What to say the next time somebody asks you what Barack Obama's accomplishments have been and why he should be President.

I received this in my e-mail box today and thought I would pass it along.

"Barack has held elected office for twelve years.

During the first eight years, sponsored over 820 bills, including233 regarding healthcare reform, 125 on poverty and public assistance,112 crime fighting bills, 97 economic bills, 60 human rights andanti-discrimination bills, 21 ethics reform bills, fifteen gun control bills, six billsregarding veterans' affairs, and many others. Inhis first year in the U.S. Senate, Barack authored 52 bills andco-sponsored another 427.

These bills included:
1. The Government Transparency Act (became law)
2. The Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons ThreatReduction Act (became law)
3. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (passed the Senate)
4. The Government Ethics Bill (became law)
5. The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill (nowin committee), and many more.

After graduating from Columbia, Obama went to work with churches that organized job training and other programs for residents of a massive housing project in Chicago. He persuaded the city to provide summer jobs, remove asbestos, repair toilets, pipes and ceilings.

He went door to door, offering help for three years, then went to Harvard Law School.

Obama returned to Chicago to lead Project Vote, which signed upabout 150,000 new African-American voters. He also joined a big law firm.

Obama began teaching at the University of Chicago, where he wouldcontinue to lecture for 11 years. I mention teaching because I consider it anaccomplishment in the service of others.

During Obama's time a s an attorney in Chicago, he became a husbandand father of two daughters. He entered the Illinois Senate in 1994.

As a member of the minority party of the Senate for six of his eight years there, Obama wrote a health insurance law that covered an additional 20,000 children, a welfare reform law, an earned-income-tax-credit law forworking-poor families, and death penalty reform that passed unanimously.

During his last two years in the majority, he sponsored 780 bills,280 of which became law.

Since Obama entered the U.S. Senate in 2004, he has joined Republican Richard Lugar in writing a law that funds the destruction or securing of loose nuclear and conventional weapons (shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, for example) throughout the world. He also introduced the first bill, that soon became law, to fund and address pandemic flu preparedness.

In one inspiring discovery, Obama and Clinton teamed up to pass alaw that helps hospitals disclose medical errors. It goes a long way toward serving patients while reducing malpractice claims.

Well there you have it. The next time somebody says that Barack Obama has not accomplished anything you now have a rejoinder.