STATEMENTS BY OBAMA

Most small businesses won’t be subject to tax increases

The statement:"98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000" and would not see a tax increase under Barack Obama's plan.

-- Barack Obama, Oct. 15 in a debate in Hempstead, N.Y.

The ruling: A study of the tax plan by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group, indicates that Obama is right. His plan would roll back the Bush tax cuts on the top two tax brackets. In practice, this mean that people with income above $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for couples would see taxes increase. It's not easy to identify small businesses because of the way people file taxes, but two analyses by the Tax Policy Center confirm that about two percent would see their taxes increase under Obama's plan.

Obama goes too far to make his point on gas tax holiday

The statement: A gas tax holiday is a gimmick that "every economist says will just go into the pockets of the oil companies."

-- Barack Obama, May 13 in a Q&A in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
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The ruling: It's true that economists have found oil companies don't pass the full benefit of gas tax holidays on to consumers. For that and other reasons, the vast majority of economists who have opined on the issue opposed the holiday. But to say every economist believes the break would just go to the oil companies is an exaggeration. Even harsh critics of a gas tax holiday said consumers would see some benefit. Obama takes a fact in his favor - that the nation's economists have come down on his side in the gas tax debate - and stretches it a bit too far.

Obama's health care plan expands existing system

The statement: Under Barack Obama's health care proposal, "if you've got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it."

-- Barack Obama, Oct. 7 in a debate in Nashville, Tenn.

The ruling: Republicans often falsely characterized Obama's health plan as being government-run, which prompted him to assert that it would rely largely on the current system in which employers provide private health insurance for their employees. His plan would essentially take today's system and seek to expand it to the uninsured. Obama has said he would like his plan to be universal, in that everyone has health care coverage, but it only mandates coverage for children. He is correct that under his plan, people who want to keep their current insurance should be able to do so.

Obama has consistently opposed the war

The statement: "I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed the war in 2003. I opposed it in 2004 and 2005 and 2006."

-- Barack Obama, Sept. 12, 2007, in Clinton, Iowa

The ruling: Obama opposed the war as a little-known state senator, and he spoke out notably at a Chicago antiwar rally in 2002. In 2003, when he began campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat for Illinois, he reiterated his opposition in several debates and meetings. So his claim to have long opposed the war is true.

Actually, abortion numbers have declined

The statement: "Although we have had a president who is opposed to abortion over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down."

-- Barack Obama, Aug. 16 in TV interview with megachurch pastor Rick Warren

The ruling: In his appearance at Warren's church in Lake Forest, Calif., Obama asserted that abortions have not gone down during the Bush presidency. But in fact, the numbers have gone down. The New York-based Guttmacher Institute reported that in 2005 the country's abortion rate fell to 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, continuing a trend that started after the abortion rate peaked in 1981 at 29.3. The institute says the rate of abortions is at its lowest point since 1974.

68-million acres aren't going untouched

The statement: Oil companies "haven't touched" 68-million acres where they already have rights to drill.

-- Barack Obama, Aug. 4 in Lansing, Mich.

The ruling: The line sounds good as a Democratic rebuttal to Republican support for more drilling in Alaska and off the U.S. coast. But Obama's statement is misleading, inasmuch as it suggests that oil and gas companies have access to 68-million acres of oil and gas fields that they deliberately are not drilling. That is simply not true. Years of exploration and federal permitting must be completed before leased land yields oil or gas.

ATTACKS AGAINST OBAMA

In the U.S. Senate, Obama's no maverick

The statement: "Sen. Obama has never taken on his party leaders on a single major issue."

-- John McCain, Oct. 7 in a debate in Nashville, Tenn..

The ruling: Limiting our examination to Obama's four years in the U.S. Senate, it would seem that McCain is on mostly solid ground. Congressional Quarterly each year tallies what it considers the key votes that took place in the previous 12 months. Of the 41 Senate votes tallied by CQ between 2005 and 2007, Obama sided with a majority of his caucus on 36 of them. On three, he did not vote. On one, he voted with 21 colleagues against the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, a vote that evenly divided the Democratic caucus. And last, there was a 2005 tort reform vote. CQ did not consider the Office of Public Integrity votes to be among the most important of 2006 or 2007. So McCain is correct.

