PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BROKEN PROMISES
By DiscoverTheNetworks.org
September 2012
This section of DiscoverTheNetworks examines the promises that Barack Obama made during the 2008 presidential campaign and early in his presidency, but subsequently broke.
I) OBAMA PROMISES
TO BE A UNITER OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE:
*“There
is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is a
United States of America. There is not a black America and a white
America, a Latino America, an Asian America, There is a United States
of America.”-- Obama
addressing the Democratic national convention in 2004 (here
and here)
* “[Too often] we’re distracted from our real
failures and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or
immigrants.” -- Obama's
announcement speech declaring his presidential candidacy (February
10, 2007)
* “I don’t want to pit Red America against Blue America. I want to
be the president of the United States of America.” -- Obama
at the 2007
Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Iowa
* “We have a
choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division
and conflict and cynicism…. That is one option. Or, at this moment,
in this election, we can come together and say, ‘Not this time….’”
-- Obama
speech in Philadelphia, addressing the controversy over Jeremiah
Wright (March
18, 2008)
* Candidate
Obama told Jann Wenner of Rolling
Stonein
2008
that he would put an end to the type of politics that
“breeds division and conflict and cynicism,” and that he would
help Americans “rediscover our bonds to each other and to get out of
this constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our
politics.”
* “If you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to
scare voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you
paint your opponent as someone people should run from.” -- Obama,
implicitly rejecting political scare tactics, during his presidential
acceptance speech (August
28, 2008)
* “You
[voters] said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and
ager and pettiness that's consumed Washington; to end the political
strategy that's been all about division. And instead make it about
addition; to build a coalition for change that stretches through red
states and blue states.” -- Obama,
after winning the Iowa Caucus (January
1, 2008)
* “The
time has come for a president … who will listen to you and learn
from you even when we disagree.... I will be that president for
America.” -- Obama,
after winning the Iowa Caucus (January
1, 2008)
* “I'll
be a president who finally makes health care affordable and
available to every single American, the same way I expanded health
care in Illinois. By bringing Democrats and Republicans together to
get the job done.”
-- Obama,
after winning the Iowa Caucus (January
1, 2008)
* “This
[victory in Iowa] was the moment when we finally beat back the
politics of fear and doubt and cynicism, the politics where we tear
each other down instead of lifting this country up.”
-- Obama,
after winning the Iowa Caucus (January
1, 2008)
* “We
are not a collection of red states and blue state. We are the United
States of America.”
-- Obama,
after winning the Iowa Caucus (January
1, 2008)
* “I will listen to you, especially when we disagree… Let us
resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and
pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for too
long.” -- Obama
in Grant Park, Chicago, on the night of his election (Nov.
4, 2008)
END RESULT: Obama has consistently sought to divide Americans
along lines of class, race, ethnicity, and sex. For details and
documentation of this, click here.
II) OBAMA PROMISES TO END POLITICAL PARTISANSHIP, AND TO WORK WITH REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS TO GET THINGS DONE
* "If
the Republicans have ideas for how to improve our healthcare system,
if they want to suggest modifications that would deliver faster, more
effective reform ... I am happy to consider some of those ideas,"
Obama told a news conference at the White House. -- Obama during
the healthcare debate (Nov.
3, 2010)
* “[T]he
Republicans say that they've got a better way of doing it. So I want
them to put it on the table because as I told them -- as I told them
a while back, look, I mean, I'm not a -- I'm not an unreasonable guy.
If you show me that you can do the things we just talked about --
protect people from insurance problems, make sure that the costs are
controlled, and people who don't have health insurance are covered --
and you can do it cheaper than me, then why wouldn’t I do that?
I'll just grab your idea and say, great, and take all the credit. I'd
be happy to do it.” -- Obama
at a healthcare town hall meeting in Henderson,
NV (Feb.
19, 2010)
* “If
next week senators have additional ideas that will put people back to
work right now and meet the challenges of -- of the current economy,
we are happy to consider them.... I
am happy to negotiate with them [Republicans] on a whole host of
issues.” -- Obama
at a news conference, pressing for a vote on his jobs bill (Oct.
