Will President Obama Fulfill His Promises In A Second Term?
You can not believe he will if you consider two things: (1) what history teaches us about second term presidents and (2) if you consider the character of Barack Obama as it comes across in Ed Klein's new book, The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, which is based on more than 200 interviews, many of which are from people who have helped Obama's career at various stages of his life.
What Does History Teach Us About Second Term Presidents?
History teaches us that second term presidents accomplish very little that is new in a second term. This country has had 44 presidents, 15 have served two terms (Lincoln and McKinley are taken out of the reckoning because they were murdered soon after winning a second term). Out of those fifteen presidents, guess how many had a SUCCESSFUL second term?
only 1!
That's right: one! The one, successful second term president was Theodore Roosevelt (26th president, 1901-1909). The reason for his success was that he never ran out of fresh ideas. The guy kept thinking of new things to help the country: environmental conservation; food and drug regulation; making sure corporations don't become too powerful to threaten the safety of the country, etc. Every time you fill up your drinking glass with clean, tap water, you are tasting the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt!
The only other president to come close to a second term success was Ronald Reagan, with the winning of the Cold War, but his second term was tainted with Iran Contra so, on balance, he get's left out. Some people might think Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd president, 1933-1945) should be considered, but he also gets left out because his second term was a total catastrophe. FDR accomplished all his positive reforms in his first term. He spent his second term alienating everyone in Congress over his battle to pack the Supreme Court. FDR made a comeback in his third term, because of World War II, but nowadays presidents are not allowed to serve for more than two terms.
Why Are The Odds Stacked So Heavily Against A Successful Second Term President?
Once a president loses his eligibility to run for another election, his power to persuade and cajole diminishes greatly. If an incumbent is not going to be around in the next election, there is nothing he can promise or threaten for other incumbents beyond that election. Thus, he has reached lame-duck status. Recognizing this, presidents go for broke in their first term, cashing in all their chips to accomplish their most desired projects while they can.
If They Accomplish Everything In The First Term, Why Even Bother Campaigning For A Second Term?
Presidents campaign for a second term because they want to protect their reforms by making sure the passage of time solidifies and entrenches those reforms. If the roots can sink-in deeply enough, it may be impossible for future presidents to undo those reforms.
The passage of time for a sitting president means four more years of making the court appointments that president wants; issuing executive orders to add further dimensions to the reforms of the first term; opening new federal agencies with staffers whose careers become invested in the reforms of the first term; packing the justice department with like-minded officials. A repeal of Obamacare stands its best chance if the voters send Obama home this November, before he has another four years to sink its roots into the nervous system of the country. Voters skittish about Mitt Romney are naive to think they can wait until 2016 to get the right president in Washington to undo Obamacare. By then, it may be too late, and the fight too hard to win.
What About President Obama? Is There Something Different Or Special About His Nature That Should Lead Us To Believe There Is A Glimmer Of Hope That He Will Use A Second Term To Fulfill The 'Hope and Change' Of His First Term?
The answer to the above question is a resounding no. Despite the president's oft repeated excuse that Republican obstruction has prevented him from accomplishing his goals, we must be aware that he had huge Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress during his first two years. From 2009 to 2011, not a single Republican was strong enough to stop Obama from getting anything he wanted. He chose his own priorities, major healthcare reform with a stronger government role in it was first and foremost on Obama's plate. Should this project have received most of his attention when the economy was in free-fall and the country was embroiled in several foreign wars?
All the president did for the economy was to get the Federal Reserve to pump more money into the economy and take-on billions more in debt (altogether, $800 billion was spent in the first stimulus bill) to give to the states to spend as they saw fit. This money was supposed to be used to save and create jobs. Instead, it went to pay off the states' own debts. Three years later, unemployment is stuck above 8 per cent, and those many billions have been flushed down the drain. The president himself laughed at his own failure by saying shovel-ready jobs were "not as shovel-ready as we thought." This shows us his care and attitude about fulfilling the hope and change he promised us all! With this in mind, do we see anything in his character that should lead us to believe Obama will defy the odds, in more than two hundred years of history, and become a successful second term president? No.
