Change- More of the same
We all know that presidents don’t keep all their promises, but Obama is unique. He runs on an empty platform of “Hope” and “Change”, promising that the policies of the Bush era will come to an end. There were many instances where he spelled out how he would stop torture, close Gitmo, release prisoner abuse photos, pull out of Iraq, balance the budget, create more transparency, keep lobbyists out of Washington, and even remove funding from faith based initiatives that have discriminatory hiring practice.
So, what is the verdict almost four months later? Obama is a horrible Bush with some small changes. Lets list some key Bush-Obama policies that were unpopular during Bush’s term but for some reason are accepted during Obama’s.
Budget: Obama’s budget will rack up more than $1.8 trillion in deficit spending this year alone. Lest I mention that Obama has outspent in deficit spending Bush’s eight years in less than one year. Democrats bashed Bush over his budgets, as seen here where they were bashing him for adding a projected $375 billion to the deficit (note how Obama’s deficit this year is 5X as large). So why the silence? I didn’t like Bush’s overspending and our debt and I voiced my discontent. If Democrats don’t enjoy debt as well, why aren’t they standing up now?
Torture: Of course, I don’t really mean torture, I mean waterboarding. During Obama’s campaign, he promised to end the enhanced interrogation practices used on unlawful combatants. What say him now? Uh, just kidding. Then comes his reversal on releasing pictures of abused prisoners of war, now saying that they could endanger U.S. troops and citizens. Isn’t that what we’ve been saying all along? He is also mulling over whether to hold unlawful combatants indefinitely or not, which he most likely will side again with the Bush era decision. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad he is making some smart choices, it is just that fact that President Obama and candidate Obama are two completely different people. Honesty is important.
Lobbyists: Do I even have to mention this? Jocelyn Frye, Cecilia Muñoz, Bill Lynn, Tom Vilsack, and David Hayes? I mentioned in a previous post how Obama completely failed to uphold his promise of no lobbyists working in the White House.
Faith Based Initiatives: Obama upholded Bush’s policy of not barring faith based groups who have discriminatory hiring practices from Federal funding. Isn’t this the same guy who argued that the government should be allowed to determine who makes what because more men are engineers and more women are secretaries?
Iraq: One of Obama’s hardest hitting campaign promises was that he would pull troops out of Iraq by mid 2010, now saying late 2011. If Iraq falls back into chaos, how many people think he’d let it, especially with our troops staying in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Not to mention the military budget wasn’t cut, rather will increase by 8% by 2010. Again, I like defense spending, but when the Democrats complain about the $900 billion that was spent in Iraq over the course of six year, then plan on keeping defense spending and continuing (and in many ways expanding) our current wars, it irks me that such hypocrites get away with so much.
Ultimately, Obama includes and expands the worst of Bush’s policies, keeping only a few of the good ones. It isn’t just Obama who is being a hypocrite, either. It’s everyone who bashed Bush yet hail Obama, and it is everyone who didn’t bash Bush yet attack Obama for the same policies. However, in the land of ignorance and hypocrisy, what more can I expect?
