Obama Campaign Promises

When I was deciding whether to vote for Obama, I made a list of 16 campaign promises that he made on things that I cared about. I was for 8 of them, and against 8 of them. This list was made in June, 2008, so it is now 1 year old. I periodically update it. It is not pro or anti Obama, it is just a list of issues I care about. Some of them he broke them the way I wanted him to, and some he broke the way I did not want him to.

Sunday is the day Obama promised to have the troops out of Iraq. Seems like a good time for an Obama Campaign Promise update:

Obama's Campaign Promises I keep a list of Obama campaign promises and update it periodically. These are from http://www.barackobama.com/issues and from http://www.nationaljournal.com/campaigns/2008/wh08/promises.htm.

Current: 10 broken, one kept, 5 still not sure about.

Promises that he has broken:

  1. Bring change to the White House. Broken by the re-appointment of the Clinton gang. Also, Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel. Representative Emanuel (D- Illinois) is a hard-core, far left, liberal. The head of the IRS does not pay his taxes, and the attorney general sells pardons.
  2. Only use public campaign financing. Broken by only using private funds in the general election. He had the largest amount and percentage of unknown contributors in the history of the country.
  3. "Obama and Biden will create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings." Apparently this promise does not apply to Obama. See #2.
  4. "no political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." Broken by the appointment of Tam Daschal, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/politics/20daschle.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=print and William J. Lynn III. The latter worked for Raytheon, is now the assistant Secretary of Defense. Here is a list of 11 others: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/03/the-list-of-lobbyists-in-the-obama-administration/
  5. Promised to Ban off shore drilling. (Then Reversed his stand in August, 2008.) However, he has not yet issued any off-shore lease sales.
  6. Immediately Shut Down Gitmo. Well, now we have a year to come up with a plan. That is not "immediately."
  7. Implement a windfall profit tax on the Oil Companies. (Broken, Dec. 2, 2008.)
  8. Provide a tax cut for working families. His proposals are now for tax credits not cuts, meaning the money goes to non-working families. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy/wm1776.cfm
  9. Get out of Iraq in 180 days. Mark your calendars, July 19th is 180 days. They will not be out. But he has done a good job implementing George Bush's withdrawal timetable.
  10. Provide tax relief for small businesses and startups, elimination of capital gains tax on small businesses. When congress raises the taxes on the top 1 or 2% earners, 80% of those people are small business owners. Thus, that tax increase is really an increase in small business taxes.

    Promises he has not had a chance to break:

  11. Bankrupt the coal industry. May still do that with cap and trade.
  12. Grind up nuclear weapons. (seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material;) Looks like one he will keep.
  13. Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
  14. Eliminate Our Current (oil) Imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 Years.
  15. Fight for fair-trade, i.e. export unions to other countries. "Obama and Biden will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. They will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world."
  16. Universal Health Care: "I have made a solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year." Now he wants to tax employer paid health insurance, something I agree with.

    A note: Since about 48% of our medical spending is government, and since Medicare and Medicaid mandates that those payments are between 71% and 81% of the customary charges, the medical industry must overcharge the other 52% by 20% to make up for the shortfall from Government. Conclusion: We already pay a hidden 20% tax on our health care.

    For all of the promises, see http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

    Bill Kamp