Rating Obama's First Year: Austin Lee

Barack Obama’s first year was a dismal failure on many fronts.  While I could probably fill enough space for a two or three volume series, I will simply focus on his inability to keep promises.

One of the hallmarks of Barack Obama’s campaign was that he was going to end the practice of earmarks in Washington even promising to veto any bill that came across his desk with earmarks.  He set the tone for failure in his first several weeks in office when he signed the “stimulus” bill with close to 1,000 earmarks.

I was shocked that the mainstream media even picked up on this, but they did question him about it.  His response was that the bill was “too important” to keep that promise.  This would set the tone for the rest of the year.

He promised that lobbyists would not be welcomed in his White House, yet it seemed that just like in the past there they were.  The excuses used escape me at this point.  (Most likely because by this point I was tired of hearing a bunch of excuses from a President that is unable to give a straight answer.)  You can hate George W. Bush all you want, but you knew that he was going to tell you what he thought.  Obama doesn’t seem to be as transparent as promised.

Finally, at least eight times on the campaign trail the President promised that healthcare negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN so that everything would be transparent.  that hasn’t happened.

What has happened is that like the stimulus package last year, the healthcare bill has become too important for promise keeping.

I can’t help but notice that not only does Barack Obama fail to keep his promises, he has a tendency to say one thing and then do another.  If actions speak louder than words consider this:

* Obama claims that he is not interested in taking control of the banking system and then buys out all of the banks.
* Obama claims that he doesn’t want to run a car company and then buys out GM and fires the CEO.
* Obama claims that he wants to get out of Afghanistan and then orders additional troops.

It seems to me that we have a president that cannot keep his promises or tell the truth.  He uses flowery language and an easy smile to attempt to assure the country that he has us on the right path.  While the other side of his mouth is busy telling his staff to do the opposite.

The only thing he has done correctly was to rescue the sailor that was help captive by Somali pirates.  And that is why he gets an “F” instead of an “F-”.

Email Austin