President Obama recently gave his State of the Union address. Here are three claims and how they compare to the facts; although, there are more.
President Obama is now converting to the cause of broad spending freezes. In the presidential campaign, he criticized John McCain for suggesting one. ìThe problem with a spending freeze is youíre using a hatchet where you need a scalpel,î he said before the election. Now, he wants domestic spending held steady in most areas where the government can control year-to-year costs. This proposal was similar to John McCainís.
The president called for action by the White House and Congress ìto do our work openly, and to give our people the government they deserve.îÄùThat said, he skipped past a broken promise from his campaign ìto have the negotiations for health care legislation broadcast on C-SPANî that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. Instead, the White House and Congress have conducted the usual private negotiations.
In reference to classified information, he claimed more success than his predecessor at killing terrorists, And in the last year, hundreds of al-Qaidaís fighters and affiliates, including many senior leaders, have been captured or killed ìfar more than in 2008.î This may, in fact, be impossible to verify. Body counts typically have not been either totally verified or published during the Bush or Obama administrations.
Michael Imhof
Anderson