6, 2011)
END RESULT: Obama has consistently refused to take Republican ideas seriously. For example:
The Washington
Postreported on 1/23/09: "President
Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during
a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning - but he
also left no doubt about who's in charge of these negotiations. 'I
won,' Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar
with the conversation."
In October
2010, Obama said: These are the folks whose policies help devastate our middle class. They drove our economy into a ditch. And we got in there and put on our boots. We pushed and we shoved and we were sweating. These guys were standing, watching us, sipping on a Slurpee. And they were pointing at us saying, ‘How come you’re not pushing harder? How com you’re not pushing faster?’ And then when we finally got the car up–and it’s got a few dings and a few dents. It’s got some mud on it. We’re going to have to do some work on it. They point out to everybody else and say: ‘Look what these guys did to your car!’ After we got it out of the ditch, and then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back. I don’t want to give them the keys back. They don’t know how to drive.... We don’t
mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they
gotta sit in back.”
III) OBAMA PROMISES
TO CUT FEDERAL SPENDING AND THE BUDGET DEFICIT:
* In
an October 2008 presidential debate with McCain, Obama said:
“But
there is no doubt that we've been living beyond our means and we're
going to have to make some adjustments. Now,
what I've done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending
cut.”
* Also in
2008, Obama said it was “unpatriotic”
for the Bush administration to have added $4 trillion to the national
debt in eight years.)
* “[T]oday
I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my
first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to
make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected.
But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay
– and that means taking responsibility right now, in this
administration, for getting our spending under control.” –
President Barack Obama, Remarks,
2/23/09
* “This is big – the President today promised that by the end of
his first term, he will cut in half the massive federal deficit we've
inherited. And we'll do it in a new way: honestly and candidly.” –
Macon Phillips, The
White House Blog,
2/23/09
END
RESULT: From 2009 through 2012, President Obama
presided over a $5 trillion increase to the U.S. national debt.
IV) OBAMA PROMISES
THAT PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP THEIR DOCTORS AND HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS UNDER
OBAMACARE:
* To Promote
His Health Care Package, President Obama said the
following: “If
you like your doctor, you will be able to keep
your doctor,
period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep
your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter
what.”
* “Americans must have the freedom to keep whatever doctor and health
care plan they have…” – Barack Obama, Remarks
On Health Care,
Washington, D.C., 5/11/09
* “The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans
should have better choices for health insurance, building on the
principle that if they like the coverage they have now, they can keep
it, …” – Barack Obama, Letter
To Senate Democrat Leaders,
6/2/09
* “There's no doubt that we have to preserve what's best in the
health care system, and that means allowing Americans who like their
doctor and like their health care plan to keep their plan. And that's
going to be a priority for us.” – Barack Obama, Remarks
At Northern Virginia Community College,
Annandale, VA, 7/1/09
* “I know a lot of Americans who are satisfied with their health care
right now are wondering what reform would mean for them, so let me be
clear: If you like your doctor or health care provider, you can keep
them. If you like your health care plan, you can keep that too.” – Barack Obama,
Remarks
On Health Care,
Washington, D.C., 7/15/09
* “Those who oppose reform will also tell you that under our plan,
you won't get to choose your doctor, that some bureaucrat will choose
for you. That's also not true. Michelle and I don't want anyone
telling us who our family's doctor should be, and no one should
decide that for you either. Under our proposals, if you like your
doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your current insurance, you
keep that insurance. Period. End of story.” – President Barack
Obama, Weekly
Address,
7/18/09
END
RESULT:
* In
February 2010, President Obama said:
“... For example, we said from the start that it was going to be
important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have
your — if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can
keep it, that you’re not going to have anybody getting in between
you and your doctor in your decision making. And I think that some of
the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that
pledge.”
