PrintSeptember 10, 2009
Obama only talks the talk
The Commander in Chief gave a rousing speech to a joint session of congress and I heard a few things that I liked. The President talked the talk that most Americans want to hear. The critical question is, will he walk the walk? Let's look at the talk and the walk that President Barrack Obama has displayed so far.
I.The Talk: "No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years.
The Walk: The Obama administration has employed several lobbyist in their current administration. Even the liberal St Petersburg Times calls President Obama on this one.
II.The Talk: "....will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
The Walk: Except if the bill written with the help of a special interests that he really didn't want anyone to read too closely.
III. The Talk: "We need to stop paying lip service to public education, and start holding communities, administrators, teachers, parents and students accountable. We will prepare the next generation for success in college and the workforce, ensuring that American children lead the world once again in creativity and achievement.
The Walk: A program that did just that in Washionton DC by providing competition to the failed public schools was shut down by President Obama this year.
The last example is the most egregious. President Obama talks about "social justice" and closing the "achievement gap", but when there is a program that actually does what he claims he is trying to do. . . - he kills it. Unlike candidate Obama, who said that he would support a school voucher program if research showed that it worked, President Obama killed a successful program in one of the nation's worst school systems. Why would he do that? Perhaps his friends in the teachers unions didn't like the competition? The president of the National Education Association called the voucher program "an ongoing threat to public education in the District of Columbia". Considering what we know, it seems that the ongoing threat to an education in Washington DC is the current public school system.
These are but a few small examples, there are a lot more. This leads us back to the recent speech on health care. Does anyone believe that Obama will deliver on his promises? If he won't deliver on little promises, how can we expect him to deliver on the big ones? Most importantly do you want any portion of your health care entrusted to a guy that throws some of the poorest kids in DC under the bus with such ease?
The American people are not buying what he's selling and that won't change until the President does more than talk a good game. Sometimes you have to walk the walk.