None of this is to mention the gravity of the testimony that comes through in more than two hundred interviews conducted by journalist Ed Klein (for the book The Amateur). The overwhelming impression that floods the reader is that at every stage of his career: university lecturer, community organizer, Illinois state legislator, U.S. Senator, and finally, president of the United States, Barack Obama turns his back on the very people who help him. Everyone from small-time Chicago fundraisers to Oprah Winfrey and the Kennedy's have been burned and scorned by this narcissistic man with delusions of messiah-hood! Does this lead us to believe Obama cares about us - the middle class, the wage-creators, the wage-earners, or anyone else? No.
Dear reader, if you can think of any reason we should vote for President Obama in 2012, please explain it in the comment link below.
Jason A.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
What Kind Of America Do You Want In 2013?
Depending on the outcome of the election this November, one of two starkly different visions of America will be inaugurated in January 2013. The choice in this election will not be a lesser of evils choice. Regardless of whatever parallels may exist between Republicans and Democrats, these similarities do not apply to Romney and Obama. The differences between these two candidates are the starkest between any two candidates in the entire history of the American republic. With the national deficit toppling $16 trillion, unemployment stuck at 8%, medicare deprived of $16 billion in funding for people who desperately need it, Americans being attacked and humiliated in embassies running the gamit in Islamic countries ranging the world, the stakes have never been higher. Your vote has never counted more!
The question to ask yourself is, "What kind of America do I want in 2013?" The thought you must think is, "I must take the time to go to the polling station because my vote will help determine the direction my country will take for my future, my child's future, and my grand-child's future."
You may be thinking, "No problem, Jason. I got it. I already know who I'm voting for. I don't need to read this blog post. It is not for me. It is for people who haven't made up their minds." Dear reader, please take this appeal seriously, because your help is needed to convince the very people who haven't made up their minds. Talk with them about what is outlined in this post, or forward this post to them. This will be especially important if your friends live in a battleground state like Florida or Ohio. Here are the choices between the candidates competing for the future of America in 2013. It is designed like a checklist. It can be printed and checked off. An undecided voter can use it to make pro and con columns to help them make their choice.
What Kind of America Do I Want In 2013?
1. An America that protects its property and citizens around the world and holds foreign governments accountable for this.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's failure to anticipate and properly respond to the attacks, rioting, and murder of innocent Americans at the various embassies from Tunisia to Yemen this past week, beginning on September 11th (no coincidence). The president's failure is matched against Governor Romney's pledge to do the opposite.
2. An America that places priority on job creation, rather than on increased dependency on government aid (funded by wage earner's hard-earned paychecks) to provide the basis of American prosperity.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's failure to reduce the unemployment rate below 8%. His strategies for job growth have focused on putting burdensome regulations and increased healthcare obligations on small businesses, thus removing from them the incentive to hire more workers. The president has increased dependency on government aid by issuing more food stamps to more people than any previous president. The money for this comes directly from the taxes taken from everyone who works for their living.
3. An America that focuses on tackling the $16 trillion deficit by first reducing runaway borrowing and spending.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +0.5 point
This is based on President Obama's failure to do anything with the nation's debt except to grow it by leaps and bounds. He has added more to the debt in 4 years than President Bush added to it in 8 years! Governor Romney added seriousness to his pledge to slash borrowing and spending by picking Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan has a record of crafting spending-cut legislative bills in Congress. Sadly, these proposals have always arrived dead in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Romney gets only 0.5 point instead of 1 point because he has not been very specific about where the spending cuts will come from.
4. An America that makes smart choices about energy policy. North Dakota no longer has an unemployment problem, because they have opened more of their land to oil drilling. It is a simple formula. (1) new drilling permits create demand for construction (rigs, etc.) (2) new construction creates jobs for construction-workers (3) construction-workers flock to the state with their families (4) new families create demand for (5) housing (6) electricity (7) schools (8) shopping malls (9) restaurants. Do I need to continue?
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's refusal to allow the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which would expand energy commerce between the U.S. and Canada, thus creating untold millions of ripple-effect jobs. To add insult to injury, the president has denied off-shore drilling permits to American companies, but has funneled foreign aid to Brazil for off-shore drilling in their waters. Governor Romney has pledged to approve Keystone upon arrival in the White House.
