From the White House:
Ok, so I watched Obama's half hour variety show last night, and I walked away feeling, to put it mildly, like I feel when I watch those infomercials when I can't sleep about making zillions of $$$. Well, looks like my feeling was correct. Here is an AP article about his ad...and below are the excerpts from it
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was less than upfront in his half-hour commercial Wednesday night about the costs of his programs and the crushing budget pressures he would face in office.
Obama's assertion that "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond" the expense of his promises is accepted only by his partisans. His vow to save money by "eliminating programs that don't work" masks his failure throughout the campaign to specify what those programs are — beyond the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
A sampling of what voters heard in the ad, and what he didn't tell them:
THE SPIN: "That's why my health care plan includes improving information technology, requires coverage for preventive care and pre-existing conditions and lowers health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year."
THE FACTS: His plan does not lower premiums by $2,500, or any set amount. Obama hopes that by spending $50 billion over five years on electronic medical records and by improving access to proven disease management programs, among other steps, consumers will end up saving money. He uses an optimistic analysis to suggest cost reductions in national health care spending could amount to the equivalent of $2,500 for a family of four. Many economists are skeptical those savings can be achieved, but even if they are, it's not a certainty that every dollar would be passed on to consumers in the form of lower premiums.
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THE SPIN: "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond their cost."
THE FACTS: Independent analysts say Obama would deepen the deficit. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates Obama's policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to the deficit over four years — and that analysis accepts the savings he claims from spending cuts. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, whose other findings have been quoted approvingly by the Obama campaign, says: "... Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next 10 years."
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THE SPIN: "Here's what I'll do. Cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year. Give businesses a tax credit for every new employee that they hire right here in the U.S. over the next two years and eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Help homeowners who are making a good faith effort to pay their mortgages, by freezing foreclosures for 90 days. And just like after 9-11, we'll provide low-cost loans to help small businesses pay their workers and keep their doors open. "
THE FACTS: His proposals — the tax cuts, the low-cost loans, the $15 billion a year he promises for alternative energy, and more — cost money, and the country could be facing a record $1 trillion deficit next year.
The picture is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks. Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.
helped keep the USA exactly as he said- "That shining city on the hill." He was always able to convey conservative thought in ways that the average person could not help but be drawn to. He single handedly ended the Soviet Union as we know it. He proved that Conservatism is the only way to help this country prosper. Once government gets in the way, he knew that it was difficult to correct the mistakes that it caused. He knew that free markets and less government would always be the best way to preserve our personal freedoms.
