Research

Several news stories have just hit about how Obama’s promises fall far short of the reality of his government-run health care experiment. First, the President is eager to tout the benefits of new tax credits for small businesses to buy health care, but small businesses are discovering that it’s a “bait-and-switch” because the benefit would actually only apply to a small number of companies. A small businessman in Illinois noted that “he’d have to cut his work force to 10 employees and slash their wages” to qualify for help from ObamaCare.

Next, Democrats also remind people early and often about how students graduating from college this spring will now be able to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans. Despite cutting a deal with the insurance industry to get them to sign on, it turns out that the majority of Americans will have to wait until next year when that provision of the law actually takes effect.  This is because most Americans get their insurance through jobs in ... more

On Good Morning America today, President Obama’s Interior Sec. Ken Salazar was questioned about criticism he received during a Congressional hearing for the federal government’s slow response to the Gulf Coast oil spill.  When asked about Rep. John Mica’s comments that the Department of the Interior failed to properly inspect the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Salazar responded, “I think Congressman Mica should understand that this is not about finger-pointing. It's about solving an immediate problem.” 

If he thinks “this is not about finger-pointing,” though, Sec. Salazar needs to check in with his boss at The White House.  Since day one, the Obama administration has repeatedly resorted to finger pointing and passing the buck in their mismanaged attempt at resolving the tragic disaster in the gulf.  On April 29, President Obama came out swinging at BP saying the oil company was “responsible for this leak [and] will be paying the bill.”  Then, just last week, the ... more

Elena Kagan once decried the lack of substantive questioning during Supreme Court nomination hearings, lamenting that, “hearings have presented to the public a vapid and hollow charade, in which repetition of platitudes has replaced discussion of viewpoints and personal anecdotes have supplanted legal analysis.” It is tough to disagree. But Kagan’s thin judicial record prompts the question: Will she go into detail, describing her judicial philosophy and legal thought process during her confirmation hearing, or will she bob and weave like too many of President Obama’s other judicial nominees have?

Today we released a video research briefing, highlighting the “Judicial Gymnastics” used by Obama’s judicial nominees to slide through hearings and avoid substantive debate. Watch and listen as they back away from previous statements, disown their written opinions, and generally run away from offering any substantial portrait of their legal reasoning. These are Obama’s stealth candidates ... more

As President Obama praises his Mexican counterpart President Felipe Calderon at tonight’s White House State Dinner, President Obama’s actions are not following suit. During a time of record violence across Mexico, the White House is more intent on attacking the state of Arizona for confronting the continued national security threat posed by a porous border and broken immigration system than he is with protecting the American people.

At the same time, President Obama is drastically reducing American support for Mexico’s ongoing battle against the drug cartel. In fact, according to National Journal’s Burn After Reading blog, President Obama is requesting to “slash appropriations for Mexico's military by $236 million compared with the fiscal year 2010 estimate.”

Meanwhile, as illegal drugs continue to flood into the United States, and the threat of cross border violence continues to grow under Obama’s wandering eye, the administration is gutting important counternarcotics and law ... more

Back in March we noted that President Obama’s $50 billion program to modify the mortgages of struggling homeowners was achieving less than stellar results. The program was initially expected to assist 4 million homeowners, but that was revised down to only 2 million homeowners. Now we’ve learned it’s actually much worse:

The Treasury reported Monday that nearly one in four homeowners who were offered lower payments under the Obama administration's 15-month-old effort have been weeded out of the program.

In a rush to appear to be doing something for the housing market the Obama Administration never bothered to check the eligibility of struggling homeowners and instead fast-tracked them straight into trial payments. As a result, of the 1.2 million homeowners accepted into the program, only a quarter of them have been able to obtain permanent loan modifications and another quarter – 280,000  – of them have been dropped from the program altogether. The Wall Street Journal reports ... more

Jonathan Alter alleges in his new book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One, that an attempt was made to install former White House Counsel Greg Craig to the D.C. Circuit Court after he fumbled the closure of Guantanamo Bay. In his exposé, Alter writes that the President offered Craig the position as Federal judge in hopes that he could avoid having to publically fire him outright.

Obama delegated the task of nudging [Craig] out to [Pete] Rouse, who tried to suggest an evasive if technically accurate cover story–that Craig had never wanted the job in the first place. Craig didn’t take the hint, and he turned down Obama’s offer of an ambassadorship or a prestigious appointment to fill a vacancy on the D.C. Circuit, just a step down from the Supreme Court. . . Even though it would have made the president seem less cold, the White House was anxious that the offer not leak, for fear it would look as if Obama were offering judgeships as consolation prizes.

It would certainly look ... more

In human rights talks with China last week, Obama’s envoys did not confront the Chinese regime’s repressive history that includes the slaughter of its own citizens, both born and unborn, and the ongoing use of slave labor camps and regime censorship of the media. Instead, they placated the Chinese leadership by suggesting that America is no better than China because we have our own human rights abuses in the form of Arizona’s new law intended to address the border crisis being ignored by Washington. In a press briefing following the talks, Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor was eager to brag about making the outrageous comparison.

QUESTION: Did the recently passed Arizona immigration law come up? And, if so, did they bring it up or did you bring it up?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY POSNER: We brought it up early and often. It was mentioned in the first session, and as a troubling trend in our society and an indication that we have to deal ... more

In a White House Blog Post this morning, Obama’s Small Business Administrator, Karen Mills, claimed ObamaCare will benefit small businesses, America’s job creators:

But as a result of the Affordable Care Act, we are already putting in motion steps that will reform the health insurance system so it works for small businesses, rather than strap them with continually rising costs. One of the many ways the new law is helping small businesses is through tax credits starting this year.

The problem with Mills’ claim is that it is utterly false.  In fact, ObamaCare will be bad for small business. Not only will it result in higher health care costs, but it will also burden small businesses with new, job-killing taxes and regulations. To add insult to injury, ObamaCare’s tax credit for small business may not be enough to help small business owners afford health insurance for their employees.

Just another example of Obama’s growing credibility gap.  To learn more about the many ways ... more

Last week, we noted that human rights and democracy were two issues not on President Obama’s foreign policy radar, as the Obama administration could not find the time to object when Libya was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. As Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim notes, this is a clear break from past policies of democratic promotion.

George W. Bush is missed by activists in Cairo and elsewhere who—despite possible misgivings about his policies in Iraq and Afghanistan—benefited from his firm stance on democratic progress. During the time he kept up pressure on dictators, there were openings for a democratic opposition to flourish. The current Obama policy seems weak and inconsistent by contrast.

As Mr. Ibrahim continues to write, thanks to the White House’s lackluster support for democracy across the Middle East, “there is a clear and loud expression of disappointment in the region.” Sadly, Obama’s treatment of Egyptian dissidents is emblematic of a larger ... more

This Thursday, House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that for the first time since 1974 the House will not consider a budget resolution. An examination of the President’s $3.8 trillion FY2011 budget proposal quickly reveals why House Democrats have no interest in getting near it in an election year. The CBO reported in March that Obama’s budget would nearly triple our national debt by 2020 and requires yearly interest payments that will quadruple to $916 billion.

And now, The Hill reports, a new analysis by the IMF of our nation’s finances revealed the urgent need for leadership that Democrats have not been willing to offer.

The U.S. national debt will soon reach 100% of GDP, the IMF predicts in a new report. . . [and] the U.S. would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12% of GDP, a much larger portion than any other country analyzed except Japan. Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9% of ... more