Candidate Obama vs. President Obama: Change We Can Believe In?

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/06/2009

”A proposed bill promising major changes in the U.S. abortion landscape has Roman Catholic bishops threatening to close Catholic hospitals if the Democratic Congress and White House make it law.” [Read the full article here]

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This bill called the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would make federal law out of the abortion protections established in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade ruling. The wording in the bill defines abortion as a “fundamental right” that no government can “deny” or “interfere with.” This wording would help overturn abortion restrictions such as parental notification, laws banning certain procedures and constraints on federal funding.

The legislation has Roman Catholic bishops threatening to shut down their hospitals instead of being forced to comply with the law. If this were to happen it would have a drastically negative effect on Missourians. In Missouri we have 20+ Catholic hospitals. If these hospitals were forced to close it would be devastating not only to our states healthcare but also to the job market in Missouri. According to the Catholic Hospitals Association, Catholic hospitals make up 13 percent of the country’s nearly 5,000 hospitals, employ more than 600,000 people and one of every six Americans hospitalized in the United States is cared for in a Catholic hospital.

All of this being said, MCV-PAC finds it astounding that Missouri Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay and Rep. Russ Carnahan — both St. Louis Democrats — are both co-sponsors of this legislation that will hurt all Missourians. There is a bright side though, Republican Representatives, Sam Graves, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Jo Ann Emerson, Todd Akin, and Roy Blunt all signed a letter on January 21st that called on President Obama to withdraw his pledge to sign the so-called “Freedom of Choice” Act (FOCA). That letter can be found here http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=109040

“People have worked 30-some years to protect the rights of the unborn and FOCA would undo many of their efforts,” Luetkemeyer said.

MCV-PAC will keep an eye on Rep. Clay and Rep. Carnahan to see if they continue to support policies that will damage Missouri’s healthcare.

Questions are arising as to whether Barack Obama is really the one running the Democrat party. He signed a trillion dollar spending bill he did not read; he gives great speeches….as long as someone writes the words for him to read -literally; he publicly turns to attorneys to finds out what is in HIS executive order; he signs onto massive new social programs pushed through by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid; Clinton operatives Carville, Begala, Emanuel and Stephanopolis meet secretly to lay out political attack strategies; He is too busy to be bothered with following appropriate protocol in dealing with world leaders –especially our greatest ally, Great Britain; and, Obama appears to be an unaware bystander through it all.

MCV-PAC sees some similarity in Obama’s leadership with great literature:
Alice came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?” she asked.
“Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire cat.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

But then, on the other hand, once he does figure out where he wants to go, we may really regret where he leads us with purpose.

BREAKING NEWS – The Missouri Department of Revenue is reporting that former Democrat Party official and local trial attorney James Montee has placed a bid for the St. Joseph license office. Political patronage is not over.

As far back as July of last year Barack Obama was positioning himself as a “military” president by proposing a (near 100%) increase in troops in Afghanistan from 36,000 to 60,000 to defeat the resurgence of the Taliban. At the same time he was positioning himself as a “diplomacy” president by advocating talks with the same Taliban.

He has now confirmed both positions: ” ‘[T]he situation in Afghanistan/Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action,’ Obama said in a statement on Feb 17. ‘To meet urgent security needs, I approved a request from Secretary [of Defense Robert] Gates to deploy a Marine Expeditionary Brigade later this spring and an Army Stryker Brigade and the enabling forces necessary to support them later this summer.’ ”

However, even before any troop increase has occurred, Obama has not only decided that negotiating with the extremist Taliban is appropriate (”in an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Obama opened the door to approaching elements of the Taliban” -NY Times 3/8/09), but has also taken the usual liberal Democrat position that the war is lost (”Asked if the United States was winning in Afghanistan…Obama replied flatly, ‘No.’ ” -3/7/09 San Francisco Sentinel). How’s that for negotiating from a position of strength?

Interestingly, a December Washington Post poll showed that 51% of Americans called Afghanistan “not successful.” Is this why he is so ready to sacrifice troops in a military option he doesn’t believe in, all the while pursuing diplomacy with terrorists?

MCV-PAC wonders if the President is going to continue to lead by poll, or if this is just another example of Obama abandoning our values of military strength, for weakness and appeasement. One has to ask how this would affect the military morale of the 36,000 troops currently deployed, as well as the 34,000 to be sent into what he sees as a lost cause before they even start.

Patronage Continues Under Governor Jay

MCVPAC doesn’t want to say it, but we told you so in our previous report. Governor Jay Nixon, in referencing Missouri’s license fee offices, announced early in his tenure that, “The era of office patronage ends today.” Maybe it ended that day, but less than 100 days into his reign, it is back.

