100 Days......Well We Asked for It

I was visiting with my mom and dad tonight, they get all the Red Sox games on TV we fell into a bit of a discussion about the first 100 days of the change. I stated that, I felt he had not lived up to the hype, and she argued that it was 100 days how could you tell. Now my mother has a very good point, usually I would not think the first 100 days are very significant, but the Obama administration made it into a hollywood production, so I am more than happy to critique. Now some of you may not even know what the POTUS vowed on the campaign trail, let me jog your memory.
President Obama promised to be a hope-filled change agent who would fix politics and repair "a broken nation". He would do it by refusing to appoint lobbyist's in his administration, increasing transparency in government, and forging much needed bi-partisan consensus. His campaign promised to strengthen the checks and balances within the government by limiting presidential signing statements, mandating public review of legislation, and vetoing wasteful congressional earmarks. None of these survived his first 100 days.
Even before his was sworn in Obama appointed several lobbyists to his administration. When challenged on the issue, and asked to produce waivers for the nominees, the White House dragged it's feet.
Though his broken promises came very swiftly and with much ease, they are only eclipsed by his policy changes where his good government reversal seems like politics as usual. The policy changes lean on both sides of the aisle.
His signature legislation of the first 100 days, was a trillion dollar spending bill, that was littered with earmarks. The bill had virtually no bi-partisan support, and it should be mentioned that the public got to see none of this bill before it was passed as President Obama promptly issued a signing statement.
It seemed that with every passing day I find myself saying now that is not change at all, and with the speed and ease that each promise has been broken, it's only eclipsed by his policy change, or lack thereof. It seems his good government reversal is actually just politics as usual. .
Though his platform was change, we have seen very little. It seemed Americans were ready for some foreign policy change due to the fact that the previous administration had run up quite a bill for Mr. Obama on the two wars in the middle east. You may recall President Obama saying such things as, "American GI's were air-raiding villages and killing civilians", and even went so far during his brief stint in the senate to side with his dem buddies and vote to cut funding for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his campaign he vowed to get all soldiers home within sixteen months, but his "new" Iraq policy looks strikingly familiar to the one he inherited from George W. Bush's which includes a condition based withdrawal that would leave up to 50,000 troops there until 2011.
And what about renegotiating NAFTA, which in my opinion could be the root of alot of our economic woes. He seems more open to free trade now than he did on his campaign trail. And though he opposed new free trade with Colombia and South Korea, he now says he has no plans to reopen negotiations and is pushing congress to ratify the trade agreements. Personally I say NAFTA should be abolished and free trade is just another way to loose jobs in America, something we we really don't need at this juncture.
Though these policy changes seem quite conservative, many of his ideals are as liberal as I thought, especially on issues of taxing, spending, and borrowing.
During his campaign Obama portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative. He promised to cut taxes for most while putting us on a path of fiscal responsibility and implementing a "net spending cut". This of course would include making some very tough budget choices, which he has yet to do. Matter of fact, not only did he increase the defense budget to fund the wars, his proposed budget would double the national deficit in the next five years and triple it in ten. And those signature middle class tax cuts well, the expire in just two years, while his promise to cut taxes for the small business owners is postponed to after his term in office.
Now I understand the gravity of our nations woes affect the terms of some of the campaign promises, but for the last eight years all we heard every time we turned around was about our criminal in the oval office growing the government too much. Offering no transparency, and not working with dems in a professional manner seemed to really bother most Americans. But that was supposed to change. We were supposed to be able to trust our government again. And say what you want about the previous administration but the fact is they cared first and foremost about national defense, and keeping you safe at home. President Obama is going to face some tough decisions with a nuclear Iran, and a failing Pakistani government. Is this something a community organizer can handle.
Now I don't want to seem like I am bashing the guy, I am not. I don't think he intentionally broke all those promises. The problem is it seems to me that he has no idea how he is going to help this country, no new ideas. And if he is going to fix any of it, then the administration should stop looking into the past,and finger pointing. Let the discussion begin