Recent polling indicates that President Obama has a
commanding lead in several of the “battleground”
states. Seriously? I won’t get into the methodology of these polls as I don’t
believe blogger has the bandwidth to handle such a rant, but the fact that
anything is coming out showing the President ahead is mind boggling.
And just when I assumed that my senses had been assaulted
enough, here comes a comment from Stephanie Cutter, the Presidents Deputy Campaign Manager.
“That’s the other
thing that you find most often with women. They’re not really concerned about
what’s happened over the last four years. They really want to know what’s going
to happen in the next four years.”
You guys remember her right; she was the one who said she didn’t
know the facts about the Joe Soptic ad that accused Gov. Romney of having a
hand in his (Soptic's) wife’s death. That was until it was pointed out that they were on a
campaign conference call together when he told the story. Even then it was one
of those “who are you going to believe,
me or your lying eyes” moment.
Here we have the last manifestation of the Obama Campaign’s
“New Reality” tour. In this world,
the truth only matters when it is being provided by the campaign. In the latest
installment women are being told that they shouldn’t fixate on the “hope and change” they were promised, but
rather look “forward” to the amazing
things that will happen when the President has four more years to work his
magic.
Really Steph? Because you guys were pretty fixated on the
past before the President got elected. I believe “inherited” was the word you like to bandy about.
So I thought I might do a little re-cap of the highlights of
the last four years for those who might be on the fence a bit.
National Debt:
On Jan. 20, 2009 ,
the day Obama was inaugurated, the federal government’s debt was
$10,626,877,048,913.08. As of today it is over sixteen trillion dollars. Everyone like to bash the numbers, what is
his, what isn’t his, does it really truly matter? The nation is drowning and
both sides are standing on the boat arguing which life ring is better.
Federal Budget:
President Obama promised to go line by line in the federal
budget and removed waste. Despite that promise, in his first year he continued
to sign off on discretionary spending. Unfortunately, in a round about way I
guess he did make good after, because the Senate, under the “leadership” of Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D – NV) has not passed a budget in over three years. Sadly, this is not the hope and change we
were expecting. In fact the Presidents budgets have been viewed as so
completely unserious that the Senate rejected his 2012 budget by a vote of
97-0. Additionally, a budget proposal based on his 2013 budget plan lost in the
House by a vote of 414-0. How bad is it, when you cannot even get one
single vote from a member of your own party?
Cut the Deficit:
Four years ago, President Obama campaigned on a
promise to cut annual federal budget deficits in half by the end of
his term. Now, in pure DC politi-speak,
he explains that the deficit he “inherited”
is actually on a path to be cut in half just a year later than he promised, measured as a percentage of the economy’s
total output. It’s like when you remove money from one account into another
account, and then you spend both.
End Partisan Politics:
President Obama promised to transcend Washington
partisanship. Quite the opposite, he has divided DC worse then before. Washington
remains stagnant. The Washington
of today is as indistinguishable from the one Obama warned against four years
ago. In fact, he recently said that the most important lesson he learned during
his first term in the White House is that "you can't change Washington
Foreign Relations:
Candidate Obama promised to restore America ’s
standing across the globe and to be a strong and responsible leader on foreign
policy. In fact, in 2009 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen
international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." But what has he actually done? Read Here: Foreign
Affairs
Just ask yourself, if Bush were still president would they
be saying the same thing.
End the Iraq Afghanistan
President Obama said he would end the war safely and
responsibly “within 16 months.” So
what happened? The troops were withdrawn under the terms of a bilateral
agreement which was signed in 2008 by President Bush in which all US
Forces were mandated to withdraw from Iraqi territory by 31 December 2011 . So Obama
failed in his promise, but kept Bush’s agreement.
OK, see here is a big problem for me. I’m against both
wars…………..you, in the corner, get up off the floor and shut your mouth, you
look stupid. Let me explain.
They are pointless. Don’t talk to me about 9/11 and the war
on Terror. I was there at its birth. But the notion that, in some manner, shape
or form, we can win over the hearts and minds of these people is ignorant. The
only time they don’t hate each other is when they have an infidel to hate. The
only thing they respect is someone with a bigger stick. Putting boots on the
ground is pointless in the sense that we do with large brigades and regiments.
Like bringing a mallet and chisel in to do brain surgery.
So where are we at? Sectarian violence is spreading
throughout Iraq .
