Barack Obama -- Campaign Lies

Obama's Campaign Lies

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Promises -- Promises

Items on this page are archived in the order of discovery.

Obama

The Los Angeles Times reports that in an interview on ABC's "This Week," President-elect Obama acknowledged that not everything he promised to do during the campaign would be able to happen quickly.

In particular, he said, he was unlikely to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in the first 100 days of his presidency. The Financial Times says the remarks "may prove disappointing to some of his supporters."

In a front-page story titled "Obama Signals His Reluctance To Look Into Bush Policies," the New York Times reports President-elect Obama "signaled in an interview broadcast Sunday that he was unlikely to authorize a broad inquiry into Bush administration programs like domestic eavesdropping or the treatment of terrorism suspects." At the Central Intelligence Agency, "in particular, many officers flatly oppose any further review and may protest the prospect of a broad inquiry into their past conduct."

The Washington Times notes that "the most popular question on the Obama transition team's Web site is whether he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate torture and warrantless wiretapping conducted by the Bush administration." William Kristol writes in the New York Times, "Perhaps the president-elect was just being polite. Or perhaps he just enjoys torturing (metaphorically!) some of his previously most ardent supporters who want Dick Cheney tried as a war criminal."

Falling Down

In After only two months in office, President Obama may have fallen short on a number of his campaign promises.

1: Sunlight Before Signing -- "When there is a bill that ends up on my desk as the president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it," he said.

2: Capital gains tax elimination -- Just weeks prior to the election, Obama advisers Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman told the Wall Street Journal that Obama planned tax cuts that included "the elimination of capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups."

3: New American jobs tax credit -- During his transition, Obama's promised to provide a $3,000 refundable tax credit to existing businesses for every additional full-time U.S. employee hired in 2009 and 2010.

4: Hiatus on 401(k) penalties -- In October 2008, Obama released his "Rescue Plan for the Middle-Class" in which he promised to allow financially distressed Americans to withdraw up to $10,000 from their 401(k) accounts and retirement savings without having to pay penalties. They would only pay income taxes on the amount.

5: No jobs for lobbyists -- "I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president."

6: Earmark reform -- at the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss., Obama declared, "[W]e need earmark reform. And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

7: Bring troops home in 16 months -- Even as combat troops are brought home, Pentagon officials have said fresh units will continue deploying to Iraq.

8: Sign "Freedom of Choice Act" -- Obama expressed his support for the sweeping plan that would repeal all national and state regulations of abortion passed over the last 35 years.

9: $4,000 college credit -- Obama pledged to make college "affordable for all Americans" when he announced his American Opportunity Tax Credit.

No. 10: Transparency -- On the White House website, the Obama administration claims it will be "the most open and transparent in history.

Details here . . .

What's My Name?

Obama filed his Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Form 2, Statement of Candidacy, on February 12, 2007. It was stamped "Received" at the FEC Mail Center at 2:39 PM, that date.

The first entry, Item 1. (a) Name of Candidate (In Full), contains the entry "Barack Obama." Item 7. identifies his Principal Campaign Committee (2008) as "Obama for America." Obama's signature boldly appears under the statement, "I certify that I have examined this Statement and to the best of my knowledge and belief it is true, correct and complete."

On September 15, 2008, a second FEC Form 2 was filed, adding "Biden, Joseph R." On this form, Obama certifies himself in entry 1. (a) Name of Candidate (In Full), as "Obama, Barack." The complete 1. (a) entry is, "Obama, Barack/Biden, Joseph R." This form is unsigned, containing the typewritten entry, "Obama, Barack/Biden, Joseph R." in the Signature block.

FEC Form 2 clearly states, "Note: Submission of false, erroneous or incomplete information may subject the person signing this Statement to penalties of 2 U. S. C. §437g."

This could be nothing, but one has to ask, why did Obama submit both statements with an improper name? And, why is the statement adding Biden's name not signed? After all, these are the foundation documents to Obama's candidacy.

Obama is an attorney, who is surrounded by attorneys. One would think that these documents would have been scanned several times for errors and omissions prior to their submission. And, why did Obama provide an improper name, not once, but twice -- or did he?

It may not matter, since Nancy Pelosi certifies that Obama's on the level?

Thanks RAS -- he's British and he doesn't understand this stuff.

Barack Obama: Liar And Demagogue

Steve McCann says There are among the population of the country Barack Obama has been chosen to lead those who have experienced firsthand the iron fist of a dictatorial government and who have survived the bloodshed that resulted. Tens of millions died during the past century under dictators. Deep within their psyche, these survivors are extraordinarily attuned to those factors that gave rise to the devastation when dictators have their way.

They know that the first step along this path is the emergence of a leader willing to do or say anything to promote a destructive and failed political philosophy and to achieve power by manipulating the emotions, fears, and prejudices of the people. But above all, they are mindful that only by exposing those who are determined to undermine their society, without hesitation or fear, can their nation be saved.

Therefore, on behalf of those of us who have live through the worst of times, and based upon Obama's own words and deeds, it must be stated that Obama is a liar and a demagogue.

