510 promises, part 3

As we approach Barack Obama’s 300^th day in office, I recall writing two articles concerning promises that Barack Obama made according to the website polifact.com. I commented that out of the 511 promises he made, there were only about 50 which I wanted him to keep. So now I will give you an update on how he is doing according to their “Obameter”.

Here’s how he rates on the 50 promises which I wish he would keep:

13 are “in the works”

25 no action

4 stalled

4 kept

2 broken

1 compromise

These assessments made by polifact.com and don’t necessarily agree with them. On some issues he has kept a promise, but it doesn’t go far enough to matter. For example, there is the promise to direct military leaders to end war in Iraq. What good does this do if troops aren’t actually withdrawn? Don’t be fooled, the President is the Commander and Chief of the armed forces and does have the power, on his own, to withdraw troops from places in which they were never given the proper authority to go in the first place. Obama does not have to convince the generals to obey him. (If he really were the President, that is.) The Obomise (Obama promise) to withdraw troops from Iraq by certain date (which he kept pushing back) is not even included in the list of 511. These dates have come and gone like the dates set for Christ’s return by the Watchtower.

There wasn’t an easy way that I could find to count out all of the promises in each progress category, but here is an approximate count:

129 are “in the works” (7 pages)

295 no action (16 pages)

13 stalled

55 kept (3 pages)

7 broken

12 compromises

That is still a pretty dismal record, but look on the bright side. His worst promises have not been realized (not yet, anyway):

Require all schools of education to be accredited

Push for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity

Support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Sign the Freedom of Choice Act

Thank God!

510 Promises, part 2

Last week I talked about a website put out by the St. Petersburg Times, which has recorded 510 (actually 511) Obama campaign promises and will track the progress of these promises throughout his term in office.

Last week I covered the first half of the list and found that there were only about 16% of these are promises that I wish he would keep. The percentage is even lower for the second half. There is so much wasteful spending in these promises. Its getting to the point where whether or not you believe a politician's lies doesn’t make any difference anymore because you don’t even want them to do what they say even if you did believe them!

We most definitely would be better off with a President who does nothing at all. We would be far better off with a President who would veto every bill, would rescind all executive orders and wouldn’t issue any new ones. It’s not just the wasteful spending. Here are some of the things that I found that were even worse:

Require all schools of education to be accredited

Push for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors

Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity

Support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Sign the Freedom of Choice Act

Here are the nine items in the last half of the list that I actually agree with. This makes about 50 altogether that I wish he would keep, making my agreement with Obama’s publically stated goals less than 10%.

Reduce subsidies to private student lenders and protect student borrowers (maybe just the part depending on how he intends to "protect" them)

Secure the borders

Crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants

Limit subsidies for agribusiness (These and all other subsidies should be eliminated altogether.)

Limit term of director of national intelligence (There should be no such office. Thanks, Bush for creating another position to be filled by corrupt political cronies.)

Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees

Pressure Sudan to end violence in Darfu (…if this is to be done in a peaceful manner. If it’s another war he has in mind, then I’m against it.)

Reduce earmarks to 1994 levels (Why not eliminate them altogether, dufus?)

Cut federal contracts

510 Promises

A political watchdog website of the St. Petersburg Times, has documented 510 campaign promises made by Barack Obama. They will track the progress of how these promises are being kept or broken over course of his term in office. If you want to check in now and then on how well or poorly he is doing on their “Obameter”, add the following link to your favorites on:

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/browse/

After reading the first half of the list, I can safely say I wish that he would break 84% these promises, and most of the 16% that I wish he would keep will probably be among the ones that he doesn’t.

Here are about 40 of the promises that I wish he would keep:

Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes

Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay

End no-bid contracts above $25,000

Enforce pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budget rules (This doesn’t nearly go far enough, of course.)

Forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executives bonuses

Eliminate the higher subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans

Allow imported prescription drugs

Increase the Veterans Administration budget to recruit and retain more mental health professionals

Expand Veterans Centers in rural areas

Fully fund the Veterans Administration

Assure that the Veterans Administration budget is prepared as 'must-pass' legislation

Allow all veterans back into the Veterans Administration

Reduce the Veterans Benefits Administration claims backlog

Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq (This promise is listed as “kept”, but what really matters is the actual ending of the war, and not the talk.)

Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq

Present Iraq status-of-forces agreement to Congress for approval

No permanent bases in Iraq

Bring military pay more in line with the private sector, as measured by the employment cost index

Allow reserve families to take leave under the Family Medical Leave Act

Fully and properly equip troops

Review weapons programs

Establish transparency standards for military contractors

Set standards for when the government should hire defense contractors

Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel

End the abuse of supplemental budgets for war

End the use of extreme rendition

Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center

Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees

Revise the Patriot Act to increase oversight on government surveillance (This doesn’t go far enough. We should completely get rid of the Patriot Act.)

End warrantless wiretaps

Restore habeus corpus rights for "enemy combatants"

Mandate standards for securing personal data

Work to persuade the European Union to end credit guarantees to Iran

Grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba

Urge China to stop manipulation of its currency value

Press China to end its support for regimes in Sudan, Burma, Iran and Zimbabwe

Centralize ethics and lobbying information for voters

Allow five days of public comment before signing bills

Require more disclosure and a waiting period for earmarks

Release presidential records (Promise kept according to politifact.com, but will he continue to keep it?)

Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials (He has already compromised on this promise according to politifact.com.)

Click here for part 2.