Then there is the rumor that Axelrod finally found the light and went over to the other side, saying
"Obama has done so many flip-flops that it is apparent he has no core. You simply can't trust him to do what he says." "“You get the sense with Mitt Romney that, you know, if he thought he -- it was good to say the sky was green and the grass was blue to win an election, he’d say it.”
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THE BOTTOMLINE
Great flip-flopping flexibility and politically motivated. Ethics a bit out of alignment.
Covers up very well. Very convincing. Good excuses. Blame others.
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LISTING
Deficits
Free trade
Same-sex marriages
Jeremiah Wright, Damn America!
SuperPacs, Federal election funding
Closing Guantanamo
Military tribunals
No rendition of terror suspects
Phone tapping
Engage in Libya without congressional approval
Nuclear third site defense
Letting Sudan off the hook for Darfur
Killing the NASA space program
More...
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Deficits
On Bush: Adding $4 trillion in debt was irresponsible and "unpatriotic."
Obama: Added $6 trillion in 1/2 the time.
Free trade
Held three trade agreements, already done with Bush, on his desk for three years; passed both houses immediately.
But Mr. Obama used the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to promote what he and many economists believe are the benefits of free trade and competition in terms of creating jobs in export industries
"Remember in 2008, when he and Hillary had a contest to prove who was more opposed to free trade?"
“On the campaign trail, President Obama repeatedly spoke out about the need to fix failed trade policies like NAFTA and the WTO. Since he’s been in office, the United States has continued to lose middle-class jobs as a result of these policies,”
"President Obama, who vowed in his State of the Union address to double American exports over the next five years, said on Wednesday that he would renew his efforts to renegotiate long-stalled free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia and persuade Congress to adopt them.
The two trade pacts, and a third one with South Korea, were negotiated by the administration of former President George W. Bush"
I believe in capitalism.
Same-sex marriages
Jeremiah Wright, Damn America!
I never heard any ot that, after attending for 20 years and Wright baptizing his children...
Rules For Radicals, taught by Obama as a community organizer. Blame others, especially groups, foment hostility and opposition
Civil language
The "fat cats", they're not doing their fair share, the "1%"
SuperPacs, Federal Election funding
When it was inconvenient, he did not do as he had promised.
Closing Guantamo
He didn't.
Military tribunals
Firm opponent of "Bush's military tribunals", yet he brought them back. Video. the bad decision.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Instead of opposing an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is essential to protecting the country, Obama has supported extending it.
No rendition of terror suspects
He decided to continue, but with "more oversight."
Engaged in Libya without congressional approval
He originally said: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."
Nuclear third site defense
He said "So let me be clear: Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbors and our allies. The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defense against these missiles. As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven."
He did: Just six months later however, the Obama administration surrendered to Russian demands, and dramatically dropped plans for Third Site.
Letting Sudan off the hook for Darfur
In 2004, Senator Obama was a prominent supporter of a “humanitarian intervention” to halt state-sponsored mass killing in Darfur, declaring in a speech that “we cannot, in good conscience, stand by and let the genocide continue.”
However, as president, Obama dramatically changed his tune, extending the hand of friendship to Bashir, despite the fact the Sudanese government and its proxy Janjaweed Arab militias had butchered hundreds of thousands of people.
Killing the NASA space program
"As president, I'll make our space program a priority again by devoting the attention and resources needed to not only inspire the world with feats of exploration but also improve life here on Earth."
Later: A decision “to kill NASA's Constellation program, crafted during the Bush administration with an ambitious goal of putting astronauts back on the moon by 2020.”
Gun Rights
Supports D.C. gun ban laws, then doesn't. Video
"Signing statements" to end run congress
"We're not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end run around Congress." -- That was Barack Obama back in 2008. In 2012, President Obama is using signing statements to do "an end run around Congress." Video
"Obama's action … is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law.” -- ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero
Medical marijuana
On the campaign trail, President Obama promised: "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this [medical marijuana.]"
October, 2011: "We are making these announcements together today so that the message is absolutely clear -- that commercial marijuana operations are illegal under federal law, and that we will enforce federal law."
Union promise
In 2007, then presidential candidate Obama said, “If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I'll will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.”
However, President Obama has not hit the picket line. He has not joined protestors, he has not publicly chastised state lawmakers and he has not addressed the plight of state public workers.
Unemployment; real change
Speaking in Richmond, Va., on Oct. 22, 2008, Obama promised to put millions of Americans back to work; he pledged "real change." Instead, the unemployment rate is 8.6 percent. Or is it? Ed Luce of the Financial Times writes, "According to government statistics, if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 percent." Washington remains unchanged, as dysfunctional and gridlocked as ever.
In 2009, the president said on the "Today" show, "If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition."
Corporate jet subsidies
Obama signed onto a subsidy for private planes and other capital purchases in his much-touted stimulus bill, allowing them to depreciate faster than normal in order to spur economic growth.
“Nine months ago, this president extolled the virtues of shortening depreciation schedules to stimulate jobs,” said National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen in a statement. “Now he seems to want to reverse course and push ahead with punitive treatment for general aviation, an industry that creates jobs, helps companies succeed, and serves communities all around America."
Middle class tax cut
Not raise taxes
It is definitely harmful to the economy to raise taxes on anyone.
Budget
I'll cut the deficit in half by the end of my term. Submitted a budget that didn't even address it. Voted down
97 - 0 in Senate!
Criticised Bush's deficits of 4 trillion in 8 years and increased it by 6 trillion in 4 years.
Raising taxes in a recession
"The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would suck up... take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole."
Tried not to extend the tax cuts for those making over $250,000, but Republicans forced him to extend.
In the Health Care Bill, there is a tax of 3.8% imposed on those who make more than $250,000.
He currentlyseeks additional taxes on the 1%.
And double the minmum for those over $250,000 to 30% for capital gains.
Deficit cutting
Obama created in 2010 by President Barack Obama to identify "…policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run."
Fiscal conservatives, including many Democrats, have for the last year lamented that Obama did not seize the Bowles-Simpson report and try to build bipartisan consensus around it.
Fiscal responsibility
Before ObamaCare: Obama urged passage of "pay-as-you-go" legislation that would require any new tax cut or automatic spending program to be paid for within the budget.
"The 'pay as you go' principle is very simple. Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere," Obama said in a speech at the White House attended by several Democratic members of Congress.
"Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for. They are not free," said Obama,
Zero action on that.
He has not addressed social security or Medicare, though he did take $500 billion from Medicare to help fund ObamaCare.
This is a now familiar pattern for the White House: first enact record breaking levels of deficit spending currently, then turn right around and promise austerity sometime in the future.
THE MEDIA
“The difference between Romney and Obama is that Romney is a Republican, while Obama is a Democrat who is adored by the media,” Kessler argues. “For that reason, you will rarely see Obama described on television or in print as a flip-flopper.”
But another reason could be that the “flip-flopper” charge clashes with the media narrative about Obama. The press has been saying since 2008 that Obama is an exceedingly “nuanced thinker.” So when he shifts on the issues, this is chalked up to his distaste for “black-and-white” policy solutions, as well as his ability to transcend Washington’s partisanship-as-usual. Obama's Flip-Flops