* The Heritage Foundation reports that at
least 30 percent of
employers say they will definitely or probably stop offering
insurance once the law’s main provisions go into effect in 2014,
and that the number could rise above 50% once employers become
fully aware of all of the law's implications. Investors
Business Daily places the
figure at 51% for all employers, and 66% among small business
employers.
* In Crimes Against Liberty,
David
Limbaugh writes: “Obama
said ObamaCare 'would preserve the right of Americans who have
insurance to keep their doctor and their plan.' But he knew his plan
had no such guarantee, and he also knew his plan would likely crowd
out private insurers. The chief actuary of the Medicare program
estimates 14 million people will lose their employer coverage under
ObamaCare, even though many will want to keep it. In fact, many
companies are now evaluating whether they can save money by paying
the penalty in lieu of providing their employees healthcare coverage.
AT&T, Caterpillar, John Deere, and Verizon have all made their
internal calculations, and those results don't portend well for their
employees.”
V) OBAMA PROMISES
TO TELEVISE THE HEALTHCARE DEBATES ON C-SPAN:
* During
the 2008 campaign, Obama repeatedly promised that all the
negotiations would be televised on CSPAN, so that all Americans could
see exactly what was being said and done. This
page
cites the following Obama quotes on this subject:
"You know I respect what the
Clintons tried to do in 1993 in moving health reform forward. But
they made one really big mistake, and that is they took all their
people and all their experts into a room and then they closed the
door. We will work on this process publicly. It'll be on C-SPAN. It
will be streaming over the net." -November 2008, Google Q &
A
"Not negotiating behind
closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting
those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see
what the choices are. 'Cause part of what we have to do is enlist
the American people in this process." -January 2008, CNN Debate
"But
these negotiations will be on C-SPAN. And so the public will be part
of the conversation, and will see the choices being made."
-January 2008, San Francisco Chronicle
"We
will have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN so people can see who
is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are
making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance
companies." -August 2008, Virginia Town Hall
"And
we will have a public process for forming this plan. It'll be
televised on C-SPAN. I can't guarantee it'll be exciting so not
everybody's gonna be watching. But it will be transparent and
accountable to the American people." -November 2007, Keene
Sentinel
END
RESULT: When Senator John McCain pointed out to Obama (in February 2010) that the
proceedings had not been televised, Obama said, disparagingly:
“We're
not campaigning anymore, the election's over.”
VI) OBAMA PROMISES
THAT HEALTHCARE REFORM WILL LOWER INSURANCE POLICY PREMIUM
COSTS:
* During
the 2008 campaign, President Obama promised
to “sign
a universal health care bill into law by the end of [his] first term
as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a
typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.”
* During
the healthcare debate, Obama said:
"We
agree on reforms that will finally reduce the costs of health care.
Families will save on their premiums; businesses that will see their
costs rise if we do nothing will save money now and in the future.
This plan will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of that
program. And because it gets rid of the waste and
inefficiencies in our health care system, this will be the largest
deficit reduction plan in over a decade.”
* In October 2008, Obama
said:
“Here’s what I would do. If you’ve got health care already, and
probably the majority of you do, then you can keep your plan if you
are satisfied with it. You can keep your choice of doctor. We’re
going to work with your employer to lower the cost of your premiums
by up to $2,500 a year.”
* MIT
economist Jonathan Gruber, the chief architect of Obamacare, also
said
in 2009 that costs would drop sharply.
* On September 22, 2010, Obama reiterated
that
“as a consequence of the Affordable Care Act, premiums are going to
be lower than they would be otherwise; health care costs overall are
going to be lower than they would be otherwise. And that means, by
the way, that the deficit is going to be lower than it would be
otherwise.”
END
RESULT:
* Exactly
the opposite
has happened, as the Heritage Foundation reported in 2011: “Health
care spending increased by 7.5 percent in 2010 and will grow by 8
percent this year. In 2012, it will rise again by 8.5 percent. This
is exactly
the opposite
of the President’s promise ...”
* In
February 2012, Obamacare's Jonathan Gruber backtracked
on his previous analysis. He now told officials in Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Colorado the price of insurance premiums would
“dramatically increase” under the reforms.
