To Barack supporters: "Name one thing he's done, please?"

Michelle Malkin calls it a game. With al due respect to Ms. Malkin, she may see it that way, but in the world of bare knuckle politics, we'd like to hear some specifics rather than flowery platitudes. And many of his supporters are being confronted with a demand for specificity. Many of those confrontations end up going a lot like this one picked up by Curt at Flopping Aces:

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: “You are a big Barack supporter, right, Senator?”

State Sen. Watson: “I am. Yes, I am.”

Matthews: “Well, name some of his legislative accomplishments. No, Senator, I want you to name some of Barack Obama’s legislative accomplishments tonight if you can.”

State Sen. Watson: “Well, you know, what I will talk about is more about what he is offering the American people right now.”

Matthews: “No. No. What has he accomplished, sir? You say you support him. Sir, you have to give me his accomplishments. You’ve supported him for president. You are on national television. Name his legislative accomplishments, Barack Obama, sir.”

State Sen. Watson: “Well, I’m not going to be able to name you specific items of legislative accomplishments.”

Matthews: “Can you name any? Can you name anything he’s accomplished as a Congressman?”

State Sen. Watson: “No, I’m not going to be able to do that tonight.”

Matthews: “Well, that is a problem isn’t it?”

That is a problem. Michelle warns that to play this game, the same thing can be done to Hillary or McCain, and her obvious distrust of John McCain is evident. She claims that the only thing conservatives can come up with in regard to the senior senator from Arizona is "McCain/Feingold," "McCain/Kennedy," etc. That's not true, nor is it intellectually honest.

John McCain is pro-life, pro-fiscal responsibility, and pro-free trade. He supported the Gramm/Rudman bill enforcing automatic cuts in government spending. He helped fashion the Line Item Veto act that the USSC struck down later. He is in favor of Social Security accounts in the same fashion President Bush tried to press Congress to create. He is for school vouchers, and against an expanded role of the government in health care. He also believes in capital punishment and in necessary welfare reform. He's a hawk on foreign policy issues, and has been one of the strongest supporters of the War on Terrorism. He can be classified as "pro-2nd Amendment" as he didn't vote in favor of the Assault Weapons ban or the Brady Bill. And he recently pledged that if elected, he wouldn't raise taxes.

Can Obama supporters claim the same things? Can Hillary supporters calim the same things? The answer is no. Neither one can cite a record as wide and far-ranging as Senator McCain's. When we "play this game" with Democrats, it's not a game. We want specifics. We want to know, honestly, "What have you done for us lately?" What have they done to curtail spending? What have they done to remain on offense in this war? What have they done about immigration? What have they done about the enemies we have around the globe in Iran, in North Korea, in China, et al, to curb their dangerous ambitions?

The answer is they've done nothing. And while McCain has one serious sticky spot with his base (McCain/Kennedy), while both the Democrat candidates have a lot of sticky issues, including vows to raise a host of taxes - from payroll taxes to capital gains -- and their inherent idiocy when it comes to the war we're in.

We don't think this is a game. We think that Obama either needs to start getting specific with his record and his ideas for the country. If not, he is going to be easy fodder for McCain in the general election debates.

Publius II