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The Obama Nation
Job Creators Prefer McCain 4-to-1 Over Obama
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Chief Executive magazine conducted a poll of CEOs to determine which Presidential candidate was favored by the folks who create jobs.
Chief Executive magazine’s most recent polling of 751 CEOs shows that GOP presidential candidate John McCain is the preferred choice for CEOs. According to the poll, which is featured on the cover of Chief Executive’s most recent issue, by a four-to-one margin, CEOs support Senator John McCain over Senator Barack Obama. Moreover, 74 percent of the executives say they fear that an Obama presidency would be disastrous for the country.
Across the main policy areas, CEOs gave Obama a grade of C-, while McCain got a grade of B-.
Read the full article at Chief Executive magazine.
McCain Demanded Action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2006
There is a lot of finger pointing about which Presidential candidate tried to prevent the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac situation, and Barack Obama has managed to convince many voters that he somehow sounded the alarm to protect the taxpayers if the two institutions were to fail.
But the facts present a different story than the Obama spin.
Senator McCain made a demand for regulatory action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could have prevented the current financial crisis, as reported by HUMAN EVENTS.
McCain’s letter — signed by nineteen other senators — said that it was “…vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]…operate in a safe and sound manner.[and]..More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either…should fail.”
Sen. Obama did not sign the letter, nor did any other Democrat.
Have a look at the letter:
Meanwhile, Obama was on the side of the Fannie Mae 5.
Henry Kissinger: Obama Was Wrong
Back on July 23, 2007 during a debate of Democratic primary contenders in Charleston, SC. Obama was asked…
Question: “Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?”…
Obama: “I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration - is ridiculous.”
This ended up being a point of contention at the recent Presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.
In support of his position, Obama claimed that one of John McCain’s advisers, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, held the same view that the U.S. president should meet with Iran’s president and other rogue dictators without preconditions.
McCain and Obama argued over Henry Kissinger’s opinion, which was later cleared up by Mr. Kissinger himself, according to CNN:
“Sen. McCain is right. I would not recommend the next president of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the presidential level.
My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Sen. John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.”
I’m sure the Barack Obama Truth Squad will be all over clearing this up.
Barack Obama at the first Presidential Debate
The first Presidential debate was interesting in both what Obama said and didn’t say.
It had to be 7 or 8 times that his retort to Senator McCain was that McCain was correct.
While Obama was right in these instances, he didn’t seem to have much depth. Especially after McCain went on for a while about issues regarding Russia. Obama essentially said, “me too.”
The Debate is On
While the work in Washington is at something of a standstill for the financial crisis, John McCain has announced that he will travel to Mississippi for the debate this evening and then return to Washington to continue working.
Here is a statement from the McCain campaign that was released at 11:20am ET today:
John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign was made in the hopes that politics could be set aside to address our economic crisis.
In response, Americans saw a familiar spectacle in Washington. At a moment of crisis that threatened the economic security of American families, Washington played the blame game rather than work together to find a solution that would avert a collapse of financial markets without squandering hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money to bailout bankers and brokers who bet their fortunes on unsafe lending practices.
Both parties in both houses of Congress and the administration needed to come together to find a solution that would deserve the trust of the American people. And while there were attempts to do that, much of yesterday was spent fighting over who would get the credit for a deal and who would get the blame for failure. There was no deal or offer yesterday that had a majority of support in Congress. There was no deal yesterday that included adequate protections for the taxpayers. It is not enough to cut deals behind closed doors and then try to force it on the rest of Congress — especially when it amounts to thousands of dollars for every American family.
The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain was apparent during the White House meeting yesterday, where Barack Obama’s priority was political posturing in his opening monologue defending the package as it stands. John McCain listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners. The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayer protections.
Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including Representative Blunt as a designated negotiator for House Republicans. The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.
In related news, Barack Obama was busy hanging out at the gym this morning.
John McCain Suspends Presidential Campaign
John McCain has suspended his campaign and wishes to delay debate scheduled for this Friday to focus on the economy.
Senator McCain has asked Barack Obama to join him to work on resolving the financial crisis.
Here is the announcement McCain just made at 3:05 PM ET:
America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.
Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.
It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’ proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.
Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.
I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.
Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.
I was really looking forward to the debate, but this is definitely an issue of greater gravity.
It’s Morning Again in America
In the midst of a banking crisis and Wall Street meltdown, it is crucial to bring the United States back to our land of pride and promise.
This reminds me of the famous Ronald Reagan commercials from 1984 with the opening line “It’s morning again in America.”
We are now in a moment where we need optimism and reform, rather than the blame games and attack ads that are flowing from the Barack Obama campaign.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition if you look at John McCain’s comments compared with those of Barack Obama yesterday.
“There has been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street. People are frightened by these events. Our economy I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times. I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street.” - John McCain, 9/15/08
Obama was quick to issue an attack ad (what’s new?) about how he thinks John McCain is out of touch. But what are the fundamentals of our economy?
According to Stuart Varney of the Fox Business Network, the fundamentals of the economy are the basics: unemployment, job creation, and inflation.
Since we don’t exist in a bubble, it’s important to look at these items in the prism of the global economy.
Currently, unemployment is at 6.1%, which is a 5 year high, but much better than our European competitors.
We’ve lost about a half million or more new jobs this year, which is a negative, but again it is much better than our European and Japanese competitors.
