The Chronicles of Obamania - Change We Don't Believe In

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President Barack Obama ends his first year in office with his to-do list still long and his unfulfilled campaign promises stacked high.

From winding down the war in Iraq to limiting lobbyists, Obama has made some progress. But the president has faced political reality and accepted - sometimes grudgingly - compromises that leave him exposed to criticism. Promises that have proven difficult include pledges not to raise taxes, to curb earmarks and to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba by the end of his first year.

"We are moving systematically to bring about change, but change is hard," Obama told a town hall crowd in California. "Change doesn't happen overnight."

That was in March. [1]

President Obama has not held a full news conference at the White House since July 22, the night he said that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" in the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. [2]

Retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, leaving 2009 with the biggest yearly drop on record and highlighting the formidable hurdles facing the economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades.

In another disappointing economic report, the number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as jobs remain scarce. [3]

he Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales declined 0.3 percent in December compared with November, much weaker than the 0.5 percent rise that economists had been expecting. Excluding autos, sales dropped by 0.2 percent, also weaker than the 0.3 percent rise analyst had forecast.

For the year, sales fell 6.2 percent, the biggest decline on records that go back to 1992. [4]

A record 2.8 million households were threatened with foreclosure last year, and that number is expected to rise this year as more unemployed and cash-strapped homeowners fall behind on their mortgages.

The number of households that received a foreclosure-related notice rose 21 percent from 2008, RealtyTrac Inc. reported Thursday. One in 45 homes were sent a filing, which includes default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions.

In December, more than 349,000 households, or one in 366 homes, were hit with a foreclosure-related notice. That represents a 14 percent spike from November and a 15 percent jump from December 2008.

Banks repossessed more than 92,000 homes, up 19 percent from November. That increase was likely due to lenders working to clear their books at the end of the year, RealtyTrac said. [5]

Mindful of soaring deficits and an anti-Wall Street mood, President Barack Obama wants a new 10-year tax on the country's largest banks to cover a projected $117 billion shortfall in the government's financial crisis bailout fund.

The president planned to propose Thursday a levy of 15 basis points, or 0.15 percent, on the liabilities of large financial institutions to make sure every dollar spent from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to rescue Wall Street firms, auto companies and mortgage holders is either repaid or paid for. Congress would have to approve the tax.

A senior administration official said the tax, which officials are calling a "financial crisis responsibility fee," would apply only to financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion. Those firms - estimated to amount to about 50 institutions - would have to pay the fee even though many did not accept any taxpayer assistance and most others already paid back their government infusions. [6]

Don't Blame Your Government

A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office.
...

“The American people deserve better service from their government, and better return for their tax dollars.”

The White House release that included Orszag’s comments said one “specific source” of ineffective and inefficient government is the huge technology gap between the public and private sectors that results in billions of dollars in waste, slow and inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent. [7]

A year into his tenure, a majority of Americans would already vote against Pres. Obama if the '12 elections were held today, according to a new survey. [8]


1. Philip Eliot
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100114/D9D7MDGG0.html
2. Karen Travers
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100114/D9D7MDGG0.html
3. Martin Crutsinger and Christopher S. Rugaber
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Retail-sales-fall-apf-1551827594.html?x=0
4. AP
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/December-retail-sales-drop-03-apf-3350007934.html?x=0&.v=9
5. Adrian Sainz
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100114/D9D7AN7O0.html
6. Jim Kuhnhenn
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100114/D9D7FIMG0.html
7. Ian Swanson
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-v...efficient-government-on-outdated-technologies
8. Reid Wilson
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/01/majority_would.php

 

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The White House release that included Orszag’s comments said one “specific source” of ineffective and inefficient government is the huge technology gap between the public and private sectors that results in billions of dollars in waste, slow and inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent.

But we're going to save you money by running health care...




Right...

 

[unregistered]

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Democrat retreat...



*tee hee*

Were the Generals let in on the strategy?

Maybe moderate General Colin Powell can be their new leader...

 

[unregistered]

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Shit, another winner, just like the war on drugs, the war on poverty, and the war on the Talibananas...

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

I was SOOOOO right last year when I advocated FOR an Obama Presidency; the cure for Liberalism (Progressivism, Marxism, "pragmatic centrist...," go ahead and parse away Lefties):

Now that Barack Obama and the Democrats have taken over the presidency and both Houses, more and more Americans are starting to gag from the stench of unfettered liberalism. Horrified by out-of-control spending, a socialist agenda, and weak foreign policy, a growing number of outraged Americans have been doing some major political soul-searching. Intuitively, they sense America has dangerously changed course, and a growing sea of citizens are now on the same page and thinking the same thoughts:

I am against the federal redistribution of wealth.

