Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Questions Americans Need To Ask Obama And Democrats

With a major Presidential Press Conference coming up, Keith Hennessey has compiled an excellent list of questions that need to be asked of Democrats and definitely of the President and his cabinet who can't decide whether the economy is doing well or doing bad.

A few Examples...
Economy;
"The U.S. economy has lost 2.64 million jobs since you took office. The
unemployment rate is 9.5% and rising. The good scenario is one in which the
unemployment rate begins to decline early next year. The Vice President said
your Administration misread the economy. You said you had incomplete information
when proposing the stimulus. Yet you have said you would not change anything
about the stimulus if you could. If the facts have changed, why doesn’t it make
sense to change your policy?"

"You proposed spending money from the TARP
to prevent foreclosures, help small businesses, and to buy toxic assets from
banks. In June CBO said they had found no evidence that any money has been spent
for any of these programs. How many foreclosures have been prevented, how many
small businesses have received loans from, and how many toxic assets have been
purchased?"


Health Care;
"You have insisted that health care reform “bend the cost curve down.” CBO
Director Elmendorf says the bills being debated would instead raise the health
care cost curve and would increase long-term budget deficits. Will you continue
to insist that health care reform not increase the deficit?"

"In a
February 2008 debate with then-Senator Clinton you opposed an individual mandate
to buy health insurance. In that debate you said, “In some cases, there are
people who are paying fines and still can’t afford it, so now they’re worse off
than they were. They don’t have health insurance and they’re paying a fine. In
order for you to force people to get health insurance, you’ve got to have a very
harsh penalty.” Now you are supporting a bill that would force people to buy
health insurance, and that CBO says would still result in eight million people
not having health insurance and paying higher taxes. How do you explain to those
eight million uninsured people why you now support the mandate and “very harsh
penalty” they would have to face, and which you opposed during the campaign?"

"Your party controls the White House, has a 38+ seat margin in the
House, and has the 60 Senate seats needed to overcome any filibuster. How can
Republicans be holding up health care reform?"


Energy and Climate Change;
"The Indian government told Secretary Clinton that India will not agree to limit
its carbon emissions. The Chinese have sent the same signal. Are you willing to
sign a new climate agreement that does not contain binding commitments by China
or India to reduce or slow the growth of their emissions?"

"Does it make
sense for the U.S. to impose higher energy costs on American workers and
manufacturers if the two largest developing economies are unwilling to slow
their emissions growth? Won’t that just disadvantage American workers with
little reduction in future global temperatures?"

"Do you support the
expansion of nuclear power in the U.S.? If so, what are you doing to encourage
it? And where are you going to store the nuclear waste, given the strong
opposition of Senate Majority Leader Reid to storing it in Nevada’s Yucca
Mountain?"

"The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance
Committee have called for you to submit to Congress for their approval the
signed Free Trade Agreements with U.S. allies Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
Why have you not submitted them to Congress? When will you do so?"



In total there are 20 questions and they hit the nail right on the head.

My question would be this;
Who prepares your taxes, and why? If you're philosophy is that it is the duty of the wealthy to pay more in taxes, why would you not fill out the standard 1040EZ, and would you be willing to only take standard deductions while in a public office?

Will the White House Press Corps ask anything remotely this tough? Doubtful, but with the rose colored glasses beginning to come off, there could be some interesting ones.

H/T: Instapundit

1 comment:

Buckaroo Banzai said...

I guess the Cambridge "racial issue" was more important to the country's future. /snark