and probation offices have adequate resources to deal with this new program.

The chinese food of politics. Except it takes less than an hour.

For "Ensure Adequate Counsel":

Barack Obama will work to improve the quality of our nation’s public
defenders by creating loan-forgiveness programs for law students who enter this field.

Okay it's short, but it actually does a better job than most of the others. Plus the solution part isn't dwarfed by the problem part. I'd call this one a win.

For "End Racial Profiling":

As president, Obama will continue his decades-long fight against racial profiling and sign legislation that will ban the practice of racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal funding to state and local police departments if they adopt policies to prohibit the practice.

Nothing more than what was on the website.

For "Reform the Death Penalty":

Obama drafted and passed a law requiring videotaping of interrogations and confessions in capital cases to ensure that prosecutions are fair. As president, Obama will encourage the states to adopt similar reforms.

He's locked down the Jenny Craig endorsement, at least.

For "Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Supports":

In
the U.S. Senate, Obama has worked to provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and employment opportunities to ex-offenders. In addition to signing these important programs into law, Obama will create a prison-to-work incentive program, modeled on the Welfare-to-Work Partnership, to create ties with employers, third-party agencies that provide training and support services to ex-offenders, and to improve exoffender employment and job retention rates. Obama will also reduce bureaucratic barriers at state correctional systems that prevent former inmates from finding and maintaining employment.

Not bad. There's a little burger in that bun.

For "Expand Hate Crimes Statutes":

As president, he will ensure that the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division makes hate crime a priority.

And we follow up our burger with a tictac. Thanks. That is the end of the paper.

Conclusion
It isn't entirely vapid. From the policy paper I'd say four of the plans had actual plans in there somewhere. A couple of those were actually pretty good. But that is out of 14. Obama's batting a .285 and honestly I don't know if that's good in baseball but in politics I can't imagine anyone can defend that as substantive.

I am probably a little too harsh on Obama, but it seems his defenders are *way* too forgiving.