As originally seen on BccList.com here, I bashed the gop for downplaying Obama’s 8 years – yes, 8 years – as state legislator in Illinois.

Let’s take a look at what Obama accomplished as a state legislator in Illinois over his 8 year run.  The following seem to be pretty worthwhile and bipartisan initiatives…

Once elected in 1996, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan’s payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.

It’s not like Obama was a PTA board member and then rolled over into mayor of a small town in Alaska.  Yes, she will be president within the next 4 years if their lame duck ticket somehow (however unlikely) pulls off a miracle.