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• Monday, June 8, 2009 01:11 AM

  What Obama said on the campaign trail?

  No matter what he may have said on the campaign trail, many conservatives are convinced President Obama's secret agenda now that he's in office is to suck every last cent out of hard-working Americans through tax increases.

  Look, I don't buy into the " Obama's secret agenda now that he's in office is to suck every last cent out of hard-working Americans through tax increases" thing. The mere wording is fringe. But here's the thing: What does what Obama said on the campaign trail have to do with anything? Obama himself has made it clear (explicitly) that what he said on the campaign trail is essentially meaningless.

  Example: On the campaign trail, Obama (in courting votes from organized labor and the working class in general) promised to open up NAFTA for re-negotiation. Now? Now he says that was merely "overheated rhetoric". In plain language, that means "You believed that crap?"

  Example: Obama's promise tha bills will be posted online in advance to give the public time to read them and have some input before they are voted on/signed into law. Now? The bailout bill had to be rammed through "Now, now, now" (or so the excuse went), but after it was rammed through due to the "dire emergency" and sent to the White House, Obama took off for the weekend before signing it the following week. (This is not the only example of thus, just the most egregious.)

  Example: The promise that former lobbyists would not work on policy in the Obama White House. Now? Now it's OK if they get a waiver. And who decided on the waiver? The Obama White House. And yes, there are former lobbyists in the White House working on policy. Waivers granted.

  I could go on. I could mention how the man that many voted for because of his seeming opposition to the Iraq War (based on an obscure speech made way before he was even running for the Senate, much less in the Senate where he would have had to take an actual stand) is engaging in double-talk* when it comes to getting out of Iraq, and actually expanding (needless) war elsewhere, but why bother.

  *When are combat troops not combat troops? When you call them "a residual force" and have upwards of 60,000 of them.

  —Roman Berry Read Roman Berry's other letters
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