Wednesday, February 22, 2012

President Obama's Checklist Of Accomplishments To Date - Making Jimmy Carter Proud

About a week ago, a Facebook friend posted a short Facebook blurb that listed out the accomplishments of the Obama administration. It was meant to be complimentary of the administration but it had two major faults. First, it was not a very long list, comprising only about a half dozen points or accomplishments. Second, while this Facebook friend listed some of this administration's actions as successes, many Americans would consider these same activities as failures.

For example, this short list of successes included the passage of Obama Care. However, we would view this is an abject failure rather than a success to be proud of since:
  1. Obama Care will likely cause tens of millions of Americans to lose their company health care insurance coverage since the legislation was written so poorly that it made it less expensive for companies to pay a relatively small Obama Care fine than continue health care insurance for their employees and retirees, the exact opposite of what the law was supposed to do.
  2. Obama Care will add numerous new taxes to the economy, further depressing the economic recovery from the Great Recession.
  3. Obama Care will implement almost 2,000 new Federal government guidelines and restrictions on Americans, further reducing our already shrinking freedoms and liberty.
  4. The head actuary for Medicare and Medicaid has recently estimated that Obama Care will add over $300 billion to our already disgusting national debt over the next ten years, the exact opposite it was supposed to do.
  5. The legislation will never solve the problem of ever escalating health care costs because it never took the time to understand the root causes of the increasing costs.
  6. The legislation will have major, difficult, and unnecessary impacts on Americans' life choices including retirement, marriage, and careers.
One person's perception of accomplishment is another's perception of complete failure. Interesting political times we live in. 

