President Obama has been in office just over 120 days and has already begun the process of unraveling, sidestepping, and reversing his campaign promises and positions. Mr. Obama built his Presidential campaign around two simple premises, hope and change. During the primary and the general election campaigns, he called his rivals out on issues like Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, torture, transparency, fiscal policy, healthcare, the economy, and more. He said that if elected, he would alter America’s course and bring hope and the promise of a brighter future to the American people. He has done everything but since he took office.
The change that Barack Obama promised the American people ended up being a change for Mr. Obama rather than a change for the country. In every respect thus far, President Obama has demonstrated that he is not the man we met on the campaign trail. He has, through his swift and decisive actions, revealed two key facts about himself. The first is that change has not arrived in Washington. Perhaps change was left on the train that brought him to the inauguration. The second is that he will not be honoring his campaign promises. He might honor some or parts of them but in total, he won’t honor what he promised.
It can be understated that Barack Obama ultimately won the election because of his positions on Iraq and the state of the American economy. Yet, on both issues, President Obama has altered his positions and reneged on his promises. He promised to bring our troops home from Iraq and end the war in Iraq. Thus far, he has merely promised to have all but a small contingent out of the country by 2011. On the economy, he passed a nearly $1 Trillion stimulus package designed to revive a devastated economy. To date, roughly $40 Billion of the nearly $1 Trillion has been spent and the economy is merely puttering along rather than recovering and people are still losing their jobs and their homes.
There are other promises President Obama has reneged on. One was transparency. This week, the Obama Administration refused to release the White House visitor logs. If that is his definition of transparency, it would be interesting to see what his definition of opaque would be. Another promise was to restore justice. During his short tenure, President Obama has blocked the release of photos that would prove that the United States, under President George W. Bush, tortured prisoners. Not only that, he granted a blanket pardon to the very people who tortured and authorized the torture of those prisoners. And yet another promise was to restore fiscal accountability. No accountability has been restored. Pay-go rules have not been re-implemented, and President Obama has spent trillions, not billions, of the people’s money.
In all so far, President Obama is not a man of hope, nor is he an agent of change. The frightening part about this is that he is our President and without his campaign promises and positions to use as a guide, the American people have no idea who he really is or what he will really do. Unless he plans on reversing course at some point, he has outright lied to the American people. What is worse is that we didn’t have an alternative in the election; John McCain and Sarah Palin would have been just like Obama. At some point we, as Americans, are going to need to claim our country back. I’m afraid, however, that we might have seen our last great hope in Election ‘08. Fool us once, but not twice. How can we get the trust back when the very person we elected to do so does not and probably will not? No one is going to want to believe someone claiming this in the future, will we? Although it has only been four months, one thing is clear: President Obama is not Candidate Obama. We should all be outraged and horrifically saddened. Shame on you Barack Obama.
Everyone who is suprised, raise your hand. Welcome to the result of a media driven, slick as snot campaign slogan method of electing our officials. Why don’t we ever get the really good ones into office? Because we tolerate the steady stream of character assasinations that spring forth from people on both sides of the political spectrum. I am sure the Mr. Obama probably had some sort of intent to try to do some of his promises early on on his campaign. But as it started to become apparent that he might actually get elected, the major promise train started (anything to get elected). Until we hold the media and campaigns accountable to be truthful we will continue to get what we have- – a bunch of self serving individuals who gather together to promote their own agendas.
If we want real change, we have to commit to the actual things that bring change. We must take away the power of endless incumbancy, require a balanced budget amendment, and restore to the states the rights granted at the founding of this country. There must be complete accountability to truth in the campaigns and a definite reigning in of PAC groups. We must require our polititians to clearly state who they are and what they believe (and not then anihilate them when they do.) We live in a land where we have the freedom to disagree, let us not blow that one, it will be the last one we looses.
It is not to late to bring real change, I hope.
Just a thought, Glenn
I agree with you. A balanced budget amendment would be a great thing. I’d vote for it today. It would, in a way, require “Pay Go”. In Colorado, we passed the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights back in the early 90s which required a balanced budget. It is a pain for our lawmakers every year, but Colorado cannot legally run a deficit. Take California for instance. I’m worried the Federal Government will be in that position in 5 or 10 years if we don’t do something. But yes, I agree. I too hope it is not too late to bring real change. To my own embarrassment, my judgment was clouded by that “slick” campaign slogan and a seemingly sincere politician. I’m worried that we won’t know how to recognize the genuine article in the future, thus forcing us down the same old road of promises/broken promises, disproportionate government size, large deficits, and endless wars. Thanks for posting, I was worried that I was alone in seeing this.
Here in the people’s republic of Oregon we are experiencing a double whammy. We have one of the highest unemployment rate in the nation and it is putting a major crimp in our tax loving govenor’s style. So he has proposed a whole new round of tax increases to pay for programs that are failing to actually do anything. We have a balanced budget requirement here but that is not enough. If a person is serious about changing things they need to be fiscally responsible and realize that taxing the life out of both business and individuals cannot be sustained as a long term solution. Government must learn to live withing the reality presented by the economy- fewer jobs, less income, less taxes meens you must reduce spending– period. We are about to be blessed with a gross reciepts tax in Oregon. In other words, you are taxed on your sales, not your profit. Costs will no longer be a factor. This will amount to double+ taxation.
This can’t go on.