Did Obama Blink In Earmark Battle?

He didn’t blink. HE CLOSED HIS EYES!

It is quite funny that to this date President Obama acts like he is candidate Obama. Let’s keep blaming the other and give us the half truth every politician gives and hopes that we will forget their promises. I do not believe that he should had signed this bill and the others to date without at least trying to get his “reforms” and “new ways” into Washington. Unfortunately, he is a politician, so he would do whatever it takes to get elected then see where he realy stands on any of his issues.

Here are some earmarks
#2 Shelby – 64 individual earmarks total $114,484,250
#3 Bond – 54 individual earmarks total $95,691,491
#5 Cochran – 65 individual earmarks total $75,908,475
#6 Murkowski – 71 individual earmarks total $74,000,750
#8 Inhofe – 34 individual earmarks total $53,133,500
#9 McConnell – 36 individual earmarks total $51,133,500

Way to go Obama! This administration sounds like all the others. LIES! LIES! LIES! Say anything to get into office and then DO WHATEVER THE HECK YOU WANT! So this is the CHANGE we got! Pathetic. The budget may have been crafted under Bush’s reign, but you said you wouldn’t sign a budget that had earmarks! What a LIAR! I’m thoroughly disgusted! More business as usual!

He had the chance to veto the bloody thing but wimped out big time. We are all aware that the omnibus bill was concocted before obama took over but guess what he is in charge now. He signed it. He did not have to. What happened to his “line by line” promise??

Did Obama Blink In Earmark Battle?
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Are you accusing our Greatest Smartest Clueless Leader something?

sngeorgia said “The omibus bill was “done” before President Obama’s took office….HELLO..THIS WAS GEORGE W. BUDGET TO 10/09 that wasn’t signed before he left office. ” And all Obama would have to have done was say he wasn’t going to sign it until all the earmarks were out of it. It doesn’t matter when it was written. This is why the President (no matter who is in office) needs the line-item veto.

Um, sngeorgia, I don’t think that’s Bush’s signature on the bill. He could have sent it back but he chose to sign it. It’s his budget.

Give Obama the chance to settle down in the white house and get the economy back on track and you fellows will be talking differently. I have confidence in Obama to do the right thing for the American people. Give him a little time. Right now, he is busy cleaning up the mess left over by—you know who.

Obama should have been far firmer/tougher with Congress on earmarks. Congress is like a little child. If you aren’t firm at the start when the child misbehaves, they’ll continue the misbehavior and then start pushing to see what else, or how much, misbehavior they can get away with. Obama is simply setting himself up for a lot more grief down the road by being lax now.

what667 I would say he blew one of his best opportunties to clean up a mess by signing this porker. I see no change here.

According to Jake tapper on Political Punch this is what Obama had to say about earmarks:
But he pledged to work with Congress to reform the earmark process:
* requiring Members of Congress to post earmark requests on their websites and subject them to hearings;
* subjecting earmarks for for-profit companies to a competitive bidding process; and
* pledging to remove future earmarks without any legitimate public purpose.
No this doesn’t sound like No Earmarks to me, and has he really had a chance to work with Congress?

I cannot believe the incredible lack of comprehension and in many comments, the extreme disrespect for our President. At the risk of having the “race card” thrown in my face, I do have to wonder if the same level of disrespect would be served up if Mr. Obama was white.
To those of you who are quick to call him a liar, or say that he is “dumb as dirt”, you might want to brush up on the legislative process before crucifying President Obama for signing the Omnibus bill drafted under the watch of GWB.
Anyone who knows anything about how our democracy operates certainly knows that the Congress is infinitely more powerful than any President could ever hope to be. While a president can push reform, its passage is subject to the will and whim of powerful Congressional leaders who often get elected under the guise that they will serve their home territories well by being in Washington. Sure, the President can veto a particular part of the budget, but it is the members of Congress who can override these vetoes.
The President is a figurehead who can guide legislation and enact executive orders, but the real power-base is deep in the halls of Congress. Many Senators and Republicans have served for decades and it is the longstanding privilege of their office(s) which place them in a position of near absolute authority.

Do you really this these Senators are going to be “bipartisan” if it means giving up this kind of money?