Think Republicans and Democrats with RPG’s, AK-47’s and car bombs. Al Qaeda is
making significant inroads. Anyone who tells you the threat is minimal is an
idiot. A small, highly motivated, ideologically group can ruin your day very
quickly and do so indefinitely.
Over in Afghanistan ,
while the last of the “surge” troops
are gone, more than seventy-five thousand ground forces remain for the
foreseeable future. Despite our best efforts, increase in Taliban activity goes
on and there is now a growing trend of Afghanistan soldiers and police turning
on their US and NATO partners. Now our soldiers have to worry about enemies both
in front and behind them. You see, all these groups have to do is wait you out.
They know we don’t have the patience to remain forever. So they will wait till we
begin to pull out, and then hit harder and harder, until you throw up your
hands and just pull everyone out. Don’t believe me; ask the Russians how it
worked out for them.
My opinion is you are not going to change these people. All
they have ever known and understood is brutal regimes. Hold the regimes
accountable, and the people will learn from that. From the beginning we should
have sent in Special Forces ground troops to identify and target the leaders
and then dropped massive ordinance from on high. Tell them you try anything
stupid again and we will drop twice as much. Bombs are a helluva lot cheaper
than the lives of US soldiers.
Saved the Auto Industry:
I know the President loves to take credit for this one but I
just wanted to remind readers that is was in fact then President Bush who
provided the initial funding for the auto industry bailout. Personally, I
disagreed with the bailout. I think GM and Chrysler got into the mess they did
by making shitty cars and unions milked every dime they could. Maybe if one
company had failed it would have sent a strong message through both management
and union. A recent Gallup Poll indicates that 51% of those polled also
disapproved so I guess I am not alone.
Transparency in Government:
President Obama once said that his administration would have
an “unprecedented” level of transparency. Let’s tick this one off:
- News
agencies and others have complained about the difficulty in getting
information through Freedom of Information Act filings.
- The
President used executive privilege to keep congressional investigators
from getting Justice Department documents on the agency’s failed Operation Fast and Furious
gun-tracking effort.
- Candidate
Obama said the Health Care Debate would be televised. However, final
health care talks, including the meetings between the House and Senate,
were held behind closed doors.
- White
House visitor logs are missing the names and details of visitors to the
White House.
- In
fact, Lobbyists met with administration officials outside the White House
in an effort to keep them off visitor’s logs.
In the end, you have to ask yourself whether Candidate Obama
was just ignorant about the promises he was making, or did he just lie to
garner votes.
Honestly, I disagreed with President Bush about a lot of
things. I don’t think you can be President and please everyone. But I
fundamentally disagree with just about everything President Obama is doing and
for the love of God that does not mean I am a racist.
The economy is not where it needs to be and will not get
there on the course we are on. You cannot, on one hand, blame capitalism and
Wall Street and then, on the other hand, expect them to produce for you. The
tax code is a horror and worse it is very unsettled. There is no sound long
term outlook. Heck, we don’t know what’s
going to happen if or when the Bush tax credits end.
This notion that we should just go ahead and raise the taxes
on the rich is absurd. So, that would do
what? Generate enough income for the government to run eight extra days?
Really, that’s the plan? Redistribution of wealth is not an answer. There comes
a point when the people you take from, to give to those less fortunate, simply
stop doing for themselves and come to you for the same handout. When that
happens, where do you think the money will come from?
I remember watching a show one day about some doomsday
people. They were living high on the hog. They had maxed out credit cards
buying and doing what they wanted. Their philosophy? According to the Mayan Calendar
the world was ending on December 21st
2012 , so they didn’t have to pay it back. My first thought was that
December 22nd was going to be a bitch for them.
Why do I have a feeling this nation is acting the same way?
President Obama said in February 2009 “Look, I’m at the start of my administration. One nice thing
about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable.
You know, I’ve got four years. A year from 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 question has been asked, are you better off now then you
were four years ago. The easy answer is No. The deeper answer is that President
Obama has just been the latest captain of a ship that has been going in the
wrong direction for decades. The hard part is making the difficult choices to
alter the direction. Look at Spain ,
Greece and France
and see how well that goes over.
More importantly, what happens the day he gets reelected and
he wakes up and looks in the mirror and realizes that he has become his
“predecessor” and no longer has anyone else to blame.
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