President Barack Obama campaigned on the promise of "change we can believe in" and "an end to business as usual in Washington." After just one year in office it now appears that once again the American people were swayed by a politician that said whatever it took to get elected; with no intention of honoring the campaign promises that inspired voters to back him.
There are so many broken campaign promises from President Obama, websites like Politifact.com have sprung up to try and track them all. (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/; http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=91286) Many of President Obama's broken campaign promises appear to smack of the typical, "business as usual in Washington." The corporate giants that command an army of well-paid lobbyists still seem to get what they want out of President Obama and Congress at the expense of the American people. An excellent example is the sudden disappearance of President Obama's promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from his agenda.
Every day for two years, President Obama promised voters that he would enact a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry if he were elected. In a statement released in June of 2008 he said, "I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills." http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWAT00963020080609
Click here to watch President Obama's campaign commercial regarding a windfall profits tax: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJPo5IGTd0A
Within 48 hours of being elected any mention of the windfall profits tax suddenly disappeared from the Obama/Biden Change.gov website. President Obama did not personally offer any explanation for the disappearance of one of his key campaign promises and to this day he has never mentioned it again. (Pre-change, http://www.asbl.com/documents/Economy_Change.pdf ; Post-change, http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/)
So what happened? What could possibly prompt the newly elected President of the United States to drop one of his key campaign promises abruptly without explanation? My guess is money, and lots of it. The kind of money the oil and gas industry would gladly offer to kill a proposal that would end their ability to reap record profits for years to come at the expense of the American people.
Another example of a broken campaign promise is President Obama's February 2008 statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php) Since 2003, twenty-five federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of large businesses around the world. In 2005, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." Every year for the last five years, the SBA Office of Inspector General has reported the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the #1 management challenge facing the SBA.
So why would President Obama break a campaign promise to simply stop the federal government from giving federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms? It's a pretty clear-cut issue. I would imagine virtually 100 percent of the American people would agree that Fortune 500 firms should not be receiving federal small business funds. Especially not now, considering the dire state of our national economy.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau small businesses are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs. President Obama has promised to create millions of new jobs to stimulate the economy. Since small businesses create virtually all net new jobs in America, why would President Obama allow billions of dollars a week in federal small business contracts to be diverted to Fortune 500 firms? Well... again, one explanation might be, lots and lots of money. When you think about it, massive volumes of cash can get you whatever you want in Washington D.C.
Am I saying that Barack "Change We Can Believe In" Obama is being bribed by corporate giants to block policies that would stop massive corporate greed and abuse? Yes I am.
If anyone has a sound and rational explanation as to why President Obama is still allowing the oil and gas industry to devastate our national economy at will to reap windfall profits, I would love to hear it. You con men and liars that lobby for the American Petroleum Institute (API), don't waste your time trying to deny the fact that the oil industry reaped windfall profits. Why do you think Obama proposed the windfall profits tax in the first place?
If anyone in Obamaland would like to explain to me why President Obama is allowing billions of dollars a month in federal small business funds to be diverted away from the small businesses that create virtually 100 percent of all net new jobs in America, to Fortune 500 firms and some of the largest firms in Holland, England, France, Italy and Korea; I would especially like to hear from you.