A final look at…..Barack Obama
Similarly to what we did in the last article about John McCain, we will take a final look at Barack Obama just three days before Election Day, that is, we will review only what we know about him since we cannot have access to his full background. It is truly bewildering that there are still questions about his place of birth (Hawaii, 1961) and there are even several active lawsuits requesting clarification. Another puzzle is the fact that he intentionally blocked any information about his college years in that he demanded that Columbia University in New York not release any data or information about him and his years there. The same holds true for his time at Harvard University. This begs the question: What does Barack Obama have to hide? Did he take classes in face painting or crocheting or some other silly stuff? Where there any incidents of drug abuses (since he openly admits to drug usage in his book Dreams from my Father)? Common Sense Authors have no idea what this is about and will not partake in speculation as to what he has to hide but we find it curious and cause for some distrust on our part.
As to his career, it appears that he succeeded in achieving goals when he set his mind on them. When he decided to go into politics, he knew how to go about it and he became a State Senator in Illinois in 1997. In 2004, he ran for United States Senator from Illinois and he won on an ‘Anti-War’ platform. He was sworn in as Senator in January 2005 and merely two years later, he announced his intentions to run for President in 2008. It appears, that he applied for the next job shortly after he attained one and there is nothing wrong with being ambitious but it did not allow him to attain real experience. While his resume is impressive, his actual voting and achievement record is very slim. In the Illinois Senate he took the easy way out more than a hundred times by voting ‘present’ and in his few years in the U.S. Senate, he voted along party lines and is considered the most liberal Senator in the chamber. He showed little interest in being bi-partisan and rarely attempted to bring such legislation to the floor. But the one place where he was consistent was his anti Iraq War stance; he voted against the 2007 Iraq War surge and even voted to cut funding for the troop while they were fighting there. We find that very objectionable, being liberal and being partisan are things we can accept but to vote against funding the troops is abominable in our opinion. But he had great cover since many Democrats voted the same way and even though the military surge has succeeded, he cannot bring himself to this day to admit he was wrong about it initially.
From the beginning of his run for President, he became a media darling and they have been his greatest assets throughout the Presidential campaign. He proposed “Change” and “Hope”. At first, it was ‘Change we can believe in’ which has now been revised to ‘Change we need’. The overwhelmingly liberal media in America ate this all up and have consequently been extremely negligent when it comes to checking on Barack Obama’s past; in particular his college years and his questionable associations in Chicago with people that can at best be described as dubious. While Obama sat in the pews of Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years, he claims that he never heard the anti-American hate filled sermons of Reverend Jeremiah Wright; he worked for years with a former, yet unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers on education programs and who knows what else But to Mr. Obama, Ayers at first was just another guy in the neighborhood. Obama was wheeling and dealing for a time with a notorious and recently convicted real estate developer and slumlord Tony Rezko but he (Obama) had no involvement there we hear. While this might be true, we have to question Mr. Obama’s judgment as to the caliber and character of people he was friendly with. In the case of Rev. Wright, he has even referred to him as his spiritual advisor and mentor who also married the Obama’s and baptized their two daughters. Only after Wright became known nationwide for his hateful and anti American speeches did the Presidential candidate have to distance himself from the pastor. Yet he still maintains that he never heard these kind of speeches when he attended his sermons. We find this remarkable in that this and similar explanations have been accepted by the media and by all his supporters.
When it became clear that Barack Obama would win the Democrat’s nomination for President, the liberal media went absolutely crazy over him and heaped praise on him that was becoming a Super star. From then on, whatever this candidate said was taken as gospel. When he changed positions and sometimes completely flip-flopped, the media provided complete cover for him and attacked anybody who would criticize such contradictions. We have to admit though, that over the months, Barack Obama has grown in his appearance and position, he has shown style and eloquence in his speeches and his campaign has been very well run and executed. His financial support has been record breaking and this has given him a tremendous advantage in his advertising abilities. He reportedly has outspend his opponents by a ratio of 4 to 1 and this has to have an impact on voters.
We will not attempt here to list or discuss his policy proposals and recommend to visit his website instead http://www.barackobama.com/ to see details of his plans for the future of America. He has stated that he ‘wants to spread the wealth around’ as he told Joe the Plumber in Ohio a few weeks ago and he has since then stated publicly that he meant that. His proposed tax increases for the wealthy who make $250,000 or more per year is a promise that he could easily change once in office and we would not be surprised if he would come back next year and say that its not enough and that the taxation starts at $125,000 instead or even at a lower level. He would not be the first Democrat President to do so, Bill Clinton did the exact thing: He promised tax cuts for the middle class in 1992 and as President proposed and got through a Democrat Congress with Al Gore casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate the biggest tax hike in recent history, including raising the taxable amount of Social Security benefits from 50% to the current 85%, effecting every Senior Citizen.
Going back on campaign promises should not come as a surprise to anybody but we will have to wait and see if it will happen with Mr. Obama. Generally speaking, raising taxes of any sort on anybody during a recession is the dumbest thing to do as any economist or common sense will tell you. The other troubling element of Obama’s promise of cutting income taxes for 95 percent of Americans belongs to the most misleading promises ever made by a political candidate. Roughly 40 percent of income earners do not pay income taxes in America and he wants to give them a tax cut too (it could also be called ‘spreading the wealth around’). When asked, he said that they pay payroll taxes to which we say: Hello, payroll taxes are being paid for future Social Security benefits!
As we did with John McCain in our previous article, we have to ask some questions that deserve some answers:
- Does Barack Obama have the experience to be President? The answer should be: Absolutely NOT!
- Does Barack Obama have good judgment and the right temperament to be President? We think he lacks good judgment but he might have the right temperament.
- Is Barack Obama therefore qualified to be President? We think Not!
- Will Barack Obama be a strong Commander-in-Chief? The answer is most likely: Absolutely NOT!
- Will Barack Obama be ready for this job on Day One? Again, we think: Absolutely NOT!
- Will Barack Obama be able to deal effectively with a crisis, domestic or international? In our opinion: Absolutely NOT!
- Does Barack Obama have substance or style or both? While he lacks substance, he does have style!
- Does Barack Obama have the integrity and character to be President? We believe: No!
- Would you trust Barack Obama on his promise to bring ‘Change we need’? We believe he will bring change but we question what change it will be and if we need it; we do not trust Mr. Obama!
- Would you let your kids hang around the people that have influenced Barack Obama? Absolutely not!
We can only hope that the majority of voters ask themselves the above and similar questions for both candidates before they enter the voting booths on November 4, 2008.
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