Another Broken Obama Promise

Posted by Red Kingman on

                                 

Lets add this to the list of Gitmo still open, Patriot Act stronger than ever, Bush tax cuts signed, wars from 2 to 4, 8% unemployment turned 10%, shovel-ready jobs — not so much, ‘Dream Act’ only in Libya, drone attacks — Bush is an amateur compared to the Nobel Peace Prize winner…. just to name a few.

During Pres. Bush’s last year in office, he agreed to a timetable for troop withdrawals in Iraq:  U.S. forces would leave by the end of 2011. The same year, Barack Obama insisted that if elected he would end the Iraq War. In a speech given shortly after his inauguration, he repeated the promise. “Let me say this as plainly as I can:  By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end,” he said. “I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.”

Now he may not honor his promise:  AP reports that the Obama Administration has offered to leave 10,000 troops in Iraq if its government so requests. Already the White House “has worked out options to keep 8,500 to 10,000 active-duty troops in Iraq to continue training security forces.”  

Lets take a look at the "short list" of broken promises:

1.  "Sunlight Before Signing".  We nevfer got the promiosed five days to look over a bill on line before he signed it into law.  Need I remind you about the Healthcare Law and how Speaker Pelosi stating that "it had to be passed first before the American people can see what's in it".  

2.  "Capitol Gains Tax Elimination".  For a President who supposedly believes that small businesses will be the foundation of our economic rebuilding efforts, it sure is funny that he has yet to eliminate this roadblock to small business as per his "promise".

3.  "Guantanamo Bay".  Still Open and operating.

4.  "No Jobs For Lobbyists".  

In his Nov. 10, 2007, speech in Des Moines, Iowa, Obama declared:

I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.

During his campaign, Obama also said, "I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House."

However, USA Today reported Obama's campaign fundraising team included 38 members of law firms that were paid $138 million in 2007 to lobby the federal government.

5.  "Two New Wars".  Add Yemen and Libya to the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
6.  "Reform The Patriot Act".  Contrary to popular belief, Obama has never actually argued for a repeal of the Bush administration's sweeping, post-9/11 security initiatives, which were passed with a mandatory "sunset" clause to overrule the concerns of civil libertarians at the time.  But every time the emergency laws have been due to expire, President Obama has pushed to extend them without any reforms. Most recently, the administration sought an extension of the Patriot Act that was even longer than the one Republicans wanted. They gave it to him and continued the sweeping spy powers through 2013, ensuring that the next extension doesn't become an election year issue.

7. "Earmark Reform".  As WorldNetDaily reported, at the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss., Obama declared, "[W]e need earmark reform. And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

However, in February, Obama passed his $787 billion stimulus aimed at jolting the declining U.S. economy. Before a joint session of Congress, Obama declared: "Now, I'm proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks."  

U.S. News & World Report found at least eight earmarks in his stimulus bill.  Obama also signed a $410 billion omnibus bill for 2009. More than 9,000 earmarks in the spending bill total an estimated $7.7 billion.  Even though the Democrat-controlled Congress crafted the bill after Obama's election, the administration claims the added pork is just "unfinished business" from last year. (The Bush Blame Game)

8.  "New American Jobs Credit".  

During his transition, Obama's promised to provide a $3,000 refundable tax credit to existing businesses for every additional full-time U.S. employee hired in 2009 and 2010.

"If a company that currently has 10 U.S. employees increases its domestic full time employment to 20 employees, this company would get a $30,000 tax credit – enough to offset the entire added payroll tax costs to the company for the first $50,000 of income for the new employees," the transition website stated. "The tax credit will benefit all companies creating net new jobs, even those struggling to make a profit." Obama's promise was never included in the stimulus package that bailed out the big banks.

Want more?  There's plenty, but I think you get the drift.
In closing there is one final promise made by our President that I hope, regardless of whether or not he fulfills any other promises he fulfills.  He made the "promise" back in 2009 during an interview with NBC's Matt Lower, and I quote: “I will be held accountable,” Obama said. “I’ve got four years and … A year form now, I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress, but there’s still going to be some pain out there … If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

The clock is running, Mr. President. Sixteen months and counting.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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