So, what was that earth shattering piece of legislation that he penned on his own, again? 'Cause frankly I don't remember anything in that vast reservoir of knowledge and experience.
"Experience Doesn't Matter" is a terrific mantra for a candidate who, well, doesn't have any experience.
==== Oh, Wait, I Found It ====
You are right, after all, Obama is the candidate of change.
Earmarks that McCain put forward last year?
* none *
Earmarks that Obama put forward?
Adler Planetarium, to support replacement of its projector and related equipment, $3,000,000
AIDSCARE, Inc., for general operating support, $750,000
AIDSCARE, Inc., for completion of the North Lawndale Campus, $2,000,000
Aledo, IL, to support its replacement of two aging water towers, $750,000
American Red Cross of Illinois, for emergency preparedness, $5,000,000
American Theater Company, for the construction of a new facility in Logan Square, $200,000
Army Corps of Engineers in the Chicago District of Illinois, to support permanent construction of the Asian Carp Barrier, $7,500,000
Army Corps of Engineers in the Chicago District of Illinois, to support Operations and Maintenance of the permanent Asian Carp Barrier, $1,000,000
Army Corps of Engineers in the City of Rock Island, to support construction of Sunset Marina Harbor Entrance Improvements, $500,000
Army Corps of Engineers in Illinois, to support project UMR-IWW System Navigation Study, IL, IA, MN, MO, & WI, $24,000,000
Aurora University, to the Center for Latino Leadership and Education, $400,000
Benedictine University in Lisle, for the First Responder Program – An Education Initiative for Public Safety Officers and Iraqi and Afghanistan Veterans, $1,750,000
Carpentersville, IL, for the Carpentersville Community Response Team, $500,000
Carthage, IL, to develop the Illinois 336 Corridor Carthage Exchange, $1,350,000
Center for Advanced Design, Research, and Exploration (CADRE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, for development of rapid wound healing therapies, $4,800,000
Center for Advanced Design, Research, and Exploration (CADRE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to develop a hand-held device used in combat, $2,000,000
Channahon, IL, for road upgrades, $12,000,000
Chicago Children's Advocacy Center, for Facility Improvements, Renovations, and Expansion of the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center for child abuse support services, $500,000
Chicago Children's Museum, for the construction of a new Chicago Children's Museum facility, $1,000,000
Chicago Children's Museum, for its Community Health and Wellness Initiatives, $300,000
Chicago Park District, for the development of DuSable Park, $3,000,000
Chicago Public Schools, for their Chicago Reading Initiative: Supported Literacy Programs, $4,000,000
Chicago State University, for research into unmanned aerial systems, $5,000,000
Chicago State University, to develop a sustainable and portable power system for military operation, $5,000,000
Chicago State University, to the HIV/ AIDS Policy and Research Institute, $1,000,000
Children's Memorial Hospital, for the construction of Children's Memorial Hospital Intensive Care Unit Facilities, $3,000,000
Columbia College Department of Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling in Chicago, for its A.I.M. Program in partnership with the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center, $3,000,000
Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago (ESMC), for its therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research, $1,500,000
Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities in Springfield, for its Training Health Professionals program, $500,000
Field Museum, for roof repair and rainwater diversion, $4,900,000
Field Museum, to support the expansion of the Halls of the Americas, $1,000,000
Franklin Park, IL, for construction of the Grand Avenue Underpass in Chicago, IL to ease congestion and increase traffic safety, $3,000,000
Galesburg, IL, to support construction of a new water treatment facility at the Oquawka, Illinois facility along the Mississippi River, $1,500,000
Governors State University, for the Center of Excellence in Health Professions Education, $1,000,000
The College of Health Professions at Governors State University seeks funding to assist in the creation of a Center of Excellence in Health Professions Education.
