Mr. Obama, the Candidate (from his Change.gov website and his comprehensive tax plan):taxes

On Taxes:

1.  Mr. Obama promised to call  “… for legislation that would allow withdrawals of 15% up to $10,000 from retirement accounts without penalty (although subject to the normal taxes). This would apply to withdrawals in 2008 (including retroactively) and 2009.”

2.  “During 2009 and 2010, existing businesses will receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired.”

3.  We “”will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will eliminate taxes for 7 million seniors — saving them an average of $1,400 a year– and will also mean that 27 million seniors will not need to file an income tax return at all.”

4.  “Barack Obama understands that small businesses are the engines of our economy, and he will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments in small and start-up firms.”

school-transparencyOn Government Transparency:

1.  Mr. Obama promised that he, “…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.”  Just to make sure we understood him, Mr. Obama repeated in many of his campaign speeches, “When there’s a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it, so that you know what your government’s doing.”

2.  “I’m going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We’ll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies — they’ll get a seat at the table, they just won’t be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we’ll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.”

President Barack Obama

On Taxes:

1.  The was no mention of retirement account withdrawals without penalty in either the budget or the Recovery Act.  There has been no other activity by the White House to advance this promise.

2.  The was no mention of refundable tax credits for small businesses adding jobs in either the budget or the Recovery Act.  There has been no other activity by the White House to advance this promise.

3.  The was no mention of eliminating income taxes on seniors who earn less than $50,000 in either the budget or the Recovery Act.   There has been no other activity by the White House to advance this promise.

4.  The was no mention of eliminating capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses in the budget.  In the Recovery Act, there is a provision to give a 75% deduction, instead of the 50% deduction in current law on capital gains from investing in small businesses.  There has been no other activity by the White House to advance this promise.

On Government Transparency:

1.  The first two bills he signed were not posted on the White House website for five days (both were signed within two days of hitting his desk).  In late May, Mr. Obama signed four bills in four days, the day after each arrived on his desk.  You could argue that the Recovery Act/stimulus bill was an “emergency” (I wouldn’t) but Mr. Obama signed the Recovery Act less than 18 hours after the bill was finalized and well before almost any member of Congress, let alone the public , had read the Bill.

2.  The Healthcare debate has been carried on by Mr. Obama meeting privately with most of the parties, by Congress behind closed doors, and in speeches and townhalls.  Have all the parties been brought together to discuss the issues?  Has all this been aired on CSPAN?  Not hardly.  In fact, Mr. Obama tried his darnedest to ensure that no critic had a chance to see what was happening until the bill had passed.

Before the election, I argued that if you looked at Mr. Obama’s record instead of listening to what he said, you could not help but vote against him.  His record was the most liberal in Congress.  He had been the most partisan Democrat.  He now is our President and is proving with his actions that his promises were just words.  It does appear that the American public is beginning to wake up to learn who Mr. Obama really is, not what he says.  Today’s Rasmussen Poll shows Mr. Obama’s approval rating in steady decline.

Is it worth my time to post Mr. Obama before and after information like this on other subjects like Ethics, Energy, Healthcare, etc.?