Exit Stage Left…
Out of the media’s prying eyes, Obama signed the “perfect” $410 billion example of the government’s solution to our recession…. more spending and earmarks.
According to news sources, Obama defended earmarks and opposed their elimination from one corner of his mouth while acknowledging their waste, fraud and abuse from the other corner.
The left corner said,
“Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their distict, and that’s why I have opposed their outright elimination.”
The right corner added,
“…earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, and fraud and abuse. Projects have been inserted at the 11th hour, without review, and sometimes without merit, in order to satisfy the political or personal agendas of a given legislator, rather than the public interest.”
Continuing his campaign for transparency and accountability, Obama and House Democrats announced disingenuous reforms that would require lawmakers to post their earmarks on their web sites before he would ultimately sign them. Some of you may recall that senators didn’t even have time to read the roughly $800 billion stimulus package before passing it n February.
When asked why he didn’t sign the spending bill in public, Obama had no comment.
Perhaps the most dramatic twist was that Obama added a “signing statement” to the spending bill. A signing statement is basically a president’s comments on the bill however it can also permits the president to express reservations about the constitutionality of legislative provisions thereby allowing the president to ignore said legislation or implement it in a manner they perceive as constitutional. Obama and his administration have sharply criticized the former president for his use of signing statements and even this past Monday said they intend ignore Bush’s signing statements.
Obama’s signing statement challenged provisions related to negotiations with foreign governments, limits on using U.S. troops for U.N. missions, protection for government whistleblowers, a claim of authority over the spending of money already approved by Congress, and demands that the administration submit budget requests in certain forms. You can find the details here.
Clearly, another dramatic example of Obama leadership.
The truth is out there, under the huge pile of media love for Obama. I’m glad to see there is a website dedicating it’s energy to pointing out what very few are willing to. Thank you sir or ma’am for this new site and keep it coming. I’ll get the RSS subscriptions up. Or at least some comments for you to drop off (too many libs out there).
Thanks for kind comment Sean. I think with his telling decisions “some” in the media are taking notice and voicing their observations. Howver many are still in love if only with the idea and ideologies are hard to give up. Thanks again!