Thus, as a rebuttal to my friend's meager six or so Obama administration accomplishments, and to expand on the above list of six Obama Care failures, allow me to present a much longer checklist of administration failures, a list so long it evokes the sour and failure memories of the Carter administration:
  • Implement the largest failed economic stimulus program in the history of the country, costing over $800 billion and delivering very little economic growth. Check.
  • Implement a series of failed economic tactics including Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Appliances, and Cash for Caulkers. Check.
  • Campaign on a promise to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo and then fail to actually close the facility. Check.
  • Campaign on a promise to not place former lobbyists in high positions in this administration and then proceed to install former lobbyists in high level positions in this administration. Check.
  • Campaign on a promise to significantly reduce the number of earmarks in the Federal government and then proceed to allow billions of dollars a year to be diverted into political earmarks. Check.
  • Randomly blame bush. Check.
  • Promise to quickly extract U.S. troops out of Iraq and then proceed to use the extended Bush exit plan. Check.
  • Renew the freedom destroying Patriot Act with virtually no changes from the Bush administration version and continue not to staff the civil liberty oversight panel required by the law. Check.
  • Randomly blame Bush. Check.
  • Oversee an incredibly botched and illegal gun running sting operation called Fast and Furious that allowed thousands of military grade weapons to fall into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels, weapons that have led to the death of an American immigration agent and dozens of innocent Mexicans, weapons that have further destabilized the central Mexican government, and weapons whose sale violated both U.S. law and international treaties. Check.
  • Fail to have an effective contingency plan and operations plan in place, reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina, when the Gulf of Mexico oil rig accident happened, resulting in widespread ecological damage and economic damage. Check.
  • While oil leaked into the Gulf waters from the leaking oil rig, embark on at least two vacations, take two cross country trips for political fund raising, and play numerous rounds of golf. Check.
  • Oversee the average cost of a gallon of gasoline go from $1.79 at inauguration to $3.40 in January, a 90% increase (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). Check.
  • Establish a record for average February gasoline prices at $3.53 a gallon. Experts quoted in an Associated Press article forecast the average price will hit $4.50 by April. Check. 
  • Oversee the average price of a gallon of fuel oil go from $2.51 a gallon at inauguration to $3.70 in January, a 47% increase. Check.
  • Oversee the cost of a pound of ground beef go from $2.97 at inauguration to $3.29 in January, an 11% increase. Check.
  • Preside over the first ever downgrade of the United States government credit rating. Check.
  • Add TRILLIONS of dollars to the national debt, more than every other President from Washington through Clinton added COMBINED. Check.
  • Randomly blame Bush. Check.
  • Give out hundreds of millions of dollars to political friends' alternative energy endeavors (Solyndra, Ener1, Beacon, Evergreen, Spectra) and watch them all go bankrupt, taking taxpayer wealth down the drain with them. Check.
  • Set records for the most Americans ever on food stamp rolls. Check.
  • Endorse and sign legislation to reform the financial services industry, legislation that promptly fell on its face by not foreseeing the 8th largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, the collapse of financial services firm MF Global and the possible criminal destruction of over $1 billion in client assets, the exact type of behavior the legislation was supposed to prevent. Check.
  • Break the oath of the Presidency taken at inauguration by not enforcing the laws of the land such as DOMA. Check.
  • Break the oath of the Presidency taken at inauguration by blatantly ignoring judicial rulings such as the Gulf oil moratorium judicial ruling. Check.
  • Randomly blame Bush.
  • Break a campaign oath by trampling on the checks and balances tenets of the Constitution by making high level government appointments without Congressional oversight and approval. Check.
  • Trample on freedom of speech and freedom of religion rights by forcing religious organizations to forego their religious beliefs in light of secular government mandates. Check.
  • Support the repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy only after a national Republican organization successfully fought for the repeal through the court system. Check.
  • Randomly blame Bush.
  • Preside over the worse economic recovery from a recession since the Depression. Check.
  • Allow Iran to get three years closer to having nuclear weapons. Check.
  • Allow North Korea to get three years closer to having nuclear weapons. Check.
  • Fail to foresee or be prepared for the Arab spring and the opportunities and risks inherent in the movement for freedom in the Middle East. Check.
  • Trample on the Constitution and the War Powers Act by illegally  involving the U.S. in military in significant military action in Libya without Congressional approval. Check.
  • Hold dozens of photo ops with professional and amateur athletic teams, including the Texas Christian University rifle team, but hold few, if any photo ops with inspirational teachers, brave policemen and women, or heroic war veterans. Check.
  • Do not develop a workable and coherent national energy policy and strategy that helps the economy and reduces our dependence on foreign energy sources. Check.
  • Do not develop a workable and coherent education reform strategy and policy so that we can start educating our kids as well as the rest of the world educates theirs. Check.
  • Do not develop a workable, coherent, and compassionate illegal immigration policy that protects and seals our borders and fairly  leverages the contributions of existing illegal immigrants within the country. Check.
  • Do not develop a workable and compassionate alternative to our lost war on drugs, threatening to shut down existing marijuana clinics that provide pain relief to untold number of Americans suffering from highly painful diseases and maladies. Check.
  • Remain silent and do not try to unite a divided country when political allies slander ordinary Americans having a difference of opinion, allowing these American citizens to be called racists, Ku Klux Klan members, knuckle dragging Neanderthals, a__h___s, terrorists, barbarians, gerbils, and un-American. Check.
  • Randomly blame Bush, the Japanese tsunami, ATM machines, and a host of other factors for many of the above failures. Check.
  • Manipulate the calculation of the unemployment rate to falsely make it look like the unemployment situation is improving. Check.
  • Allow over $500 billion of taxpayer wealth a year to continue to be lost annually to waste, inefficiencies ands criminal activity in major and minor government programs including, but not limited to, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment insurance. Check.
  • Wage class warfare of rich Americans against poorer Americans by falsely implying that Warren Buffet's Federal income tax rate is typical of those Americans earning over $100,000 a year. Check.
  • Ignore the pending financial meltdown of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in order to not alienate a few voters in November. Check.
  • Fail to write the regulations and guidelines needed to implement legislation that was passed in 2008 that cracked down on food stamp fraud.
  • Fail to come up with a reorganization plan or termination plan for the dysfunctional and expensive Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA entities. Check.
  • Approve the first ever, government sanctioned assassination of an American citizen without due process and institute an official government committee to review and recommend subsequent assassinations of Americans without due process.
I may be wrong but I do not remember Carter coming anywhere close to this number of failures during his entire four years as President. I do not think he set anywhere near the number of records that the Obama administration has set as far as the weakest economic recovery ever, the most failed economic programs, the most Americans ever on food stamps, etc.

I do not think Carter had nearly as many firsts as Obama such as the first government sanctioned American citizen assassination, the first ever U.S. credit downgrade, the first ever TRILLION dollar annual government deficit, etc.

I do not think Carter had nearly as much disdain for individual Constitutional rights, Constitutional tenets. or the rule of law. 

