Here is Politifact’s take, via The Daily Kos, on how Barack Obama has performed relative to the promises that he made for his first term (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/02/1166659/-Politifact-Obama-passes-200-promises-kept#). The Daily Kos article points out that Obama has kept over 200 promises, compromised on 101 and broken 109. He has kept or compromised on 3 out of 5. Not bad considering the obstruction that he has faced. Here is a summary of some of the most important actions that the President has taken.
1) Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners – promise broken. Politifact claims that the law passed, but execution was poor:
When it comes to President Barack Obama’s promise to create a foreclosure prevention fund, he’s kept to the letter of law, but his administration has completely failed to meet its spirit. For that, we’re moving this our rating to Promise Broken.
This shows that they are very tough on Obama. It’s not enough to just pass laws for a “promise kept”. And I think that’s good. Hopefully Obama will approach this issue better in the next term. This is likely because Obama already calls his failure on the foreclosure crisis one of his biggest. At least he admits the problem. But, housing starts may be turning around, and so might their rating!
2) Create a tax credit of $500 for workers – compromise. Tax credit was $400, so Politifact calls it a compromise. These guys are tough! I think $400 ain’t that bad!
3) Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq – promise kept. Nuff said.
4) Train and equip the Afghan army- compromise- “75 percent of the population in Afghanistan resides in areas that are under transition to Afghan security lead”. Personally, I think that’s not that bad. Of course the green on blue violence is of concern.
5) Centralize ethics and lobbying information for voters – promise kept
6) Create 5 million “green” jobs – in the works- “Green job growth has increased during the Obama Administration, and green jobs have grown faster than jobs in all sectors,” said Jonathan Rothwell, one of the Brookings researchers who wrote the report. This indicates enormous strides for the liberal agenda. Of course it’s still a far mark from 5 million jobs created. But it’s encouraging.
7) Restrict warrantless wiretaps – compromise. No bills passed for increased over sight but:
In response to a letter from Leahy in December 2010, the Justice Department said it had:
- Implemented a requirement that, when library or bookseller records are sought via a Section 215 order for business records, a statement of specific and articulable facts showing relevance to an authorized investigation must be produced;
- Adopted a policy requiring the FBI to retain a statement of facts showing that the information sought through a National Security Letter (NSL) is relevant to an authorized investigation, to facilitate better auditing and accountability;
- Adopted procedures to provide notification to recipients of NSLs of their opportunity to contest any nondisclosure requirement attached to the NSL;
- Agreed to ensure that NSL recipients who challenge nondisclosure orders are notified by the FBI when compliance with such nondisclosure orders are no longer required;
- Adopted procedures for the collection, use and storage of information derived from National Security Letters, which were approved by Attorney General Holder on October 1, 2010.
These are key component’s of the Leahy/Paul bill that never got a vote on the Senate. It’s not too shabby.
8) Sign a “universal” health care bill – promise kept- of course you can’t make a list of Obama’s promises without this. “nuff” has been said on this subject.
9) Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center – probably the most famous of his broken promises, Obama has promised to address this again in his second term while talking to Jon Stewart.
10) Strengthen antitrust enforcement – promise kept- Obama is keen to follow in the footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt.
“The Obama administration has produced “more enforcement,” said D. Daniel Sokol, who teaches antitrust law at the University of Florida Levin School of Law. Sokol pointed to the recent collapse of AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile under pressure from the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department’s successful opposition to a merger of H&R Block and TaxAct (two of three of the largest makers of do-it-yourself tax preparation products) as two important cases.
