President Bush was both loved and loathed for his resoluteness of purpose. But his successor has taken that trait to an entirely new level, to the point that he’s become obstinate in the face of a clear reality.

President Obama, his lieutenants and media allies claim that prevailing public anger is rooted in frustration over a Washington that’s “getting nothing done.” They are wrong. As I explain in my Human Events column today, most of the outrage is the result of a Washington that’s doing too much to push policies that have always failed.  Thank you.

Today (February 17, 2010) is the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s signing of the $787 billion stimulus bill, and the administration is putting on a hard sell for the American people. There will be a White House reception today to mark the anniversary. Later this week, Vice President Joe Biden and various cabinet secretaries will fan out across the country to host dozens of rallies touting the stimulus package’s success. Exactly what are they celebrating?

• President Obama told the American people that Congress had to pass the Democrat stimulus bill in order to keep unemployment from rising above 8%. After hundreds of billions of dollars were spent, unemployment hit 10% last year and remains near that figure today. On the most critical measurement of success laid down by the president, the bill is an abject failure. STRIKE ONE!
• In promoting the stimulus, President Obama promised us that the funds would be spent on timely, “shovel ready” projects. In spite of the financial emergency that necessitated the biggest spending bill in American history, if not world history, just one third of the stimulus funds have been spent. So much for “shovel ready.” More than 2.5 million Americans lost their jobs last year, while most of the stimulus money intended to “save or create” jobs went unspent. STRIKE TWO!
• President Obama promised us that the stimulus funds would not be wasted, and he named Vice President Biden “stimulus czar.” We now know hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars were spent to create jobs overseas. We learned that thousands of jobs were created in places that don’t exist. President Obama promised that 90% of the stimulus jobs would be created in the private sector. An analysis by the New York Times found “the data suggests that well over half of the jobs claimed so far have been in the public sector.”But, wait – there’s more. USA Today reports that billions of stimulus dollars are being spent on programs so inefficient or redundant that even Barack Obama wants to cut or eliminate them! Presumably, Joe “the Stimulus Czar” Biden knows the president’s budget priorities. How did you miss that, Joe? STRIKE THREE!

I could go on, but it’s not necessary. While the administration celebrates this colossal failure, the American people know better. Last week, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that six percent of Americans thought the stimulus bill had created jobs. And, no, that’s not a typo – just six in one hundred Americans believe the $787 billion bill did what it was supposed to do.

Instead of doing a victory lap around the country on the taxpayers’ dime, Obama and Biden ought to be apologizing for the biggest boondoggle in history. Instead, they are having a Marie Antoinette moment – while millions of Americans have lost their jobs, Obama is spending their money to create jobs overseas and grow the government. Now he wants to tell us what a great deal this has been!

I know there are some signs of growth and improved economic activity — “green shoots,” as economists like to call them. This is not proof that “Obamanomics” works. No matter how badly Washington wastes your money, our economy remains very vibrant. There are millions of entrepreneurs and hard working men and women who get up every day, go to work and do their best for their families. They invest, they work hard and they succeed in spite of government, not because of it. Sadly, that is a lesson that Washington liberals seem incapable of learning.

As the nation approaches the one year anniversary of Barack Obama’s inauguration, administration officials are crowing about all their “accomplishments.” On the White House website, you can read about the myriad ways in which President Obama has saved the global economy, tackled climate change and made us safe.

Some of you may be dubious, but you can participate in a series of live online chats and blogs with key White House aides as they detail “what the Obama Administration has done over the past year, and where the Administration is heading on pivotal issues.” The White House may be trying to put on a happy face, but the American people clearly aren’t happy with hope and change.

Virtually every major polling outfit and news organization now finds that the president’s approval rating has tanked. Yesterday, CBS News reported that Obama’s approval rating hit a new low in its polling at 46%. Today, it’s Gallup, which reports that only 40% of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy and just 37% approve of his performance on healthcare reform.

CNN and Quinnipiac University asked voters whether Obama’s first year in office had been a success or a failure. Quinnipiac found that voters were evenly divided at 45% each. CNN found 48% of voters saying Obama’s first year was a failure, while 47% said it was successful. And, after a year of Obama’s leadership, Quinnipiac found voters statistically tied when asked whether the nation would have been better off or worse off if John McCain had become president instead of Barack Obama.

Dear Friends,

The Senate Finance Committee will vote TUESDAY and will likely pass its version of ObamaCare complete with the abortion mandate, massive tax increases and the wholesale government takeover of healthcare.

Just one problem…

There is NO real bill in the Finance Committee!

The Finance Committee is working off what is called the “Chairman’s Mark,” which is really just “plain language” notes about the bill! Committee staffers admit that the actual legislative text for the bill hasn’t been written (or at least it hasn’t been released to the public!).

