Murder Rate Up 18% in the Community Obama Organized

Time to dig a little deeper into Obama's record, no? Certainly, little details like this don't help.

Few presidential candidates in modern times have been identified with a large urban area like Barack Obama is with Chicago. And sometimes, that can present a problem.

This election season, for instance, the residents of Obama's hometown are being murdered at a clip not seen in five years.

Murders have risen 18 percent over a year ago. Assaults in the city involving guns are also rising. City officials, Police Supt. Jody Weis and the police force are increasingly coming under criticism.

But some Republicans say part of the blame also lies with Obama.

They argue that while serving Illinois as its junior senator and earlier, when the Democratic candidate for president was a state lawmaker, Obama didn't do enough to make violent crime a priority. Specifically, they point to Obama's votes over gun legislation and the death penalty.

"Whether it was voting against or voting present on issues related to stricter penalties on offenders of serious crimes or disallowing citizens to exercise their right to self-defense, Obama demonstrated poor judgment on an important issue to his constituents," said Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Naturally, the Obamatons dispute this and make some ludicrous claim Obama has helped fight against crime. Must be why he hangs out with terrorists like William Ayers.

Chicago's gun ban is now under attack in the courts, even as Mayor Richard Daley has vowed to defend it. Obama has never publicly stated whether he believes the Chicago law is constitutional. His campaign would say only that Obama believes that the "Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own a firearm, and he also believes, as the Supreme Court recognized, that both the federal government and local communities can adopt reasonable safety measures."

John Lott, a researcher who believes gun bans are an ineffective tool for reducing violent crime, and author of the book "More Guns, Less Crime," was on the faculty at the University of Chicago when Obama taught constitutional law there. "I know of no time when he spoke out against the Chicago gun ban," Lott said.

Lott points to Obama's opposition to a bill the Illinois General Assembly passed in 2004 that shielded homeowners from prosecution for violating a local gun ban if they were defending their homes as evidence that Obama has switched his position. Obama has said he didn't support the ban because he didn't believe the state should meddle in local gun laws.