5. An America that does not make excuses for terrorists who murder its citizens at home and abroad
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's and Secretary of State Clinton's obsessive, droning condemnation of a Florida-based video for being responsible for the terrorism and bullying toward Americans in mideast embassies over the last week. The president misses the fact that Tunisians have been chanting "Obama, Obama, we are all Osama!" Governor Romney wasted no breath on a stupid video. Instead, he rightly declared that terrorism toward Americans will NOT be tolerated or excused in any shape, form, or fashion.
6. An America that is not ashamed to express its pride in its own country as much as people of other countries express pride in their own countries.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's constant apologizing to world leaders for American behavior. He has frequently expressed his view that "9/11 caused us to act contrary to our ideals." This observer asks, "When has it NOT been an American ideal to fight the enemies of American freedom and safety?" Governor Romney gets a point for the same reason he got one in #5.
7. An America that has respect for (1) the rule of law, (2) state's rights, and (3) purity of the electoral process
President Obama: -3 points
Governor Romney: no point given or lost
This is based on President Obama's assault on the rule of law by ignoring the work requirements for federal welfare laws that go back to 1996. In so doing he is ruling by executive order. His executive order declares that the legal work requirements for people to receive welfare will not be enforced. Thus, free government aid is given in exchange for presidential rule by decree! Furthermore, the president has violated both state's rights and purity of the electoral process by suing the state of North Carolina for the evil sin of requiring voters to show a picture identification when they come to vote!!!!!!!!!! In today's world, you can't do anything without showing a picture I.D.! Thus, the president has trampled state's rights and has undermined the purity of the electoral process by making it possible for someone to vote multiple times in the same election! Governor Romney does not get or lose a point because he needs to be in power for us to assess him on this.
8. An America that does not discriminate against women and minorities
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: no point given or lost
This is based on the fact that President Obama has resurrected the practice of issuing government construction projects to labor unions (a practice discontinued under President Bush because labor unions have shown a tendency to discriminate against women and minorities by paying them less than other workers). Many African-American small-business owners have complained about this.Governor Romney does not get or lose a point because he needs to be in power for us to assess him on this.
Not made up your mind yet? Just add up the points for each candidate; this should do the trick. If it does not, there is not much else anyone can say to help you...
Jason A.
Depending on the outcome of the election this November, one of two starkly different visions of America will be inaugurated in January 2013. The choice in this election will not be a lesser of evils choice. Regardless of whatever parallels may exist between Republicans and Democrats, these similarities do not apply to Romney and Obama. The differences between these two candidates are the starkest between any two candidates in the entire history of the American republic. With the national deficit toppling $16 trillion, unemployment stuck at 8%, medicare deprived of $16 billion in funding for people who desperately need it, Americans being attacked and humiliated in embassies running the gamit in Islamic countries ranging the world, the stakes have never been higher. Your vote has never counted more!
The question to ask yourself is, "What kind of America do I want in 2013?" The thought you must think is, "I must take the time to go to the polling station because my vote will help determine the direction my country will take for my future, my child's future, and my grand-child's future."
You may be thinking, "No problem, Jason. I got it. I already know who I'm voting for. I don't need to read this blog post. It is not for me. It is for people who haven't made up their minds." Dear reader, please take this appeal seriously, because your help is needed to convince the very people who haven't made up their minds. Talk with them about what is outlined in this post, or forward this post to them. This will be especially important if your friends live in a battleground state like Florida or Ohio. Here are the choices between the candidates competing for the future of America in 2013. It is designed like a checklist. It can be printed and checked off. An undecided voter can use it to make pro and con columns to help them make their choice.
What Kind of America Do I Want In 2013?
1. An America that protects its property and citizens around the world and holds foreign governments accountable for this.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's failure to anticipate and properly respond to the attacks, rioting, and murder of innocent Americans at the various embassies from Tunisia to Yemen this past week, beginning on September 11th (no coincidence). The president's failure is matched against Governor Romney's pledge to do the opposite.