Even worse…

Majority Leader Harry Reid ultimately controls the process in the Senate and our best sources tell us he will push his own version of ObamaCare directly to the floor for a vote!  Once again, we have no idea what that bill actually says. There have been no drafts and it will not be subjected to Committee scrutiny!

It is very likely that the actual text of the Reid bill — the final bill the Senate votes on — will remain hidden until the very last minute. Why?  It’s clear that he doesn’t want the American people to know what is in this healthcare bill!

+ + Tell the Senate: “Show Us The Bill!”

This is political chicanery at its very worst.  Harry Reid knows the American public is not in favor of ObamaCare and its abortion mandate, so he is resorting to HIDING the bill’s content and his plans from citizens like you and me!

And as we learned from his “attach it to an unrelated bill and call the vote at midnight” strategy to pass Hate Crimes legislation, Reid will stop at nothing to please the White House and pass this dangerous, cost-prohibitive bill no matter what Americans think!

I’m asking you to take a stand with me and demand that the Senate SHOW US THE BILL before any further votes on ObamaCare are taken! There are two important ways to take action.

FIRST, fax your Senators and other key Senators and say, ”Show Us The Bill!” Go here to schedule your faxes:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=22163&CID=297&RID=20868001

Of course, if you prefer to send your own faxes, please go here for fax numbers and sample texts for your faxes:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=22164&CID=297&RID=20868001

SECOND, call your two Senators and tell them that they should not vote on ANY health reform bill until they and the American public have had reasonable time to review the ACTUAL LEGISLATIVE TEXT.

Sen. Feinstein          202-224-3841
Sen. Boxer      202-224-3553

Again, we simply MUST see the actual bill, especially when every draft has included provisions that could greatly expand abortion coverage and force you and me to pay for abortions!

Thank you for telling your senators, “Show Us The Bill!”

God bless you,

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

Obama Takes The Prize!

Eyes rolled across America today as the sunrise brought news that our apprentice president had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Obama’s name is now added to an esteemed list that includes such note-worthies as Jimmy Carter (2002), Kofi Annan (2001) and Yasser Arafat (1994).  (Somehow the Nobel Committee never got around to recognizing the achievements of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher or Pope John Paul II, who brought down Soviet Communism and peacefully liberated tens of millions of people behind the Iron Curtain.)

All the commentators are suggesting the prize is premature because President Obama hasn’t actually accomplished anything yet to bring about peace.  That view fails to understand the mindset of leftwing elites who run international organizations like the Nobel Committee.  To them, America is the real threat to peace, particularly when we are led by men like Reagan and Bush, confident leaders who believed in American exceptionalism and willing to confront tyranny.

It also sends a message of just how much disdain the European elites have for the rest of us who dare to oppose the president’s appeasement and his socialism. George Bush’s efforts to keep America and the world safe from radical Islamic terrorism – the biggest threat to world peace today – were never deserving of recognition. But by electing Barack Obama, America got it “right,” and the liberal elites want to make sure you understand that fact, so they have bestowed Barack with one of the highest honors the international community can offer.

Today America is led by the “anti-Reagan.”  In his eight-and-a-half months in office, Obama has made apologizing for America a top priority.  He couldn’t find his voice when the Iranian regime crushed skulls.  He tells the United Nations that no country or group of countries can be above anyone else.  He has turned U.S. policy in the Middle East on its head – reaching out to Syria, Iran and Libya while regularly suggesting too many Jews in Jerusalem are the roadblock to peace.  He has dissed our allies, cancelled a defensive missile system and has been silent on human rights abuses in Cuba, Venezuela and around the world.

Just so you know, there were other nominees, including folks like Greg Mortenson, a decorated Army veteran, son of a Lutheran missionary and best-selling author. Mortenson has dedicated more than a decade of his life working in remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan building schools and helping to educate tens of thousands of children, especially young girls. You can read more about Greg Mortenson here.

That Mortenson’s incredible record of accomplishment lost out to Obama’s rhetoric is not surprising. If you are a left-wing internationalist who thinks the key to peace is a weaker America willing to take orders from the U.N., who in the world would you give the Nobel Peace Prize to other than Barack Hussein Obama?

Laura Tyson, an economic advisor to President Obama, is suggesting that the nation needs a major economic stimulus plan devoted to infrastructure spending to help the anemic economy recover. No, you’re not having déjà vu; the administration is laying the ground work for Stimulus II. Believe it or not, Tyson says the $787 billion stimulus bill was “a bit too small.”

In addition to our budget deficit, Washington is also suffering from a serious trust deficit. The trillion-dollar stimulus bill (it’s real cost with interest) was sold to the nation as an infrastructure plan full of “shovel ready” projects. We were told that if it passed, unemployment would not go above 8%. Well, infrastructure projects accounted for only 11% of the $787 billion, and unemployment today is 9.5%.

