Cronyism and Failed Alternative Energy Investments
11) “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Both of these aspects of our lives from the President’s 2009 inauguration speech never came to fruition.
His wind and solar dreams were derailed when his administration handed out billions of dollars of taxpayer wealth without due diligence and without being independent of how that money was disbursed, with most of it going to political cronies and fund raisers of the President. Billions and billions of dollars wasted on bogus alternative energy endeavors with absolutely no societal or environmental benefit.
Recent financial analyses, analyses that we will cover in more detail in future posts, estimates that over $11 million was needed to create ONE green job. Hardly an efficient use of taxpayer wealth and just another angle on how this promise went unfulfilled.
End Ugly Partianship In Washington
12) The President promised to "turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington, so we can bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the American people." Nice words, bad follow up:
- When Congressional members of his party equated those American citizens that disagreed with the tenets of Obama Care to the vicious racists of the Civil Rights era, the President was silent.
- When a Congressional member of his party openly stated that those American citizens with a different political viewpoint of her should go to hell, the President was silent.
- When a Congressional member of his party openly stated that Republicans were “knuckle dragging Neanderthals,” the President was silent;
- When a White House czar openly stated that Republicans were “a__h___s,” the President was silent.
- When multiple Congressional members of his party and his Vice President called those opposed to some of his policies barbarians and terrorists, the President was silent.
- When political supporters in the media said that a Republican Congresswoman should commit suicide by self decapitation, that ten Republican political woman needed to be hate raped, that Sarah Palin was a [insert numerous, unmentionable slurs here], that a Fox female commentator was a slut, and any number of other numerous affronts, the President was silent.
- When a major media news source produced and aired a video clip showing the Romney tour bus being consumed in a ball of flame during the 2012 Presidential campaign, killing all of those on board, the President was silent.
A Transparent Administration
13) One of the President’s main promises was his call for “the most sweeping ethics reform in history.” He also promised that there was no place in his administration for lobbyists. However, according to a recent Washington Post article:
- More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs.
- Nine more of these fundraisers have been appointed to Presidential boards and committees.
- At least 24 Obama campaign fundraiser bundlers were given posts as foreign ambassadors, including posts in Finland, Australia, Portugal and Luxembourg.
- Obama has appointed 59 ambassadors who were not career Foreign Service officers, and of those, 40% were campign fund raising bundlers.
- Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was a bundler, raising at least $500,000.
- Julius Genachowski, the recent chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, raised at least half a million dollars.
- Bundler Steve Spinner was hired as a liaison in the Energy Department. According to internal e-mails turned over in a Congressional investigation, Spinner pressed for the Energy Department to finalize a government loan for Solyndra, the now bankrupt solar panel company in which yet another campaign bundler was a major investor.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/oh-no-we-cant-let-romney-win-hell-let-lobbyists-in-the-white-house/article/2510879
A small sample of these lobbyists include the following:
- Fannie Mae, Cigna, and Credit Suisse lobbyist Laricke Blanchard was named deputy director of policy for the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
- Former teachers union lobbyist Gabriella Gomez is an assistant secretary of Education.
- Former crop-industry lobbyist Krysta Harden is assistant secretary of Agriculture.
- White House staff members include Patton Boggs lobbyist Emmett Beliveau, O’Melveny & Myers lobbyist Derek Douglas, and Pfizer’s and AT&T’s lobbyist at Akin Gump Dana Singiser.
Protect Social Security
14) "Now is the time to protect Social Security for future generations." Promise broken since the President has devoted virtually no effort to finding and implementing a fix to the Social Security System, a system that effects every retired and current American worker. The inaction of the President and Congress on this topic is certainly distressing since the system is now in a negative cash flow situation that will only get worse in a business as usual environment.
Protect The Constitution
15) "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." I am assuming that that this oath that was taken by this President and all previous implicitly includes the requirement that the President enforce and aide by not only the tenets of the Constitution but all current Federal laws that were passed under the tenets of the Constitution.