I am against entitlement politics.

I am against American czars.

I am against apology tours that denigrate the greatness of our country.

I am against tax-and-spend politics.

I am against government takeovers.

I am against amnesty citizenship for those who have entered our country illegally.

I am against the out-of-control printing of money.

I am against legislation designed to do away with free speech (Fairness Doctrine).

I am against big government.

I am against trillion-dollar government stimulus package slush funds.

I am against treating our allies like enemies and our enemies like friends.

I am against politicians who do not let us drill for oil.

I am against politicians who look the other way while Iran and North Korea develop nuclear weapons.

I am against government-run health care.

I am against health care bills that provide abortion funding.

I am against backroom deals by politicians that circumvent transparency and the Constitution.

I am against trillion-dollar deficits.

I am against high taxes.

I am against treating all people to the identical security scrutiny in airports.

I am against bills that provide special exemptions for legislators.

I am against bills that provide special privileges to certain states.

I am against those who would stifle an honest global warming debate.

I am against the federal funding of corrupt organizations like ACORN.

I am against "Miranda rights" for foreign terrorists.

I am against confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed getting a civilian trial in NY.

I am against cap-and-trade legislation and taxing carbon footprints.

I am against the closing of GITMO and the bringing of terrorists to American soil.

I am against letting the U.N. tell us how to live.

I am against a president who does not believe in American exceptionalism.

Should I go on? Is thirty enough? The list need not end.

As Americans watch how -- idea by idea and bill by bill -- Barack Obama and the Democrats are dismantling our nation through their radical liberal left agenda, more and more are realizing:

Not only am I against what Barack Obama is doing to this country, but I stand for the opposite of what he, Pelosi, and Reid stand for.

This is the point in time that these Americans start investigating the opposite of liberalism. They start formulating their own list of what they stand for:

I am for low taxes.

I am for small government.

I am for a free-market system.

I am for the Constitution.

I am for the Separation of Powers.

I am for fiscal responsibility.

I am for government accountability.

I am for supporting our allies and confronting the tyrants of the world.

I am for states' rights.

I am for a strong military.

Should I go on? This list need not end either.

Harold Witkov
American Thinker

 

[Saint Peter]

I am for fiscal responsibility.

Today or two years ago?

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Today or two years ago?

Hey, we've been over this ground too many times; when Bush advocated his big-spending programs, I was against them.

I was also against the Democrat Congress two years ago siding with Bush and stimulus spending.





That's ANOTHER apology you owe me!!!

 

[unregistered]

 

[Saint Peter]

walks like a duck
quacks like a duck

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

That was also my big sin...



I didn't cut'n run with the Democrats who TWICE voted to spank Saddam...

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

walks like a duck
quacks like a duck

Silly goose...

 

[Saint Peter]

Silly goose...

Fucking duck...

 

[unregistered]

 

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It's their MO, they did the same thing in Vietnam.

Prediction: Afghanistan: Cut'n run when the press can no longer ignore the body count...






... and Obama finally stops ignoring the polls to try for a reelection.

 

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Civil libertarians hoped that the Obama era would see a renewed commitment to privacy protections. But their dreams are being dashed. Congress seems likely to recess without adjusting aspects of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of the year, which means that the existing law will be temporarily extended. Elements up for reconsideration include roving wiretaps in foreign intelligence investigations that are not targeted to a specific communication mode or person and “section 215” ability to seize business or other records in a presumptive terror investigation.

...

So will other post-9/11 surveillance practices. Candidate Obama swore that under his reign, Americans would see “no more National Security Letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime.” But his administration has shown no desire to relieve itself of NSL powers. National Security Letters allow FBI agents to grab records and information about you from third parties without any judicial supervision. The recipients are legally prohibited from telling anyone other than their lawyers that they gave up the information.

The Patriot reauthorization debate unfolded as the telecommunications industry, already known for craven capitulation to the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, was revealed by researcher Chris Soghoian to be continuing to cooperate with law enforcement against customers’ interests at a level that, in the words of a request from Yahoo! to keep its collaboration quiet, would “shock” customers and “shame” telcos.

Brian Doherty
Reason.com (Libertarian web site)

 

[unregistered]

 

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The press mourns the enemy's body count, and pretends the loss of a single American is a catastrophic failure of strategy.

Actually, they don't quite know what to do now short of that midnight salute photo op...




Eventually he's going to have to give them instructions on how they are to address the growing body count in order to provide him friendly cover fire...

