View Full Version : Obama’s Top Five Broken Promises
Obama’s Top Five Broken Promises
By Phil Kerpen
Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity
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.
Phil Kerpen is director of policy for Americans for Prosperity.
Disorder
03-04-2009, 21:35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6p3l8BXmhs
Blackwater
03-04-2009, 21:41
well he did bring in change....>_>
Disorder
03-04-2009, 22:48
Ok, So we want change, here is another change we are looking forward to.. happy reading!
By Glenn Beck
Host, “Glenn Beck“
Hello America,
If you had any doubt that we were on “The Road to Socialism,” President Obama’s just released budget should clear up that confusion. In fact, we’re so on The Road to Socialism that Barack Obama’s budget reads like he went to MapQuest and printed out turn-by-turn directions to get us to socialism as quickly as possible. So far, President Obama is really making a big scary mess of things and this budget is a giant step in the wrong direction.
Believe me–I understand that I’m not the only one who feels this way. But there have been lots of times in my career when I felt like I was all alone in my thinking (and that’s exactly why I’m having my “We Surround Them” event on March 13th…so you know that you’re not alone –click here for more details). So it’s always comforting for me when I hear others saying the same thing. Just this past weekend on “FOX News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace asked Arizona’s Republican Senator Jon Kyl, “How big a change in direction does the Obama budget represent in the relationship between government and the American people?” Without missing a beat, Senator Kyl quoted The Wall Street Journal by saying, “The budget represents a historical shift in the ideological direction of U.S. economic policy.” No mincing words there. Then he reminded everyone that The Wall Street Journal also stated in an editorial that President Obama is attempting to expand the role of government to such a dominant position that its power can never be rolled back. A respected United States Senator and The Wall Street Journal–oh, I like that company. (Too bad we’re all agreeing on how bad things are getting.)
Here are some of the budget’s broad strokes:
Obama’s budget takes the size of our government to the largest it’s been since World War II.
It’s got a $1.4 trillion tax increase in it (and oh yeah–we’re in the middle of a recession).
It doubles the debt in eight years.
It never balances the budget and proposes that, for the next 10 years, our deficits are at a record high.
Hmmm. Usually I like to frame things in a “good news / bad news” context. That just won’t work here, but I don’t want to be a big downer. So let me put on a happy face and say that all the above was merely the regular, garden-variety bad news! Now here comes the super awful really bad news:
Like a loaded weapon, this budget is aimed directly at you.
Is there a quicker way to end a honeymoon period for a new president than to propose a bunch of new taxes? It’s going to take a lot of serenading from Beyonce to make people forget about having less money…especially in this economy. See, not only is there a proposed huge tax increase for the energy and manufacturing sectors (and those get passed on to everyone), but overall tax rates are going up. All this is a real gut shot for small business. What too many people fail to remember is that small business is big business in America–over 70% of all American business is done by a small business. That means it’s likely that you either own or work for one, so President Obama wants more of your money (and I’m guessing it’s not like you have a whole lot extra lying around these days.)
And then there’s Obama’s suggestion of a “long-term investment in the economy.” That’s a fancy way of saying “increased spending.” (You don’t exactly need a decoder ring to figure that one out.) Another $30 billion for AIG…after they paid out six and seven figure bonuses and recorded the highest quarterly loss ever–over $60 billion–in U.S. history? How deep can our pockets be expected to be? Remember–every dollar the government “invests” in failing businesses is one of your dollars. If you had a stock broker who made the kind of crappy investments Washington has been making (and wants to make more of), you’d have fired them long ago.
This really isn’t that new a story–Democrats have a reputation of taxing and spending because, well…they always tax and spend. President Obama tries to soften his budget’s blow by stating that the tax increases don’t kick in until 2011. Um, Mr. President? It’s not exactly like 2011 is off in the sci-fi future where we’ll all have flying cars and live the life of George Jetson. Just like you need to plan ahead for re-election, small business owners need to do the same thing–plan for their future. So congratulations–now they’re doing that by bracing themselves for the tax avalanche coming their way in just a little over a year and a half from now. So instead of fueling the economy now–when we need it–business will tighten its belt and lower today’s bottom line in preparation for tomorrow’s new taxes. That lowers tax receipts! Instead of getting better, things get worse. Even I get that, and I’m the alcoholic rodeo clown.
