No doubt most media outlets will talk about how great President Obama is and how much he has accomplished during these first 100 days. I am sure you have seen the artwork being displayed in New York with Obama’s arms spread wide and a crown of thorns on his head. Unfortunately a lot of people see Obama in this light and I am sure you will run into them as they tell of their great messiah. But when you do, ask them what exactly has he done that is so great. I doubt they will be able to give you an educated answer. More than likely they will tell you that he has gotten us out of Iraq and is ending our meaningless wars. Be sure to remind them that the deal to remove troops from Iraq was brokered and agreed upon during the last year of the Bush administration. You can also tell them that Obama has changed his mind and stated that at least 50,000 troops will have to remain. He is also sending more troops to Afghanistan. I would say these are a couple of the good decisions he has made. At least he listened to his commanders.
They will also talk about how Bush destroyed the economy mainly because they do not understand what happened. Forget that Bush and Congress tried to address the problem a couple of times only to be blocked by Democrats. In hindsight, I bet the Bush administration wishes they would have pushed harder for reforms. Remind them that too much government deficit spending aided the situation we are in now and Obama is more than tripling this spending. They attacked Bush for this, but now that it is Obama it is suddenly OK?
If this does not work, then I guess you can fall back on the facts of what has happened in these first 100 days. I think you will find a lot of people shocked or in denial because they really have not paid attention to what has happened since they voted for the man. So here we go. Lets start with his appointments since judgment and not experience is Obama’s thing.
Bill Richardson - Obama appointed Richardson to Commerce Secretary knowing that he was under investigation for pay to play politics in New Mexico. He was forced to withdraw his name even with Obama coming to his defense .
Hilda Solis - Obama’s choice for Labor Secretary is a major union supporter from California with a 100% rating by AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and SEIU. She supports the Employee Free Choice Act (co-sponsored by Obama) which gives a lot more power to unions. Her hearings were actually delayed because of a tax lien on Husband’s business that was unpaid for 16 years.
Nancy Killefer - Picked as Chief Performance Officer (a post created by Obama). She had to withdraw her name when it was released that she failed to pay taxes on household help for a year and a half
Timothy Geithner - Our ever famous Treasury Secretary who failed to pay $34,000 in income taxes and hired illegal alien help. A little less known is that he wrote the initial AIG bailout during the Bush Administration and was also supposed to have oversight over the financial industry. So he got promoted.
Tom Daschle - The universal healthcare promoter was forced to withdraw his name as Health and Human Services Secretary after it was learned he had not paid $128,000 in taxes. After withdrawing it was also learned that he was trying to influence the Obama administration to hire some of his lobbyist friends as he was a lobbyist himself.
Eric Holder - Obama’s Attorney General pick was assistant AG under Clinton. He was responsible for the pardon of Marc Rich and offering clemency to 16 former members of the FALN terrorist group.
David Ogden - Obama’s Choice for Deputy Attorney General Ogden argued that abortion is a method of family planning that should be eligible for federal funding. He also argued to change army policy on homosexuals in the military. And to top it all off, he opposed the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000 and the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act while representing pornography companies. Real family values guy.
Rahm Emanuel - Obama’s first appointment was one of the most partisan people in politics. Rahm is a Chicago politician who worked with the likes of Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Daley. Obama’s now Chief of Staff told Republicans “they can go F$$$ themselves” after he helped Democrats win the majority in 06.
Gregory Craig - Obama’s General Counsel represented just about every dirt bag that has walked the planet. He is a Clinton associate.
Carol M. Browner - Until Obama’s nomination of her to the Global Warming Czar (made up crisis), she was listed as one of 14 leaders of Socialist International’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society.
I have left plenty of people out so feel free to fill in the blanks. The second big thing on people’s minds is the economy so let’s see what was done with that. The first big push was for the Stimulus Bill. In a complete lack of leadership, Obama said that if we do not pass his stimulus bill and do it now, we may never recover. (Even though the CBO released a report showing how his stimulus would do more damage than if they did nothing at all) He indeed took Rahm Emanuels advice who said that a good crisis should never be wasted. Most people should know what was in the Stimulus, but I have found that a lot of people really do not. It changed somewhat but nobody knows for sure because it was rushed through so quickly by Reid and Pelosi that not a single member of Congress was able to read it before voting. Its main purpose was a payback to people and organizations that supported Obama and got him elected. Only about 15% of the funds in the bill actually went to economic stimulus.
