American Blog

Written by Michael Vass

I almost feel bad for President Obama. He came out strong with plans to change America. He dove head first, leaping without looking, into Guantanamo Bay, the economy, healthcare, and Afghanistan. He promised a transparent Government, with accountability, and decisive action.

So far he has failed at every turn to provide a single positive. His supporters can only state, “Just give him more time.”

But how much more time does he need? When President Obama passed the Federal funding budget, $410 billion, it contained no less than 3,000 earmarks. Which he blatantly signed and allowed though he consistently promised that he would never do that. The $787 billion Obama Stimulus was - no, IS - a fiasco from the start. No one read the Bill, and consequences as severe as denying tens of thousands of families food was just one consequence. But mor on that in a second.

President Obama is mired in confusion when it comes to what will happen with Gitmo and the detainees. Afghanistan is even worse as whatever plan existed in the spring no loger exists. In fact President Obama has his handpicked General for that theater of war sitting for over 45 days waiting for an answer to his request to expand the number of troops - to protect the troops and accomplish the mission he was given. He has spoken to this General 2 times in 100 days. How long must we give the President before his inaction is responsible for any American deaths in that nation?

President Obama was able to show positive economic numbers for the 3rd quarter, technically signalling the end of the recession. Of course on the same day, new unemployed numbers came in at over 530,000. Plus the big trigger for the gains in the 3rd quarter was the Cash for Clunkers program, that went over budget by 200% for a total cost of $3 billion. The 4th quarter will not see that artificial bump to numbers.

I’ll skip over the lack of transparency and other issues in the Health Care Reform Bill. I’ve covered that extensively already. I won’t mention the problems pending in the Cap & Trade Bill that is sitting on the sidelines. I’ll avoid for a moment the increased aggressive nature of Iran and North Korea with nuclear programs and missile launches. I won’t even begin to discuss the fact that allies of America across the globe have done nothing to help us in foreign policy on any level. And don’t get me started on the increase of size and power of the Government now that it owns private companies (and can absorb any company it wants), dictates who can be employed and what they get paid.

Let me get back to the Obama Stimulus.

It was the second thing President Obama did. It was fast, so fast that no one knew what they had done. It was big, bloated big, with more waste and ineffectiveness than even Congrerss is known to do. it was hailed for months as the answer to the economic ills of the nation. It was heraled as the first example of how the Obama Administration would change America. For 6 months the Obama Administration talked up hopw great the Obama Stimulus was.

Then they shut up.

We now know a few things about the Obama Stimulus that cannot be questioned. About 15% of the total has been spent so far (about $118 billion, though there is no exact number anywhere). It has caused over 100,000 families to become ineligible for food stamps. It has caused an unknown number of people on other Government programs to lose or lower aide. It has not stemmed unemployment in any scope of discussion. It has created numerous skate parks and art walkways across the country (it even funded $500,000 to fight homelessness in at least one city without homeless).

What can be argued is that the roads and bridges that were promised to be fixed have not been (the Golden Gate Bridge could be one such example). It can be said that the Obama Stimulus has extended the problems of the recession. It can be stated that unemployment is 2% higher than the worst case scenario described to pass the stimulus package, thus invalidating any statement of jobs “saved” or created. It can be argued that any program meant to provide a stimulus that does not take immediate action is not a stimulus; and with the bulk of money being spent in 2010 - an election year - it is simply a political tactic to maintain a Democrat power base. It can be argued that the entire Stimulus is an embarrrassment.

Worse is the lastest news. Following reports from every State in the nation it has been determined that 30,000 jobs were created or “saved”. Those jobs cost $71,000 each as an average, while paying closer to $30,000 each. Which implies absolute waste and ineffectiveness. The best of States claimed less than 5,000 jobs, the worst 6. That is not a typo.

Beyond being the singular largest statement that the Obama Stimulus is perhaps the worst named Government program in my lifetime, there is new news. According to the Associated Press it wasn’t even good enough to acheive that paltry level of success.

“But the 30,000 figure is overstated, at the very least, by nearly 5,000, based on AP’s limited review of some of the contracts — because some federal agencies and recipients of the money provided incorrect job counts. The review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs were credited to stimulus spending when, in fact, none were produced.”

The AP also stated that the upcoming White House report on the Stimulus, expected to shower praise on the plan, will likely contain further inaccurate numbers and exaggerations. Which at this point the White House has neither refuted nor debated.

So I ask supporters of President Obama, how much time does he need? How far do we need to travel down the path he seems to be leading before we say this might be the wrong path? When is it that we will stop praising the President for what we hope he will do (like the Nobel Peace Prize), and pay attention to what he is doing and how it is failing?