 

[KingOrfeo]

From Politifact:

Rating Obama's promises at the 1-year mark
By Bill Adair, Angie Drobnic Holan
Published on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 7:29 p.m.

President Barack Obama, the candidate who promised change, has made substantial progress in his first year in office, but some of his proposals have stalled as he struggled with the cold reality of Washington.

Of 502 campaign promises, a PolitiFact analysis finds Obama has fulfilled 91 and achieved at least partial success with another 33. More than half of his promises have had enough progress to be rated In the Works.

He's put much of his foreign policy agenda into action, taken steps to reduce the American presence in Iraq and send more troops to Afghanistan, and his sweeping health care reform plan is on the brink of passage. The giant economic stimulus bill that passed in February made good on a host of promises on green energy, education and transportation.

Yet Obama has found change can come slowly, even with his party in control of Congress. Overall, PolitiFact's Obameter has rated 14 promises as Broken and another 87 Stalled.

He's faced virtually unanimous opposition from Republicans on the stimulus and health care, and some of his promises for more transparency in government have gone nowhere.

In many cases, the Stalled or Broken ratings reflect tactical decisions by the White House. Obama said repeatedly during the campaign that he'd open health care negotiations to TV cameras, but those talks have been behind closed doors. He's done nothing on his pledge to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada since drug companies agreed to support his health care plan. And he appears to have abandoned a promise to end taxes for seniors who make less than $50,000, a proposal that appealed to older voters but had little political support, even within his party.

Still, the ratings show Obama — with the help of a Democratic Congress — has made significant progress on much of his agenda. Political experts give him credit for passing a substantial amount during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The bad economy may have dimmed public perceptions of his accomplishments, said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies the federal government. Obama's approval ratings dropped as 2009 came to an end.

"He's been largely faithful to the promises he made in the campaign, especially substantive policy ones," Mann said. "But the public doesn't see what I see in objective terms. There's distrust about the economy, and they're put off by the partisan bickering in Washington. They're scared and skeptical of government, so there's a gulf between what he's accomplished and how it's viewed."

Measuring progress

The Obameter database is an unprecedented effort to assess the new president's progress. PolitiFact reporters and editors compiled more than 500 promises from Obama's speeches, position papers, amd interviews, and have been tracking and rating them over the past year.

To be included, a promise must have been made during the campaign. Pledges made after he took office, such as his one-year deadline to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are not counted. (That, editors decided, would essentially allow Obama to keep moving the goalposts.) To be included, the promises also had to be concrete enough to be measured. If a promise was too vague or abstract, we omitted it from the database.

Highlights of our analysis:

• Obama has made progress on nearly all 25 promises we selected as his most significant. Of our Top 25 list, two are rated Kept, three are Compromise, one is Stalled and one is Broken. The remaining 18 are In the Works, with some measurable progress.

• He got the low-hanging fruit. Many of the 90 promises rated Promise Kept are ones Obama could fulfill without Congress' approval, by issuing executive orders or directing executive agencies to launch initiatives.

• Several of his major legislative proposals have been delayed while Congress wrestled with the stimulus and health care reform. Our Stalled ratings include key proposals that Obama administration officials say they intend to tackle later: immigration reform, repealing the military "don't ask, don't tell" policy and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act.

• Obama fulfilled or made progress on two light-hearted promises in the Obameter database. He got his daughters a puppy and Congress has held hearings on creating a playoff system for college football.

Around the world

On foreign affairs and military strategy, Obama promised dramatic changes from Bush administration policies.

His most famous pledge was that he would begin removing combat brigades from Iraq, and that he would end the war "safely and responsibly" within 16 months. Indeed, just a month after taking office, Obama announced a new Iraq strategy that called for removal of all combat troops by Aug. 31, 2010 — a timeline he has stuck to since.

He also pledged to beef up military efforts in Afghanistan by sending two additional brigades. Obama issued an order to do just that last February and has since said he will send 30,000 more troops.

Obama also increased spending for military hardware and undertook a controversial review of weapons programs, which called for more investment in intelligence and surveillance and a halt to production of the F-22 Raptor and Marine One presidential helicopters.

Obama compromised on a promise to fully equip the reserves and National Guard. And his oft-repeated promise to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the U.S. military has stalled.

As a candidate, he often talked about setting a new tone with foreign policy. Toward that goal, he took action on promises such as ending the use of torture and closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, which we've rated In the Works. He kept his promise to give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his presidency when he addressed the Turkish Parliament on April 6, 2009.