* The
Heritage Foundation projects that the average cost of
employer-provided insurance will rise by $5.51
per hour
for each full-time employee.
* Obama
initially stated that his plan would cost no more than $940 billion
over a ten-year period. But a subsequent CBO report found that the actual
cost to taxpayers would be $1.8
trillion.
VII) OBAMA PROMISES
TO CLOSE THE GUANTANAMO BAY DETENTION CENTER:
When running for president, Obama consistently portrayed Guantanamo Bay as a moral stain on America's
reputation abroad. Here are four
of his statements about it:
June
2007:
“Why
don't we close Guantanamo and restore the right of habeas corpus,
because that's how we lead, not with the might of our military, but
the power of our ideals and the power of our values? It's time to
show the world we're not a country that ships prisoners in the dead
of night to be tortured in far off countries.”
August
2007:
"As
President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions
Act and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our
Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with
the terrorists."
December
13, 2007:
“If you were a
Muslim overseas listening to Rudy Giuliani say 'they are coming here
to try to kill you,' which is the tenor of many of the speeches that
are delivered by Republicans, you would get an impression that they
are not interested in talking and resolving issues peacefully. Now,
what we need to do [to reach Muslims] is we need to close Guantanamo.
We need to restore habeas corpus. We need to send a strong signal
that we are going to talk directly to not just our friends but also
to our enemies.”
November
16, 2008:
"I have said repeatedly that I will close Guantanamo, and I will
follow through on that."
END
RESULT: On
January 22, 2009, President Obama signed an executive order that stated:
“The detention facilities at Guantanamo for individuals covered by
this order shall be closed as soon as practicable and no later than
one year from the date of this order.”
Guantanamo remains open to this day. In March 2011 Obama signed
an executive order
to create a formal system of indefinite detention for the captives
still kept at Guantanamo.
VIII) OBAMA PROMISES
THAT NO ONE EARNING UNDER $250,000 WOULD GET A TAX HIKE: During
the campaign, Obama made “a
firm pledge”:
“No
family making less than $250,000 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.”
END
RESULT:
* In
February 2010 Obama said
he was “agnostic” about raising taxes on such households: “The
whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table. So
what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of
solutions.”
* A case can be made that Obama's support for Cap
& Trade was support for an energy tax on every American
regardless of income, and that only the Senate's failure to pass the
bill spared Americans from that tax.
* A case can also be made
for the claim that Obamacare, and the increased healthcare costs it
imposes on people through the individual mandate as well as its
higher costs in general, also constitutes a heavy tax on millions of
middle-class people. Indeed the Supreme Court in 2012 definitively called it a tax.
* According to Americans
for Tax Reform,
here are some other items related to Obama's pledge not to raise
taxes on those earning under $250,000:
Feb.
4, 2009 – Just sixteen days into his presidency, Obama signed into
law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco – a
hike of 62 cents per pack. The median income of smokers is just over
$36,000.
March
23, 2010 – Obama’s health care bill enacted two dozen new or
higher taxes (at least seven of which violated his “firm pledge”
on taxes), including:
--
Individual Mandate Excise Tax
--
Employer Mandate Excise Tax
--
Small business 1099-MISC Information Reporting
--
Surtax on Investment Income
--
Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
--
Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax
--
Medicine Cabinet Tax
--
HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike
--
Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax”
--
Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers
--
"Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10%
of Adjusted Gross Income
--
Tax on Indoor Tanning Services
--
Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug
coverage
--
Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike
--
Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals
--
Tax on Innovator Drug Companies
--
Tax on Health Insurers
--
Biofuel “black liquor” tax hike
--
Codification of the “economic substance doctrine”
IX) OBAMA PROMISES
TO RENEGOTIATE NAFTA: At an Aug
7, 2007 AFL-CIO
Democratic primary forum, candidate
Obama was asked, “Would
you scrap NAFTA or fix it?” He replied: “I
would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of
Canada to try to amend NAFTA because I think that we can get labor
agreements in that agreement right now. And it should reflect the
basic principle that our trade agreements should not just be good for
Wall Street, it should also be good for Main Street.” Here
is video
of several times Obama pledged to renegotiate NAFTA.