Illinois Central College, for its Central Illinois Collaborative Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Initiative, $3,000,000
Illinois Institute of Technology, for research into impact-resistant materials, $1,500,000
Illinois Institute of Technology, to support its Integrated Advance Energy Systems Research Initiative, $750,000
Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA), for the Electronic Health Record Project IPHCA, $2,000,000
Illinois State University, for the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline Programs and Partnerships, $300,000
Illinois State University, for the Great Lakes Teacher and Preparation Leadership Preparation Consortium, $500,000
Illinois State University, to improve manufacturing competitiveness with further development of the Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory (IML), $500,000
Johnsburg, IL, to support construction of additional sewer lines, $2,000,000
Lake County, for its Integrated Criminal Justice Information System, $1,000,000
Lee County Highway Department in Amboy, Illinois, for road upgrades, $300,000
Lewis and Clark Community College, for its mobile health clinic to provide healthcare services to rural areas, $350,000
Lewis University Airport in Romeoville, for the extension of its primary runway, $3,420,000
Long Creek, IL, to support construction of new water towers to increase its water capacity, $660,000
Loretto Hospital, for the Launa Thompson Women's Health Pavilion, $550,000
Loyola University Chicago, to the Center for School District Leadership for distance learning, $1,000,000
Manteno, IL, to connect existing and proposed parks in Kankakee County as part of the Manteno Greenways Trail System, $860,475
Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Rock Island, for the renovation and expansion of the Center, $1,000,0000
McHenry County, for its Sheriff's Office law enforcement communication system, $1,000,000
McHenry County, to widen Miller Road, $500,000
McHenry County, for Flexible and Sustainable Training Solutions Initiative, $600,000
Memorial Hospital, for necessary equipment upgrades for vascular disease diagnostics and screenings, $1,800,000
Memorial Medical Center, for Advanced Flatplate Cardiac Catherization/Electrophysiology Laboratory, $1,000,000
Metra, to expand and improve service, $65,000,000 <== HOLY CRAP
MetroLiNK Transit in Rock Island, to build a new state-of-the-art MetroLiNK Maintenance Facility, $5,000,000
Millikin University School of Nursing, for the expansion and upgrade of their nursing program, $500,000
Mobile C.A.R.E. Foundation in Chicago, for the acquisition and operation of Asthma Vans, $300,000
Moline, IL, for the design and construction of River Tech Boulevard Road, $1,595,000
Moline, IL, to address congestion in the I-74 Corridor, $8,000,000
Morrison, IL, for construction of a railroad overpass, $3,812,000
Mount Carroll, IL, to support reconstruction of its water distribution system, $2,000,000
Mujeres Latinas en Accion, for the Parent Support Program and Women in Transition Program, $295,000
National Center for Family Literacy, for its Family Literacy for All Expansion, $250,000
National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for its cybersecurity initiative, $7,500,000
National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for its Technology Research, Education and Commercialization Center (TRECC), $5,000,000
National Myoclonus Center, for the expansion of the National Myoclonus Center, $400,000
Normal, IL, for the construction of a multimodal transportation center, $10,000,000
Northeastern Illinois Sewer Consortium, for sanitary and storm sewer system upgrades, $500,000
Oakwood, IL, to replace its water distribution system, $836,000
Ogle County Highway Department, for the Southwest Rochelle Truck Loop, $150,000
Olympia Fields, IL, to make safety upgrades and improvements of the 203rd Street and Crawford Avenue, $1,000,000
Oregon, IL, for Route 251 & Steward Road Intersection Improvements, $125,000
Orland Park, IL, to expand U.S. 45, $450,000
PACE Suburban Bus, to replace the radio system in all of its 672 fixed route buses, $2,500,000
Patterson, IL, to support replacement of its "Drake Road" water main, $138,000
Peoria, IL, to support its construction of its combined sewer overflow replacement, $500,000
Poder Learning Center, for workforce training program, $200,000
Regional Climate Center, for the Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC)/Illinois State Water Survey, $6,000,000
Riverside Healthcare, for a Computerized Physician Order Entry system for Kankakee, IL, $2,000,000
Rochelle, IL, for phase two of the Jack Dame Road/Union Pacific Railroad Overpass, $1,000,000
Rock Island Arsenal, to repair the roof on Building 299 for additional manufacturing space, $6,200,000
Rock Island Arsenal, to support a more robust capability to rapidly produce up-armor vehicle kits, $10,500,000
Rock Island Arsenal, to renovate and expand Rock Island Arsenal's combined Fire and Police Station facility, $3,500,000
Rock Island Arsenal, to support the development and enhancement of flexible lightweight metal technology, $1,350,000
Rockford College, to enhance classrooms, $490,000
Saint Xavier University, for nursing skills lab equipment, $500,000
Saint Xavier University, for the expansion of an early childhood professional development center, $900,000
Shawneetown, IL, to support updates and replacement of its water distribution system, $550,000
Shedd Aquarium, for its At-Risk Youth Mentoring Initiative, $600,000
Spark College, for real-time writers and captioning training project, $750,000
Southern Illinois University, for the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center, $2,000,000
Southern Illinois University, for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, $1,025,000
Southern Illinois University, for the School of Medicine Simmons Cooper Cancer Institute, $2,200,000
Southern Illinois University, Purdue University, and University of Kentucky, for coal research, $5,000,000
Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), for the National Education, Science, and Critical Skills Capacity Building Initiative, $2,000,000
University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy Research, $1,000,000
University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Illinois-Missouri Biotechnology Alliance, $3,000,000
University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Illinois Program for Integrated Sustainable Agriculture, $2,500,000
University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, for the Soybean Disease Biotechnology Center , $2,000,000
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Engineering, for Nanomedical Technologies, $3,000,000
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, to encourage further education in technical domains that can be cleared by the Defense Security Service, $2,000,000
University of Illinois, for the Urban Teaching and Leadership Center, $1,000,000
West Frankfort, IL, to support replacement of its Big Ditch Pumping Station, $550,000
Wetlands Initiative of Illinois, to support its Illinois River Nutrient Farm Pilot Project, $11,810,000
Women's Sports Foundation, for its GoGirlGo! Chicago Initiative, $1,000,000
SUBMITTED BY NUMEROUS SENATORS (INCLUDING SENATOR OBAMA) ON BEHALF OF NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Center for Civic Education, for its National Council for Economic Education, $33,000,000
National Writing Project, $30,000,000
Reach Out and Read, Inc, $10,000,000
YMCA of the USA, for pioneering for healthy communities, $5,000,000
======
My apologies for including each and every thing, but I wanted you to get an idea of the kind of spending we are talking about.
McCain earmarked $0.
I can't even COUNT how many millions of dollars Obama spent, just in this one series of earmarks.