OBAMARAMA

After stunning the political world with his record numbers of contributors and dollars last week, Sen. Obama is coming out swinging on the right issues. His first order of business? Helping the roughly 200,000 homeless war veterans who have been neglected by this administration find affordable housing.

From the Boston Globe:

The Illinois senator said he would introduce legislation that he calls Homes for Heroes, which would establish grant and voucher programs to encourage development of affordable housing targeted for veterans.

“Veterans are far more likely to be homeless than nonveterans and part of it is because we’re not providing services to them as they transition out of the service,” Obama said in an interview Friday before a campaign rally. “Part of it is because there is just not enough affordable housing.”

Later in the article, Sen. Obama observes that “one of the things I think we did learn from Vietnam was that whether you are for or against a war, everyone has to honor and respect the service and sacrifice of the troops.” The article adds that Sen. Obama “said the government spends billions on the war but has consistently shortchanged programs for veterans, whose needs should be a top priority.”

This is one of those rare winning issues for Democrats, at once positioning Democrats as strong on military matters while underscoring Republicans’ unforgivable lethargy and unwillingness to take care of the soldiers they shipped to battle. It has the added bonus of being a moral imperative. And Sen. Obama frames it just right.