Another snafu by the Prez

We didn't invent the automobile as the Prez noted in his speech to Congress recently.
He's admitted the Kennedy's didn't pay to have his father brought to the states.
He's picked one snarky tax-dodger after another for his Cabinet.
He trashed the British Prime Minister.
He's stooped to going after Rush Limbaugh and Krammer (not very Presidential Mr. Obama). He came up with the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard to justify bending to Pelosi-Reid's Omnibus spending debacle.
He promised no earmarks yet his "reform" allows for some earmarks (those HE likes? those Pelosi uses for leverage?).
He gave money to Hamas to rebuild dissing Israel (where's there money for rebuilding after Hamas trashed their country Mr. Obama?).

Those are just a few that immediately popped into my mind. I could go on and on and on.

Here's the latest via The Hill. Yes, it's small, but you'd think someone would do a fact check for the guy. AND, you'd think the almighty press would be having a bit of fun with this as they did when President Bush was in office. (I hear the guffaws, control yourself, get off the floor, stop laughing I tell you, stop!)

Obama Gets Kennedy History Wrong — Ask Sammy Davis
Doug Heye

"President Kennedy didn't have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon," President Obama lectured us during his education speech yesterday.

Unfortunately, the president has his history wrong. It was LBJ, not JFK, who signed the Voting Rights Act.

JFK's civil rights legacy is better defined by two incidents involving Sammy Davis Jr., who campaigned for Kennedy in 1960: Kennedy's disinviting Davis to the Inauguration and, as noted in Wil Haygood's In Black and White, telling an aide at a White House reception with prominent black leaders, "What's he doing here? Get them out of here!" while having Davis and his wife escorted out. You see, Davis was married at the time to actress May Britt, a white woman, and Kennedy didn't want to risk alienating Southern Democrats by being photographed with an interracial couple.

"Sammy Davis wrote a book called Yes, I Can. I sent him a wire and said, 'No, you can't,' " Frank Sinatra would joke on stage, but JFK's shabby treatment of Davis was no joke — and no profile in courage for civil rights.

Given Obama's appropriation of Sammy's book title (and his song), one would think he knows that.

COMMENT ON THIS POST (The link is for commenting on The Hill, not here)

"Yes, Palin Did Stop That Bridge"

"My Senate colleague Barack Obama is now attacking Gov. Sarah Palin over earmarks. Having worked with both John McCain and Mr. Obama on earmarks, and as a recovering earmarker myself, I can tell you that Mrs. Palin's leadership and record of reform stands well above that of Mr. Obama." -- Sen. Jim DeMint

"Yes, Palin Did Stop That Bridge"
Sen. Jim DeMint
The Wall Street Journal
September 10, 2008

"But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up." -- Barack Obama, Sept. 6, 2008

In politics, words are cheap. What really counts are actions. Democrats and Republicans have talked about fiscal responsibility for years. In reality, both parties have a shameful record of wasting hundreds of billions of tax dollars on pork-barrel projects.

My Senate colleague Barack Obama is now attacking Gov. Sarah Palin over earmarks. Having worked with both John McCain and Mr. Obama on earmarks, and as a recovering earmarker myself, I can tell you that Mrs. Palin's leadership and record of reform stands well above that of Mr. Obama.

Let's compare.

Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state's history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska's budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were "not a state responsibility."

Meanwhile in Washington, Mr. Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor's center in Louisiana.

Mrs. Palin cut Alaska's federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor. It took real leadership to buck Alaska's decades-long earmark addiction.

Mr. Obama delivered over $100 million in earmarks to Illinois last year and has requested nearly a billion dollars in pet projects since 2005. His running mate, Joe Biden, is still indulging in earmarks, securing over $90 million worth this year.

Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation's budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.

When the Senate had its chance to stop the Bridge to Nowhere and transfer the money to Katrina rebuilding, Messrs. Obama and Biden voted for the $223 million earmark, siding with the old boys' club in the Senate. And to date, they still have not publicly renounced their support for the infamous earmark.

Mrs. Palin has proven courageous by taking on big spenders in her own party. In March of this year, the Anchorage Daily News reported that, "Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is aggravated about what he sees as Gov. Sarah Palin's antagonism toward the earmarks he uses to steer federal money to the state."

Mr. Obama had a chance to take on his party when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a sham ethics bill, which was widely criticized by watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste for shielding earmarks from pubic scrutiny. But instead of standing with taxpayers, Mr. Obama voted for the bill. Today, he claims he helped write the bill that failed to clean up Washington.

Mr. Obama has shown little restraint on earmarks until this year, when he decided to co-sponsor an earmark moratorium authored by Mr. McCain and myself. Mr. Obama is vulnerable on this issue, and he knows it. That is why he is lashing out at Mrs. Palin and trying to hide his own record.

Mrs. Palin is one of the strongest antiearmark governors in America. If more governors around the country would do what she has done, we would be much closer to fixing our nation's fiscal problems than we are.

Mrs. Palin's record here is solid and inspiring. She will help Mr. McCain shut down the congressional favor factory, and she has a record to prove it. Actions mean something. You can't just make stuff up.

Read The Op-Ed