In a table, which is reproduced below, he compared how each President discussed such topics as earmarks, working together, the deficit, education, etc. As a quiz, read each pair of quotes, one of which is from George W. Bush and the other is from Barack Obama, and then determine which President is the owner of which quote. I think afterwards you will agree, that the there really is no difference between the two (the answers are at the end of this post):
Quote 1-A: "So we face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope – what they deserve – is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared. A job that pays the bills. A chance to get ahead. Most of all, the ability to give their children a better life."
Quote 2-A: "In a system of two parties, two chambers, and two elected branches, there will always be differences and debate. But even tough debates can be conducted in a civil tone, and our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger. To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of goodwill and respect for one another - and I will do my part. Tonight the state of our Union is strong, and together we will make it stronger."
******
Quote 1-B: "But families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. The Federal government should do the same. So tonight, I'm proposing specific steps to pay for the $1 trillion that it took to rescue the economy last year."
Quote 2-B: "Many of you have talked about the need to pay down our national debt. I listened, and I agree. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act now, and I hope you will join me to pay down $2 trillion in debt during the next 10 years."
*******
Quote 1-C: "I'm also calling on Congress to continue down the path of earmark reform. You have trimmed some of this spending and embraced some meaningful change. But restoring the public trust demands more. For example, some members of Congress post some earmark requests online. Tonight, I'm calling on Congress to publish all earmark requests on a single website before there's a vote so that the American people can see how their money is being spent."
Quote 2-C: "The time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress, and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session."
******
Quote 1-D: "Now, even after paying for what we spent on my watch, we will still face the massive deficit we had when I took office. More importantly, the cost of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will continue to skyrocket. That's why I've called for a bipartisan, Fiscal Commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad. This can't be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem. The Commission will have to provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline."
Quote 2-D: "So tonight I ask you to join me in creating a commission to examine the full impact of baby boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This commission should include Members of Congress of both parties, and offer bipartisan solutions. We need to put aside partisan politics and work together and get this problem solved."
******
Quote 1-E: "By the time I'm finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber."
Quote 2-E: "Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our Government has a responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility. For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and help people afford the insurance coverage they need."
*******
Quote 1-F: "I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer-subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, let's take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants."
Quote 2-F: "We will help an additional 200,000 workers to get training for a better career, by reforming our job training system and strengthening America's community colleges. And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants."
Pretty difficult trying to understand, what differences, if any exist between the two Presidents once you look at their public statements, stripped away of all politics and campaigning. Mr. DeHaven actually refers to this piece of writing as the Bush's third term since nothing has really changed despite President Obama sitting in the White House.
Beyond the striking similarity of quotes, consider how consistent with each other their actions are:
- Even Though President Obama campaigned strongly to quickly get U.S. troops out of Iraq, there are still 50,000 troops in that country that will not be withdrawn until later this year. This is the same timetable that President Bush had laid out.
- Even though President Obama campaigned strongly to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, the facility is still open, still holding prisoners that have yet to receive any trial, and there is no sign that the prison that the Bush administration opened will be closed anytime soon by the Obama administration.
- Even though President Obama campaigned strongly to curtail and rein in Congressional earmarks, two years into his administration, the number of earmarks and the amount of taxpayer money they waste is just as high as during the Bush administration.
- Neither President ran a CIA organization that was correct in the major issue of each administration. The CIA and government intelligence apparatus under Bush grossly misunderstood the extent of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability and the CIA and government intelligence apparatus under Obama grossly misunderstood how quickly dictatorships would fall and how quickly freedom protests would spread in northern Africa and the Middle East.
- Neither President found a way to curtail the advancement of nuclear weapons capabilities of Iran and North Korea.
- Neither administration found a way to get the Palestinians and Israelis to come to a peace agreement. The latest views from the Arab world press pretty much assume that this will not happen under the Obama administration ("Obama has lost whatever credibility he may have had in the Arab world." - United Arab Emirates' Gulf News, "If the peace process was stalled before, it is now certainly dead." - Jordan's Al-Dustar).
- The "War On Drugs" was a losing battle under both administrations, a defeat that is quickly leading to a lawless narco state throughout vast stretches of Mexico.
- Our public schools are still severely under educating our kids despite "No Kid Left Behind" from the Bush administration to the "Race to The Top" from the Obama administration.
- Both administrations have kept the Patriot Act in effect despite its chilling effect on freedom and unknown effect on stopping terror attacks on the U.S.
- Both administrations set unheard of records of deficit spending, starting with the record Bush deficit numbers which have been blown away by the much higher Obama administration.
- Social Security and Medicare are further away from insolvency with each passing day with neither administration willing to take the courageous and necessary steps to get both programs under financial control.
- Neither administration can claim victory in Afghanistan and to a cynical person, neither could even claim a coherent strategy for victory either.
- Neither administration served the country well in times of major disasters with Bush badly bungling the Hurricane Katrina episode and Obama badly bungling the BP Gulf oil rig explosion episode.
- Neither administration has put forth any kind of coherent national energy program that rationally balances pollution, economic costs, and energy independence.
- The country has never been so badly divided and uncivil to those that hold contrary views with both administrations holding the top two slots according to a recent Gallup poll. The poll found that 81% of Democrats approve of President Obama's job performance while only 13% of Republicans approve of his performance. This 68 point difference is second only to the 76 point gap difference during the Bush administration. However, the Bush record was set during his second term so President Obama has a very good chance of getting to this overall dubious record of divisiveness.
- Neither administration formulated or implemented a sane immigration policy.Thus, even their actions or inactions are very similar to their words, lending credence to the farcical proposal in the title that they were twins separated at birth. The very sad part of all this is nothing much will change in the next twenty months or so since the unofficial 2012 Presidential season is upon us already. No one in either major party will take any kind of courageous or forward thinking stand since it might endanger their political careers in 2012.
Thus, if this assumption is correct, by 2012 we would have endured twelve years of Bush reign, disguised over the last four years as the Obama administration. No problems addressed, never mind solved, no progress in making America a better, nicer, and freer place to live. Same old story, just a different cast of characters.
That is why the many steps in "Love my Country, Loathe My Government" are so important to break out of this Bush cycle and get to a fresher outlook of ideas with fresher people to implement those ideas. This breakout will require significant changes to our election processes, our spending priorities, our foreign affairs infrastructure and strategy, and finding ways to get smart American experts involved in solving the major issues facing Americans today (failing schools, failing drug policy, illegal immigration, energy dependence and pollution, financially strapped entitlement programs, and escalating health care costs) without politicians and lobbyists.
Failure to break out will just burden us with further Obama administrations policies and failures that look like failed Bush policies and failures that, come to think of it look like, Clinton policies and failures, and on and on. The political class has failed us and the country, not a specific President.
Back to the quotes above. Although the pairs of quotes appear to be carbon copies of each other, in every pair President Obama spoke the first quote and President Bush spoke the second. However, if I juggled their order, I doubt most Americans could have told the difference and correctly matched the quote to the proper President.
Twins separated at birth? Impossible? Take a look...
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http://www.repealamendment
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