Mark J. Hanlon, Bismarck

Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, sure sounded good when he campaigned (twice now), but I’ve been sorely disappointed.

He promised “change you can believe In.” He assured us politics would be less divisive under his regime and he’d work with both parties to achieve consensus on important legislation. He told us he’d engage the world community in a new way to raise America’s stature internationally. He assured us he’d put America back to work. He said he’d cut the deficit by half. He said he’d present the Congress with comprehensive immigration legislation to consider in his first year in office (yes, of his first term). He said his presidency would bring a new transparency to the office. Regarding Obamacare, he told us, “This is not a tax” and that it would reduce health care costs and even the national debt. When the website failed miserably, he assured it would be up shortly. He also assured that “if you like the insurance you have, you can keep it.” He said, “I will not take your rifles, I will not take your shotguns, I will not take your pistols, I will not take your guns.” He said he’d try the enemy combatants held in Guantanamo in the US and he’d close the Guantanamo facility. He said he’d cut the deficit “by half.” He said there was a “red line” which Syria dare not cross, and when they did, he said first he’d arm the resistance and later that he’d use military force to punish the Assad regime.

Instead, Obamacare was shoved down the throat of America with virtually no inclusion of opposition suggestions (like tort reform) and on an extremely partisan vote. The American workforce (those employed and seeking employment) has sunk to a low not seen in 30 years. As for our international prestige, open your newspaper or check the news on your TV. China and Russia have thumbed their noses at the U.S. in the Snowden affair, and in its aftermath, a number of South American countries held a summit to discuss our misbehavior and disrespect of their sovereignty. When Snowden revealed the NSA’s spying on American citizens, the Obama didn’t say it was fundamentally wrong, but that such spying only needed to be tweaked. Now even our European allies and neighbors to the south don’t seem to like the administration spying on them. Four American diplomatic staff have been murdered and a couple more shot at. He has been ridiculed in Syrian media. Putin came up with a better and more peaceful plan for the Syrian nerve gas and more accurately described the involvement of terrorists in the Syrian resistance forces. Obama was the first American president to be lectured by the Chinese on fiscal policy, and they were right. The soundness of American debt has been downgraded as an investment, and under The Obama administration, the national debt (now over $17 trillion) increased more in Obama’s first 4 years than it did in eight years under George W Bush (who also spent too much)! It now amounts to over $54,000 for every man, woman and child in the US and about $118,000 for every one of those fortunate enough to have a job and actually pay taxes. If you haven’t noticed, the actual annual deficits under the Obama administration were not half, but more than double the deficits under George W. The new “transparency” proved also to be an empty promise as well when our elected representatives requested information about the botched gun operation “Fast and Furious” of the Attorney General’s office. The Obama invoked executive privilege to keep all the information from coming to light. Obamacare will be the biggest tax (yes, tax) increase levied on the American people ever, and it is now known it will increase, not decrease the national debt. And, Americans are now discovering they can’t keep the healthcare insurance they were happy with. The Obama has sounded great at times, and probably still sounds great to his admirers, but it should certainly be clear by now that what he says has no credibility, either here in the U.S. or in the world community.

I believe that soon even the cooing lapdog media will catch on to the fact that he is indeed the teleprompter president and little more than a shill for his party and his socio-political beliefs. He couldn’t manage the first serious international crisis he faced, and is an abject failure as a leader. Why would anyone anywhere believe anything he says?