An absurd claim about a sex-ed bill that never passed

The statement: Obama's one education accomplishment was "legislation to teach 'comprehensive sex education' to kindergartners."

-- John McCain, Sept. 9 in a television ad

The ruling: Republicans often falsely characterized Obama's health plan as being government-run, which prompted him to assert that it would rely largely on the current system in which employers provide private health insurance for their employees. His plan would essentially take today's system and seek to expand it to the uninsured. Obama has said he would like his plan to be universal, in that everyone has health care coverage, but it only mandates coverage for children. He is correct that under his plan, people who want to keep their current insurance should be able to do so. The origins of this claim go back to Obama's days as a state senator in the Illinois General Assembly. But the bill never passed, and Obama was not a sponsor or a co-sponsor. He just voted for it in committee. So calling it one of his accomplishments is incorrect. The McCain ad also distorts the impact of the bill on young students. The bill specifically mentions that instructional material must be age appropriate. It specifically mentions teaching children how to "say no to unwanted sexual advances" and "nonconsensual physical sexual contact." This is a ridiculous claim, because it wasn't an accomplishment for Obama and it distorts the purpose of the bill.

Obama is a Christian, and he was sworn in on his Bible

The statement: When Obama was sworn into office, "he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Kuran (Their equivalency to our Bible, but very different beliefs)."

-- Chain e-mail, from Dec. 19, 2007

The ruling: Many of the chain e-mails we examined say Obama is a Muslim. One contended that his middle name is Mohammed (Pants on Fire). Another one took a different route, distorting Bible passages to allege that he is the Antichrist. (also Pants on Fire). The claim about the Koran seems to be inspired by the 2007 swearing-in of Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Congress. Ellison used a Koran that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson. But as for Obama, he is a Christian and took the oath on his own Bible.

Obama's tax plan hits $200,000 and up

The statement: Obama plans "a tax increase for everyone earning more than $42,000 a year."

-- John McCain, Aug. 11 in an Internet ad

The ruling: A snarky Web ad from McCain calls Obama "The One" and shows his supporters saying things like "Hot chicks dig Obama." The ad says that for supporters of Obama, "The perks are amazing, like a tax increase for everyone earning more than $42,000 a year." It's a gross distortion of Obama's proposals to say they would raise taxes on "everyone" who earns that much. The McCain campaign's evidence are Obama's votes on budget resolutions. But budget resolutions are nonbinding, don't have the force of law and don't include precise details on taxes or spending. And Obama's tax plan would only raise taxes on people making more than $200,000 if single or $250,000 if married filing jointly.

McCain has Obama over a pork barrel

The statement: "Obama has asked for $932-million in earmarks, literally $1-million for every day that he's been in Congress."

-- John McCain, Sept. 16 in a speech in Tampa

The ruling: On his Web site, Obama has listed every earmark he's requested - but not necessarily received - during his time in the Senate. It totals $931.3-million, even though the Illinois senator said earlier this year he would eschew any pork for fiscal 2009. Obama took office Jan. 3, 2005. Since then, there have been about 930 working days, as they are defined by most people, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Overall, Obama's been in Congress for more than 1,350 days, if you count weekends. So how many points do you take off for McCain not saying "every working day"? Not many. We say Mostly True.

Several ratings rank Obama lower

The statement: "Senator Obama has the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate."

-- John McCain, Sept. 26 in Oxford, Miss.

The ruling: In January, National Journal magazine rated Obama the "Most Liberal Senator in 2007." But he wasn't the top liberal in his two other years in the U.S. Senate, according to the magazine. He was 10th-most liberal in 2006 and 16th in 2005. And Voteview.com, a site created by political scientists that plots lawmakers on a liberal-conservative scale based on their voting patterns, calculated nine senators were more liberal than Obama. McCain's statement suggests it is a cumulative rating for Obama's tenure in the Senate. But in fact, it is true for only one rating for one year. Measurements for other years and by other groups show Obama is not the No. 1 liberal - in some cases, far from No. 1.