cannedjam

I am a stickler for consistency. I try to approach my criticism for this government with a consistent logical and equally applied lens. I supported McCain as a candidate, but after he supported the bailout I soured on him significantly, and was very critical of his fiscal policies. I voted for him. I can honestly say now, after seeing what is going on today, and the amount that I have criticized Obama for similar polices, I will never vote again for any politician that supports something that violates my core beliefs, regardless if he is the lesser of two evils.

My goal is to be completely consistent in my evaluation of who represents me. Unlike those who criticized Bush for deficit spending but now embrace Obama for doing the same, I will not get caught up in blind partisanship. I have my core beliefs, and I will evaluate my leaders based on them. I am a harsh critic of Obama, I am a harsh critic of how Bush handled the economy, and I have promised myself I will be a critic of every president from here on out regardless of affiliation.

Being identified as a Republican was once important to me, but to be honest it really means very little to me now. I consider myself to be an independent conservative. I refuse to choose sides based on what letter comes after someone’s name. I refuse to let slide what I was once critical of someone else, simply because they belong to the same club as me. I think I have been guilty of this in the past, and I know a lot of Obama supporters are guilty of this now. I cannot call these people out then resort to the same practices once the guy I support gets into office.

What sours me so much about Obama is his inconsistency, his intellectual dishonesty, the disconnected logic he uses to justify his policies. Like I said, I like consistancy, and Obama has been anything but. He urges congress to rush through the largest spending bill in the history of the world, not even giving anyone enough time to read it, then takes a three day vacation before signing it. This is inconsistency. He says he will ban lobbyists in his administration then immediately nominates Eric Holder, Tom Vilsack, Tom Daschle, and many more. This is inconsistency. He says it is time for those in Washington to realize the rules apply to them, then appoints a Secretary of the Treasury that has been cheating on his taxes ( I wonder how that went over at the IRS). This is inconsistency. He says he will adopt a rescue dog from a shelter then gets a purebred from Ted Kennedy (I know this is nit picky, but bottom line don’t say something if you are not going to follow through). This is inconsistency. He tells America to turn down their thermostats to save energy, then cranks his up to 80 degrees in the White House because it “reminds him of Hawaii”. This is inconsistency. He promised that all non-emergency bills would be posted online for the public to review for five days before signing them, then signed a non-emergency bill just hours after it passed congress. This is inconsistency. He said he would limit the amount of earmarks slipped into legislation then signed a spending bill with over 9,000 of them, many of which his own staff proposed while he was a senator. This is inconsistency. While a candidate he signed a pledge to use public financing (financing I disagree with by the way) then went against his promise when he realized he could bring in more through private sources. This is inconsistency. This list goes on.

Bottom line though, if you are a supporter of Obama you have to honestly be disappointed with these inconsistencies. You can’t simply white wash them away because he is on your “team”. And when faced with them you can’t go back in time and point out Bush’s inconsistencies, all that does is perpetuate the practice and put a man you reverie in the same boat as one you despise, all while making yourself out to be inconsistent. We need to hold these people to a higher standard, call out the BS.

JAM Economics, Politics Bush, McCain, Obama