END
RESULT:
In April
2009,
Obama broke his campaign pledge to renegotiate
NAFTA.
X) OBAMA PROMISES
NOT TO APPOINT LOBBYISTS IN HIS ADMINISTRATION: During
the campaign, Obama said
that lobbyists “won’t
work in my White House.”
“They
are not going to dominate my White House,” he said at a rally.
END
RESULT:
Obama broke this pledge immediately upon taking office in January
2009, when he
nominated William Lynn as deputy to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
At the time, Lynn
was a senior vice president at Raytheon, which has billions of
dollars in Defense Department contracts. Obama’s transition office
explained the decision: “Because Mr. Lynn came so highly
recommended from experts across the political spectrum, the
president-elect felt it was critical that he fill this position.”
During his first two weeks in office, Obama nominated 17
lobbyists
for Administration posts. There were many
others after that. This
source
says that by January 2012, Obama had appointed nearly 100
lobbyists.
XI) OBAMA PROMISES
TO POST ALL PENDING LEGISLATION ONLINE 5 DAYS BEFORE SIGNING IT:
* In
June
2007, Obama announced
his “Sunlight Before Signing” promise: “When
there is a bill that ends up on my desk as the president, you the
public will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it
before I sign it.”
* Obama repeated
that promise on his campaign website:
“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.”
END
RESULT: Obama signed his first bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration
Act, on Jan. 20, 2009 – only two days after its passage. He signed
a second bill expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program just three hours after Congress passed it. And on Feb. 17,
2009, he signed his 1,000-page $787 billion stimulus bill only one
business day after it passed through Congress.
XII) OBAMA PROMISES
TO SUPPORT AND PROTECT ISRAEL:
* “...
as president I will
never compromise when it comes to Israel's security. Not when there
are still voices that deny the Holocaust. Not when there are
terrorist groups and political leaders committed to Israel's
destruction. Not when there are maps across the Middle East that
don't even acknowledge Israel's existence, and government-funded
textbooks filled with hatred toward Jews. Not when there are rockets
raining down on Sderot, and Israeli children have to take a deep
breath and summon uncommon courage every time they board a bus or
walk to school.”
* “But
part of our commitment must be speaking up when Israel's security is
at risk, and I don't think any of us can be satisfied that America's
recent foreign policy has made Israel more secure.”
* “Our
alliance is based on shared interests and shared values. Those who
threaten Israel threaten us. Israel has always faced these threats
on the front lines. And I will bring to the White House an
unshakeable commitment to Israel's security. That starts with
ensuring Israel's qualitative military advantage. I will ensure that
Israel can defend itself from any threat — from Gaza to Tehran.
Defense cooperation between the United States and Israel is a model
of success, and must be deepened.”
* “Let
me be clear. Israel's security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable.
The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and
that allows them to prosper — but any agreement with the
Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish
state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem
will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”
END
RESULT:
*
Two days after his
inauguration, President Obama placed his first phone call to a
foreign leader -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas.
Abbas had repeatedly emphasized
the importance of "implementing the principles of Yasser
Arafat.”
*
On June 4, 2009, President Obama went to Cairo, Egypt to deliver a
much-anticipated address to the Muslim world. Drawing a moral
equivalence between the historical experiences of the Jews and Middle
Eastern Arabs, Obama said:
"The Jewish people were persecuted.… [A]nti-Semitism …
culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust…. Six million Jews were
killed…. On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the
Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in
pursuit of a homeland." “There has been a stalemate,”
Obama elaborated.
“Two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful
history…. It's easy to point fingers — for Palestinians to point
to the displacement brought about by Israel's founding, and for
Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks."
*
In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly in
September 2009, President Obama drew a moral equivalence between the
suffering of the Israelis and of the Palestinians:
"We continue to call on
Palestinians to end incitement against Israel. And we continue to
emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued
Israeli settlements."
