Change Of Message

Barack Obama began his Presidential campaign with a singular message, Change. More specifically, Change We Can Believe In. His journey was founded upon portraying himself as the polar opposite of our current governmental strategy and position. He has publicly denounced the Republican Party’s stances and promises to make “things right.” Over the last year or so, we’ve constantly heard about Obama’s plan to bring out troops home, right the economy, and solve our energy crisis. Those are the three most important topics in our American lives according to the latest polls. Obama proclaims that he has a cure for each, change.

The war in Iraq was his “bring it home” issue until recently. When the media continually played car bombings and civilian deaths as their lead story each day, the Iraq war was in our collective face creating a breaking point issue. President Bush determined, along with his advisors, that a troop surge was required to quell the increase in civil violence. Obama opposed the troop surge and supported setting a firm timetable of return for American troops. Almost a year later, the surge has worked, along with various other factors, to bring down the violence level in Iraq. No longer is the morning news led by disaster reporting of Iraq’s bloodshed. No longer is Iraq the quagmire the Democrats were using as fuel to rally their political machine. Recent concrete information has been reported that an agreement on troop withdrawal is imminent. That was the exact change Obama was promising he would bring with his Presidency.

With the Iraq War change spiel losing its luster, Obama has had to move on to the next topic in American angst, the economy. This topic is mired together with our current energy crisis. The tangled mess of our economy has more than the cost of oil to blame. Obama and his Democratic brethren have been on the path to roll back the tax cuts initiated by Bush during his Presidency. Democrats feel the burden of tax has been unduly lightened for the “rich.” In a sluggish economy, increasing taxation upon the economic money creators is completely opposite of what should be done. Taxing the people creating wealth is one way to increase the governmental windfall, but it dampens job creating, business building, and economic growth. The term “taxed to death” can be applied here. It becomes simple math here, American taxes will become too high and more jobs and business will leave our borders because of governmental penalties upon their revenue. Higher taxes do in fact equal fewer jobs and less money for the economy. If the Democratic Party economic analysts and leaders cannot see this, they are blind. We live in an international economy, not a singular economy behind our borders.

We are to our third “hot topic” which is the current energy crisis. Obama has promised change once again. The latest speeches from Obama focus upon efficiency and increased development of alternative fuel sources. Is that change? Aren’t we already spending millions, even billions, of dollars on research of alternative fuel sources? Efficiency isn’t a change, it’s a “solution” that has been around long before Al Gore began his Inconvenient Truth tour. Everyone wants change here, including Republicans. The offshore drilling issue has come up and Obama opposes any new drilling. Obama claims that drilling for more oil is the wrong direction. We should be spending our money moving forward. I agree, in a perfect world that would be correct. However, our world and country is constantly growing and so will the world’s demand for oil. Oil is not the metaphorical band aid that can just be ripped off. We must move away from our dependence on oil but we must move in a manner which does not destroy our economy in the meantime. If we cannot find new oil, be more efficient, and have OPEC release more oil in our future, $4 gas may be a steal in the next 5-10 years.

Obama has promised change which we can believe in. I’m not seeing it. His promise to get our troops out of Iraq seemingly is on the way to being solved by the very people he opposes. He promises a better economy but his policies will create further disruption and job loss. He promises solutions to our energy crisis. Technology is coming in the way of alternative fuel sources and they have been on the way for many years. If they happen to come to fruition during the next 5-10 years, that has nothing to do with an Obama Presidency. Money, when thrown at technology, does not necessarily speed up creation. We will make advancements in alternative fuel, but if Obama believes his Presidency is the spark plug required for it to happen, he is self delusional.

Change, it’s not a new message. It’s what all politicians cry when looking for votes. If you’re not promising change, then what makes you any different from the guy who is in office? Obama has promised great changes but as a rational American voter, the changes Obama promises are empty. This weekend, Obama announced Joe Biden as his Vice President choice. Biden is a 30 year veteran of our Washington government. Is a 30 year veteran of politics change? Obama prides himself that he never voted for the Iraq war, yet he chooses a running mate who did? How can a man adamantly opposed to one of the major issues of the last 40 years in American life choose a running mate opposite to his number one critical litmus test? Votes. Biden is a veteran of Washington politics and he brings with him a wealth of experience in foreign relations. Those two very important aspects of being President are the two major drawbacks facing Obama. He lacks experience and he has no foreign relations experience. Problem solved.

Americans have long been thrown the bone of change by our political parties but we never truly see any change. Changes that need to be made never are. To name a few, let’s solve the health care issues, let’s solve social security, let’s solve our immigration issue, let’s solve the issue of jobs leaving our borders, and let’s solve the taxation issues facing our country. I want to hear real policy, not political rhetoric. Until we hear real change from Obama, he is more of the same. The same old political hot air balloon we have placed in front of us as the next great savior of America. Barack Obama is not change at this point. He is just the best the Democratic Party has to offer.