The bill wasn’t what Democrats told us it would be, nor has it done what they promised it would do. But now they are demanding a “redo.” I don’t know about you, but I want a refund!

ABC’s one hour infomercial with President Obama promoting his socialized healthcare plan was a ratings bomb for the network. Despite airing in primetime at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the president attracted fewer than 5 million viewers. The show had the lowest ratings of all the major networks for that hour. It wasn’t as if the other networks aired their most popular shows either. NBC debuted a new show titled “The Philanthropist” and CBS aired a repeat episode of “CSI: NY.”

It appears the American people are getting sick of seeing Barack Obama everywhere. The argument the major news networks use when they receive complaints for giving Obama too much air time is that he is a ratings booster. That argument has lost credibility after Wednesday’s bomb. It is getting harder and harder for Big Media to disguise its true intentions, which is to promote a radical leftwing agenda to the American people. But evidently the American people aren’t that interested in the new ABC — the “All Barack Channel.”

Slowly Finding His Voice

As you know, we and other conservatives have been urging President Obama to speak up in support of the Iranian people who are daring to oppose the brutal Islamofascist regime that runs their country. Slowly the president is finding his voice, but it’s been a very frustrating exercise — like trying to get a two year-old to eat his vegetables. Meanwhile heads were getting cracked, dissidents were being jailed and innocent bystanders were being shot. Here is an excerpt of the president’s comments today at the White House:

“The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions… I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs. …some in the Iranian government, in particular, are … accusing the United States and others in the West of instigating protests over the elections. These accusations are patently false. They’re an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran’s borders. …

“In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests of justice. …Above all, we’ve seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we’ve experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.”

Much better, Mr. President. Almost Reaganesque.

I was particularly surprised to see the president so forcefully shoot down the accusations of the Iranian regime that we were interfering and instigating the protests. After all, that had been the major excuse that he and so many in the media were offering for his silence – that any critical statements or messages of support would be seized upon by the regime as proof of our “meddling.” It was absurd to begin with (as Brit Hume notes), but the mullahs made the charge anyway. It seems Mr. Obama is no longer worried about “alienating the ayatollah.” Now that he has spoken up and removed his own fig leaf, maybe we can begin to have a real debate about a serious policy toward Iran. (More on that in the next item.)

Many dissidents assumed “Mr. Hope and Change” would be one of their strongest allies. Instead, politicians from the European Union took the lead. When France is a more aggressive advocate for freedom than the United States, the world should be worried. Let’s hope that the president’s statement is not too little, too late. Having received little in the way of encouragement from Washington, while the tyrants in Tehran terrorized their own citizens for days, the protests appear to be waning. I pray that this historic opportunity to break the back of the “axis of evil” and transform a state sponsor of terrorism is not yet lost.

Mohammed to Obama: “We need your help”

This morning I received an email from our friends at National Review that contained an excerpt from a CNN interview with one of the thousands of demonstrators in Tehran. This demonstrator, Mohammed, gives his opinion on what he thinks the United States and the rest of the world should do regarding Iran. Consider this exchange and how it contrasts with President Obama’s desire for dialogue and diplomacy based on “mutual respect”:

MOHAMMED: “Americans, European Union, international community, this government is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it. Stop trading with them. Impose much more sanctions against them. My message, to the international community, especially I’m addressing President Obama directly — how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person? We need your help international community. Don’t leave us alone.”

Mohammed gets it. Why is it so hard for our “experts” at the State Department and the White House? Diplomacy and appeasement do not dissuade dictators. President Obama is an impressive orator, but no one — not even Barack Hussein Obama — is going to talk a Holocaust-denying madman out of his desire to “wipe Israel off the map.” Words will not stop his work to destroy the “Great Satan,” which is how the Islamic radicals in Iran refer to the United States. The West must confront the reality that Mohammed is warning against. We need a serious plan of action, not just words. And here too Mohammed has a suggestion:

REPORTER: “Mohammed, what do you think the international community should do besides sanctions?”

MOHAMMED: “This regime is really dependent on importing gasoline. More than 85% of Iran’s gasoline is imported from foreign countries. I think the international communities must sanction exporting gasoline to Iran and that might shut down the government.”
The president should also rescind his invitation for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4th parties at U.S. embassies around the world. Obama dodged a question today about his “hot dog diplomacy” when asked by Fox News reporter Major Garrett if the Iranian government representatives were still welcome. And President Obama should immediately restore the funding that he cut for pro-democracy efforts in Iran.

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report (6-23-09)
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.

Obama’s Numbers Falling

Last week, we reported that President Obama’s approval rating was starting to fall after a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll recorded its lowest figure to date. Now there is more evidence that the novelty is wearing off. For some time now, the daily Rasmussen tracking poll has also detected declining support for the president, and it recorded a new low over the weekend.

