The Hypocrisy of Barack Obama
On the second day of his presidency, Barack Obama promised, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” Here is an honest look at Barack Obama in his own words, to ensure his promise of transparency does not fall by the wayside.
Due Process
“The detention of American citizens, without access to counsel, fair procedure, or pursuant to judicial authorization, as enemy combatants is unconstitutional.” — Barack Obama; December 2007
Tell that to Anwar al-Alwaki.
Presidential War Powers
“After Vietnam, Congress swore it would never again be duped into war, and even wrote a new law — the War Powers Act — to ensure it would not repeat its mistakes. But no law can force a Congress to stand up to the president. No law can make senators read the intelligence that showed the president was overstating the case for war. No law can give Congress a backbone if it refuses to stand up as the co-equal branch the Constitution made it.” — Barack Obama; October 2007
“The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” — Barack Obama; December 2007
Message to Obama: You probably wouldn’t have people in Congress suing you over the Libya War if you had followed your own words.
Medical Marijuana
“I don’t think that should be a top priority of us, raiding people who are using … medical marijuana. With all the things we’ve got to worry about, and our Justice Department should be doing, that probably shouldn’t be a high priority.” — Barack Obama, June 2007
“I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It’s not a good use of our resources.” — Barack Obama; August 2007
Obama has undeniably contradicted himself, with his Administration approving raids of medical marijuana businesses (even in states where medical marijuana is legal).
Debt Ceiling
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.” — Barack Obama; March 2006
The debt ceiling has been raised three times under Obama’s presidency as of summer 2011.
Iraq War
“What I am opposed to is a dumb war.” — Barack Obama; October 2002
“I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank.” — Barack Obama; October 2007
The Iraq War is not close to ending. No troops have been brought home; if anything, they have simply been moved to Afghanistan. This doesn’t even account for the thousands of contractors hired by the Department of State and Department of Defense. In addition, the U.S. has continually bombed Pakistan and Yemen under Obama’s presidency.
Libya War
On March 18, 2011, Obama declared that U.S. military excursions in Libya would last “days, not weeks.” Six months later, we’re still counting.
Guantanamo Bay
“Why don’t we close Guantanamo and restore the right of habeas corpus, because that’s how we lead, not with the might of our military, but the power of our ideals and the power of our values. It’s time to show the world we’re not a country that ships prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far off countries. We’re not a country that runs prisons which locks people away without ever telling them why they’re there or what they’re charged with. We’re not a country which preaches compassion to others while we allow bodies to float down the streets of major American cities. That’s not who we are.” — Barack Obama; 2007
It’s a nice sentiment from Obama, but Guantanamo remains open to this day.
PATRIOT Act
“That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists.” — Barack Obama; August 2007
As President, Obama twice signed legislation extending the PATRIOT Act for five years until 2015.
Torture
“The President is not above the law, and the Commander-in-Chief power does not entitle him to use techniques that Congress has specifically banned as torture. We must send a message to the world that America is a nation of laws, and a nation that stands against torture.” — Barack Obama, December 2007
“I also reject the view, suggested in memoranda by the Department of Justice, that the President may do whatever he deems necessary to protect national security, and that he may torture people in defiance of congressional enactments. In my view, torture is unconstitutional, and certain enhanced interrogation techniques like ‘waterboarding’ clearly constitute torture.” — Barack Obama, December 2007
Unfortunately, torture continues under the Obama Administration.
Is this the change we expected when we elected Barack Obama in 2008?
What has Obama done, either as Senator or President, to earn the trust of the people?
At what point do we acknowledge the broken promises of Obama and his Administration?
There is one way…. We must elect Ron Paul will will deliver all of these things.. Ron Paul 2012
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The changes Obama wants to implement take more than four years to make. They may even take more than 8 years. They require a groundwork to be set. They also require the government to be on board and people to support him. So far he’s fighting a ridiculous government who can’t agree on anything let alone changes they don’t want to happen and he’s fighting a scared population who want things to happen much quicker than possible but don’t want to live with the consequences that big changes will bring as they settle in. All this talk of Obama’s failure is frankly BS. It takes more than just saying you want to make a change for it to happen. And it takes more than one person to actually make it happen.
Obama = Bush; Bush = Obama.
Both are war criminals that need to be arrested.
I’m sorry, but we’re not talking about “policies” here that he was wanting to enact. These are a blatant disregard for statements that he made during his campaign. It does not take four years to implement his “respect” for the Constitution; he has blatantly disregarded it many times during his presidency. Your point is moot, as the “groundwork” that he said he would set during his campaign has been the total opposite of what he’s actually done. The only promise he’s kept is his Obamacare, which is completely unconstitutional. I wonder what Constitutional Law professor Obama would say if the federal government was going to either force him to purchase a product or fine him if he didn’t.
Are you serious? The first 2 years obama had everything he wanted as far as having the house on his side. Hence the reason we spent so much money on bailouts and other bs. Why else would he have to raise the debt ceiling 3 times? Heather i think you need to lay off the medical marijuana cause its obviously clouding your perception of obama. He is worthless and does anyone else think its ironic that he came from illinois? Isnt that were that fraud blagosavich (or however you spell it) is from? Please just get us someone who is honest and “transparent”…… right!!!!
OBAMA IS A PUPPET TOY BLACK BARBIE DOLL ON A STRING. HE IS EITHER A FAKE, LYING SNAKE WEASEL OR A SCARED PUNK B@#$%. HE DIDNT EVEN PICK HIS OWN CABINET. HE HAS DONE THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING HE SAID HE WOULD DO. HE’S WORSE THAN BUSH BECAUSE AT LEAST BUSH DIDNT PRETEND TO UPHOLD THE LAW. BUSH WAS A SPOILED RICH BULLY AND HE WAS PROUD OF IT. OBAMA IS HAS BETRAYED US ALL. I LOVE BLACK PPL BUT I WANT TO LYNCH OBAMA.
isn’t obama irish?
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Obama his a layer: and just for that nobody should trust him; US need a break of not going to any war more, never won any were. America should mind won business; and look after won citizens, because it is a mess with more than 50 fifty million receiving food stamps, should be shame just on that, but how about no jobs with close to 50% without work. To al of you realized American lost the reputation now; and many call warmongers to the Americans, when the not the citizens fault. Trying get Ron Paul and American will change, not fast because start to be more difficult to get out of the mess went into.