"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense"-Thomas Paine
The arguments against Senator Barack Obama fall into four broad categories: Financial, Character, Leadership, and Media.
Financial
Senator Obama repeatedly claims that he will lower taxes for 95% of working Americans. In fact, 30-40% of Americans don't pay income taxes. Obama's plan envisions sending a check to those who don't pay taxes. The end result is to punish those who are successful by raising taxes and to reward those who are less successful by giving them money.
Think about your children. Would you take away from the allowance of a child who brought home a report card with straight A's to give extra money to a child with C's and D's? This is what Obama is proposing.
In my urban medical practice there are many patients who don't work but waste their resources on cigarettes, alcohol, and cocaine. Sending these people a check will merely subsidize these harmful behaviors.
Senator Obama has proposed raising capital gains taxes and criticized his opponent for wanting to lower corporate taxes. The net result will be to discourage investment by individuals as well as to drive corporations to lower tax environments in other countries (i.e. promote outsourcing). Increasing social security taxes as planned will raise costs for employers as well as raising taxes for employees who make over $100,000 a year. Note that Obama's claim not to raise taxes for people making less than $250,000 per year ignores his plan to extend social security taxes beyond the current cap.
Senator Obama's plan will create entitlements and a dependency on the government that will never go away. In the book "The Millionaire Next Door" the authors argued that one of the biggest drags on wealth accumulation was dependent adult children. Likewise, the creation of dependent citizens will be a drag on the growth of the economy. The meltdown of the mortgage and financial industries is as much a result of Democratic policies as it is the result of Republican policies (see the link at the end of this essay).
" If you give a hungry man a fish he will be hungry the next day. If you teach a hungry man how to fish he will never again be hungry."
Character
A man is known by the company he keeps. The company Senator Obama has kept over the years has included his spiritual mentor Black Liberation theologian Jeremiah Wright, admitted terrorist Bill Ayers, and convicted felon financier Tony Rezko. In addition as an attorney Senator Obama has represented ACORN which is being investigated for voter fraud in 14 states.
Reverend Wright's hate-filled sermons are well known. The question is when did Senator Obama know about them and was Senator Obama infected by Wright's vitriol? That Obama heard at least some of Wright's sermons is proven by the fact that the title of Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope" was inspired by a Wright sermon. The fact that Obama knew Wright to be controversial is proven by Obama's decision to dis-invite Wirght to deliver the invocation at the announcement of Obama's presidential campaign. Inspite of the dis-invitation, Senator Obama still prayed with Wright at the announcement of the campaign (allbeit in the basement!) which proves that Wright's participation and approval were still important to Obama.
In 1984 Senator Obama's future spiritual mentor Wright traveled to Libya with anti-semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to meet COL Qaddaffi.
Senator Obama's relationship with former Weather Underground Terrorist Bill Ayers was more than casual. In 1995 An event was held at Ayers house that helped to launch Senator Obama's first political campaign. Obama's only executive experience was working for Ayers group distributing grant money from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. From 2000-2002 Ayers and Obama served together on the board of the Woods Fund.
Senator Obama has an association with convicted felon Tony Rezko. Rezko made the first ever political contribution to Obama in 1995. In 2003 Rezko was on Obama's US Senate campaign finance committee. Obama's various campaigns have received over $250,000 form Rezko's organizations. And Obama's house was purchased in a somewhat questionable deal with Rezko's wife.
Senator Obama has ties to ACORN. He represented ACORN as an attorney. His campaign has contributed to ACORN. ACORN employees have previously been convicted of vote fraud. ACORN is currently under investigation for voter fraud on 14 states.
Leadership
Senator Obama has no experience whatsoever in the military. It is hard to imagine someone who is less qualified to be the Commander in Chief.
Senator Obama has virtually no executive experience. Obama's leadership abilities are totally unknown as he has never actually had to lead anything.
Senator Obama has no foreign policy experience. He has naively proclaimed his willingness to talk to adversaries without precondition.
If your son or daughter were serving in the military wouldn't you want the Commander in Chief to be qualified?
Media
The media coverage of this campaign has been severely biased. Examples include the unspoken agreement to avoid using Obama's middle name. The eagerness of interviewers to try and trip up Governor Palin was disgraceful. MSNBC's coverage has been so outrageous that two of their anchormen were shunted aside after the Democratic convention. And why hasn't Senator Obama's reference to "my muslim faith" during his interview with George Stephanopolos been played with the same intensity as Governor Palin's comments during the Katie Couric interview?
