Barack Obama

Obama sees progress, frustration as senator

Sunday, October 16, 2005

SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN
By Caleb Hale, The Southern

ANNA - Democrat Barack Obama told local residents he's pleased with the work he has done in nine months as a U.S. senator, but he noted some of it has been frustrating.

"Not only am I ranked 99 out of 100 senators; I'm in the minority party," Obama said during a town hall meeting at the Anna Veterans Home Saturday. "But I fully believe if we keep pushing for what we think is important, we're going to make some progress."

The junior senator said he looks to the people of Illinois to tell him what is important. Obama was in Southern Illinois this weekend completing town hall meetings 37 through 40. The format, he said, gives him a chance to hear directly from the people and keeps him from being consumed by the political games of Washington, D.C.

"I want to make sure I don't fall into that same trap, and this is a good way to do it," Obama said.

Anna was the first stop for Obama's Southern Illinois tour Saturday. He also made stops in Harrisburg, West Frankfort and Mount Vernon during the day.

The senator took questions from a modest crowd at the veterans' home on issues of health care, energy prices and the heavy use of National Guard volunteers for military power in the Iraq war.

On health care, Obama was asked about federal actions to curb childhood obesity. He noted Congress has been working up legislation to address the issue, but the real work had to be done at a personal level.

"Part of the problem is kids are sitting around more than they used to," Obama noted, citing television and video games as the culprits for children's sedentary lifestyles.

Nationally, school systems do little to counteract the unhealthy habits, as many districts have cut physical education courses from the curriculum.

"Illinois is the only state in the nation that still has mandatory P.E.," Obama said.

Even with the mandate, he and other citizens noted, student are given ample opportunity to opt out of the program.

As for health care on a wider level, the senator took questions about moving medicine from a private to a socialist affair.

Obama said there are obvious benefits and drawbacks to socialistic healthcare. He said Canada, which currently uses the system, has affordable treatment but it isn't always available on demand.

There are ways to make things better, however, Obama said. The system as it stands isn't a model of efficiency.

"If you asked someone to build a health care system from scratch no one would design our system," he said.

Obama also mentioned the work he has done to increase the benefits gained by Illinois veterans, an initiative he incited after being named to the Senate's veterans affairs committee.

He said the government has done well to increase health benefits of new veterans in the system, but there is still 20 years worth of people who deserve to have their claims reviewed by officials once again.

"So, I guess we're going to have to keep the pressure on," Obama said.

The senator was fairly critical of the Bush administration when he was asked about the heavy use of National Guard troops overseas. Obama said tragedies like Hurricane Katrina showed resources were elsewhere when America needed them.

However, the senator also criticized President Bush for relying too heavily on military might to solve every problem, from terrorism to fears of a flu pandemic in the U.S.

"We have the best military in the world," Obama said. "You can't help but be proud when you are in their presence, but we've got to give them smart missions."

Obama noted the military can't perform every task without drastically increase reserves through a draft.

"And we don't need to bring back the draft if we have a foreign policy that uses diplomacy as well as it uses its military," Obama said.