Is it Election Day, 2012 yet?
EVERY politician breaks promises, mostly because they have no clue what they were saying on the campaign trail or when they get into office they figure out they were naive or the situation changes. This is a non issue for me.
cmon Mike your just disliking him :)
The only reason f.e. McCain doesnt lie is cuz his memery doesnt go back more then 3 days.
Disorder
03-05-2009, 08:34
I dont think its a matter of dislike.. I think its a matter of dissapointment.. He is leading us to Socalisim so fast it is pathetic. And some of the Bills he is pushing through, you almost wonder what in the world he is thinking.... It will be a very gloomy and scary 4 years with this administation in place...
Watch the youtube video I posted earlier, and discuss that!
Divine Intervention
03-05-2009, 18:51
bballrulez75 says:
SO SICK OF THE HOBOS ALWAYWS BEGGING FOR CHANGE
anton says:
Obama?
harr
give the freaking guy a chance...Reps lost get over it...its gonna be hard to be as bad as bush...please dont forget he does take responsibility for getting us in this mess.
There is nothing wrong with criticisms, and i think it is in fact productive. Have you ever seen people who have fame, who are told yes to everything and how they are wonderful , are some of the clueless people in the world? Drinking the kool-aide is my favorite description.
I'm not going to get into a whose at fault discussion, because it is pointless, but I can remember a time after 9/11 where the government wasn't criticized at all by the media and everyone felt the need to be on the same side. Crucial mistakes were made during this time and no one really opposed the decisions made and went along. To me that is why it is dangerous to have one party dominate more then one branch of government. I'm not a Republican or Democrat, but I am a person who believes in small government so I side on Republican on a lot of issues.
Are people to shut up because they disagree? Just because someone "won"? Do we want a government who gets told yes to everything and go unchallenged?
Nothing I've read in this thread scares me, what scares me is money is being spent\allocated before the programs are worked out and vetted. Heath care in particular, "we are going to but aside 700B as a down payment" but we don't know what we are going to do. Spells disaster to me.
Disorder
03-05-2009, 23:06
give the freaking guy a chance...Reps lost get over it...its gonna be hard to be as bad as bush...please dont forget he does take responsibility for getting us in this mess.
Name something he has acually done so far that you approve of.. I hve read nothing anywhere that I can honestly sit back and say, ahhhhhh, I like that idea, that will help alot of people out..... etc, etc, etc.. so lets hear MAGGIO, name something great he has done besides rallying the Democrats to overwhelming majority.
I looked at my pay stub today. My take home was $35 more than before the stimulous package was passed. A little bit more at a time helps me keep gas in my car, and more food on my table. When your check to check $35 means alot especially on rent week. I will be able to use this much more than one big check like last time. Not to mention my wife will bring home a bit more too. This will help us stretch it just a bit more until the next pay.
My agent sent me an email today about the $8000.00 first time home buyer credit. I dont have quite enough saved up yet to buy a house, but this is going to push me closer to buying my first house. I need 3.5% down for an FHA loan excluding any closing costs. I have my 3.5 now I have my closing or better yet if I can get the seller to pay closing I have a cushion incase something goes wrong like a hot water heater or A/C unit.
My father in law is a heavy equiptment operator and with the stimulous money MD is getting for infastructer my father in law will be able to have more job security since his company does alot of state and co. contracts.
Thats just the first few weeks. I am really hoping that something comes through for health care. You wouldnt believe how much it costs to insure three kids. If I can get a bit better of a deal, I can afford Life Insurance so that is something happens to me my family will be taken care of.
MD rolled out a new program that if I invest now I can get a 60K+ education for my children for about 3-5K each.
Things are looking better for me.
My comment goes to people (not just here) that seem bitter than Obama won and a Rep did not.
I know something...The same gov that was created in 1775 will not survive in the 21st century.
There are alot of old outdated laws out there that need reform. THe lilly whatever bill gave women a better chance to get equal pay. You wouldnt want your wife to make as much as their counterparts and if they didnt they have ground to stand on.