In assessing President Obama’s support, pollster Scott Rasmussen has developed a unique measurement – the presidential approval index (PAI). Rasmussen calculates the PAI by subtracting the percentage of voters who strongly approve of the president from the percentage of those who strongly disapprove. It is a measure of core support or disapproval.

For the first six weeks of the Obama administration, the president enjoyed strong support with a presidential approval index consistently in the double digits, with significantly more voters strongly approving of President Obama’s performance than strongly disapproving. That’s to be expected during the so-called “honeymoon” period that all presidents generally receive from the public. But in March, Rasmussen’s polling detected a “shift in the winds.” In more than one hundred days of polling since the first week of March, Obama has earned a double-digit PAI rating just three times.

And yesterday, for the first time ever, Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll found President Obama’s approval index was in fact negative at -2, with 32% of likely voters strongly approving of his performance and 34% of likely voters strongly disapproving. Today, his PAI remains negative at -1.

And here’s more news that must concern the president: His days of blaming everything on George W. Bush are coming to an end. According to a newly released Rasmussen poll, while a majority of voters still cut the president some slack on the economy, the number of voters who blame the current economic conditions on Bush is down eight points, while the number blaming Obama is up 12 points, a 20-point swing in three weeks.

Finding His Voice

President Obama struggled this weekend to catch up with Congress and the American people in voicing his support for freedom in Iran and expressing moral outrage for the oppressive tactics of the tyrants in Tehran. Friday, the House voted 405-to-1 to condemn the regime and support the Iranian people seeking liberty. Hours later, the Senate unanimously approved a similar resolution. Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Lieberman (ID-CT) issued a joint statement Friday, which read, “By acting now, Congress sent an unmistakable message of support to the courageous Iranian people at a critical moment in their history.” By staying silent, the Obama White House had been sending a message of support to the mullahs.

Saturday, the White House released a statement from the president. Here is an excerpt:

“The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights. …If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.”

While Obama’s rhetoric is getting better, his policy toward outlaw states like Iran is way behind reality. He still thinks he can negotiate with Ahmadinejad to end his nuclear weapons program. By the way, that would be a form of “meddling” that would only serve to offer legitimacy to the Holocaust-denying dictator. Meanwhile, a North Korean ship continues on its way, while suspected of carrying contraband materials in violation of U.N. sanctions. What will Obama do?

There’s another area where Obama is hopelessly behind and Big Media won’t tell you about this. For years, the Bush Administration spent money to promote pro-democracy movements in Iran. And now, just as those efforts are beginning to bear fruit, what does the Obama Administration do? The president cut the funding for those programs in his first budget to Congress.

And if you don’t think that it matters one iota if Iran becomes a free nation or if the Islamic fanatics currently running Iran are allowed to develop nuclear weapons, consider the latest statement from Al Qaeda: “God willing, the nuclear weapons [in Pakistan] will not fall into the hands of the Americans, and the Mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans.” If we ignore reality and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t matter, our next 9/11 won’t be 3,000 dead, but hundreds of thousands.

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report (6-22-09)
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.

Barack Obama has been hailed as one of the greatest orators of our day, yet he has been silent in recent days, refusing to speak up in defense of democracy in Iran. Instead, the Washington Post reported yesterday that our president is trying not to “alienate the ayatollah,” all so he can keep alive his hopes for diplomacy with the Islamofascist regime, like Neville Chamberlain seeking “peace in our time.”

While the president stays tight lipped, the media are making excuses for his silence. Isolationists on the right like Pat Buchanan to left wingers like Keith Olbermann are all saying that President Obama should keep his mouth shut so that “American meddling” doesn’t become the issue in Iran. Guess what? The tyrants in Tehran are already denouncing America for “interventionist statements.” The idea that our words matter to this regime any more than they mattered to Hitler is laughable. But this president promised us that he would restore America’s moral authority around the world. Let’s think about that for a moment.

How did America win that moral authority to begin with? We won World War II and liberated Europe and Japan from tyrannical regimes. Then we rebuilt our defeated enemies and turned them into allies. We rallied the free world in defense of liberty against the evil empire that was the Soviet Union. And our free enterprise economy, combined with the generosity of American foreign aid and individual charitable giving, did more to create wealth and lift people out of poverty than at any other time in human history.

But somewhere along the way, Mr. Obama insists we lost our moral authority. How? According to Mr. Obama, we lost it when George W. Bush invaded Iraq and freed 25 million Muslims from the brutality of Saddam Hussein’s rape rooms and child prisons. Now it is the Left’s position to talk with tyrants rather than to stand with slaves yearning for freedom.

Today, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the “absolute victory” of Iran’s Holocaust-denying president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. During his speech, he led the crowd in chants of “death to America,” “death to Israel” and “death to the U.K.” Thank goodness Obama avoided alienating the ayatollah!

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.