"The United States does
Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to
its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate
claims and rights of the Palestinians.
*
In a January 2010 interview, President Obama said
-- despite Israel’s acceptance-in-principle of a Palestinian state,
its readiness to negotiate, and its commitment to an unprecedented
ten-month Jewish construction freeze in Judea and Samaria -- that
Israel theretofore had made no “bold gestures” for peace.
*
In November 2009, President Obama expressed displeasure over
Israel's approval of a
plan to build 900 new homes
in Gilo. Said Obama: "I think that additional settlement
building does not contribute to Israel's security. I think it makes
it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors. I think it
embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very
dangerous."
* After IDF troops intercepted and boarded
ships in the Free Gaza flotilla in 2010, MSNBC reported
that the Obama administration "wants to see a new approach that
would allow more supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area
while guaranteeing Israel's security"; that there was "a
growing consensus within the administration that U.S. and Israeli
policy toward Gaza must change"; that "White House
officials said they had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's government to use 'caution and restraint' before the raid
on the aid convoy"; that Vice President Joe Biden was in favor
of putting "as much pressure and as much cajoling on Israel as
we can to allow [the Palestinians] to get building materials and
other designated humanitarian aid into Gaza"; and that Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton supported a Security Council
statement condemning
the
"acts" that had cost the lives of the activists aboard the
Mavi
Marmara.
*
In an effort to contain the political fallout from the Mavi
Marmara
incident, in June 2010 President Obama offered to
send an extra $400 million in “humanitarian aid” to the
Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (This was to be above
and beyond the $600+ million
in aid which the U.S. was already sending to the Palestinian
Authority each year.) In remarks he made during a meeting with
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas,
Obama urged Israel to put a stop to its settlement activity and
called on the Palestinians to avoid inciting
further confrontation. He also called on Israel to reassess
its blockade on Gaza.
* On May 19, 2011, Obama urged Israel to
understand that it would never be able to achieve genuine peace if it
persisted in seeking "permanent occupation." In issuing his
call for the existence of “two states,” Obama said that “the
borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines
with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are
established for both states.” He was referring to the borders that
existed before the 1967 Six
Day War
in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
*
Obama favored the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, even though it was
clear to many observers that he would be succeeded by Muslim
Brotherhood extremists who would seek to discard Egypt's peace treaty
with Israel.
* On November 3, 2011, President Obama conducted
what
he thought was a private conversation
about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with French President
Nicolas Sarkozy in the aftermath of a G20 summit. However, the
microphones which the two men were wearing from their earlier press
conference had not been turned off. What ensued was a major public
embarrassment after both Obama and Sarkozy disparaged Netanyahu. In
the exchange, Sarkozy told Obama: “I cannot stand him [Netanyahu].
He is a liar.” Obama replied: “You’re fed up with him, but I
have to deal with him every day!”
XIII) OBAMA PROMISES
TO TRY THE 9/11 CONSPIRATORS IN CIVILIAN COURT RATHER THAN IN MILITARY
TRIBUNALS:
* December
2007:
Obama said, “The
creation of military commissions, without congressional
authorization, was unlawful ... and a bad idea.”
* Immediately
following his inauguration, Obama's first
act
as U.S. President was to order the
suspension of all military
tribunals
that had been established to adjudicate the cases of terror suspects
at the Guantanamo
Bay
detention center.
* The
New York Times cited “the
Obama administration’s effort to restore the role of the
traditional
criminal justice system
in handling terrorism prosecutions.”
END
RESULT: On
November 13, 2009, the Obama administration announced that it would
try five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11
conspiracy, in a civilian
court --
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The
defendants were Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul
Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, and 9/11 mastermind Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed.
But when this decision became politically radioactive, the Obama
administration changed the venue to a military tribunal, as had been
the Bush administration's original plan.
XIV) OBAMA PROMISES TO BOLSTER U.S. BORDER
SECURITY: During
the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama spoke of the importance of maintaining “border
security,” saying: “We
can’t just have hundreds of thousands of people coming into the
country without knowing who they are.”