The real harm caused by the media bias is the failure to critically examine the shortcomings of Senator Obama. Imagine a white Senator, with a racist spiritual mentor, who had served on a board with and held a campaign event at the house of David Duke, and who had represented the KKK as an attorney. Needless to say the media coverage of such a character would be merciless. Why hasn't the media attention to Senator Obama been just as merciless?
Links
Regarding Bill Ayers:
www.vote.com/mmp_printerfriendly.php?id=1147
www.wikipedia.org search for Bill Ayers
Regarding Democratic policies that led to the financial crisis, New York Times article from 9/30/99:
www.vote.com/mmp_printerfriendly.php?id=1137
Regarding Obama's tax proposals see "Fleeced" by Dick Morris
www.dickmorris.com
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1 comment:
As someone living in a 'socialist' country (btw-do any of the people who this buzzword attack is directed to understand what socialism is and isn't? do you?), where there are MANY well-to-do people making bundles of money . . . and as someone familiar with 'ACORN' (hear in the background scarey drums rolling)(and note that republicans and democrats alike have looked into this and found that the ACORN organization was the likely VICTIM in this situation where some temporary employees decided lazily to just fill in papers rather than doing the work they were hired to do)and who has knocked on doors herself in voter registration drives and other community organizing events . . . I have to tell you how FUNNY some of your efforts to generate fear sound!
If you are afraid you won't be able to pay the insurance on your private airplane . . . that's one thing. But better to focus on the issue of fairness than to propagate more garbage for the public to bear. People are tired of efforts using attentuated connections to scare voters into thinking Obama is a terrible man. See, for example, my comment at http://www.npr.org/watchingwashington/2008/10/comments/why_mccain_debated_as_he_did_1.html .
If the U.S. is ever going to lead on the world stage again, it had better earn credibiility. The country stands largely alone due to George W. Bushes 'Bush Doctrine' allowing the President to decide who, when and where to begin killing people only to justify the killing afterwards, or perhaps not at all . . . in the name of 'threats to our security.' How to objective people discern between this and Russia entering Georgia - AND STAYING THERE FOR YEARS -at HUGE expense to the people whose so-called security was at risk! The proof is in the pudding. A country in the financial state that the U.S. is in now and promises to be in for some time to come, is far less secure because of lacking resources (to hire and supply necessities to leaders, troops, and to develop and produce cutting edge products and techniques), poor international credibility, consequential and well-founded apathy among U.S. voters who have seen the Florida and Ohio blunders (I am being generous here) preventing people more likely to vote democratic from voting, and weak aliances around the world than the country was because of Sadam Hussein's barbaric treatment of his own countrymen and women. NOTE- there are horrendous acts being committed against many many people, including against women throughout the middle east that are NOT excusable - but which were not the bases of Bushes rationale for obliterating major cities in Iraq. This is the war that Obama declined to fund at a time when I was shocked that so many other representatives would give the kind of authority they did to the president.
We have seen unbridled abuses of power over the last eight years, enlargement of government in ways that erode the system of checks and balances that are the safeguard against abuses envisioned by the forefathers . . . we've seen cronyism to the detriment of the American public, and, more recently, I've seen McCain behave in ways unbecoming a president, or at least my president. This is NOT how the Europeans operate, and its not how many other civilized nations operate. It is hardly a model we want to project as we go forward in a world that is global in interdependence and, particularly, at a time when the U.S. will be NEEDING friends.
Frankly, the announcement I heard by Colin Powell (on a Sunday morning talk show perhaps? I dn't recall) said it all.
Including, if one is to be motivated by fear at all, the part about McCains poor judgment in signing Sarah Palen on for Vice President.
Listen, I can empathize when the 2% 'haves' don't want to give up their money, and the power that goes with it. 'It's hard work', I hear George W. Bush whining. I've been in the minority myself on many occassions.
And I am the first to admit that Obama is not a perfect candidate.
But he has already improved the country by getting more people registered to vote, and, hopefully voting. And by raising the bar for civilized political speech by refraining from and many times declining to respond to attacks that would take the discussions down the hill of name calling and away from the issues.
signed by . . . .
the 'Radical' housewife (if one is to listen to name calling from the 1970s)
8^)
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