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in part because of his efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, but he's had mixed success in that area. He made progress on things he could do on his own, such as appointing the first White House Coordinator for Nuclear Security and organizing a conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But when he needed cooperation, the road has been rockier. Opposition from conservative senators could derail his plans to have the U.S. finally ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. His efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation treaty will likely face stiff resistance from Russia and China. Those promises are rated Stalled.

At home, a focus on green jobs, health care

Obama often linked energy and the environment during the campaign, promising a turn toward renewable energy.

He used the economic crisis to his advantage by packing the stimulus bill with incentives for renewable energy and green jobs. He used the bill to fulfill or make progress on his promises to weatherize low-income homes, boost state energy programs and encourage production of plug-in hybrid and electric cars.

Obama also used his regulatory power to advance environmental goals. In May, he announced plans to improve fuel efficiency standards, boosting the average by 5 percent annually. He also used regulations to increase the renewable fuels standard, requiring more biofuels to be mixed with gasoline. That effort is essentially building a market for renewable fuel, another goal.

A few promises have fizzled. Obama's pledge to enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies quietly disappeared after gasoline prices dropped in 2009. For the same reasons, Obama's promise to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve never came to pass.

On health care, his ambitious reform plan — it encompasses 35 promises in our Obameter database — has passed the House and Senate and is now in the final stages of negotiations.

Obama took a beating from liberals in his party because it's unlikely a government-run public option will be in the final plan. That promise is rated Stalled.

But in most other ways, the plan looks a lot like what Obama promised. It includes tax credits to individuals and small businesses who need help to buy insurance, a national health insurance exchange where consumers can shop for the best policy, and investments in electronic health records and new standards for health information technology. Many promises now rated In the Works could move to Promise Kept if the bill is enacted.

Behind closed doors

As a candidate, Obama talked about open government and transparency, vowing to open White House documents to the public and hold health care talks on C-SPAN. But as president, he's often succumbed to the traditions of Washington secrecy.

Several of his promises for a more open and transparent government have been rated Broken or Stalled. Obama said he would post legislation on the Internet for five days before he signed it, but that promise was broken almost immediately when Obama moved to quickly sign legislation on fair pay and children's health insurance. And, of course, health care negotiations haven't been on C-SPAN as promised either.

On the other hand, Obama created a National Declassification Center to get more information into the public domain, and he launched a major open government initiative specifically targeted at federal agencies.

Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, an open-government advocacy group, said the Obama administration has embraced an attitude of openness. A good example is Recovery.gov, the Web site that tracked spending from the stimulus package.

"This is the kind of a sea change we're asking them to do, a sea change in culture," Miller said.

Looking ahead

While we in the media love anniversaries — and you might, too, if you've read this far — presidential historians warn that the first year of a presidency is not necessarily indicative of future accomplishments.

"At the end of their first years, there are few people who would have predicted that Truman would be elected in 1948 or that Reagan would get a second term," said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian and author. "It's always premature to make some kind of categorical judgment after the first year in office."

And Obama has many unknowns ahead. One of the most daunting challenges will be reconciling spending with the growing public debt. The Bush administration tax cuts will expire this year, and Congress will have to pass new laws to avoid widespread tax hikes.

Obama has said repeatedly he won't ignore large deficits, but how he and Congress will approach fiscal matters remains to be seen. Obama's next budget is expected in a few weeks.

The long-term budget problems are significant, said Rudolph Penner, an economist and former head of the Congressional Budget Office.

The problem seems simple: The country spends more than it takes in from taxes.

But to keep people's taxes the same would require huge spending cuts that would be politically unpopular. "I don't think you could get five Republican votes for the kind of spending cuts you need," Penner said.

Conversely, failing to rein in spending would require unprecedented tax increases. "You'd have to raise taxes so much that we'd be one of the highest taxed countries in the world, and I don't see many liberals supporting that, either," he said.

The big-ticket items looming are programs for seniors, specifically Social Security and Medicare. But the large stimulus package and reduced tax revenues from the recession are making the budget outlook for future years even more gloomy.

The recession has "taken a lot of flexibility away from us, and it gives us less time to resolve these other problems," Penner said. "I'm very anxious to see the president's next budget."

 

[landslider2000]

It would be a total disgrace for any party to attempt to ram through an important piece of legislation written in total secrecy and which polls show the people do not want.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Not if you call it social justice for the workers...





Amazing how on History Channel last night, a nice little lady, a former social worker in 1930's Germany explained her support for Hitler based on the above two principles outlined...

The Workers' Party
Social Justice

Hitler's Promise, same as Lenin and Trotsky...