So, no disrespect to my Facebook friend who thinks that her list of a half dozen Obama accomplishments is noteworthy. My above list of over four dozen reasons why the Obama accomplishment checklist of failure trumps that list in my mind. When a President's accomplishment checklist falls below the accomplishment checklist of Jimmy Carter, it is about time to try another President.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sure as hell convinced me. It never ceases to amze me how ignorant people are this political environment. I always like to hear both sides of the story and thats why I watch the "The Factor" with Bill Oreilly which is definitely fair and balanced not like the crap you get on the other networks that are in Obamas pocket.

Bruno Korschek said...

Anonymous:

Thanks for reading and commenting. I could not agree more with you. I am not sure what scares me more. This President and his disrespect for our country or the people who continually cut him a break for his failures and continue to support what is obviously a seriously flawed politician and individual.

Bruno

Anonymous said...

I do not know what scares me the most: 1) The increasing ignorance of the American public, or 2) the unequaled distrespect for the government and law that has surfaced since 2009.

Bruno Korschek said...

Dear Anonymous:

I totally agreee with both your points and would add one point. The government, and the polticial class that operates it, has earned our disrespect over the past years. Cronyism, wasteful spending, laziness, inabiity to problem solve, etc. are traits of our government and our politicians, traits that are difficult to respect. We are covering this negative aspect of our political processes in our five posts this week, it is not a pretty picture.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Bruno

Anonymous said...

The worst of all con men is the one who accuses others of doing the same things he is doing himself!

I would add to that another worst con man is one who manipulates facts and/or creates a statement as a fact that is not and never was, but says it as if it is. The sad fact is that these con men know just how gullible most people are and he knows they will never go back to check his "fact".

Most of your "other failures" are the same old misrepresentation of the truth or just outright lies presented as truths. Of course, those who are already brainwashed by all of the junk circulated around as "fact" will never question you. I am not one of them. I have seen how a very dangerous faction of Republicans has controlled and manipulated the party. I have also seen hard evidence that they are definitely NOT looking out for the best interest of the people of this country but are looking to line their pockets and their off shore bank accounts and could care less what happens to the rest of us. The only ones they are concerned about being "better off" are themselves. And by the way, we ARE better off now than in January 2008 when we lost over 750,000 jobs in one month! I have better health insurance now and the coverage for the donut hole in my Medicare prescription drugs benefit was paid for by the cuts that were put in the Affordable Health Care Act to the Medicare payments to other private insurance companies like making them show that they have paid out in health care benefits at least 80% of the premiums they collected. None of the cuts in the Medicare plan were cuts in benefits to the seniors but rather reforms in the way payments were made and cost savings in operations. Small business owners have received refund checks from their insurance contractors (plus penalties) because they did not adhere to this 80% requirement and I personally received a check from my son's insurer for a percent of my premiums paid last year because they had failed to meet that requirement for the past year. Also, my premiums did NOT go up for this year.

Bruno Korschek said...

Anonymous:

Thanks for reading and commenting. I would like to respond to some of your comments:

1) I am 59 years old and until the November, 2010 mid term elections, I had NEVER voted for a Republican for national office in my life. While still living in New Jersey I was a registered Democrat. Thus, you implication that I am some kind of radical Repubican is a false statement, made without any proof of reality.

2) I pride myself on making sure that all of my data and information sources are as unbiased and accurate as possible. I do not make up any data or reality, and I never use Fox News or conservative blog or website for publication or a basis for conclusions.

3) I am sure that some Americans are receiving some benefits from Obama Care and you are obviously one of them. I am happy for you. However, many, many experts in the medical profession, insurance industry, and economics agree with me and millions of other Americans that Obama is and will be a disaster. That does not mean the good parts of the legislation should not be kept in effect. But the legislation's overall implications and negative impacts will be a disaster. May I suggest you review some of those expert opinions, not my opinions, in a four part series we did starting with the following link:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/08/obama-care-still-constitutional-and.html

The biggest finding in this series is that the Congressional Budget Office, not me, has concluded that by 2022 there will still be tens of millions of Americans without health care insurance. Not my opinion but hard analysis from the CBO. Since the main reason for Obama Care was to insure every American, leaving tens of millions uninsured after ten years has to qualify as a failure.

I am not a con man, I am just a very concerned American that wants to find the truth and the facts, in order to understand reality. Again, thanks for reading and commenting.

Bruno