# Did Obama fullfull his promises? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 11, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873 "2012-07-11T06:13:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/41 "2012-07-12T01:24:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Don’t forget his promise about the economy and especially unemployment. I believe he promised an unemployment rate of less than 8% in less than a year and a ton of new jobs. Unemployment is still above 8% and that doesn’t count the underemployed. The question then becomes, how much of that is Obama’s fault, and how much is the Republican Congress’ and their “to hell with anything Obama proposes” attitude’s fault? ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/42 "2012-07-12T21:35:51Z")
> [@Obama](#): > > then there’s going to be a one-term proposition That means it’ll be proposed. He’ll consider it. He’ll ultimately decide to run. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/43 "2012-07-14T12:00:27Z")
THe biggest broken promise was that he’d be a different kind of politician. His message, hammered home in statement after statement criticizing the McCain campaign was, “That’s an example of the old politics. Americans want change.” Obama wasn’t just running to implement democratic policies after eight years of Bush. He was running to change politics. Instead, from day one, he completely embraced the old politics. Then there’s the individual mandate, he used that issue to beat Hillary Clinton, then flipped pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/44 "2012-07-14T13:57:46Z")
Well, okay, I guess. But politicians always say they’re going to change things, because people are always unhappy with the way their government works. Imagine a politician standing up to say, “Eh, things seem okay now. I’m not going to change anything, just leave everything the way it is. There’s really no reason to vote for me at all.” Does anyone really pay attention to the whole “change Washington” crap?! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/45 "2012-07-14T14:41:17Z")
Lots of candidates do it, but only Obama portrayed himself as a historically unique candidate, one who would be more straightforward, practical, transparent, and honest. I remember the Clinton “change” campaign well, but Clinton never claimed to be a different kind of politician. HJe lived and breathed politics, Obama claimed to be above that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_nice_guy_with_an_opinion)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/46 "2012-07-16T20:44:49Z")
He doesn’t have any lobbyists working in his administration as promised, correct? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/47 "2012-07-16T21:18:23Z")
> [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](#): > > He doesn’t have any lobbyists working in his administration as promised, correct? No, that one was broken a long time ago. [Link.](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/240/tougher-rules-against-revolving-door-for-lobbyists/) It’s become quite the [sport](http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/index.php) in Washington for some people to de-register as a lobbyist and instead be a general consultant, so that they do not have the scarlet “L” emblazoned on them. (De-registering as a lobbyist means that someone can’t engage in certain activities, it isn’t like someone can go about doing lobbyists work while having their fingers crossed or something.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/48 "2012-07-16T22:23:53Z")
Don’t forget that he also promised to get the whole digital cable switch sorted for us, and he did it, promise definitely kept. Made it his first priority and everything. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/49 "2012-07-16T23:01:52Z")
On the lobbyist thing, that should have been predictable. Obama’s a lawyer and lawyers think that if they fulfill the letter of an agreement, even if they positively maul the spirit of it, that’s just dandy. I always enjoy watching politicians find ways around the law and the Constitution, as if it’s an obstacle to be gotten around, rather than rules to be followed. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/50 "2012-07-17T00:05:35Z")
Here’s Politifact’s list of President Obama’s campaign promises, as well as how they rate them. [http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/51 "2012-07-17T00:52:31Z")
That site shows how tough it is to measure such a thing. On a couple, it seems they were being too easy on him, but on a couple more it looked like they were being too hard. And it doesn’t list the most important promise, IMO, which was non-specific: that he was as different kind of politician, a unique, once in a lifetime candidate who was different from all those other candidates. If there’s one thing that no one should be able to dispute, it’s that in fact he’s just been more of the same. There is nothing substantially different about how Obama does politics vs. how Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Ford, Nixon, or any other President did. He’s no more likely to be a straight-talker, no less likely to dodge questions, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/52 "2012-07-17T00:58:30Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > And it doesn’t list the most important promise, IMO, which was non-specific: that he was as different kind of politician, a unique, once in a lifetime candidate who was different from all those other candidates. I don’t think he ever actually said that. That was the myth that developed around him, but it wasn’t his thing. It was what people put on him. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/53 "2012-07-17T01:11:29Z")