It is interesting that Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., would say “He promised, and you know, most of us think that when another person promises something, he or she will deliver. He has not delivered.”
Obama is making good on all his promises much to the consternation of the Republican’s they do not know what to do when they meet someone who says what they do and then does what they said. They are use to saying lies to get elected and then doing what they please. If the president tries to reform health care and create a REAL energy policy he is doing too much and he needs to concentrate on the economy, if he decides to put off a fight on the line items in the budget he is not doing enough. By the way if any of you people care to read the budget you would see that there are MORE REPUBLICAN EARMARKS per REPUBLICANS THAN Democratic earmarks relative to the representation. (I guess it is asking too much for people to read the bill themselves) What is true is that REPUBLICANS were in charge for 12 YEARS, remember they took over congress the second year of the first Clinton administration and they are SOLELY responsible for the mess we are in. They had absolute power and it corrupted absolutely. So for all you ditto heads that have not even read the bill and did not even see who put the EARMARKS in the bill because you just repeat what you are told, try thinking for your self and give up repeating what your messiah Rush has told you.

Well, I’d like to take a moment to personally thank ABC and the rest of the MSM for your treasonous support of candidate Obama, your constantly glowing reviews of him and his completely empty background, your unwillingness to even do basic vetting on this charlatan (you know, he really is a socialist, even belonged to the young socialists – yet you folks in the MSM chose not to report it at all or gloss over it). All of you went into a hyperventilating fever to jump on Palin’s lack of experience – but ignored the fact that she had far more executive experience than he did – BUT SHE WASN’T RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, HE WAS! You waxed on and on about his being a community activist, but ignored the fact that he was a COMPLETELY FAILED COMMUNITY ACITIVIST – and then tried desperately to seperate him from ACORN. You made the point time and again about how educated his supporters were (of course, most intelligent people know being ‘educated’ and being ‘intelligent’ are vastly different – I wonder if his educated supporters were the same ones you showed on inauguration night, jumping for joy that Obama was going to pay for their house, their gas, give them a job and make white people pay for what ‘they did’… yes, very educated and intelligent supporters he’s got there).
You claimed he rarley brought up race, yet the man spent the entire campaign race baiting then trying to blame it on someone else (HELLO – remember what he did to HRC when she correctly *gasp* pointed at the Johnson and the Congress passed civil rights legislation?)
This empty suited loser should have never made it out of the primaries, but you in the MSM proved your bias with every broadcast, with every issue, with every newspaper – you chose ideology over your so called ‘journalitic integrity’ and this scumbag received unwarranted acclaim and praise and it’s likely that got him elected.
You made light of his margin of electoral victory, but failed to mention that he only rec’d votes from 35% of registered voters… some mandate he’s got when he represents 35% of the voting public, huh?
Even now, when you take what amounts to a glancing blow, you rein in your criticsm – oh, it’s not his fault. He showed huge character and decision making flaws, you ignored it, and he appointed what amounts to the worst, most corrupt cabinet one could imagine. His failures are glaring and constant and we, the people are paying for it dearly – let’s hope, for your sakes, when the American people finally have had enough that you folks in the media are ready because as far as many of us are concerned you commited treason and should be tried and executed for it!

@Open-Mind; that’s an interesting username – doesn’t seem to fit with your statement about Obama. “…But completely unacceptable is President Obama’s deliberately irresponsible levels of spending …”
Take a moment to see what Bush spent billions of dollars on…. War, bulking up the military and tax cuts for the super-wealthy. What is Obama spending money on? Fixing the TARP legislation, rescuing the economy, reinvesting in America, securing affordable healthcare and addressing the funding inequalities in our schools, libraries and various public systems.
Under Bush, some $350 billion was spent with little or no understanding of where it went or how it was used. V.P. Cheney had close ties to Haliburton who only now has agreed to repay the American people for some level of wrongdoing.
Surely no administration is perfect, but history will almost always tell us that Democrats spend to help those in need while Republicans spend to help themselves and the hell with the rest of us.

For those who say people who criticize Obama are racist did you really hear all the criticism of President George Bush. BTW, he is a white man!!! Why can’t people express negative opinions about Obama without being called racist? I disagree with Obama over his spending, taxation, abortion, education, bail-outs, and now the lack of leadership on earmarks. It is in our freedom of speech to be able to express our opinion, at least for now.