And inflation is currently at 5.4%, which can be attributed largely to the cost of energy. As we diversify our energy plan and rely less on foreign energy, the rate will retreat.
Yes, the economy is struggling, and it’s not easy to be optimistic when we see gas prices as high as they are, and housing in a tailspin.
But we need to positive vision and plan to fix the mess. That’s what will fix the economy, not more attack ads that offer venom without solutions.
John McCain is talking about cleaning up Wall Street, and expanding our domestic energy programs.
Obama is reading from his TelePrompter that McCain is “out of touch.”
Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic offers an assessment of the state of the financial system in our country.
Barack Obama Votes With President Bush
The Barack Obama campaign is running their campaign on the scare tactic that John McCain is the same as President Bush. This assertion is based on Senator McCain’s voting record in 2007 where Team Obama touts that McCain votes with Bush 90% of the time.
But what is Obama failing to say?
First of all, George Bush is not in the Legislative Branch, and doesn’t actually vote on laws with McCain, Obama and Biden.
As you (hopefully) know, Congress votes on bills and they go to the desk of the President to either be signed or vetoed.
So, if we are going to be intellectually honest, nobody is ever voting with President Bush.
The numbers we keep hearing are based on votes where the Bush administration had taken a clear position on before the vote, as estimated by the Congressional Quarterly.
The same report from the Congressional Quarterly reveals that Obama voted “with Bush” 40 percent of the time.
Joe Biden voted “with Bush” 52 percent of the time.
It’s also important to note that these sorts of tallies can only count when a Senator votes yes or no on a law.
Obama didn’t vote over 40 percent of the time since he’s been in the Senate - that’s 228 of the 568 times he could have voted, according to Project Vote Smart.
Rather than taking a stance on issues, he voted “NV”, which means Not Voting, Excused, Absent, or Present.
Based on the Project Vote Smart records, some areas where Obama likes to avoid having an opinion:
- Abortion Issues - 75% NV
- Agriculture Issues - 86% NV
- Budget, Spending and Taxes - 54% NV
- Business and Consumers - 47% NV
- Civil Liberties and Civil Rights - 44% NV
- Defense - 29% NV
- Education - 55% NV
- Energy Issues - 35% NV
- Environmental Issues - 64% NV
- Family and Children Issues - 50% NV
- Foreign Aid and Policy Issues - 56% NV
- Gun Issues - 25% NV
- Health Issues - 67% NV
- Housing and Property Issues - 100% NV
- National Security Issues - 39% NV
- Reproductive Issues - 75% NV
- Technology and Communication - 33% NV
- Trade Issues - 38% NV
- Transportation Issues - 63% NV
- Veterans Issues - 34% NV
- Welfare and Poverty - 64% NV
- Women’s Issues - 67% NV
I’ve got to wonder how closely aligned Barack Obama would be with Bush if he was showing up and voting for a full work week.
John McCain is the Presidential Candidate of Change
There has been a lot of talk about which Presidential candidate, John McCain or Barack Obama, can usher in change in Washington.
If we look at how many times each candidate has engaged in bipartisan legislation, the answer is clear: McCain equals change and Obama is all about the status quo.
Sen. John McCain’s record of working with Democrats easily outstrips Sen. Barack Obama’s efforts with Republicans, according to an analysis by The Washington Times of their legislative records.
Whether looking at bills they have led on or bills they have signed onto, Mr. McCain has reached across the aisle far more frequently and with more members than Mr. Obama since the latter came to the Senate in 2005.
In fact, by several measures, Mr. McCain has been more likely to team up with Democrats than with members of his own party. Democrats made up 55 percent of his political partners over the last two Congresses, including on the tough issues of campaign finance and global warming. For Mr. Obama, Republicans were only 13 percent of his co-sponsors during his time in the Senate, and he had his biggest bipartisan successes on noncontroversial measures, such as issuing a postage stamp in honor of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Maybe the Obama that Obama knows now isn’t the Obama he’s been since he started in the Senate.
Whoopi to McCain: “Should I be worried about being a slave?”
There was an exchange on the View the other day, when John McCain was a guest, that was just ridiculous and inflammatory:
John McCain: My interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is that the United States Supreme Court enforces the Constitution of the United States and does not legislate nor invent areas that are responsibilities, according to the Constitution, of the legislative branch.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck: So it was in how the law came up, it was in how Roe v. Wade came apart was the issue. You, you want it to be through the Constitution from the people not from the bench.
John McCain: And I believe that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, then the states would make these decisions.
Whoopi Goldberg: Sir.
John McCain: Yes?
Whoopi Goldberg: Can you just, and I don’t want to misinterpret what you’re saying. Did you say you wanted strict Constitutionalists? Because that, that-
John McCain: No, I want people who interpret the Constitution of the United States the way our founding fathers envision-
Whoopi Goldberg: Does that-
John McCain: -for them to do.
Whoopi Goldberg: Should I be worried about being a slave, about being returned to slavery because certain things happened in the Constitution that you had to change.
I can’t figure out if this is the ignorance on the part of Whoopi, or if she’s just trying to plant seeds in the minds of voters who don’t know better.
But I think she is probably aware that our founding fathers built in a process for amending the constitution.
And this process has been used 27 times, including the 13th Amendment in 1865: Abolition of slavery.
John McCain is discussing how it is contrary to the way our government was set up for judges to legislate from the bench.