This deception began during the presidential campaign. Falling sway to soothing rhetoric and a deliberately fraudulent campaign to promote moderate positions on the economy and government, many citizens in 2008 voted for Senator Obama. Further, they hoped that by electing a man of African descent, the long national nightmare of slavery and the long civil rights struggle would at last be relegated to the pages of history. Capitalizing on that hope, Obama campaigned on the theme that as a political moderate, he would bring all Americans together and end the divisive politics of the past, as well as control the scope and size of government.

In the intervening two years since the election, Obama, his underlings in the administration, and the sycophantic members of Congress have repeatedly invoked the checkered past of this country in regard to civil rights and never missed an opportunity to remind the people of Obama's skin color. This has been done in a willful effort to capitalize on so-called white guilt, thus keeping alive the tensions in the black community and muzzling dissent, while enacting radical policies anathema to the overwhelming majority of the American people.

There has been no compunction in exploiting race or racial incidents, such as Professor Gates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Department of Justice and the Black Panthers, or his references to slavery in recent speeches, to sow dissent among the populace. Given numerous opportunities to denounce racial demagoguery by his supporters or the media, Obama has chosen to remain silent, thus giving his tacit approval to the onslaught of racial divisiveness and manipulation.

Continue reading here . . .

More lies: Obama says Republicans messed up so bad that millions are still out of work.

Obama Plays The Xenophobia Card

Carole says playing the race card hasn't worked and the crazy card hasn't worked. So now Obama and his cronies -- the very same people who cared so much about what the rest of the world thought -- are playing the xenophobia card. In their last desperate attempt to preserve their hold on power, they are spreading lies about evil foreigners set on infiltrating America.

Without a shred of evidence, Obama and his minions are accusing Republicans and the Democrats' favorite boogeyman "big business" of taking "secret foreign money to influence our elections" in violation of federal law. These attacks are not only baseless; they are blatant attempts to frighten voters with the specter of secret foreigners. Not only is that despicable, it's against everything Obama claimed to stand for.

Remember candidate Obama's world tour during the 2008 campaign? That summer he traveled to Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom making speech after speech; alternately apologizing for the United States and seeming to run for the office of world president instead of American president.

But now as the American people are poised to reject his policies and his party at the ballot box, he and his Democratic National Committee are not only making false accusations against political rivals, they're encouraging fear and distrust of non-Americans to do it.

At a rally in Maryland Thursday, Obama declared, "Groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections, and they won't tell you where the money for their ads come from."

The DNC has produced a new ad calling the US Chamber of Commerce "shills for big business," spending millions from anonymous donors to help GOP candidates, and is "even taking secret foreign money to influence our elections." Yet when asked to back up the allegations, White House adviser David Axelrod offered no proof. Instead he said, "Why not simply disclose where this money is coming from and then all of these questions would be answered."

And that is the true purpose of the xenophobic games being played by Obama & Company. Spread the lies about non-existent evil foreigners trying to infiltrate our election process so that citizens become frightened enough to demand that the privacy of legitimate American donors be violated. Then the Democratic Machine can try to demonize them.

Doesn't sound like something the president of the world would do, does it? But it sounds exactly like what a failed politician desperate to hold onto his fading power would do.

Related: Obama is "beyond the pale" on campaign remarks says Karl Rove

It’s well documented that the 2008 Obama campaign did not put in place address verification software that would have routinely prevented most foreign donations. In effect they were encouraging donations by foreign nationals. Here is a report from the Washington Post -- and here's one from the Washington Examiner.

And from yesterday's stuff -- the $32,332.19 that came from two brothers living in a Hamas-controlled Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, GA (that’s Gaza, not Georgia). The Palestinian's $31,318 cash was part of a flood of illegal foreign contributions (click for larger image) accepted by the Obama campaign.

Two Years Of Broken Promises

Lee Cary says Along with the annual turn of the calendar from one year to the next comes the musing over where our lives have been and where we hope they'll go. This year the icy currents of our musings as a people will run deep.

Certainly, they won't be equivalent to a nation fighting a bloody Civil War. Nor do we face the daily trauma of a Great Depression with one of four Americans unemployed. Nor are these days as ominous as when we were reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor and suddenly at war with powerful and evil nations in Asia and Europe.

This time, the threats ride in on a slow tide, now washing around our ankles as we wonder just how deep the water will become. This time, it's different. This time, we lack what we always assumed would emerge when America found herself facing a crisis. We lack presidential leadership and will for at least the next two years.

There's no immediate value in reviewing the litany of presumptions and assumptions that brought us the current regime. But the consequences of the 2008 election are there for all with eyes to see and ears to hear. Besides, it's a long-done deal -- just not the deal that many who voted for the freshman senator from Illinois thought they were getting.

To prove that, all we need do is review the trail of broken promises in Obama's January 2008 inaugural address. Back then he said, "We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents."

But, during the Obama administration, the Constitution has become a founding document to be subverted rather than served.

Obama said, "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

But the irresponsibility over several administrations whereby banks were forced to artificially support a sub-prime interest rate that led to the housing bubble and brought down a financial house of cards gets translated into Obama's distorted notion of class warfare, where the greedy and irresponsible "some" are at fault.

Obama said, "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

But hope and unity have not been byproducts of the Obama style of boot-on-the-neck governance -- one that most closely resembles the one-party tyranny of his hometown, Chicago.

More of Obama's broken promises here . . .