Alot of you out there would give your life for another especially a loved one. Why wouldnt you give some stem cells? Stupid closed minded crap like that pisses me off.
I was at the pediatricians the other day with a sick child. I saw the brocure for gardicile the HPV vaccine. It helps protect against 4 types of HPV that cause cancer and warts...why wouldnt I get that for my daughter to promote/preserve a healthy lifestyle? The min age is nine. She will be getting the shot right after her BDay that year. Same goes for Birth control...wtf?
Rich people pay more taxes...let me tell you all something...if your rich you have a team of accountants, lawers, and investors...YOU DONT PAY TAXES cause there are plenty of "creative" ways to right **** off and invest to protect your money from Uncle Sam. Guess what I dont have any right offs and cant afford an accountant, who paying what now?
Higher income families dont get to right off as much on the mortgage interest? Thank freaking god. They bought there house when ever they wanted and are sitting on plenty of equity regardless of the downturn and they get to right off state taxes which cause the property taxes to go up. Did you know that on a 250K house (min where I live just for a townhouse) that the prop taxes are $300/mo! thats almost $16% of my payment just for taxes! You know what else drives up prop taxes...foreclosures! So if Obama can pass something with some rules to protect against people taking advantage or had bought more than they can handle, but to protect people that may not be getting those retirement risiduals, pentions from dried up companies or heck just lost their job or some form of income than THANK GOD!
Here is a list one of my rep friends put up on Facebook
Top Ten Porkiest Projects in the Omnibus Spending bill
Yesterday at 5:50pmTop Ten Porkiest Projects in the Omnibus Spending bill
10. $1.7 million "for a honey bee factory" in Weslaco, TX
Her answer: Who needs a bee factory?
The real answer: Did you know that one in every three bits of food comes from some form of bee polination. let there be no bees and see how much food prices go up...bad enough im spending $600/mo to feed my family of 5
9. $475,000 to build a parking garage in Provo City, Utah
Her answer: what a waste!
The real answer: Funding like this is why my father in law has a job.
8. $200,000 for a tattoo removal violence outreach program that could help gang members or others shed visible signs of their past
Her answer: What a waste
The real answer: former gang bangers are not smart and dont deserve a fair shake after they try to conform to society and break away from a violent past
6. $1 million for mormon cricket control in Utah
Her answer: Mormon Crickets?
The real answer: She must not want to protect crops!
5. $650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi
Her answer: I guess I should be a Beaver manager!
The real answer: Beavers have a natural instinct to stop all running water. Left unchecked the will stop the flow of water into precious wetlands which in turn could wipe out entire local ecosystems...why not right?
3. $332,000 for the design and construction of a school sidewalk in Franklin, Texas
I guess we want the kids walking home from school in the streets...or how about no heat or ac in some of the countries 100+ year schools
1. $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa
IDK, maybe someone thought hey instead off all the waste and rot which poisons water tables and soil....Maybe just Maybe we could use the biproduct of the fattest country in the world to produce some sort of biofuel?
It seems so many are so quick to open there mouths with out even knowing what is going on. Just jump on the bandwagon and dont support our leader, the one that one the popular vote and the electoral vote.
People are so quick to jump all over obama, but quickly forget all the bonuses that employees beinifited from the bank bail outs of the Bush adminstration. If that is the case were is my bail out why didnt i get a bonus for nothing, worse then nothing, failing.
I want to tell you all something personal. I took a $16,000.00 pay cut last year because of the economy. Some of my pay is based on profits and commision. I did the best job i could do, My company didnt need a bail out, my company even turned a profit, but I didnt get the bonuses from the gov. Matter fact while they got millions and billions in combined bonues, I lost a measley 16k...guess im just a lucky guy.
