Barack Obama Promise Tracking
Please bear with me on these numbers for a brief moment while I get to my point:
I’ve updated my Barack Obama Promise Tracker once again and the numbers speak for themselves. Out of the 895 promises being tracked, he has kept 73 promises and broken 60. This leaves 763 promises either in the works or untouched.
This puts President Obama at the slightly over 50 percent mark for keeping promises. He performs well in areas that deal with expanding social programs and government spending. No surprises there. Energy and transportation categories also rank well. Categories that remain at 50 percent kept and broken are economy and ‘first day’ promises. Categories that rank poorly as being kept are ethics and foreign policy. Adding insult to injury, he promised the American people he would perform well in areas of ethics and foreign policy making this a double disappointment.
But this leads to a bit of a debate. What is the percentage of promises you have to keep in order to maintain trust? Are you a liar if you break one promise or do you need to break only 25 percent of your promises? Are politicians held to a different standard? Are you dishonest if you make promises you know you can’t keep? What if a promise is only partially kept?
Perhaps the nature of the promise which allows it to be so subjective is why politicians have no fear to tread there.
I think the answer is three parts with each part I premise as being able to stand alone: 1) how important is the promise to you specifically, 2) what is the accumulation or track record of the broken promise(s), and 3) what is the veracity of the promise or how much has it been stated.
Specific promises show us for example, whereas the Global Aids Alliance is extremely disappointed in the funding provided for Aids, other diseases, and education in the African nations. President Obama’s promises to continue to increase funding fell short and the GAA accuse him of turning his back on the those poorest and in the most need. I suppose the GAA now has distrust for Mr. Obama.
Your spouse’s promise of fidelity certainly is specific to you and your needs. This could be a make or break promise in your eyes.
What about the accumulation of broken promises, like those in the Ethics category, is this not proof that this is not the most ethical administration in history, as promised to be? I say yes, most completely.
The one promise that carries all three premises: personal, accumulation, and veracity that must not be broken in my mind or the whole house of cards will come tumbling down is this one: If your a family earning less than $250,000 per year my plan will not raise your taxes - not your income taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. Unfortunately folks, this one will fall thanks to the rampant uncontrolled unbridled spending mess that is Mr. Obama.
As the broken promises continue to become personal, accumulative, and the most remembered continue to fall, Mr. Obama’s popularity will continue to follow the same path. (Polls find rising concern with Obama on key issues).
Let’s hope so.
Todd
June 18, 2009
ideapalooza