Now we know!
Obama is not man of authenticity or integrity. He is a coward and an obfuscating (lying), salesman with an Obama/Pelosi agenda that uses “the people” as pawns! :(
If Obama had an ounce of intestinal fortitude, he would have vetoed this bill!
The democrats controlled congress last year. Bush threatened to veto this bill. So the dems waited for the wimp to get to the White House.
History will give Bush high marks for success in Iraq and protecting the USA.
Obama will be a one term obfuscating, pseudo intellectual POTUS who reads a teleprompter and has no idea what he is doing!
And, I am no far-left or far-right wing-nut!

For those blaming the Republicans for the earmarks, you may want to recheck your math. While they are in no way blameless, 60% of the earmarked money is going to the democrats’ special interests while the rest will be going to Republicans’ interests. This could all have been stopped if Obama had done what he promised on the campaign trail. I think you guys are trying to rationalize another broken campaign promise away.

Bush threatened to veto this budget but the wimp passed it!
Obama has not done anything to fix the economy but read his teleprompter with its obfuscating rhetoric!
He is an arrogant, incompetent “fairy tale” and a losing “roll of the dice” just like President Clinton said!

What is all this nonsense with the teleprompter? Fact*: Presidents have been using teleprompters for more than half a century, but none relied on them as extensively as Obama has so far. I’d rather hear a speech by Obama which holds true to its original words, than listen to a lackluster diatribe like what GWB offered up to us for the last 8 years. *Source: International Herald Tribune.

Obama’s teleprompter speeches demonstrate a total lack of active listening.
He preaches with the tactics of a cult leader or a used car salesman! He is an abominable, obfuscating, communicator and a total bore!
But even worse – he is all talk – no walk! :(

Earmarks will never go away – and most American don’t want them to or simply don;t care. This is a bipartisan “problem” that has gone on as long as Congress has existed. Everyone wants a project – or twenty – to tout to their eager constituents.
http://www.political-buzz.com/

Robotic Obama behaves and speaks mechanically and emotionlessly. He is arrogantly cool/cold and appears to care only about appearances :(
This media created idol is just a fantasy!

For a while I thought he was using teleprompters but now I realize he’s been shaking his head “no” while he addresses us, meaning whatever I’m saying just ain’t so.

Mr. President, You lied,I don’t care if the earmarks were for the Repub. or Dems, how about the American people who believed you when you said, “no bill will be signed with earmarks”. Why would you lie to the American people Mr. President?
Posted by: BA in KC
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your a lying peice of trash. Do you have any proff.

Pelosi owns him while the Dems have the audacity to talk about Cheney running the country.

“your a lying peice of trash. Do you have any proff.” What is this supposed to be? ‘your’…. shouldn’t that be ‘you’re’? ‘peice’….shouldn’t that be ‘piece’? ‘proff’… shouldn’t that be ‘proof’? I think ‘hat gorl’ needs to realize that the insults he/she is slinging are grounds for a lawsuit. To call someone a “lying piece of trash”, without proof that the person is lying or piece of trash is grounds for a libel suit.

Oh dear, 0-bama is dividing the country with his recklessness and utter shameful used-car salesman tactics.

Obama lies and lies and lies
Obama spends and spends and spends
Kool-Aid drinkers — How do you guys seriously live with yourselves?

Wow. Obama has guts. He must not like the White House too much.
Are you proud of America now everybody?
When does this spending madness STOP?
I voted for Obama. I lost my faith a while ago…

You people are all racist.
You don’t hate Obama because he is a community organizer who has no idea how to govern or responsibly spend money as in any normal household.
You hate Obama because he is a socialist Marxist wealth re-distributionist bent on destroying America as YOU know it.
King God Obama reigns. Get used to it!

Bloody fool Obama is a bad show, mate
Don’t care, don’t live here :)

“Words….just words” B. Obama-campaign
2008. Trouble is…..he needs a tele-
prompter to ask the press to be seated.

So Obama gets a free ride on signing this bill because Pelosi is to blame for writing it. He says congress loaded it up and I don’t like it so it’s not my fault. Like they didn’t have it planned. Pelosi doesn’t care about finger pointing, knows it’s just part of politics. So now that he’s signed a second stimulus package with pork he says he’ll change the way business is done in Washington. Meanwhile we’re out of another 410 billion. When will ABC start to call it what it is? We’re being fleeced.

Mr. Obama is adding $3.2 trillion to the national debt in his first 20 months in office, surpassing the $2.9 trillion added during the Bush presidency’s entire eight years.
Obama is a liar and a politician. For the third straight election… this country blew it. When all is said and done…George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama will have destroyed this country.
UnF’nBelievable….!