I was wrong about President Obama
Recently I have been discussing the Health Care Reform Bill that is before Congress and heavily promoted by the White House. To that end, in an effort to resolve some of the most important and critical questions I have heard, read, and considered I sent emails and physical letters to Sen. Schumer, Sen. Gillibrand, Representative Hinchey, and President Obama. To date I have only received an automated response of receipt of my email from Sen. Schumer.
But like many that have been called Nazis, fanatics, and schills for corporations because they oppose or question the Health Care Reform Bill, and/or other Obama Administration policies, I too have been attacked and challenged. Many of these challenges or attacks have come personally to me in person or via email.
One point that I thought was quite interesting was a challenge to address a statement I have made multiple times over the past 3 – 6 months. That 70% or more of the promises by the Obama Administration have been broken. I was challenged to prove this statement.
Thus I can say without any reservation that I was wrong. Of the 515 campaign promises recorded by Politifact, an organization I have no connection to but have used as a source on multiple posts especially during the 2008 election, only 7 promises qualify under their standards as having been broken.
To be explicitly clear, only 7% (34 of 515) of promises made by President Obama have been kept to date. 73% (374 of 515) of all promises made by President Obama have been completely ignored. And to be fair, some 77 promises are or have been compromised to varying degrees to date. Several campaign promises that are under way are connected to the Health Care Reform.
Of course all promises made by President Obama are not equal. Included in the 7% are promises like getting a dog for his children, and appointing a Republican to his Cabinet. The last being an item I dispute as President Obama did not appoint any NEW Republicans, nor has he ADDED any. He in fact just kept Gates in his role with Defense, and is the only Republican. That to me is not an Obama action but a Bush action. I would count that as a broken promise.
Additionally there are 12 items that have completely stalled. These are promises like those pertaining to Gitmo and the detainees held there, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell program, the Windfall tax on oil companies, and the Pay-As-You-Go budget. Again I find his actions in regard to the budget to be a complete failure from what was promised. But I did not count that in any of the figures stated above.
Nor do I find the question of going “line by line” over earmarks to prevent wasteful spending to be a questionable promise. With earmarks in the Stimulus package (no matter how few or relatively small compared to the $787 billion spent) and another 9,000 in the $410 billion Government Spending Omnibus (keeps the Gov’t operating) and not a single complaint or attempt to remove them, I find this to be another Obama broken promise.
But of the promises made that there is no question have been broken I think it is a glaring statement that transparency has been the hardest hit. President Obama campaigned on promises of change, of getting the public involved, or cutting the size of Government and reducing waste and spending.
President Obama promised to provide 5 days of public comment before signing any Bill. Not only has he not done that repeatedly, the White House website is designed to make finding legislation and/or commenting about legislation that is found, extremely difficult to do. Thus eliminating transparency and ignoring public concerns.
Which is not unlike what is happening with the Health Care Reform now. Top Democrats are calling dissenters and those with questions about the 1000+ page Bill in Congress radical mobs and un-American. This is happening while EVERY poll in America states that at least 50% of the public oppose the current Bill. And it is also going hand in hand with another campaign promise that was blatantly broken. President Obama promised to negotiate health care reform in public sessions broadcast on C-SPAN for the entire nation to behold.
So all in all I am wrong. President Obama has not broken explicitly 70% of his campaign promises. He has ignored, broken, compromised and left in the dust 93% of every campaign promise he has made. Which says nothing of what has happened with the promises he has kept
…campaign promises PolitiFact says Obama has unquestionably broken, five would have limited his own power, provided tax breaks, or provided more accountability and transparency to the federal government… So far, he hasn’t broken a single promise that would grow or expand the government, though he has compromised on a few, and many have been stalled.”
I do think I have addressed the challenge place before me. I fail to see the improvement in what the Obama Administration has done. I honestly believe that supporters of Democrats and President Obama were better off not having the facts brought to light. My impression of 70% wrong and blatant lying is far better than the 93% fact that he has failed to live up to on campaign promises that caused him to be elected.
Lastly, I will whole-heartedly agree with one campaign promise that President Obama made repeatedly and has kept. Change. America is in the throes of change all right. Though only the most Liberal, and the majority of the major media, find these changes to be positive for the nation.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:21 am
Comment as found at 1800blogger, where I am a contributing author.
Fire Harry Reid Says:
August 14th, 2009 at 2:01 am e
Wow, I found your site from installing one of your Wordpress templates. And just because of this post, you’re now on my blogroll. You’re on the right track.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
[...] I have stated before some 93% of all the promises made by the Obama Administration are currently null and void. Which is more than just chance. In fact I find that to be a willful act of deceiving voters. [...]
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
[...] I have stated before some 93% of all the promises made by the Obama Administration are currently null and void. Which is more than just chance. In fact I find that to be a willful act of deceiving voters. [...]
October 11th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
what do you think obama is effen superman or braniac man you wrote all this 8 months in your trippen you probably want bush back in office thinking a single human being is perfect noones perfect and you definitely are not your so full of yourself you should have been a damn math teacher obama doesnt even have enough time to complete 515 promises in 4 years your a buster.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:33 am
So let me see if I got this right. Even though the media has touted President Obama a a rockstar politician, besides the fact that he won a Nobel for accomplishing nothing, besides the facts that 97% of his campaign promises are no where near een being considered, you think that I should just sit back and wait for President Obama to do something? What President has ever gotten that treatment?
Yes it’s been 8 months. And we have a $3.5 trillion budget that he passed – which guarantees a tripling of the national debt by Obama’s own words. We got a Stimulus that did nothing for the people, and slowed the recovery – in fact exceeding the worst case scenario President Obama detailed. We are facing a healthcare bill that promises to become as expensive as Medicare, without providing real benefits. We are even more actively engaged in the 2 wars we have been fighting. President Obama has done nothing to slow Iran from getting nukes, he ignored the cries for help from the people of Iran who want democracy, he has allowed North Korea to gain more political gain while becoming a bigger threat to the world. He has made Government less transparent and allowed wasteful spend at every turn.
All of that is what has happened with President Obama at the helm. The buck stops at the top, and these were all his ideas and actions. He isn’t perfect, but it would also seem that he is not efficient or acting in the best manner for the nation. It’s great for his ideals, but that’s not what his job is supposed to do.
But you say that not doing what he was elected to do, the reasons why he got the job, is ok. Somehow I don’t think I’m the problem, but the idea of expecting so little in such critical times definitely is.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:29 am
[...] President Obama broke this one campaign promise. As I have stated several times throughout 2009 President Obama has violated, ignored, and otherwise not lived up to 93% of campaign promises. Which creates an atmosphere of complete distrust of Government and the impression of abuse of [...]
January 25th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
[...] was a time when 515 promises were made to the public in exchange for their votes. Since that time few of the promises have come true, or even been addressed, and the image of President Obama as a moderates and centrist have gone the way of the balanced [...]
February 16th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
The main reason all if not most black people voted for Obama was because of their desire for the first black or black look alike, considering Obama is Hawaiian not African American. Black people felt as if Obama, being black would automatically make this world a better place. Considering his promises, not his color, I mistakenly agreed, but I said that the day he was elected was just another day, until I see those promises met. He’s just like any other politition, that makes up lies to get elected, then once they are, they enjoy their luxury lives, giving everyone a false reason that their promises could not be kept. The president needs to consider the reason unemployment is so high is due to overpopulation, especially because of so many immigrants that he keeps bringing here to take over what jobs we have. He needs to take care of his own country before he takes care of someone elses.