END RESULT:
* In
August 2010, CNS News reported:
“Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Ariz., says it is 'an outrage'
the Obama administration has stopped building the double-fencing
needed to assist the Border Patrol in securing the U.S.-Mexico border
and says it is time for the United States to begin fighting illegal
immigration and drug smuggling directly at the border instead of
within the country where it harms American citizens and
communities.”
* On
August 24, 2010, the
Houston Chronicle reported:
“The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing
thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those
filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious
criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the
efforts.... Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the
Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor 'amnesty'
program....”
* In
August 2011, President Obama issued an executive
order
to prevent
potentially thousands of cases in federal immigration court from
moving forward if they did not involve criminals or people with
flagrant immigration violations.
XV) THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PREDICTS THAT THE STIMULUS BILL WILL KEEP THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BELOW 8 PERCENT: This
was a projection more than a promise in its truest sense. The Obama
administration projected that the stimulus bill would keep
unemployment below 8 percent. The source of this projection was a January 9, 2009
report authored by Christina Romer, the incoming
chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and Jared
Bernstein, chief economic adviser for incoming Vice President Joe
Biden. The report contained a chart predicting unemployment rates
in subsequent years. That chart showed that with the stimulus,
unemployment was projected to top out at just under 8 percent towards
the end of 2009.
END
RESULT:
The reality was very different. As of this writing (September 2012), unemployment had
never been below 8% since Romer's comments.
XVI) OBAMA PLEDGES TO OPPOSE AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE IN HEALTHCARE:
* In
a 2008 debate against Hillary, Obama said
he was opposed to the individual mandate for healthcare: “We've
got a philosophical difference, which we've debated repeatedly, and
that is that Senator Clinton believes the only way to achieve
universal health care is to force everybody to purchase it. And my
belief is, the reason that people don't have it is not because they
don't want it but because they can't afford it. And so I emphasize
reducing costs.”
* At a Feb. 26, 2008 debate against Hillary, Obama
said:
“Her
[Hillary's] mandate is not a mandate for the government to provide
coverage to everybody; it is a mandate that every individual purchase
health care....
I believe that if ... people end up seeing a plan that is affordable
for them, I promise you they are snatching it up because they are
desperate to get health care. And that’s what I intend to provide
as president of the United States.”
* At the same debate, Obama
said:
“But
we don’t want to put adults in a situation in which, on the front
end, we are mandating them, we are forcing them to purchase
insurance, and if the subsidies are inadequate, the burden is on
them, and they will be penalized. And that is what Sen. Clinton’s
plan does.”
* On January 30, 2008, Obama
said:
“... I
emphasize reducing costs. If we provide subsidies to those who can’t
afford it, they will buy it. Sen. Clinton has a different approach.
She believes that we have to force people who don’t have health
insurance to buy it, or there will be a lot of people who don’t get
it. But if you are going to mandate the purchase of insurance &
it’s not affordable, then there’s going to have to be some
enforcement mechanism that the government uses. And they may charge
fines to people who already don’t have health care, or take it out
of their paychecks. And that, I don’t think, is helping those
without health insurance.”
END
RESULT:
The
healthcare reform bill included an individual mandate.
XVII) OBAMA PROMISES TO OPPOSE RECESS APPOINTMENTS: In
August 2005, then-Senator Obama
criticized President Bush’s recess appointment of UN Ambassador
John Bolton, saying:
“To some degree, he's damaged goods … somebody who couldn't get
through a nomination in the Senate. And I think that that means that
we will have less credibility.”
END
RESULT:
* In March 2010 Obama made 15
recess appointments,
saying: “If,
in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the
Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility [referring to approving
Obama’s appointments], I must act in the interest of the American
people and exercise my authority to fill these appointments on an
interim basis.”
* In January 2012, Obama
made 4 more recess appointments: Richard Cordray as director of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and 3 others to the NLRB. This
brought the total
number
of recess appointments Obama had made during his presidency to 32.