2. An America that places priority on job creation, rather than on increased dependency on government aid (funded by wage earner's hard-earned paychecks) to provide the basis of American prosperity.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's failure to reduce the unemployment rate below 8%. His strategies for job growth have focused on putting burdensome regulations and increased healthcare obligations on small businesses, thus removing from them the incentive to hire more workers. The president has increased dependency on government aid by issuing more food stamps to more people than any previous president. The money for this comes directly from the taxes taken from everyone who works for their living.
3. An America that focuses on tackling the $16 trillion deficit by first reducing runaway borrowing and spending.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +0.5 point
This is based on President Obama's failure to do anything with the nation's debt except to grow it by leaps and bounds. He has added more to the debt in 4 years than President Bush added to it in 8 years! Governor Romney added seriousness to his pledge to slash borrowing and spending by picking Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan has a record of crafting spending-cut legislative bills in Congress. Sadly, these proposals have always arrived dead in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Romney gets only 0.5 point instead of 1 point because he has not been very specific about where the spending cuts will come from.
4. An America that makes smart choices about energy policy. North Dakota no longer has an unemployment problem, because they have opened more of their land to oil drilling. It is a simple formula. (1) new drilling permits create demand for construction (rigs, etc.) (2) new construction creates jobs for construction-workers (3) construction-workers flock to the state with their families (4) new families create demand for (5) housing (6) electricity (7) schools (8) shopping malls (9) restaurants. Do I need to continue?
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's refusal to allow the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which would expand energy commerce between the U.S. and Canada, thus creating untold millions of ripple-effect jobs. To add insult to injury, the president has denied off-shore drilling permits to American companies, but has funneled foreign aid to Brazil for off-shore drilling in their waters. Governor Romney has pledged to approve Keystone upon arrival in the White House.
5. An America that does not make excuses for terrorists who murder its citizens at home and abroad
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's and Secretary of State Clinton's obsessive, droning condemnation of a Florida-based video for being responsible for the terrorism and bullying toward Americans in mideast embassies over the last week. The president misses the fact that Tunisians have been chanting "Obama, Obama, we are all Osama!" Governor Romney wasted no breath on a stupid video. Instead, he rightly declared that terrorism toward Americans will NOT be tolerated or excused in any shape, form, or fashion.
6. An America that is not ashamed to express its pride in its own country as much as people of other countries express pride in their own countries.
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: +1 point
This is based on President Obama's constant apologizing to world leaders for American behavior. He has frequently expressed his view that "9/11 caused us to act contrary to our ideals." This observer asks, "When has it NOT been an American ideal to fight the enemies of American freedom and safety?" Governor Romney gets a point for the same reason he got one in #5.
7. An America that has respect for (1) the rule of law, (2) state's rights, and (3) purity of the electoral process
President Obama: -3 points
Governor Romney: no point given or lost
This is based on President Obama's assault on the rule of law by ignoring the work requirements for federal welfare laws that go back to 1996. In so doing he is ruling by executive order. His executive order declares that the legal work requirements for people to receive welfare will not be enforced. Thus, free government aid is given in exchange for presidential rule by decree! Furthermore, the president has violated both state's rights and purity of the electoral process by suing the state of North Carolina for the evil sin of requiring voters to show a picture identification when they come to vote!!!!!!!!!! In today's world, you can't do anything without showing a picture I.D.! Thus, the president has trampled state's rights and has undermined the purity of the electoral process by making it possible for someone to vote multiple times in the same election! Governor Romney does not get or lose a point because he needs to be in power for us to assess him on this.
8. An America that does not discriminate against women and minorities
President Obama: -1 point
Governor Romney: no point given or lost
This is based on the fact that President Obama has resurrected the practice of issuing government construction projects to labor unions (a practice discontinued under President Bush because labor unions have shown a tendency to discriminate against women and minorities by paying them less than other workers). Many African-American small-business owners have complained about this.Governor Romney does not get or lose a point because he needs to be in power for us to assess him on this.
Not made up your mind yet? Just add up the points for each candidate; this should do the trick. If it does not, there is not much else anyone can say to help you...
Jason A.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)