Promises, Promises

Every president since the birth of our country has made promises in his State of the Union address or inauguration speech (and also throughout the campaign). Some promises are very farfetched like Lyndon B. Johnson vowing to end poverty in 1964. Obviously that didn’t happen, but Roosevelt promised to recover the country after The Great Depression and he did through his New Deal program.
President Obama has been in office for almost a year now and throughout his campaign to election he has made over 500 promises. PolitiFact is a company out of Florida that evaluates truth behind politician’s promises. This article goes through 15 of his promises that will possibly determine the successfulness of his term. PolitiFact evaluates if they’ve been kept, or broken, or are at least in the process (Loeb).
Promise 1: Foreclosure Prevention Fund.
Prior to our economic downfall, banks and mortgage companies were lending money to people who could not afford to pay back what they had originally borrowed plus interest. Most real estate companies knew this, yet let innocent Americans buy more house than they could afford. Obama promised to prevent this from happening further so people would not end up in foreclosure because they honestly could not afford their house.
PolitiFact Rating: Promise kept.
Promise 2: Repeal the Bush-Era tax cuts for those making $250,000 (couple) and $200,000 (single).
This ideology never did make sense to me. Give the well-off tax breaks because they actually have money to pay taxes, but give no relief to the struggling middle-class families. It is essential we all pay our taxes, but in this time of economic hardship people who are working hard to earn their money should be taxed less than investors just simply gaining money. Immediately after President Obama took office I noticed this promise come into effect. Less money has been taken out of my paychecks so I have more money in my pocket during the year.
PolitiFact Rating: In the works.
Promise 3: Require health-insurance coverage for all children.
I don’t really know why every President preceding Obama hasn’t tried to cover all children with health insurance; it seems pretty important to me. He also promised to expand coverage to young adults and offer them to be covered under their parents plan until age 25. This is how my parents insurance works and I think this is necessary. After 18, children are considered adults however this is the time most “adults” start college. Attending college full-time makes it difficult to work a full-time job to receive benefits such as health insurance. By age 25 most adults should be able to then cover themselves and/or family.
PolitiFact Rating: In the works.
Promise 4: Build an electronic health information system.
According to this article, Obama and Biden will be investing $10 billion dollars every year for the next 5 years to make this happen (Dennen). Personally I don’t think this should be an area the Obama administration spends so much money on. Computers are a necessary evil. When they work like they are supposed to, computers are great. But when computers crash or get nasty viruses, all would be lost and it would be a sad day at the doctor’s office.
PolitiFact Rating: In the works.
Promise 5: Assure that the Veterans Administration budget is prepared as ‘must-pass’ legislation.
The Veterans of our country should be treated like kings and queens when they get home from war. Obama promises the budget that the VA proposes will always pass. At the beginning of the year Obama will meet with congressional leaders to ensure that what they need, they get.
PolitiFact Rating: In the works.
Promise 6: Begin drawing down combat troops from Iraq.
Obama is currently in the process of taking troops out of Iraq and ending deployment to Iraq and the war there within the next 6 months.
PolitiFact Rating: In the works.
Promise 7: Deploy additional troops to Afghanistan.
This seems contradictory to take troops out of Iraq only to plop them into Afghanistan. This is a very heated topic that everyone has something to say. In addition to deploying more troops to Afghanistan however, he promises to give them enough down time between tours of duty to let them recover, replace equipment and give them “the care and support they have earned” (quote by Obama. Furst). It shouldn’t be too much longer that our troops are fighting in both middle-eastern countries.
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Kept.
Promise 8: Close Guantanamo Bay.
There has been lots of controversy in this area lately. President Obama wants to not only close the detention facility but develop a fair way to prosecute prisoners for their crimes. No longer will Prisoners of War be able to be held their without a charge for a crime. There will be “a fair and thorough process based on Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can’t be prosecuted but who can be held in a matter consistent with the laws of war and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries” (Linsley).
PolitiFact Rating: In the works.
Promise 9: End the use of torture.
This should have ended awhile ago, but the plan is to end “the use of torture without exception…” and end torture to other countries as well (Somodevilla). While this seems like such a small thing, it could be huge as far as foreign policy.
PolitiFact: In the works.
Promise 10: New rules barring paid lobbyists from serving as administration officials.
In true politician fashion, Obama lied about keeping paid lobbyists out of administrative positions. Furthermore, I don’t think this is a huge problem.
PolitiFact: Promise Broken.
Promise 11: Require full disclosure and waiting period for budget earmarks.
While Obama doesn’t have much control over this issue(Congress does), Obama is in the process of fulfilling this promise. Earmarks are a requirement that money passed by Congress be spent in specific ways on certain thing. Many people argue that earmarks are not for the common good, but for the benefit of one constituent. Now, the name of the legislature that asked for the money and a written document providing justification are required at least 3 days before it is to be voted on on the floor (Jacobsen).
PolitiFact: Compromise.
Promise 12: Create tough new financial regulations.
To protect America from an economic crisis like the Great Depression, Obama will come up with new financial regulations.
His new plan will impose stricter and broader government oversight of the nation's banking system -- including tough new requirements on companies whose failure would threaten the economy, and creating new agencies to regulate banks and to protect consumers. It also would dramatically expand the government's involvement in the financial industry in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last fall's financial crisis (Puzzanghera).
Basically the government will be able to help out companies such as banks if they are in trouble of failing. It sounds like a great idea, but I think some people might be upset about the government “meddling.”
PolitiFact: In the works.
Promise 13: Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
I’m not sure why this issue is being stalled because I think it’s something important that deserves a lot of attention. There are millions of immigrants living in our country illegally (Knickerbocker). I don’t think paying a fine and standing in line for citizenship is the best way to handle this situation however. Illegal Immigrants should be deported immediately with a chance to gain citizenship at a later date. The Obama Administration should perhaps drop other priorities and pick this one back up.
PolitiFact: Stalled.
Promise 14: Create 5 million ‘green industry’ jobs.
Not only is it important we create jobs, but it is important they are in the ‘green industry’ to preserve our atmosphere. Obama and Biden will invest $150 billion over the next 10 years into this industry (Groll). They are really hoping for the development of a plug in hybrid car. They want things mass produced in America and sold worldwide.
PolitiFact: In the works.
Promise 15: Create a cap-and-trade system to control global-warming emissions.
Some people agree this isn’t the way to control global-warming, and maybe rightfully so. There is a cap that businesses are to stay under and if they do can then trade their remaining allowance to other people. It sort of doesn’t take care of the problem; it just says that rich businesses don’t have to cut back because they can afford to produce bad emissions. While, little businesses can actually make money by selling their allowances to big businesses who “need” them.
PolitiFact: In the works.

Sources:

Beaty, Paul; Carter, J Pat; Dennen, Peter; Ceneta, Manuel Balce; Draper, Eric; Drobnjakovic,
Marko; Furst, David; Groll, Mike; Lanting, Frans; Linsley, Brennan; Loeb, Saul; Monsivais, Pablo Martinez; Otero, LM; Raedle, Joe; Somodevilla, Chip; Watson, Jim. “Is Obama Keeping His Promises?” Newsweek. Web. 03 November 2009.
Jacobson, Louis. “Obama gets half a loaf on earmark transparency promise.” PolitiFact.com. St.
Petersburg Times. 23 October 2009. Web. 03 November 2009.
Knickerbocker, Brad. “Illegal immigrants in the US: How many are there?” The Christian
Science Monitor. 16 May 2006. Web. 03 November 2009.
Puzzanghera, Jim. “Obama to pitch overhaul of financial legislation.” Los Angeles Times. 17
June 2009. Web. 03 November 2009.