Obama to Bush: You Were Too Soft on Detainees

The Obama administration has suggested it may not free detainees who are found not guilty in a trial, since they may be too dangerous to release.

If this sounds like a stunning contradiction of the principles behind the left's assault on the Bush administration's detainee policies, it is.

I don't even think Bush would have tried to pull it off.

Promises Made, Promises Broken*

Barack Obama continues to govern in contradiction to many of his campaign promises.

His latest flip-flop relates to health insurance. He is now saying he is open to requiring most Americans to be forced to get health insurance, which was Hillary Clinton's position in the Democratic primary last year but which Obama then opposed.

Mandating insurance is like a tax on the insured, typically on lower income people who might elect not to obtain insurance due to the cost - so you can see why Obama would oppose it during the campaign. But it shows the depths of his dishonesty, since socialist medicine plans usually involve compulsory insurance requirements.

Clinton was being honest about this during the campaign last year; Obama wasn't.

* An ongoing series that compares Barack Obama's campaign rhetoric with the reality of his administration's actions and policies.

Promises Made, Promises Broken

Barack Obama has decided to continue to use the Bush administration's military commission system to try terrorist detainees, with some minor modifications. For something Obama called "an enormous failure" in the presidential campaign, this is another staggering flip flop.

It is further evidence of the poisonous political culture the Democrats created during the Bush administration, to create false or exaggerated differences with George Bush over national security to create a political advantage.

The doubts sown about our anti-terrorism efforts, and the resulting electoral success of the Democrats, demonstrates the perverse "effectiveness" of such a strategy.

The "price" for this success: undermining our success against terrorists and their state supporters, and weakening our political system where electoral games take priority over real leadership.

Promises Made, Promises Broken

Barack Obama has backtracked on another campaign pledge.

The Treasury Department recently decided not to label China a currency manipulator, contrary to Obama's stance during the presidential campaign.

While diplomatically it is probably the right decision, it illustrates one of the key facts about Obama's rise to the presidency: he would say whatever he thought helpful to win his election.

Contrast that with the actions of Ronald Reagan. After he lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford in 1976, Reagan kept his name in front of the public with a weekly radio address in which he discussed key economic and foreign policy matters. When you read his addresses, which he personally wrote, you can see the same ideas and values which Reagan governed by: promotion of free enterprise, limited government, and a strong defense of America's interests in the world.

With Reagan, you knew what you were getting. His views were often unpopular, certainly with the media, but they generally reflected his convictions.

With Obama, like Clinton before him, we have a politician whose policy views are poll-tested and meant to advance his political career. Obama's repeated backtracking on his campaign pledges reflects this.

Promises Made, Promises Broken

During the election, Barack Obama said that no family making under $250,000 will see any form of tax increase.

He has already broken that promise.

Obama's first tax increase is an whopping 159% increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over half of smokers are low income, so most of the tax burden will fall on the poor and middle class.

Along with the huge tax increase in Obama's budget through the cap-and-trade system which will fall on everyone, Obama will have to raise taxes on everyone to pay for his spending spree.

And continue to break his campaign promises.

Promises Made, Promises Broken*

Barack Obama continues to retreat as President from positions he took on the campaign trail, mostly for the better.

On his recent visit to Canada, he said that trade protectionism would be harmful to the economy. Contrast that with his campaign promise to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement signed over 15 year ago.

The Associated Press' Ron Fournier came up with "accountability journalism", whose goal is to hold politicians accountable for the promises they make. Suffice to say, he has been AWOL on this and other issues related to the Obama administration.

More broadly, the press continues to give Obama a pass on these flip-flops, ensuring that politicians will continue to lie to the electorate while campaigning for office and making the political culture of the country more confrontational than reality warrants.

* An ongoing series that compares Barack Obama's campaign rhetoric with the reality of his administration's actions and policies (see previous columns on energy policy, Osama Bin Laden, and cabinet members).

Promises Made, Promises Broken*

The Obama administration, even before it officially takes office, continues to break from the rhetoric of the campaign. Steven Chu, Obama's nominee to run the Energy Department, said during his confirmation hearing that coal was a "great natural resource". Two years ago, he said expanding coal-fired power plants was his "worst nightmare". The nominee to head the EPS, Lisa Jackson, called coal a "vital resource".

While these current characterizations of the importance of coal to generating electricity for our country are correct, the change of heart suggest the nominees have calibrated their tune to ensure the Senate approves their appointments.

Obama and his administration can't have it both ways. Is coal a menace to our world because of global warming? Or is a great natural resource?

The fact that such flip-flops generate so little press indicates that Democratic politicians can get away with political posturing and games playing: appeal to the left wing base of the party to generate donations and votes during campaigns, then tilt to the center during appeals to the country as a whole.

The unwillingness of the press or the public to demand greater consistency from our public officials has added to our poisonous political culture, by exaggerating differences between the parties when either such differences aren't as great as they seem or by sweeping them under the rug at politically opportune times.

* An ongoing series that looks at how Barack Obama's campaign rhetoric matches with the reality of his administration's actions and policies.

Promises Made, Promises Broken

Barack Obama continues to retreat from various campaign pledges. Recently, one of his transition spokesman said that with oil prices below $50 a barrel, a windfall profits tax on oil company earnings (an additional tax on top of the corporate income tax) is a dead issue.

Well, if you really believe in such a tax, wouldn't it be good to have it in place in case oil prices rise in the future?

Or does Obama prefer to avoid a fight when there is no loot to be had in the near-term?

Or was it just campaign rhetoric to help get elected?

Promises Made, Promises Broken*

Barack Obama made a central part of his campaign for President his initial opposition to the war in Iraq.

Remarkably, he has chosen for his Vice President and Secretary of State senators who voted for the Iraq war, and has nominated for Secretary of Defense a man who has been waging that war as George Bush's Defense Secretary.

To govern in contradiction to how one campaigns creates a divisive political culture, by misleading voters about one's views and creating or exaggerating divisions.

A profile in courage, it is not.

* An ongoing series that looks at how Barack Obama's campaign rhetoric matches with the reality of his Presidential actions and policies.