Fact check: How many bills did Obama lead sponsor in the senate

1. Summary of the results

During his Senate tenure from January 2005 to November 2008, Barack Obama lead-sponsored exactly 147 bills, of which only two became law ^{[1] [1]}. This number is consistently reported across multiple sources and represents his role as primary sponsor, not including co-sponsorships.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question overlooks several important aspects of Obama's Senate legislative work:

• He co-sponsored 689 bills in total, with 408 of these having his support from their original introduction ^{[1] [1]}
• Some of his notable bipartisan initiatives included ^[2]:
• The Lugar-Obama initiative for weapons reduction
• The Coburn-Obama Transparency Act
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act
• The Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The question about lead-sponsored bills alone could be misleading because:

• It doesn't account for the collaborative nature of Senate work, where co-sponsorship is a significant form of legislative activity ^[1]
• The raw number of sponsored bills doesn't reflect the impact or importance of the legislation. Obama demonstrated active cross-party collaboration and worked on significant international policy initiatives ^[2]
• The relatively short duration of Obama's Senate career (less than four years) should be considered when evaluating these numbers, as he left the Senate to run for president

The focus on just lead-sponsored bills could be used by political opponents to minimize Obama's Senate accomplishments, while supporters might prefer to highlight his bipartisan collaboration and co-sponsorship record.