Obama's Top Five
Broken Promises
By: Phil Kerpen
Promise #5: Sunlight Before Signing
What he said:
“Too often bills
are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public
has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not
sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an
opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for
five days.” (BarackObama.com
campaign Web site)
What he did:
Obama signed the Lily
Ledbetter bill, the SCHIP/cigarette tax hike, and the stimulus bill
all with far less than a five-day waiting period that he
promised–and continues to promise–on his campaign Web site.
Promise #4: Lobbyist Revolving Door
What he said:
“No political
appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to
work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related
to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee
will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government
service during the remainder of the administration.” (BarackObama.com
campaign Web site)
What he did:
Obama appointed
Goldman Sachs lobbyists Mark Patterson chief of staff at the
Treasury Department, where he directly oversees his former employer,
a recipient of $10 billion of taxpayer funds from the TARP. Obama
also appointed Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn to be an
undersecretary of Defense.
Promise #3: No Tax Hikes on the
Poor
What he said first:
“I can make a firm
pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year
will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your
payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your
taxes.” (September
12, 2008, Dover, N.H.)
What he did first:
By signing H.R. 2
into law, Obama happily signed onto the idea that smokers should pay
for a $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health
Insurance Plan (SCHIP). Cigarette taxes are going up 61 cents a pack
starting April 1. Obama signed this bill knowing that the majority
of smokers in the United States are working poor, and one in four
lives below the federal poverty line.
What he said next:
“If your family
earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes
increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.” (February
24th, 2009, Address to a Joint Session of Congress)
What he did next:
Ignored the
already-hiked cigarette tax at the time of the statement and then
this restated promise was broken just two days later, when the
Obama’s budget proposal was released. His new budget raises 45
percent of its revenue from energy taxes that will be paid by everyone
who fills a gas tank, pays an electric bill, or buys anything that
was grown, shipped, or manufactured.
Promise #2: Pork Barrel Earmark
Reform
What he said:
“The system is
broken. We can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks
based on a member of Congress’ seniority, rather than the merit of
the project. We can no longer accept an earmarks process that has
become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or non-profit
group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it. And we can no
longer accept an earmarks process in which many of the projects
being funded fail to address the real needs of our country.”
(Statement
on Earmarks, March 10, 2008)
What he is expected to do:
The White House has
signaled that it intends to sign the $410 billion Omnibus
Appropriations bill, which according to Taxpayers
for Common Sense, contains 8,570 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion,
including dozens of wasteful pork-barrel projects. These earmarks
were awarded based on seniority, not on merit, and were mostly the
result of high-priced lobbying, precisely the process that Obama
promised to end. When the omnibus reaches his desk later this week
or next week, we’ll find out if this is one more broken promise.
Promise #1: Big Government
OK, so this one is
more of a statement than a promise, but it’s the biggest whopper
of all.
What he said:
“Not because I
believe in bigger government — I don’t.” (February
24, 2009, Joint Address to Congress)
What he did:
Obama proposed a
budget that is breathtaking in scope, a blueprint for the biggest
permanent expansion of government in history right on the heels of a
sweeping trillion dollar stimulus plan. The budget lays the
foundation for a government takeover of the health care and energy
sectors and dramatically increasing spending across the board, other
than defense weapons programs. Spending as a percentage of the
economy under this budget will reach the historic level of 27.7
percent this year. The deficit as a percent of the economy, at 12.3
percent, is set to be the biggest in the entire history of the
country outside of the four peak years of World War II. Anyone
who offers such a budget can only fairly be described as a believer
in bigger government.
Insults at the Inauguration?
By: Tommy De
Seno
Wasn’t Barack Obama
supposed to be the president to lead us to a “post-racial”
America?
Wasn’t Barack Obama
supposed to be the president to lead us to a “post-partisan”
America?
Obama’s
inauguration is the first I can recall where a racial smear was
contained in a prayer while the president’s speech attacked those
who didn’t vote for him.
So while we will be
held to a standard of judging all by the content of their character,
he will continue to judge us by our skin color. While we will be
expected to utter no disagreement with his policies, he will openly
hammer ours.
Let’s start first
with the racial prejudice in Reverend Joseph Lowery’s inaugural
“prayer.” Here are the words:
“Lord,
in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in
the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day
when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick
around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead,
man; and when white will embrace what is right.“
Let’s check the
logic — I’m white, therefore I don’t embrace what is right.
Lowery judged us not individually, but lumped us by skin and claimed
we of such color suffer the same immorality — we aren’t
righteous.
He said it in a
prayer. What Jesus will do with the prayer will be learned by Lowery
at his judgment day at St. Peter’s gate.
What Barack Obama did
with that prayer is more important to me now. The video of the event
shows him smile, not appear shocked, at the racial slur.So
post-racial means accepting that “whites don’t embrace what is
right?”
Lowery and Obama
should note that African-Americans are about 13 percent of America.
That means it took tens of millions of white people to vote Obama
into office. Yet these men still claim white people are prejudiced.
If his own election will not dissuade him from believing white
people are not prejudiced, what will it take? Will it ever take?
If Don Imus were to
hurl such a racial insult there would be girl’s basketball teams
protesting around the world. But a new President accepts it in a
prayer and the Associated Press describes his behavior that day as
showing his “grace.” Good grief.
On to Obama’s
inaugural address.
He ran on a campaign
of “change” (and nothing else). He’s the anti-George. I get
it. For that I expected his speech to put some distance between
himself and the administration of the man seated a few feet from
where Obama was speaking.
There is a big
difference though between distancing yourself from a prior
administration, which is OK, and distancing yourself from the
millions of Americans who did not vote for you; that’s bad form
when you claim to be the post-partisan uniter.
Let’s start with
this line:
“On
this day, we gather because we have chosen hope
over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”
The words “we have
chosen” harkens back to the election contest. Obama believes those
of us who did not vote for (choose) him mark our choices with
“fear, conflict and discord” (I guess that’s why we cling to
our guns and religion, right?).
“On
this day, we come to proclaim an end to…worn out dogmas…”
So if my “dogma”
differs from his (it does) this is apparently my “end.” How very
post-partisan of you, Mr. President!
“What
the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath
them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us
for so long no longer apply.”
Bickering and name
calling with the opposition in the inaugural address? Oh, I feel so
united!!!
You can fool the
mainstream media who are head over heels in love with you Mr. Obama,
but you’ll not hide your attacks in flowery language so long as
I’m watching.
Historical
note: In his Inaugural Address, Obama said we are a
“young nation.” Compared to whom? Our Constitution is in the top
three oldest governing documents on the planet.
Words mean things Mr.
President, except when they are clichés. |