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

KO, you left off your preamble; I'm kinda disappointed 'cause it's so cool to hear people like you and Pelosi saying, "You didn't expect him to actually MEAN the stuff he was promising did you? Everyone knows we create polite fictions in order to get elected!"



Unless, of course, you're speaking to Joe, the Plumber, and then you feel confident that you can speak the truth since it's going to go over his head...



That's one promise he's keeping, the pain that comes with the death of capitalism...

I think Trotsky was smart enough to lie about that one!

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Government for LOSERS!

President Obama’s misbegotten bank tax is precisely the wrong policy at precisely the wrong time. It will wind up backfiring across the board. Why? Because bank consumers and borrowers are the ones who will wind up paying this tax, creating an obstacle to economic recovery.

Obama is actually rewarding losers and punishing winners — exactly the reverse of free-market capitalism.

Who’s being rewarded? Obama’s bank-tax penalty is being used to finance the failed government takeovers of GM, GMAC, and Fannie and Freddie. And let’s not forget the $75 billion failure of the so-called foreclosure loan-modification program. To this day, no one knows where that money went. But the big banks are going to be forced to finance this through a tax that will damage lending, stockholders, and consumers.

This is sheer political favoritism. Crony capitalism at its worst, with a sub-theme of bailing out Obama’s Big Labor political allies. It’s just like his bailout of the unions by exempting them from the so-called Cadillac insurance tax until 2018, all while the rest of us may have to suffer under that tax.

Speaking of political unfairness and favoritism, mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie will not pay a nickel of this tax. These government-sponsored enterprises were at the very center of the financial maelstrom, financing the government’s quotas and targets for unaffordable mortgages.

...

Mark my words, all of this left-wing demagoguery, political favoritism, and crony capitalism will not end well for the Obama Democrats.

Larry Kudlow
NRO

 

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History shows again and again...

After Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, Great Britain and France sorta, kinda declared war on Germany. The formal declaration of war was real enough, but the allies’ initial responses were laughable.

Two days after Germany started to slaughter the Poles, Britain began conducting “truth raids,” which were to drop 6 million leaflets over Germany. These milk runs were supposedly aimed at “showing” the Germans that Britain someday might be able to bomb them, “enlightening” them about the sins of the then widely popular and victorious Adolf Hitler, and demonstrating the Brits’ desire for peace and quiet rather than another Somme or Verdun.

For much of that autumn of 1939 and the winter of 1940, the enormous French army stayed put — except occasionally to “push” a mile or two into German territory, and then retreat back, all to prove the country’s supposed fighting ability. Somehow during the nine-month-long “phony war,” the pre-Churchillian allies managed to convey a sense of weakness and timidity, while being bellicose sounding enough to offend their enemies.

...

We are back in a such a sorta, kinda war against radical Islam — whose name we almost never reference. We send more troops into Afghanistan, but only on the condition that we announce deadlines when they will start leaving. We damn the now-successful Iraq War as ill-conceived and not worth the effort, even as we stay in Iraq and consider the present calm and enduring democracy a (quiet) success.

The president has libeled tribunals, renditions, the Patriot Act, Predator attacks, wiretaps, and intercepts as either shredding the Constitution or unfairly persecuting Muslims — only to keep all these protocols intact. Obama loudly promised the whiny Europeans and the angry Islamic world that he would close the supposed gulag at Guantanamo within a year — and then found he could not do without its apparent utility.

Deadlines are a favorite of our president. But does anyone believe that Guantanamo will be closed on January 21? Iran was to desist from its efforts to obtain the bomb before the U.N. summit in New York, and then before the G-20 summit, and then before the face-to-face negotiations in October, and then by the first of the year.

...

The 19th-century discipline of philology argued that words were the key to understanding the past — if something in the past had existed, there surely was a proper recoverable word for it. And in turn, how a culture used vocabulary was a window into its very values. So when Barack Obama had his administration scrap the Manichean “war on terror” for “overseas contingency operations” aimed against “man-made disasters,” we understood that he had not signed up for a serious effort against radical Islam.

Instead, Obama apparently felt the war was due mostly to misunderstanding and was only exacerbated by President Bush’s crude Texanisms, rather than being due to the multifaceted pathologies of the radical Muslim world.

Obama by his nomenclature, race, and self-referenced unique life experiences would co-opt and confuse the terrorists and their sponsors rather than have to confront them with force in Neanderthal fashion. Indeed, if one were to go back and count the times Obama has trashed his predecessor, and then collate that list with a list of his comparable slurs and slights against radical Islam, one would conclude that our present federal animus is directed against George Bush rather than Dr. Zawahiri and his cohort.

All this is not lost on the enemy.

Victor Davis Hanson
NRO