Code Pink ready to put pressure on Obama

The anti-war protest group that has been dogging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) can expect similar attention if he votes in favor of the Iraq supplemental bill that does not include timelines for withdrawal.

“I think he’s been opposed to the war, and I would be disappointed if he voted to continue the war,” Code Pink spokeswoman Gael Murphy said. “If this is becoming rhetoric, yeah, he’s going to hear it from his constituents.”

{mosads}Murphy said if Obama votes in favor of the measure it will be a “contradiction” and the “height of hypocrisy.”

Code Pink, always decked out in pink attire with a seemingly endless supply of anti-war slogans and methods of criticizing Clinton and other lawmakers who have continued to vote for war funding, has gone after Obama before.

But thus far, Clinton and other Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have borne the brunt of the group’s criticism.

Clinton in particular has come across the group at countless campaign events, as it often portrays her as the face of the pro-war wing of the Democratic Party.

Much of Obama’s early appeal has come from groups who applauded his outspoken opposition to the war before he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Since being elected, however, Obama has voted in favor of every funding measure.
“He needs to show leadership if he wants to be president,” Murphy said.

Neither Obama nor Clinton have said how they will vote on the measure, which is expected to be voted on in the Senate before the week is over.

Code Pink has been relentless in its anti-war protests, and is calling the latest bill a “blank check” for President Bush to continue an “illegal occupation” of Iraq.

“How many more deaths will we be remembering next Memorial Day?” Murphy said.

Obama’s campaign declined to comment before the vote.