Campaign Promises: Obamameter

[luckystar112]

For those that are interested, here is a cool tool designed to keep track of Obama''s promises and if/when he decides to tackle them. I thought it seemed pretty cool, although there isn''t too much activity yet!

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

 

[Lauren8211]

LOL. I like the little Obama heads for the meter.

We should start placing bets on number of goals met.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Thanks for the great link, luckystar. I think it''s really important for all of us, regardless of whether we voted for Obama, to make sure we know what he''s doing and hold him accountable for his promises. Of course there are going to be compromises, but it''s nice to see what''s going on behind the scenes all in one place... since he made so many promises it''s a liiiittle hard to keep track of.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

That is a very interesting tool. As I read through several pages, I thought, wow, he wants to cut taxes for most of us, raise it only on the very rich, but there are pages and pages of initiatives that will cost HUGE amounts of money! Wonder where it''s going to come from?

 

[ksinger]

Prominently placed on my toolbar for easy access. Thanks for the link!

 

[WishfulThinking]

Date: 1/23/2009 6:10:36 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
That is a very interesting tool. As I read through several pages, I thought, wow, he wants to cut taxes for most of us, raise it only on the very rich, but there are pages and pages of initiatives that will cost HUGE amounts of money! Wonder where it's going to come from?

Considering that the Iraq War is one of the largest [or *the* largest total? I'm too lazy to be bothered looking it up] expenditure of our government and Obama has promised to end the war, I'd imagine that would free up quite a bit of funds.

This post is not at all meant to be a debate about the war or the merits of Obama's spending, but I imagine that would have a huge impact on other spending decisions, and answers a large part of your question.

 

[musey]

Date: 1/23/2009 6:48:59 PM
Author: WishfulThinking

Date: 1/23/2009 6:10:36 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
That is a very interesting tool. As I read through several pages, I thought, wow, he wants to cut taxes for most of us, raise it only on the very rich, but there are pages and pages of initiatives that will cost HUGE amounts of money! Wonder where it's going to come from?

Considering that the Iraq War is one of the largest [or *the* largest total? I'm too lazy to be bothered looking it up] expenditure of our government and Obama has promised to end the war, I'd imagine that would free up quite a bit of funds.

This post is not at all meant to be a debate about the war or the merits of Obama's spending, but I imagine that would have a huge impact on other spending decisions, and answers a large part of your question.

Yup, among expenses in other areas which he has deemed 'unnecessary' (and I personally happen to largely agree with him). I remember seeing an interview where he addressed this commonly raised question... wish I'd bookmarked it.

I personally didn't vote for him based upon any of his campaign promises, but it's a very interesting way to keep track of his in-office actions, nonetheless!


ETA: The current tally is:

Promise Kept: 5
Compromise: 1
Promise Broken: 0
Stalled: 1
In the Works: 14
No Action: 488

I don't think that's too bad for 4 days in office (if you count inauguration day)!

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Date: 1/23/2009 6:55:39 PM
Author: musey

Date: 1/23/2009 6:48:59 PM
Author: WishfulThinking

Date: 1/23/2009 6:10:36 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
That is a very interesting tool. As I read through several pages, I thought, wow, he wants to cut taxes for most of us, raise it only on the very rich, but there are pages and pages of initiatives that will cost HUGE amounts of money! Wonder where it''s going to come from?

Considering that the Iraq War is one of the largest [or *the* largest total? I''m too lazy to be bothered looking it up] expenditure of our government and Obama has promised to end the war, I''d imagine that would free up quite a bit of funds.

This post is not at all meant to be a debate about the war or the merits of Obama''s spending, but I imagine that would have a huge impact on other spending decisions, and answers a large part of your question.

Yup, among expenses in other areas which he has deemed ''unnecessary'' (and I personally happen to largely agree with him). I remember seeing an interview where he addressed this commonly raised question... wish I''d bookmarked it.

I personally didn''t vote for him based upon any of his campaign promises, but it''s a very interesting way to keep track of his in-office actions, nonetheless!


