Obama's Budget Reform
Countering right-wing misinformation is a full time job. Leading the pack, of course, is Fox News but they’re not alone. Almost every radical conservative media source, be it radio or print, have been in attack mode. Their mission is to paint President Obama as a liar, as incompetent and as a failure. The fact that they themselves need to lie about the facts to make their point is not a deterrent to conservatives. As the old line goes, they never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Let’s take a look at the earmarks controversy. If Fox News is your source of information, then you would be under the mistaken impression that President Obama said during the election campaign that he would eliminate all earmarks. Just a week ago, Sean Hannity had this to say about Obama; “in the presidential debate with John McCain, [Obama] said, ‘I’m going to go line by line. I’m going to eliminate all the earmarks.‘”
Anyone who followed the election campaign would know that Hannity’s comment is false. A reading of the transcript from the 2nd presidential debate would reveal that what Obama actually said was:
“[I will go] line by line through every item in the federal budget and eliminate programs that don’t work and make sure that those that do work, work better and cheaper.”
Quite a difference between fact and propaganda, I’d say. On March 11, President Obama crystallized his position on earmarks.
“Let me be clear: Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that’s why I’ve opposed their outright elimination.”
The only occasion at which President Obama stated that he wanted to eliminate earmarks was at a January meeting with his economic advisers where he said the following.
“We will ban all earmarks in the recovery package and I describe earmarks as the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review.”
You can view the video of the above meeting below. The above quote can be found at the 7 minute mark of the video.
In summary, Obama, as both candidate and president, has been consistent in his approach to earmarks. His goal is to introduce full transparency to the earmark process and to eliminate secretive or back door shenanigans.
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Fox Noise is not a respectable source of honest journalism. They are an extension of the Republican party’s PROPAGANDA platform.
Fox Noise wrap themselves up in the American flag while they hold contempt for American integrity and intelligence, they are despicable.
You simply refuse to see what is before your eyes. This is a quote from your favorite Liberal Site, Media Matters:
“We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review. We will create an economic recovery oversight board made up of key administration officials and independent advisers to identify problems early and make sure we’re doing all that we can to solve it. We will put information about where money is being spent online so that the American people know exactly where their precious tax dollars are going and whether we are hitting our marks.”
He may have said other things at other times. He may have misspoken here. But you cannot deny that he made the above statement.
Now, I ask….What does it matter now? He nor any other President will be able to do away with or clean up Earmark Spending. His own Party Members would call for his resignation if he tried to. This is not an important issue. And if it were, he could have set aside all earmarks with the stroke of a pen and sent them back for further review. He chose the path of least resistance and it was the only path he could have chosen.
You and your Conservative Counterparts are busy fiddling over these faux controversies while the burning of the USA, or at least the process of igniting the flames, is being ignored.