While looking back over the past few years that Barack Obama was elected "President", I find myself asking a question from over three decades ago. Ronald Reagan was running against incumbent president, Jimmy Carter. During a televised debate, Ronald Reagan asked his audience,
"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
Presently, my personal answer to that question is a definite "no!". But maybe your experience is different than mine. I thought I would take a look at the events of the Obama presidency thus far. Let's weigh the good with the bad.
It was 2009 when Barack Obama was sworn in as president. Unemployment was at 5% and our $1.2 Trillion dollar deficit was troublesome. Every American agreed we needed a strong leader. Many Americans saw a great leader in Obama. I felt he lacked experience to handle the most difficult job in the world. Even worse, the experience he did have included some very, shady characters. As Obama gained in popularity, more and more skeletons tumbled out of his closet. The mainstream media looked the other way.
Bill Ayers was one of them, an unrepentant, home-grown terrorist from the 60's. Additionally, Obama had business dealings with Chicago fund raiser and restaurateur, Tony Rezko. Rezko had recently been convicted of several counts of fraud, , money laundering and he spent twenty years in a church where controversial minister, Rev. Wright preached. Wright was not shy about his anti-American sentiments. There was no shortage of video displaying the good Reverend damning America and calling for reparations. Even Obama's family was questionable. His grandparents and mother were at best, Marxists sympathizers. They attended a known Marxist church and provided young Obama with a Marxist mentor.
Once elected, Obama appointed some very controversial as advisers: Van Jones, a self admitted "Marxist", Cass Sunstein, a professor of law with some very radical ideas and his wife, Samantha Power who is equally radical.
These types of associations were never tolerated in a candidate running for president before.
In 1988, front-runner, Gary Hart was photographed with a hot blonde on his lap and his political career was over. Now we had a candidate who admitted to seeking out friendships with Marxist professors and for some reason, the media seemed to look the other way. Anyone questioning Obama's integrity was labeled a racist. Logic was not important anymore. Most of the country was behind Obama and his plan to spread the wealth in America. I will say, the man could give a moving speech. I would look at the faces in the crowd and they looked like they were under a spell or something. I've heard of charismatic leaders before, but I had never witnessed such unfounded loyalty in my lifetime.
Ninety-nine percent of the media were under that same spell. I was afraid for my country. I felt powerless as I watched everyone bending over backwards for Candidate Obama - including his opponent, John McCain. In spite of my fears, I had no choice but to give the guy a chance. I echoed Dennis Miller's sentiment, "We lost the battle so let's give the cat a chance. Let's see what he can do."
Less than a month after his inauguration, Obama signed the very expensive Stimulus Bill into law. After promising not to include earmarks for special interest groups, American citizens learned there were nearly
9000 earmarks in the bill. Adding insult to injury, it was discovered that the Apollo Alliance, a special interest group in itself, actually wrote the bill. The Apollo Alliance is funded by the Tides Foundation - an organization that provides fiscal sponsorship for progressive groups. George Soros is a major donor and probably a founder.
So right off the bat, Obama showed America that he was not interested in bipartisan legislation. His alliance with leftist-progressives exposed his desire for a much bigger government than America was meant to have. Why did the Apollo Alliance write the bill? And why was the bill so cumbersome and difficult to understand? President Obama promised transparency; what good was transparency when the bill so long and confusing? I later learned this was just one of several bills the Apollo Alliance would contribute to our new administration.
By May 2009, our economy did not seem to be improving. Unemployment had jumped to a whopping 9.4%. The Stimulus Plan was questioned; people were beginning to fear that the Obama administration wasted $787 billion. The president gave several speeches, telling us that the new law definitely was helping. I didn't see it; many didn't see it. Everywhere I looked, there were established, small businesses closing their doors. An eerie quiet fell over parking lots at shopping malls all over the country. They were nearly empty.
There was news of a new bill in Congress, the "Cap and Trade" bill. We later learned the Apollo Alliance also wrote that one too. It shed a light on an ambiguous comment then Barack Obama made in January 2008,
"...Under my plan of the Cap and Trade System, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."
Cap and Trade proved to be the worst scam ever to be introduced to Congress - a tax on greenhouse gases. It was a horrible time to even suggest such a tax. This was the worst recession since the 70s. Some even called it another "Depression". The Obama administration kept telling America that the economy was improving. Their words didn't mirror the reality. The economy was struggling and unemployment soared to over 10%. How could they introduce such a job-killing bill now? There was a promise of "green jobs" but no one really knew what green jobs were. The super-Democratic majority passed the bill in the House, but it would not pass in the Senate. The reason? Most say that too many senators were up for reelection the following year. A vote for Cap & Trade would surely kill their campaigns. I say we dodged a bullet.
Meanwhile in the background, a grass roots movement began to stir. They were Americans - a lot of Americans who used to accept government and their crooked ways. This time, government was going to far. There was another bill introduced to Congress and this one was for government-run health care. More and more, mostly middle-class, Conservative citizens began holding their own meetings. Most were never the type to protest or go to rallies; they had to go to work and take care of their families. They called themselves the Tea Party, partly in reference to the original Boston Tea Party and partly for the acronym of "Taxed Enough Already". The movement ignited and spread across the country. Although most people knew that much of the government was corrupt already, it was different this time.
With the help from talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck, Americans were learning that their American liberty was at stake. These Tea Party members understood what Obama meant when he said, "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming America". He really wanted to TRANSFORM America and if they didn't do something to stop him, he would.
Thank goodness for the Tea Party. Thanks to their efforts, Republicans swept the election in 2010. After dealing with a Democratic, Super-Majority for over a year, America saw what to expect if they didn't act quickly. The 2010 election sent a message to the Democrats, "You are there to represent our interests, not yours!"
We won control over the House -- and quite a few more seats in the Senate too.
The majority of Americans were not happy with the way they shoved their new, health care law down our throats. With a Republican majority in the House, we once again had some power in Washington.
It goes to show you, you can make a difference. There is power and safety in numbers.
We can make a difference if we stick together. We have got to vote Barack Obama out of the White House. He was never properly vetted in the first place.
