What President Obama’s C-SPAN promise really means
For days now the news cycle has been dominated by one theme – President Obama’s campaign promise to debate Health Care Reform on C-SPAN. 8 times during the 2008 election campaign he promised to do this. Now he has been brought to task to live up to this promise by C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb. Thus far the White House is mum.
But the issue really should be quite a bit larger than just this one instance. It’s not just that 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 power.
How is it possible that President Obama could rate his first year as a B+, how could “reputable” news agencies like MSNBC laud praise on the President, how could Democrats cheer victory, all the while his Administration has voided the majority of what President Obama was elected to do? Does that make sense? Does that in any way foster the belief of a Government that is better than those before it, that has changed, or is more focused on the citizenry?
The fact is that even those promises that have been kept, roughly 34 out of 515, have varying degrees of importance and credibility. Minor items like picking a dog are straightforward enough. The results of the Obama Stimulus, Obamacare, the pending Cap & Trade Bill, global warming initiatives, Gitmo closing and others are far more debatable.
President Obama made no illusion or question in his desire to take the war on terror to Afghanistan and ‘capture or kill’ Osama Bin Ladin. The reality of his actions since elected are that he has refused to even use the words war on terror, he has refused to say America will win (the word victory was never uttered in his West Point speech), reluctantly approved some additional troops requested by his hand-picked General (over 90 days later), and has arguably conceeded victory with the establishment of a timetable for retreat.
Looking at the bigger picture that the major media refuses to look at or even hint at, the conclusions seem clear. President Obama lied to the public about being a moderate, lied about his military goals, lied about his economic plans, lied about his priorities, and lied about his willingness and ability to work in any type of imaginable bipartisanship.
The net result is a terrifying thought. In a single year President Obama has done more to destroy the credibility of the Office of the Presidency, and to the nation’s image of the President, than President Bush was alleged to have done in 8 years. Which is truly remarkable considering that nearly all the major media attacked every action of President Bush for most of his Presidency, and the same have lauded President Obama.
One potential positive remains available. President Obama may switch gears and transform into the moderate Democrat that his 2008 campaign indicated he was. A position far closer to the 40% Conservative / 36% Moderate / 21% Liberal composition of the nation. In fact there may be no choice in the matter, as early polling indicates that Democrats will lose not only the super-majority but also any majority in Congress after the mid-term elections.
Can this save the credibility of the Presidency? Will this restore the weakened belief that the President does not lie to the public (a view evaporating over time after Nixon, the first Bush, Clinton, and the WMD issue), is not misinformed by Administration aides, and is made aware of facts in a timely manner? There is no way of knowing the answer to that question yet. But it is clear that having a President that retroactively is well informed about events (after having made initial false statements), that breaks major campaign promises, that is surrounded by questionable aides, that is percieved internationally as weak and economically befuddled provides no benefit to the American people.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Some excellent information there. Thank You.