One little discussed effect of the stimulus bill is that it destroyed 10 years of welfare reform. Before 1996, welfare was given to the states based upon how many people they had on their roles, effectively giving bonuses to states for putting more people on welfare. The reforms since 1996 restricted welfare funding to a set amount and was not dependent on the number of recipients. There were also goals and requirements for both states and welfare recipients to better themselves and prepare for employment. All this has disappeared with the stimulus bill. The bill promises federal funding based upon how many welfare recipients the states add to their rolls thus reversing reforms of one of the few productive government programs.
There were also 2 budgets on the table during this first 100 days. The first budget is already signed and was for the rest of this fiscal year. Obama signed it despite the fact that it contained about 8,000 earmarks. This goes against his promise to change Washington’s practice of wasteful spending. He tried to blame it on Bush even though he signed it and then ironically gave a speech discussing how he plans to cut down on pork projects.
The second budget outlines his plans for the next 10 years. It contains trillions of dollars of deficit spending and raises national debt to alarming levels. It is a tax a spend plan that just cannot be sustained even with the outrageous tax increases included in this budget.
On a smaller scale there was Obama’s tobacco tax . Obama enacted one of the largest taxes of all time on tobacco products in order to pay for a child insurance program. Another perfect example of liberals tax and spend programs. This in effect broke Obama’s promise to not raise taxes on those making under $200,000. And he did it with hardly anyone noticing. That is because he quietly signed it while everyone was debating the stimulus bill.
Union payback is another big issue that has not really been covered as much as it should. There have been appointments of high level union lawyers and union leadership as well as numerous executive orders supporting unions. I have not looked into it as much as I should but there is definitely a story there if a reporter wants to do his research.
The social issues are another hot topic that Obama has failed during these first 100 days. If you are talking to a Christian Obama supporter, hold them accountable. Obama’s first action in office was to rescind a Bush Executive order to allow federal funding for abortions oversees. He then reversed Bush’s executive order on embryonic cell research. He also publicly opposed proposition 8 in California that defined marriage as a union between and man and a woman. For a man who states publicly that he is a Christian and promotes family values, his actions say otherwise.
On the foreign affairs and national defense front, Obama has not done much better. Whether it is arrogance or ignorance, it has really shown during these first 100 days. You really do not have to look further than the apologetic European tour to see this. Especially if you were reading any international news stories as they were basically making fun of Obama at every turn and openly taking advantage of his gullibility. The most evident were the simple things. Giving the PM of Britain DVDs as a gift was one, Ipod to the Queen another, and then returning the bust of Winston Churchill. You have Clinton’s embarrassing moment in Russia and Obama’s bow in the Middle East. He has just not represented our country well.
Obama ordered Guantanamo Bay closed before having any knowledge of the facility or more importantly, before his administration had a plan for the inmates. As Karl Rove pointed out, they are simply winging it. Obama released the CIA memos against the advice of former and current CIA directors. He is putting our operatives at risk and does not even realize what he is doing. On this current path, I predict he will cause serious problems within the CIA much like the policies of Jimmy Carter almost destroyed our Armed Forces in the 70s.
The final aspect of the first 100 days I would like to discuss is simple leadership. Obama promised to change the culture of Washington and end partisan politics. That did not even last through his inauguration speech as he took a shot at the outgoing Bush administration. From there it got worse. He continued by publicly ridiculing Republicans who believed in Reaganomics instead of his massive government spending ideas. (by the way, history has shown that Reagan’s ideas worked). He then finally snapped when reporters starting asking tough questions. He continues to treat the Presidency as a popularity contest. He goes on late night talk shows and fills out NCAA brackets when there are more important things to worry about. Maybe the economic crisis that we will never recover from. His staff even meets weekly to go over poll numbers. But the one thing that I think shows his true nature more than any other was the Rush Limbaugh incident . It was a calculated political decision to go after Rush Limbaugh and it was directed from inside the White House. What else do you really need to know to understand that Obama has brought Chicago style politics to Washington?
So when you see media outlets and celebrities, or even your work colleagues talking about how great of a President Obama has been, question them on these great things. What has he really done? I doubt they can give you a good answer. Then show them the facts because facts do not lie.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
100 days in office is apparently 100 days too long. When you mentioned all the different ways Obama has represented America overseas, it’s funny because the media talks about how well he’s been representing. The whole bowing thing really bothers me. Why doesn’t everyone else see how shady he is?
Here is a link to an article in the NY Post who added even more mistakes of the Obama White House
NY Post Article 100 mistakes in 100 days