What is Digg?Sponsored by Bing
Need a Vacation? view!
bing.com - Bing(tm) scans 1 billion+ airfares to locate the ones that meet or beat the record low. Check every day.
528 Comments
- Jordan117, on 05/18/2009, -62/+232Fact-checkers disagree:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/
29 promises kept
6 broken
7 compromises
63 in the works
So, of the promises that have seen some form of action so far, he's kept 69%, compromised 16.6%, and broken only 14%.
It might feel good to say Obama is breaking promises left and right, but that simply isn't born out by the facts. - BassMastr, on 05/18/2009, -55/+217You know he's doing a good job if he's pissing off the extremists in both parties.
- WordsnCollision, on 05/17/2009, -77/+188The liberals criticizing Obama might want to consider that as President, he represents ALL Americans from all parts of the political spectrum. Catering only to a narrow base is a sure recipe for disaster 4 years from now... as the GOP is demonstrating oh so well.
- RonPauls, on 05/18/2009, -61/+133Bailouts, Keynesianism, Big Government, more troops in Afghanistan, In Iraq until 2012, expansion of war into Pakistan, continuation of drug war, de facto nationalization of several industries, creeping socialism, etc.
Basically similar to Bush - infinitespecter, on 05/18/2009, -14/+81You forgot to add lack of transparency and the continuation of the surveillance state.
- NorthMass, on 05/18/2009, -43/+102"It might feel good to say Obama is breaking promises left and right, but that simply isn't born out by the facts."
That site is extremely misleading.
(1) It doesn't take into account his flip flops prior to the election(Iraq war withdrawal timetable, FISA, etc.)
(2) Most of the promises kept are not the reasons why people voted for him. They voted for him to end the Iraq War and get rid of corruption, not to remove more small trees that can cause wildfires or to increase funding for the NEA.
(3) In the promises kept section it says he kept his promise to direct military leaders to end the war in Iraq, but it doesn't go into specifics. The reason why is because he is basically using Bush's timetable, even though in the primaries he said he wanted to withdraw troops ASAP, then vs McCain he said 16 months. He flip flopped on that twice.
(4) This site measures a significant promise the same as a minor promise. The fact that he is sending more troops to Afghanistan is ten fold more significant than the fact that he is increasing funding to the NEA. This can let Obama keep 9 promises that are very minor, and let that make him look good even if he breaks a huge promise(not ending the Iraq War), - bucfish, on 05/18/2009, -17/+69Another front man for the Global Corps. Minor irrelevant differences. Overall just a new face, same policies.
- SatoriSeeker, on 05/17/2009, -118/+166Of course he looks like Bush; it's a one party system with two public faces and Obama is owned by the same people.
The Obama Deception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw - sheeplescareme, on 05/18/2009, -12/+57the only thing that ever changes about the clowns in office are their names and how big of a grin they have on their faces whilst they are bending you over.
- inactive, on 05/18/2009, -10/+54only a tiny fraction of whatever goes to africa ever reach the poor. most of the billions in 'aid' get into the hands of warlords and those in power who have zero intentions to help their people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/magazine/22wwln- ...
Dambisa Moyo is a woman whois gaining lots of attention and shedding light on the seriousness of what the african government is doing - or more to the point, not doing. - vuke69, on 05/18/2009, -6/+48*****, I wasn't even sure which one you were referring to until the very last sentence.
- awtripp, on 05/18/2009, -23/+62Regardless, he's still a better choice than McCain/Palin would have been.
- Jordan117, on 05/18/2009, -17/+56The list is "hardly complete" because the dude's been in office less than four months.
- Jordan117, on 05/18/2009, -33/+72It's mainly a function of phenomenally high expectations. Obama is smart, and has a lot of great policy positions, but he's hardly the super-liberal the media portrayed him as. A lot of supporters didn't fully work out the consequences of making peace with the middle, which necessarily means taking some moderate positions. Naturally the left will not always agree with his decisions. Hell, he's made some moves that have disappointed me. But he's also done a lot to make me proud, and if the occasional compromise is needed to maintain a position of influence in Washington, then so be it.