Given that assumption, the polices and positions of this President have violated this oath many times over:
- The botched Fast and Furious gun running operation which sent guns to violent Mexican drug cartels under Federal government guidance broke numerous internal laws and international treaties.
- The NDAA legislation, which allows the Federal government to hold a person in detention indefinitely, violates our nation’s due process of law, the right to a speedy trial, and the right to confront one’s accuser.
- The President’s unilateral decision to not enforce DOMA is a violation of his oath to enforce the laws of the land (even though DOMA is a lousy law which allows the Federal government to define personal relationships). If it was such a lousy law in his mind, he should have Constitutionally repealed it when his approval rating was sky high and his party controlled both houses of Congress. He did nothing and now does not have the right to ignore an existing law.
- The President’s decision to ignore the ruling of a Federal judge in Louisiana relative to the administration’s Gulf oil drilling ban is a gross violation of the Constitution’s checks and balances.
- The dangerous and growing power and reach that the government has relative to reading our emails, texts, instant messages, and other correspondences without legal standing and without our knowledge violates an American’s right to privacy as laid out many times by the Supreme Court.
16) During his first Presidential campaign, President Obama pledged not "to sign any nonemergency bills without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."
This promise has been broken too many times to list but the most blatant violation of this vow came with the House of Representatives voting on the Obama Care legislation. In this case, a bill that was over 2,000 pages long was distributed and voted on within 48 hours. Many members of Congress complained about this insane turnaround from receiving the bill to voting on it, never mind anyone in the American public getting it, reading it, and commenting on it before passage.
Slash Earmarks
17) In a 2008 speech, President Obama promised to "slash earmarks by more than half" and to reduce them to "less than $7.8 billion a year, the level they were at before 1994 when the Republicans took over control of Congress."
During every year of his adminsitraton, earmarks have continued to hover around the annual $15 billion level, not coming close to being slashed by more than half, allowing the politicians in Washington to conitnue to use the earmark process to support their continual relection campaigns.
Balance The Federal Budget
18) Early in his Presidency, President Obama proclaimed that "what my budget does is...by the middle of this decade, our annual spending willmatch our annual revenues. We will not be adding more to our national debt."
This is one of the President's bigger "lair, liar pants on fire" statements. For the first five years of his term, the Federal govenrment has run up over a trillion dolalrs worth of deficits and debt every year. His long term, ten year budget, that is currently under consideration, never comes close to matching spending with annual revenues. Not even close on this promise. Guess he never got around to going through the Federal budget "line by line" as he promised since trillion dollar annual deficits are the rule not the exception with this President.
Violating Constitutional rights even though he promised to abide by the Constitution. Not proposing any fixes to an ailing Social Security system even though he promised to fix it. Allowing Washington to remain a crony infested, earmark addicted, ethically challenged environment even though he promised to clean it up. Standing by silently as the divisive language and attitudes from his political allies reached all time lows even though he promised to end the hatred. Using taxpayer money to reward his political allies and fund raisers who happened to own bogus or shaky alternative energy endeavors, resulting in billions of dollars wasted and no long term alternative energy progress made. Annual deficits that are record setting and economically destructive.
Again, remember how we opened this series of posts two days ago. In January, 2009, this President had sky high approval ratings and his party had solid control of both parts of Congress.
He could have done anything he wanted, fulfilled any promise he made. However, he spent much of his time traveling the world, meeting with athletic teams, playing golf, taking vacations, raising campaign money for himself and his party, and reveling in his fame and popularity.
Thus, blaming any one or any opposition for his lack of success is a groundless argument. He had a historic two year window of opportunity to make his mark in history, fulfill his promises, and go down in the history books for implementing epic changes in this country (for better or worse).
Instead he will likely go down as a President who missed a historical moment, who saddled the country with national debt that will span generations, who left a country more divided than when he came into office, implemented economic policies that left the country in a low growth economic rut, and who fulfilled a minimal amount of his most grand and impactful promises.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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