ETA: The current tally is:

Promise Kept: 5
Compromise: 1
Promise Broken: 0
Stalled: 1
In the Works: 14
No Action: 488

I don''t think that''s too bad for 4 days in office (if you count inauguration day)!

Ditto

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/23/2009 6:55:39 PM
Author: musey

Date: 1/23/2009 6:48:59 PM
Author: WishfulThinking

Date: 1/23/2009 6:10:36 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
That is a very interesting tool. As I read through several pages, I thought, wow, he wants to cut taxes for most of us, raise it only on the very rich, but there are pages and pages of initiatives that will cost HUGE amounts of money! Wonder where it''s going to come from?

Considering that the Iraq War is one of the largest [or *the* largest total? I''m too lazy to be bothered looking it up] expenditure of our government and Obama has promised to end the war, I''d imagine that would free up quite a bit of funds.

This post is not at all meant to be a debate about the war or the merits of Obama''s spending, but I imagine that would have a huge impact on other spending decisions, and answers a large part of your question.

Yup, among expenses in other areas which he has deemed ''unnecessary'' (and I personally happen to largely agree with him). I remember seeing an interview where he addressed this commonly raised question... wish I''d bookmarked it.

I personally didn''t vote for him based upon any of his campaign promises, but it''s a very interesting way to keep track of his in-office actions, nonetheless!


ETA: The current tally is:

Promise Kept: 5
Compromise: 1
Promise Broken: 0
Stalled: 1
In the Works: 14
No Action: 488

I don''t think that''s too bad for 4 days in office (if you count inauguration day)!

Agreed!

And while it''s WAY too early in the game to come to any real conclusion, I am very heartened by just about everything he''s done so far. In less than a week on the job.

 

[Allisonfaye]

While I was liking most of what I was hearing so far, I am not happy about the fact that his stimulus bill only contains 18% spending on infrastructure and a whopping 33% is going to be tax cuts, which IMO (and many economists) won''t help our situation at all. The infrastructure spending will create jobs and give us something to show for our $$. If they just hand out a bunch of tax cuts, people will continuing more of the same (paying down debt and banking it) because they are worried about their jobs.

 

[Rank Amateur]

Maybe giving the money back to the people IS a better way to foster real growth than the gov''t administering another program (in this case ''infrastructure'').


Believing that the gov''t can "create jobs" at all is foolish. By your logic, we ought to spend TWO trillion rather than one trillion and create TWICE as many jobs, eh? What? It doesn''t work that way?

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 1/25/2009 6:15:18 PM
Author: Rank Amateur
Maybe giving the money back to the people IS a better way to foster real growth than the gov''t administering another program (in this case ''infrastructure'').


Believing that the gov''t can ''create jobs'' at all is foolish. By your logic, we ought to spend TWO trillion rather than one trillion and create TWICE as many jobs, eh? What? It doesn''t work that way?

I''m sorry . . . I fail to see why this was necessary?

Rank, if you disagreed with what Allisonfaye had to say, that is perfectly fine. And, for what it''s worth, I don''t necessarily disagree with either of you . . . I think you both have raised some good points. However, I don''t think the sarcastic tone was called for. At all.

I have taken a long break from the ATW forum . . . now I remember why.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 1/23/2009 3:11:09 PM
Author:luckystar112
For those that are interested, here is a cool tool designed to keep track of Obama''s promises and if/when he decides to tackle them. I thought it seemed pretty cool, although there isn''t too much activity yet!

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

Lucky, thank you for posting this! Very cool!

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 1/25/2009 6:15:18 PM
Author: Rank Amateur
Maybe giving the money back to the people IS a better way to foster real growth than the gov''t administering another program (in this case ''infrastructure'').


Believing that the gov''t can ''create jobs'' at all is foolish. By your logic, we ought to spend TWO trillion rather than one trillion and create TWICE as many jobs, eh? What? It doesn''t work that way?

Well, giving back money to the people didn''t work last time so great, did it? (Stimulus checks) People are hoarding cash because they are afraid of losing their jobs. What''s the point of giving them money back if they are just going to bank it? If they have some job security (and this is not just MY opinion but that of many economists) they will then feel like they can spend instead of hoarding.