If anyone should be bitter it should be ME, I have sixteen thousand reasons, but you dont seem me starting threads bashing reps...just defending our leader...forgive me but isnt it united we stand...
you asked an yee shall recieve disorder :)
Disorder
03-06-2009, 07:01
you asked an yee shall recieve disorder :)
We'll I do appreciate hearing some positive. I am currently waking up, drinking my coffie, about to get ready to go to work. My work proves me with excellent health and life insurance, that is very affordable for me. That is a major reason I see a universal health care is unfit for this nation. I feel it will cost the working class like myself more money, and less benifits. As for the "pork" spending. There needs to be spending to create and support jobs. But hey, why not invest that into education. We are in a major fiananial crisis, we really do not need to invest in checking pig waste for what ever gases... at this time, mabe when we can afford it, yea, but allocate that money to better uses. I could debate each of those spending ordeals, but the bottom line is we can not afford it at this time, and the people should be ashamed for expecting any kind of "bail out" or assistance for getting theirself into debt they knew they could not afford in the first place, my wife and I resisted the temp. to get that nice new 200k+ house, why should I want to burden our tax system bailing out the not so smart ones?
Gotta get to work, Uncle Sam is counting on my tax revenus today.
Later
I resisted too.
but i dont think the plan is meant for those to make 50K and bought a 400K house on a 0% interest arm, or any arm for that matter.
We'll I do appreciate hearing some positive. I am currently waking up, drinking my coffie, about to get ready to go to work. My work proves me with excellent health and life insurance, that is very affordable for me. That is a major reason I see a universal health care is unfit for this nation. I feel it will cost the working class like myself more money, and less benifits. As for the "pork" spending. There needs to be spending to create and support jobs. But hey, why not invest that into education. We are in a major fiananial crisis, we really do not need to invest in checking pig waste for what ever gases... at this time, mabe when we can afford it, yea, but allocate that money to better uses. I could debate each of those spending ordeals, but the bottom line is we can not afford it at this time, and the people should be ashamed for expecting any kind of "bail out" or assistance for getting theirself into debt they knew they could not afford in the first place, my wife and I resisted the temp. to get that nice new 200k+ house, why should I want to burden our tax system bailing out the not so smart ones?
Gotta get to work, Uncle Sam is counting on my tax revenus today.
Later
To tell you the truth I am depending on your tax revenues, Go to wrok, make lots of overtime.
@Maggio I am not bitter that Obama won the election, I am not bitter that the Repubs didn't. I know that it has only been a couple weeks that he has been in office, I just don't like the ideology of the fundamental changes to American society and the foundation that our great country was built on,being so radically changed. I see him, not the entire Dem party, leaning toward trying to make America a Socialist society. I am not in favor of socialism as a basis for government. I know, I am on disability which is a socialistic society and I depend on the government for my survival. However, what happened to me was not my fault. I did not want to become disabled and thank God that this country has this program in place for people like me who thru nofault of their own find themselves in dire circumstances.
I am against the bailouts for the banking industry when the first thing they do is pay their CEOs a fat bonus with our money. That is not right.
I am against the bail out of any privately owned business that thru their own doings have gotten themselves into the ****. I am all for helping those that lost their jobs because of the financial crises.
As far as the universal health care, my opinion is that this country has the best medical research and highest quality care in the world and that is because of competition. If we go to a socialized medical system, the competition will decrease because the brightest and most innovative minds in medicine will no longer look to medicine for their incomes as they would be able to better attain their goals in another field. I may be way off the mark on that one but I believe that the competition to succeed in your own personal lifestyle drives more ppl to excel than any other driving force there is.
I hope that Obama turns out to be a great president and succeeds in his term not for him but for the American people. I couldn't careless who is in place, I just want things to be better. I don't believe that we are going to get there by fundamentally changing the foundation of what our country was built on.
The only reason that I posted this thread to start with is that he stated clearly what he was going to do to help change the political back scratching iin this country and within 2 months went directly back on what he said. now if he wants to change something the political system needs to have the first look. He stated he was going to fight against the pork barrel spending and the first bill he passes ,,has over 7000 items attached to it at a cost of $8,000,000,000. We cannot afford this type of thing right now.
I will support my president just as I would if someone that I liked won the election, because I am an American and that is what we do. However when the ink isn't even dry on the inaugural documents and he goes back on one of the main things he ran on, I will voice my disapproval and dislike for that action, because I am an American and we are allowed to speak our minds. The constitution grants me the right to free speech and justbecause I have the right to speak I don't necessarily have the right to be heard. I am only practicing my God given rights to express myself.
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