Promise Broken

Obama is signing the Omnibus bill with the @8000 earmarks, so much for another campaign promise. 51 day to break a major promise, and not even doing a "public" signing, real class act we got at the wheel.

Obama Lied, our wallets cried...................

I have to agree with you on this one. I think this is BS. Change, only if it suits him is what it looks like sometimes.

Man, I love these threads.

And its just great how He was sayin the other day that the best way for us to get out of this financial mess is to be watchful and responsible spenders.....but only after we wrecklessly spend $800 BILLION......really....?

choopie911 wrote: He's 17 and 2 for kept vs broken.

Truth. If I were one of those intent on badmouthing Obama, I wouldn't be flashing that 'promise-o-meter' web site around so much.

choopie911 wrote: He's 17 and 2 for kept vs broken.

Well, I wouldn't actually go that far. They called this one a "compromise" but let's face it, there are something like 9,000 earmarks in the omnibus package. I call that a failure right there.

to quote the obamater:

The Omnibus, however, is loaded with earmarks. Obama and the White House could have used the bully pulpit to criticize them. But they have not been very critical, nor have they indicated any attempt to go "line by line" through the bill to look for wasteful programs, as Obama pledged during the campaign. Administration budget chief Peter Orszag said, "We want to just move on. Let's get this bill done, get it into law and move forward."

Now, PolitiFact says they're going to re-visit this one due to the deep contrast between the 9k+ earmarks in the omnibus and the relatively earmark free economic stimulus package, but passing this bill just to "move on." isn't a compromise, it's a failure plain and simple. That "2" in the broken column should be a "3" any way you look at it.

To be honest, I've never seen a president in my time keep even remote amount of every campaign promise they make. I don't think you can judge a president by his promises, but by the outcome at the end of four years. It's just too early to call Obama a success or a failure, and for anyone rooting for him to fail, shame on you.

stratoaxe wrote: To be honest, I've never seen a president in my time keep even remote amount of every campaign promise they make. I don't think you can judge a president by his promises, but by the outcome at the end of four years. It's just too early to call Obama a success or a failure, and for anyone rooting for him to fail, shame on you.   That being said, I at least commend this administration for admitting that it's failed in some areas, I think Obama is probably one of the few politicians out there who will genuinely listen to the public when he makes a move, even if I disagree with alot of what he does.

I think you're certainly right that most presidents don't keep all of their campaign promises, and that regardless of political affiliations, no one should hope Obama fails.

That being said, Obama set a very high bar for himself after the election with promises of accountability and change beyond what your average politician would promise.  Consequentially, we have a right to hold him to these promises.

Personally, I think its silly to keep a scorecard, but you can't say "Obama is fantastic and a great president" and "don't judge him yet!" in the same sentence.

Darur wrote: stratoaxe wrote: To be honest, I've never seen a president in my time keep even remote amount of every campaign promise they make. I don't think you can judge a president by his promises, but by the outcome at the end of four years. It's just too early to call Obama a success or a failure, and for anyone rooting for him to fail, shame on you.   That being said, I at least commend this administration for admitting that it's failed in some areas, I think Obama is probably one of the few politicians out there who will genuinely listen to the public when he makes a move, even if I disagree with alot of what he does. I think you're certainly right that most presidents don't keep all of their campaign promises, and that regardless of political affiliations, no one should hope Obama fails. That being said, Obama set a very high bar for himself after the election with promises of accountability and change beyond what your average politician would promise.  Consequentially, we have a right to hold him to these promises. Personally, I think its silly to keep a scorecard, but you can't say "Obama is fantastic and a great president" and "don't judge him yet!" in the same sentence.

stratoaxe wrote: I don't think Obama is fantastic or great in the least, I just feel that if you hold any politician to the standards he sets for himself, you'll find all but a select few fall woefully short.   Being a pro life conservative, it's difficult to find alot to agree on with Obama, but I can also look through the eyes of those who disagree with me politically and feel the frustration that Bush probably left them with. I disagreed with the nitpicking that occured during Bush's terms, and I just as vehemently disagree with it when it comes to Obama.   Cut throat politics is not only in bad taste, it's bad for the country. It's unfortunate that the political parties of this nation choose play politics like a game of football, instead of working together for the common good.

I actually agree with everything you said there.

My point with calling Obama great was aimed less at you and more at the notion I've seen lately that you can't be critical of Obama yet because of <reason> and explaining how great he is in the same breath. I don't like it at all when political mudslinging starts and I absolutely hate it when political attacks turn personal.  Obama set himself a very high bar which everyone should hope and want him to reach, and as citizens and voters we have a duty to be critical of our elected officals whose job, as you pointed out, is to serve us. That doesn't mean we should whine about everything or hold unreasonable expectations, but holding an elected offical to his campaign promises where its reasonable is perfectly fine.

ParielIsBack wrote: I think it's legitimate to press politicians to keep their campaign promises, but I think it's utterly retarded that it's done only to bash them.  People wonder why politics don't work, but it's that exact mentality of "You're wrong, I'm right, and I'm not going to be constructive AT ALL" that makes it as bad as it seems.

Bingo.

The last 8 years have provided us with countless perfect examples of how NOT to express discontent with the sitting administration (mind you, there were many good criticisms offered as well).

The  chief problem with party politics is it tends to galvanize the nation, making the liberals more liberal and the conservatives more conservative. 


Edited by Darur - 12 March 2009 at 4:17am