The Missouri Department of Revenue issued a press release that Doug Galaske has been awarded the contract for Moberly, one of the original six offices put up for bid. A Google search on Mr. Galaske turns up two very interesting facts:

Galaske is listed as the contact for the Randolph County Democrats at the State Party website at http://www.missouridems.org/local.asp?g=RandolphCountyDemocrats

Galaske and his wife Cheri are shown in Missouri Ethics Commission reports to have been longtime substantial donors to Governor Jay and his cohorts:

For Year 2008:

For Year 2007:

For Year 2006:

Who says the dollar isn’t worth anything? For $3349.64 you can buy a Department of Revenue contract in Moberly Missouri.

This should be front page news will all media outlets, but MCVPAC doubts this will barely be a ripple with Nixon’s media allies. Let MCVPAC be the first to say that Governor Nixon blatantly lied to the people of Missouri.

Term Limits and the 2009 Recession

What do term limits and the 2009 economic recession have in common? They are both past their due date in the eyes of MCVPAC.

Most readers will recall the recession of 1992 that struck during President George H.W. Bush’s reelection campaign. Many factors played a role in his unsuccessful bid for a second term, but none greater than the economy. Everybody will remember the famous James Carville slogan, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.” The recession of 1992 is largely seen by politicians as an event that crippled the reelection of a politician with previous approval ratings ranging from the mid 50’s to upper 80’s.

Because of that, and because no politician in Congress wants to lose their precious seat, our Congressional leaders have done anything and everything to prevent a recession since 1992. From rewriting banking and accounting laws to pumping trillions of your tax dollars into the economy, they have spared no expense, at our expense, to ensure that the dreaded R word doesn’t inflict their hopes of returning to Washington.

Because of their actions, many top economists now believe this recession has been years in the making, years overdue. Perhaps, if the Federal Reserve hadn’t printed more money to pump into the economy and regulations existed for the security of our financial system, not the security of a politician’s reelection, this recession would not be as severe as it is.

For this reason, MCVPAC believes term limits for Congress are not only in order, but mandatory to true reform. With term limits in place, perhaps our leaders would tackle the pressing issues of our day, instead of protecting their campaign coffers.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon barely waited for President Barack Obama to sign the $787 billion stimulus package before announcing on February 17th the use of $8.5 billion (nearly a 5th of the $46 billion slated for transportation) for construction of what was believed to be the nation’s first stimulus-fueled project: a crumbling 76-year-old bridge that crosses the Osage River about 30 miles southwest of Jefferson City. The remote bridge project which will benefit only a couple hundred people living in Tuscumbia, the county seat of sparsely populated Miller County is likely to employ 25 to 30 mostly local workers.
MCV-PAC questions the economics and the “stimulus” nature of a project that amounts to spending $28.3 million per job “created or saved”, or at best $4.25 million per resident of Tuscumbia.

On January 14th, Governor Nixon announced the first six license fee offices to be put up for bid.  In his announcement, he stated, “The era of office patronage ends today.”  Since that date, he has announced six new offices up for bid each week without delay.  Like clockwork, the Department of Taxation and Fees Revenue issues a press release every week to announce new offices up for bid.

The bid process is only open for five weeks, thus making the bidding for the first six offices ending on February 18th.  In almost a month since that date, MCV-PAC wonders why we have not heard any announcements on the new agents for these six offices (South Freemont, Columbia, St. Charles, Liberty, Mexico, and Moberly).  Why has a Governor, who promised efficiency and transparency, been so silent on his selected fee agents?

MCV-PAC would like to point out Karen Mitchell, Nixon’s DOR director, stated, “Although the bidding process began Tuesday, future RFPs (Requests for Proposals) could be adjusted to make sure the process produces the best proposals.”  What does this mean?   Was this statement included in order to give Governor Nixon some wiggle room to appoint agents friendly to his regime administration?

It appears to MCV-PAC that the Nixon administration is long on PR, short on results.

One and a half months into his presidency, Barack Obama’s approval/disapproval ratings begin to show that more and more Americans who were willing to give him a chance to prove himself are not liking what they are seeing. As indicated by Rasmussen Reports tracking polls, more significantly than his approval ratings dropping from 65% to 56%, disapproval has increased from 30% to 43% as “hope” for a “change we can believe in” continues to fall far from not only the conservative ideals of our forefathers but also our Missouri values of fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility.

MCV-PAC wonders how much longer until the majority of Americans realize what we know: the Democrat administration and its liberal policies will be exposed not only for the undeniable failure they are, but the cost to our children and society in jobs, dollars, security, and morality.