Better to have a president who agrees with you 75% of the time and governs effectively for two terms than one who agrees with you 90% of the time and alienates his way to irrelevancy in 2010 and defeat in 2012. - inactive, on 05/18/2009, -9/+47digger, it's been confirmed. you're a *****.
- BBE1965, on 05/18/2009, -12/+49Obama is busy reminding people there isn't much difference between the two corporate owned parties. So now that Obama is betraying them, the question is who will anti-war, pro-drug decriminalization, universal health care seekers vote for in 2012?
- Jordan117, on 05/18/2009, -6/+37The "four months" thing? I got it from looking at a calendar, thanks. And it wasn't even a liberal calendar! Shocking, I know.
As for the fact-check, I linked directly to the source in my comment. It's the "Obameter", part of the fact-checking service Politfact, which is produced by the St. Petersburg Times. They also do a segment that looks at controversial statements in the news and evaluates their truthfulness on a scale from "True" to "Pants on Fire!" It's pretty interesting, not to mention useful. - Troika37, on 05/17/2009, -35/+66Yes, because Bush didn't triple AIDS funding to Africa or sign the largest increase of Medicaid in history. All he did was go to war.
By 2007, 1.3 million Africans were on medication, much of it paid for by the Bush administration. The US has backed programmes to cancel $34bn (£23bn) worth of debt for 27 African states. At the same time aid to Africa has risen to $5.7bn (£4bn) dollars a year by 2007. And, as anyone who has ever been to a refugee camp in Africa will testify, almost all the food aid to be seen comes from American farmers - aid worth $1.23bn (£0.85bn) in 2007. Mr Bush's Malaria initiative has seen the disease halved in 15 African countries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7831460.stm
He DOUBLED foreign aid. Not exactly economically conservative...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0325/p17s01-cogn.htm ... - anotherjack, on 05/18/2009, -13/+44Whatever increases Bush gave to "AIDS funding" would have been deeply undercut by the fact that he refused to supply condoms, refused outreach to prostitutes, refused to fund anyplace that mentioned abortion.
"In accepting U.S. money, African countries must use one-third of all funding to promote abstinence." Yes, one third. That's 33 percent going *only* to abstinence - I can't imagine how you can spend that much on saying "don't have sex", but those countries who did manage to figure out a way to spend 33% on that ***** did so by cutting funds to things that were genuinely needed, like programs that prevent mother-to-child transmission and condom distribution to high-risk, *already* sexually active teenagers.
Oh yeah, and the countries that did so were not allowed to fund anyplace that ever even mentioned abortion - so naturally many clinics which provided health services including condoms and birth control and abortions closed down through lack of funds....which isn't so great in a country already plagued with overpopulation and disease. It ain't easy knowing that you will be giving birth alone because the nearest clinic is a few hundred miles and all your family is dead of HIV.
But y'know, if those darn Africans had just bought themselves little chastity rings, they'd be pure and safe, right? - AngelBunny, on 05/18/2009, -10/+39wow fact check is awsome! thanks for sharing. i didn't realize anyone had compiled all of that information.
WWW I <3 you - mulock, on 05/18/2009, -1/+30In short... Yes. The left is souring - as it should be. On some key "left" issues such as privacy and human rights he is really dropping the ball and stepping back from campaign promises. No one is suprised, really, but still - he will get a severe backlash. I for one voted for him, and as a supporter I see it as my job to hold his feet to the fire. If he is making mistakes or backing down, his supporters HAVE to break away from supporting him... lest we end up supporting policies that are broken and extending them, much like the conservative/republicans did with bush. (Funny how they have run away from him now)
- poxonyou, on 05/18/2009, -2/+28Thank you. Was going to point this out myself. Tiny promises that are easy to keep and people didn't vote for vs major promises that people based their votes on.
- bigterguy, on 05/18/2009, -7/+33The important point is that Obama had tremendously enthusiastic support from all of these leftist groups in 2008 that put him over the top. In 2012 many of these folks will feel disillusioned by one or more issues and the enthusiasm won't be there. They will be very hard-pressed to generate the same kind of participation and excitement next time around. People won't be voting for the 'first black president' any more, just another guy they have seen on TV every day for 5 years. That's why these multiple disappointments for the far-left are important - they will take the steam out of his re-election campaign and out of the Congressional campaigns of 2010.
