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In November, 2012, Americans will cast their votes in one of the most critical elections in this nation's history. America today is financially crippled, bleeding profusely from its deep self-inflicted wounds. As that critical time approaches and we search for someone to provide the strong leadership to bring this situation under some semblance of control, it is simply not anywhere in sight.
Some will say that is misguided thinking, that we need only to reelect President Obama and everything will be just fine, that we should trust in him to lead America away from the current abyss. O.K., then let's explore that contention by reviewing and analyzing his specific decisions and actions over the two plus years that he has been in office.
To begin this process, just how would you answer this question? Whose agenda has he followed during his time in office, and at what primary objectives and allegiances are his actions aimed? 1. Those of the American people who supported and elected him? Or: 2. Those of the military establishment and Corporate America?
Think about it and you will clearly see that America is completely dominated by the agenda that has been created and is being promoted by the military and Corporate America. Wars are escalating and corporate profits are at all time highs, while the rest of America is crumbling. From the day he entered the Oval Office, Mr. Obama has, by his well documented actions, made it more than clear to whom he answers; and it is certainly not the American people.
To prove this point, let's review the major policies and accomplishments of his administration. What does the record show? What did he do and what did he not do after becoming president in 2008?
Had he been a courageous and fearless president, he would have taken charge and set down a plan for a concrete plan to wind down operations in Iraq. That plan would also have had a second phase that would end military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He did not do so, he failed to seize the opportunity to become a great president; instead, he passively acceded to the military dictates and rejected the wishes of the American people.
In promoting health care reform, he should have excluded the participation and influence of Big Pharma and the health insurance companies from the decision-making and he should have demanded, with the threat of a veto, that the legislation include the "public option" that could easily have been attached by using the Senate's "reconciliation procedures." He did neither, as he embraced the corporate masters of the health insurance industry, and rejected the wishes of the American people.
There was a great need for Wall Street financial reforms to prevent another future taxpayer bailout. He could and should have demanded that regulations be formulated to effectively regulate the use of derivatives, credit default swaps, and other similar financial manipulations. He did not and signed watered down legislation. He embraced Wall Street and the corporate financial manipulators, and rejected the wishes of the American people.
Why is it that President Obama, a Constitutional scholar, chose not to investigate or prosecute any of the parties identified as suspects in the illegal invasion of Iraq and the question of WMD's, water boarding torture techniques, secret renditions to other countries for torture, or any of the many Wall Street robber barons who made fortunes during the financial collapse? Why is it that he looked the other way and did nothing?
He could have initiated the greatest, most ambitious job creation program in U.S. history by using the combined resources of government and business to develop alternate sources of energy to reduce and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, and to create multi-millions of new American-based jobs in the new "green" economy. A brilliant opportunity was there for his taking but he failed to grasp it and use the innovative resources of America to address this critical issue. Again, he failed America.
That is quite an impressive list of things he has done to prove that he is the facilitator of the needs of the military and Corporate America, rather than that of the American people. What then has he been doing more recently to further enhance that very damaging image?
Well, in his 2012 budget submission to Congress, he has proposed to cut the annual energy assistance to the poor, needy and disabled from the current $5 billion to $2.5 billion. Atta boy, Mr. Obama, that's one more way to provide more funds for your wars and take it from poor Americans who can just learn how to stay warm some other way. Sir, we congratulate you for your deep empathy.
He has never been called the "education president" and by proposing to cut Pell Grants to students in this new budget by a whopping $100 billion he will guarantee that he never will. By approving hundreds of billions of tax relief for that 2% of wealthy Americans while cutting energy assistance and Pell Grants, he has clearly shown he is on the side to the wealthy and has rejected the needs of the American people.
This is a man of war, a man who embraces the military and the defense contractors because he does not have the courage, the strength and the integrity to stand up for what is right. This war president doesn't dare to propose any significant cuts to the overly bloated trillion dollar Pentagon budget that is on course to bankrupt America. But watch out, for it won't be too long before he opens the door to cuts in Medicare and Social Security.
It is time that we Americans come to the full and painful realization that this president is doing extreme damage to our fragile nation as he recklessly spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on the proliferation of perpetual war. And, by focusing on war at the expense of America's critical domestic needs, he is leading this nation toward a financial collapse of monumental proportions. He is failing America in its greatest time of need.
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