Faith and Facts

The recent Obama Infomercial was polished, poignant and compelling. It is everything you would expect from what may be considered the most hip media campaign in history. However, the abundance of style could not cover up the lack of substance. Obama has repeatedly made promises and accusations that have gone largely unchecked until now.

Obama is not telling the truth says Calvin Woodward of AP.

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.

CBS, in an article titled Reality Check, points out a series of Obama inconsistencies. Take for example Obama’s plan to spend savings from the war in Iraq.

Most of the time he spends the Iraq savings in the context of the roads he wants to build; sometimes it’s for the teachers he wants to hire. Tonight, he riffed rhetorically on the savings, asking how many scholarships could be funded, or how many schools could be built. In the end though, presuming he really saves $90 billion, he can only spend it once.

Remember he also mentioned rebuilding the military ($7 billion/yr); his education initiative ($18 billion/yr); and his energy initiative ($15 billion/yr). He did not mention the $188 billion that he would spend on the brand new stimulus package he has proposed.

If he closes every loophole as promised, saves every dime from Iraq, raises taxes on the rich and trims the federal budget as he’s promised to do “line by line,” he still doesn’t pay for his list. If he’s elected, the first fact hitting his desk will be the figure projecting how much less of a budget he has to work with – thanks to the recession. He gave us a very compelling vision with his ad buy tonight. What he did not give us was any hint of the cold reality he’s facing or a sense of how he might prioritize his promises if voters trust him with the White House.

Larry of My Take has a great article on my favorite topic (the old MSM double-standard) pointing out the “too little, too late” fact checking of the MSM.

Will wonders never cease? One of the main complaints I have had with this election cycle is how the mainstream media has given Barack Obama a pass when it comes to questioning his facts and what he plans to do if he wins this election. They have refused to question him on his past relationships with William Ayers or ACORN and tried to sweep it under the carpet when he made his “spread the wealth” statement to Joe the plumber. It appears that for the time being, at least, they have decided to call him out on some of his facts.

It seems the media is hoping to finally do their job in a way that will not damage Obama too much but give them enough credibility to claim they actually did their job. The nation is the biggest loser here.

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Filed under: Double Standards, Obama, politics