- inactive, on 05/18/2009, -6/+31Only in politics can telling the truth 70% of the time be applauded.
- AlaskanDad, on 05/18/2009, -25/+50Obama is going to have to figure out a better way to deal with the Cannabis community, rather than laughing at them. Polls are showing that 52% of Americans are for Marijuana legalization. Now those results are on hard line phones which leaves out a lot of the younger voters who use cell phones, also these are only the people who are willing to voice their opinion against the current status quo to a stranger calling them at home. On the White houses online poll Marijuana reform was clearly clearly the number one choice of the people all three times that Obama asked for suggestions!
I thought our politicans were supposed to represent the people of the United States of America, not force us to follow their opinions and ideals. No Taxation without representation! - samsmartjr, on 05/18/2009, -1/+23The issue isn't that Republicans are grumbling about Obama - the issue is that Democrats are grumbling about him. Many liberal advocate groups are getting dissatisfied that Obama isn't doing enough to push forth the agendas of liberal groups.
But Obama has a problem. If he reaches out too far to the left right now, he believes that he will surely get smacked down after the midterm elections from Republican criticisms and will face such a strong GOP resistance afterwards that his whole legislative agenda will be blocked if the GOP gets more seats in Congress in the 2010 elections. He's moderating himself right now so he can keep GOP resistance to a low level so, throughout his whole term as President, he'll have the political capital to pass the laws he knows he can get passed.
Obama's playing a very careful game. There's much more consequences for a liberal president who reaches too far left than there are for a conservative president who reaches too far right. That's why Obama has to be very careful - if he doesn't moderate himself the conservative backlash will be so great he'll lose his liberal Congress and face the possibility of battling with a conservative Congress down the road. - ThsGuyRightHere, on 05/18/2009, -6/+28Couldn't agree more. There simply isn't a way to satisfy moderates and extremes from both sides. I'd rather see him satisfy liberal and conservative moderates while stepping on the toes of extreme liberals and extreme conservatives, as opposed to Bush who pandered to moderate conservatives and extreme conservatives while pissing off moderate and extreme liberals.
- CaptMonkey, on 05/18/2009, -7/+28Uh, I'm not sure where you learned about political views, but libertarians aren't "far right". They're libertarians, it's something else entirely. While they agree with the far right on economic policy, in that they want as little government intervention as possible, they are the right's polar opposite on social policy. They're support legalization of drugs, gay rights, abortion rights, etc. All things the far right is strongly against.
Maybe this will help: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e ... - whuddafugger, on 05/18/2009, -3/+22I voted for him, but if he's not careful, he'll be the first one-term black president.
- roho76, on 05/18/2009, -3/+21Ending the several wars we have going on IS NOT and extremist view and it is something that spans both sides of the political spectrum.
- NorthMass, on 05/18/2009, -14/+32The "far left" actually has great views on the 4th amendment and war. Usually the "far out groups" are the ones who have correct viewpoints, or non corrupt viewpoints. The "far right", the libertarians, the "far left", the greens, these people usually have solid principles, and refuse to sell out those principles to get a few votes.
- poxonyou, on 05/18/2009, -4/+22Wanting the government to investigate and prosecute war crimes is an extremist position? Holding a politician accountable for the positions they took during the election, the major reasons people supported them (withdrawal from Iraq relatively soon, not in 15+ years, end to secret, outside the law treatment of prisoners), is extremist? You're apologists or lazy. Easy to believe in some imaginary, smart middle/moderate position to everything, and that Obama is the embodiment of this wisest position.
- inactive, on 05/18/2009, -5/+23Under Obama's plan we will be in Iraq indefinitely. Our "combat force" will supposedly be leaving (I'll believe it when I see it) but nearly 50,000 "non-combat force" will stay behind indefinitely.
