Obama off to shaky start of term
The first mistake of the new president was the closing of Guantanamo Bay. This was very popular rhetoric during the presidential campaign, but when put into practice is looking like a blunder of epic proportions. With the closing of Guantanamo Bay, the US has started moving the arrested terrorists back into their home countries. In Saudi Arabia, the government is leading a “Jihadi Rehab” as coined by CNN International. Of the Gitmo terrorists moved back into Saudi Arabia, nine have already been re-arrested for re-joining Al Qaeda.
It is disgusting to think of the hard work that our men and women on the front lines have put into catching these terrorists, and with one swift executive order, Obama frees those who are conspiring to kill you, me and every other American. Imagine if one of those terrorists is successful in carrying out an attack against the United States, the blame would be placed solely on the president for a complete lapse in judgment in freeing those terrorists. It surprises me that Obama is willing to risk his Presidency, and the safety of every American, on the hopes of good behavior of those that are believed to be conspiring against us.
The second mistake was another one of Obama’s first Executive Orders. This one revolves around ending the ban on the federal government providing funding to overseas family planning organizations that provide abortions. This issue really isn’t about whether abortion should be legal or not in the US.
For both pro-choice and pro-life people, this is bad policy. Some people find abortion to be morally objectionable. It is not right for the government to take the tax dollars of all Americans to pay for abortions for citizens in other countries. In essence, it is downright wrong for the government to be using anyone’s tax dollars to subsidize anything that roughly half of all Americans find either morally or religiously reprehensible.
Even pro-choice Americans should be fighting for more family planning funding for American groups, instead of international groups. When the government funds an international group, they are creating an international job. When the government funds an American group, they are creating an American job. It is important to consider the needs of other nations, but the American President should always put America first.
President Obama has made other mistakes, particularly in choosing his cabinet. He seems to have a knack for people who conveniently forget to pay their taxes. The current list includes Timothy Geithner, Nancy Killefer and Tom Daschle. What’s particularly awful is that Obama stuck by Geithner as his pick for Treasury Secretary (an odd post for a tax evader). This forced the Congressional Democrats into the humiliating position of either breaking rank with a popular President from their own party, or confirming a known felon. Not wanting to disappoint President Obama, Senate Democrats voted to confirm a felon by a vote of 50-3.
The last serious mistake that the president has made is in regards to the new economic stimulus package. This package costs all of us $787 billion. But, if that’s the cost to get the economy going, then it’s worth it, right? Well, the Wall Street Journal, America’s number one business newspaper, estimates that only 12 cents of every dollar in the stimulus package will go to something that might actually help grow the economy. It would make the most sense, to me at least, to take that 12 percent, or roughly $100 billion dollars, and use that as the entire stimulus bill.
Unfortunately, Obama felt it necessary to add nearly $700 billion of unneeded pork spending to improve the popularity of the Democratic politicians in their district. I don’t agree with John McCain that much, but he was exactly right when he called this stimulus package “generational theft.” Obama promised throughout his campaign that he would unite America and would be bipartisan and would look for Republican help. In regards to this stimulus package, it appears as if that was just rhetoric to win votes. Out of 218 Republican representatives and senators, just three voted for the stimulus package. Even the liberal Republicans detested it. On the other hand, nearly four times as many Democrats voted against the Obama stimulus package than Republicans voted for it.
Obama was asked during a recent press conference, why he didn’t listen to Republicans about their concerns of this bill overspending. The response he gave was, “I’m not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility.” He might have a valid point, considering how Republicans spent like there was no tomorrow over the past eight years. But if it makes you wonder if these Republicans that are such huge spenders are so disgusted by the spending in this stimulus package, then maybe there really is way too much spending.
It was a rough first month for President Obama, but he brought it all on himself by taking the hard, liberal line on issues where there were much better alternatives. But he still has three years and eleven months to get it together, and I wish him the best.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 20 2009. Filed under Opinion.
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