A Backward Look At The President
Irony of ironies, on May 2 President Obama announced the new slogan for his campaign, “FORWARD,” with his little red, white and blue circular logo in the “O.” The irony lies in the fact that in almost every major category, he has actually taken our country backwards!
Let’s look briefly at just three of the most important categories: energy, the economy and national security.
ENERGY: The president
* Refuses to restore drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Some drillers are just moving on to other parts of the world, unlikely to return.
* Refuses to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for drilling despite the fact it would take place on only 2,000 acres of ANWR’s 19 million. (It has been compared: If ANWR was the size of a football field, the area to be drilled would be the size of a postage stamp on that field)
* Refuses to exploit plentiful shale oil and natural gas resources in the upper Midwest for fear that the “fracking” process will contaminate ground water, even though it has been proven otherwise.
* Refuses to approve the Keystone XL pipeline across the middle states to carry crude from Canada to the refineries on the Gulf, even though locals are in favor.
* Had no comment when Energy Secretary Chu, in an interview, implied the Obama administration is OK with high gas prices to force consumers to alternative sources.
* Is “revisiting” the approval of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility after $13 billion already invested.
* Says “U.S. consumes more than a fifth of the world’s oil supply but contains only 2 percent of the reserves.”
“He couldn’t be more wrong!” says James Rust, policy adviser for the Heartland Institute. “The U.S. has the most abundant fossil fuel reserves in the world.”
ECONOMY: The president
* Has run up the highest national debt in the history of our country, now exceeding $15.5 trillion and, for the first time ever, exceeding our gross domestic product.
* Like a homeowner who owes more on the mortgage than the home is worth, has put the United States of America underwater. Half of our debt is owed to foreign entities.
* Fails to realize the connection between jobs and debt. Economists theorize that for every billion in debt increase, 1 million jobs are lost; hardly a way to create more jobs.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The president
* Is presiding over a military which, by virtue of his personal priorities and decreasing economic resources, is shrinking in size and capability – and this at a time when major adversaries are gaining strength.
* Seems to be more interested in ending wars rather than winning wars.
Adversaries, present and future, need only wait for him to announce his withdrawal date and then fight and plan accordingly.
* Ordered his Justice Department to prosecute CIA officers for enhanced interrogations, thereby undermining CIA effectiveness, morale and efficacy of our war on terrorists.
As our country draws closer to the presidential election in the fall, we should ask ourselves those questions that Ronald Reagan once asked: Is our country more economically sound than four years ago? Is my family better off financially than four years ago? Is our country more secure than it was four years ago?
But President Obama might add, “More importantly, is the global playing field more level than four years ago?”
Backward!
