ITS NEVER TOO EARLY TO BREAK A CAMPAIGN PROMISE

Not yet 45 days into his presidency, President Barack Obama will break a repeated campaign pledge when he signs a budget bill saddled with millions in pork barrel pet projects.

When he was merely “Candidate Obama”, President Obama repeatedly stated his disdain for the continued wasteful spending by Washington lawmaker’s.  For too long, Washington politicians have wasted billions of our hard earned tax dollars on pork barrel projects and redundant or outdated programs that directly benefit the constituents of the submitting Congressman, but have virtually no beneficial impact on the collective American population.  During their campaign, Barack Obama and Joe Biden pledged to make the federal government more efficient from top-to-bottom. President-elect Barack Obama pledged to cut wasteful and ineffective programs and vowed to bar lawmakers’ pet projects from his massive economic stimulus plan.  Moreover, he promised to bring unprecedented accountability to federal spending.

As recently as January, just prior to taking office, then President Elect Obama affirmed his campaign promises, declaring that his stimulus plan will set a “new higher standard of accountability, transparency and oversight. Again, President Elect Obama [vowed] to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert projects without review.”

The House last week passed the measure that would finance the government through the end of the federal fiscal calendar, notably September 30, 2009. In that budget, almost 8,600 specially sponsored projects (otherwise known as earmarks) totaling $7.7 billion have been identified.

True to governmental form, Obama’s closest advisors assigned responsibility to the outgoing administration.  In response to criticism for Obama’s support of this budget proposal, his cabinet blames former President George W. Bush for the massive deficit left for the  Obama administration to fix.   Obama administration budget chief Peter Orszag and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel minimized the inconsistencies between the President’s campaign promises and his current actions when he signs this bill.   Falling back into old school politics, Orszag claimed signing this bill was necessary to “move forward” and further stating that signing this bill is a necessary precursor to “move on”.

The first step to instilling integrity into our American system of government and politics is demonstrating one’s ability to continually strive to make the correct decisions, even when unpopular, as well as maintaining one’s commitment to keeping one’s word.   The lack of confidence in our political representatives is directly related to the insignificance our elected representatives attach to their own campaign promises.  Getting things done in our system of government takes hard work, perseverance, and the willingness to cooperate, communicate, and concede when necessary.  However, the desire to make a change in American politics takes an unyielding desire to stand up and do what is right, even when that decision is unpopular. “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience”, as spoken by an American legal folk hero Atticus Finch, was never more appropriate.

By signing this bill, President Obama will show the American public who appointed him that his campaign promises are meaningless.  By allowing his closest advisors to downplay the significance of the approval by the President of this bill and blaming the proceeding Administration, Obama has minimized and trivialized the Presidents influence, power and ultimately legitimacy.

President Obama has the power in his pen to refuse to sign a bill that does not reflect the promises he made to the American public.  Our President is not permitted to shrug his shoulders and shun his responsibility by simply assigning blame to a previous administration.  At the end of the day, and for the rest of history, President OBAMA’S signature will be attached to this massive bill.  Future historians will not find the signature or influence of George W. Bush on the spending bill of 2009.

Mr. Obama should teach the elected representatives, the impressionable youth of America and the international global community at large that when a person makes a promise, his honor, integrity and character are on the line.  If America is to retake our position of global hegemony, we have to start living up to the promises we make.  We cannot simply shun our responsibility by blaming others for our actions.  To ensure his legacy ends as brightly as his Presidency began, Mr. Obama should prove to the American people that his campaign promises were more than merely lip service, and that his veto power is the power to ensure integrity reigns in our political system.