He fed it though. His response to every McCain attack was, “This kind of politics is just more of the same. People want change.” This was mostly in response to negativity from the McCain campaign. Which is really funny given the kind of campaign Obama is running now. One moment I found particularly galling was when McCain asked Obama a question about one of his promises during a public meeting between the President and Congressional Republicans. These negotiations will be on C-SPAN, and so the public will be part of the conversation and will see the decisions that are being made.” January 20, 2008, and seven other times. when John McCain asked about it during the health-care summit February 26, Obama dismissed the issue by declaring, “the campaign is over, John.” I can’t think of any way to interpret that statement other than, “I said what i had to say to get elected. I really am just the same, I just needed to fool people into thinking I was different.” ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/54 "2012-07-17T03:11:32Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > One promise he has yet to fulfill, although it’s not too late, is that he’d be a one-term president if the economy wasn’t fixed. You can argue about what he meant by “done”, but it’s going to be up to the voters to decide that. > > \*“Look, I’m at the start of my administration. One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years,” Obama told The Today Show’s Matt Lauer on February 1, 2009. > > “A year from now I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress," said Obama. "But there’s still going to be some pain out there. If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”\* > > Actually, I cut Obama some slack on that. It was a really stupid thing for a politician to say, but it was still relatively early in the downturn, and we really didn’t know how bad it was. Note to self: never offer the suggestion, under any circumstances, that you might be a one term president. Wouldn’t be prudent. And it gives your opponent(s) a nice little soundbite to run in campaign ads in the fall. Whenever I see stuff like that (and I’ve been seeing the quote on rightie sites for a few days), they always make me suspicious. According to this ABC Fact Check, that quote was about TARP. Here’s the Lauer interview transcript: [http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28975726/ns/today-today\_people/t/obama-were-suffering-massive-hangover/#](http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28975726/ns/today-today_people/t/obama-were-suffering-massive-hangover/#) and it’s true that all the preceding questions were about TARP. This kind of right-wing cherry picking is exactly the kind of dishonest crap that makes me distrust Repubicans/conservatives. How long did someone have to search to find Obama looking like he is saying he will fix the economy in 3 years or be a one-termer. He’s a pretty sensible guy and I didn’t think he would make a blanket statement like that. Turns out, he didn’t. And, truly, these kinds of misrepresentation of the truth are what prevent me from voting Republican. So, keep it up, guys, if you want to continue to alienate people. It’s working! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/55 "2012-07-17T03:37:04Z")
Reading it myself in context, it is not at all clear to me that he is only talking about TARP. He refers to “pain out there”. That’s not a reference to banks, that’s a reference to the overall economic situation. You could be right, but there’s no reason to assume dishonesty where genuine differences of opinion about what he meant are possible. And in any case, that sounds less like a promise than an observation. He probably is going to be a one term President, unless he can take the focus off his record, something which incumbents rarely succeed in doing. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/56 "2012-07-17T10:28:39Z")
I’m biased towards Obama, but looking at that scorecard is pretty impressive reading on the whole. Up to 85% of his promises he has made real and genuine effort to keep (depending on how you think) seems to be a pretty good record for me. And looking in from outside the US - after 8 years of Bush’s “with us or against us” he does feel like a different sort of politician (but of course part of that is my own rose coloured glasses) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/57 "2012-07-17T13:03:29Z")
I’ll acknowledge that most of his policy promises have been kept or he’s tried to keep them. Just one really big whopper that I can tell, the individual mandate. Oh, NAFTA as well, but we knew that one was inoperable when he sent Austen Goolsbee to assure the Canadians that his anti-NAFTA rhetoric was just “campaign talk.” But is his record on policy promises better than average? Seems to me that Clinton actually kept a much higher percentage, and Bush a higher percentage still, since he made fewer and they were easy to keep. Much like Obama, Bush broke the non-specific promises, like “I want a humble foreign policy.” Which to many of us, was far more consequential than whether or not he kept his promise to change the depreciation allowance. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/58 "2012-07-22T15:54:46Z")
Thing is about his “change” campaign: I don’t think anyone CAN be different. It’s a promise made before he sat in the Big Chair and learned how the machine operates. Change is great, but sometimes can’t be done. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/59 "2012-07-22T16:07:33Z")
each President has their own style, some less politics oriented than others. What made Obama’s change rhetoric so galling is that he’s a lot more political and cynical than most Presidents. I think the problem with Obama is that he’s been part of the Illinois establishment ever since he was a pretty young guy. I don’t think he knows how to be any different. Most Presidents came from someplace else, either smaller states where things are done a little differently, or had careers other than politics for most of their lives. To him, he probably is a big change from what you’d expect from a Chicago politician. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873/60 "2012-07-22T18:03:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > each President has their own style, some less politics oriented than others. What made Obama’s change rhetoric so galling is that he’s a lot more political and cynical than most Presidents. > > I think the problem with Obama is that he’s been part of the Illinois establishment ever since he was a pretty young guy. I don’t think he knows how to be any different. Most Presidents came from someplace else, either smaller states where things are done a little differently, or had careers other than politics for most of their lives. To him, he probably is a big change from what you’d expect from a Chicago politician. Hm. When he was running in 2008, the main charge against him was that he was too **inexperienced** as a politician. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-fullfull-his-promises/627873.md?page=4)