It comes as a surprise to the Obamabots that this was basically the same plan Bush had. On a side note, I thought ALL military units were combat forces. - inactive, on 05/18/2009, -14/+31exactly, good sir. at least someone gets it..
- inactive, on 05/18/2009, -3/+20You just called somebody linking to The Obama Deception a "right winger"... you are completely clueless.
- BenTheTank, on 05/18/2009, -8/+23I strongly dislike MSNBC (and every other biased/extremist political media) but I commend Maddow for this.
- AARGH2K, on 05/18/2009, -12/+27Long as the extreme nutjobs on either side are unhappy, I'm happy!
- RonPauls, on 05/18/2009, -10/+25you want universal health care and you're on the "right" ?
It seems like you want a big government... - gfryesc, on 05/18/2009, -3/+18So to sum up, it IS politics as usual and there is no change here. Just another career politician, washington insider. I must admit, the selling of the obama brand to the american people has been about the slickest propaganda operation in the last 200 years. Worked like a champ.
- str3ama, on 05/18/2009, -6/+21so that some ultra conservative Christian extremist can take the office and reverse the hands of time?....yeah no thanks.
Until the Republicans separate themselves from the Christians and Mormons, I can't take them seriously. For now s a two party system (Democrats vs 3rd party candidates like the Green Party).. - offrdbandit, on 05/18/2009, -4/+19"On his worst day, Obama is a beacon of tact and intelligence compared to Bush."
Actually, on his worse day he is a bumbling idiot. His worst days are also his teleprompter crew's worst days. Funny how that works. - Mship, on 05/18/2009, -6/+21How is the poster of the reply link to a list of facts being dugg down?
- Jordan117, on 05/18/2009, -5/+20@Mightbiteyou: So? Did you honestly expect him to accomplish his entire agenda before June?
And the "14% broken" doesn't mean he's broken 14% of all his ~400 promises in just four months. It means that of the few dozen that have been acted on so far, 14% haven't been kept. But that's not 14% of all promises, more like 14% of 5%. The vast majority of campaign pledges haven't been addressed yet, which is to be expected when the guy's been in office less than half a year.
@thanakar: Compromises are when a pledge is partially fulfilled, but with some changes made in order to secure passage. The pledge wasn't broken, but it wasn't delivered exactly as advertised, either. - samsmartjr, on 05/18/2009, -0/+15Libertarians are considered on the far right spectrum because they want very little government intervention both economically and socially. So while they support the legalization of drugs, gay rights, and abortion rights, they also favor very little gun control laws and few environmental regulations on businesses, which are hallmarks of the right. They also tend to favor business over labor and tend not to favor social programs, things that the left is against. On the whole, though, libertarians are more associated with the right rather than the left, especially since the left tends to believe that the federal government should be used as a regulating force against businesses and state governments.
- mentaldingo, on 05/17/2009, -182/+196He's turned his back on almost every promise he made.
- FredFredrickson, on 05/18/2009, -13/+27The guy is about 5% into his time as President. He hasn't even had time to turn his back on every promise he made.
Obama is doing a fine job. He probably won't live up to all his campaign promises, but you know what? He's doing a heck of a better job than the last guy did, and he's trying to turn the country around.
Anyone complaining about how Obama isn't doing what he said he would is just another bitter conservative in disguise. - poprocksandsoda, on 05/18/2009, -39/+53As someone on the Right, I am well aware our President is going to make many Pro-Left agenda moves ... however ... he has made very sound decisions on the real issues. To me, the only job of the President is to protect American lives at home and abroad and so far everything he has done on those issues shows good decision making. If he can get universal Health Care through he'll get my vote in 2012 despite having pathalogical liars like Pelosi and political liabilities like Hank Clinton being entrenched in his party.
- phydeaux70, on 05/18/2009, -2/+16One exception was Bush didn't pretend to be anybody but himself and Obama is trying to play the political game of appeasing everybody.
- Acrinimiril, on 05/18/2009, -6/+19
All Presidents are sworn to cater to one thing only:
The United States Constitution.
So far Obama is failing at his job.
Bush was no different. -
Show 51 - 100 of 536 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 