Why I’m Not Voting for Barack Obama in 2012

by Dave Myers

While President Barack Obama has had some successes in office and enjoys a positive personal image by the public, he has failed to deliver on important campaign promises. While in office, he has also turned his back on the American public in several ways. Additionally, I oppose Obama’s position on several key issues.

Obama’s broken promises range from failing to repeal tax cuts for the wealthy to failing to end the War in Iraq.

• Obama signed off on continuing tax cuts for high earners, while he promised to repeal the Bush tax cuts during his campaign.¹ Obama’s protection of the nation’s wealthiest results in more socioeconomic inequality in our country, where more than 1 in 7 use Food Stamps.²

• Obama failed to increase the federal minimum wage to $9.50 an hour. Minimum wage remains $7.25.³

• Obama’s promise to make it easier for workers to unionize ⁴ and to forbid companies in bankruptcy from giving executive bonuses were also broken.⁵

• Obama failed to provide affordable, accessible health care for all.⁶ The uninsured are still uninsured, and therefore have little access to health care because they can’t afford it.

• Obama failed to restore the Superfund program so that polluters pay for clean-ups.⁷ Superfund sites are tracts of land that have been contaminated with hazardous substances by a corporation. As it stands now, corporations have little accountability in cleaning up hazardous substances they leave behind. 

• Obama failed to create a cap and trade system with interim goals to reduce global warming ⁸, and failed to use revenue from the system to support clean energy and environmental restoration.⁹ Global warming is an environmental crisis that spans the entire world. Temperatures are rising globally and greenhouse gases are the biggest driver of the rise.¹⁰

• Obama failed to end the US occupation of Iraq, with 50,000 US troops still occupying the country.¹¹ While an official end to the war has been declared, such an occupation hardly counts as a true end.

• Obama has failed to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.¹² The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center is a military prison where the federal government takes action without respect for the rule of law or human rights.¹³

In addition to the promises broken, Obama has taken action that has rewarded the people who were largely responsible for the financial crisis of 2008 and beyond. Obama appointed several Goldman-Sachs consultants and lobbyists to his administration, namely Tom Donilon, National Security Advisor ¹⁴; Gene Sperling, National Economic Council ¹⁵; and Mark Patterson, Chief of Staff.¹⁶ The investment firm Goldman-Sachs played a key role in the manipulations leading to the crisis.¹⁷ Not ironically, Goldman-Sachs was Obama’s largest campaign contributor after the University of California system.¹⁸ Goldman-Sachs was rewarded with these appointments as well as their taxpayer-funded bailout.¹⁹ These appointments would be illegitimated by Obama’s own executive order to prohibit lobbyists from being appointed to federal government roles for at least two years.²⁰ However, Obama took the liberty of pardoning his own executive order with these appointments.²¹

Additionally, I am opposed to Obama’s positions on several key issues. These include:

• Same-sex marriage: Obama does not support gay marriage, but rather, civil unions.²² As a gay person, I feel not having the right to marry makes me a second-class citizen legally and financially. I feel “separate but equal” civil unions would inherently be unequal to marriage, and I therefore take issue with Obama’s position.

• Capital punishment: Obama supports capital punishment, also known as the death penalty.²³ People of minority groups and impoverished means are much more likely to receive the death penalty than their white or well-off counterparts. Many innocent people have been executed simply because of a lack of adequate defense, an adequate defense they cannot afford. Additionally, capital punishment is a form of vengeance that I believe shames the idea of our society being “civilized”.

• Increased border enforcement: Obama continues militarization of the border with Mexico.²⁴ The militarization of the border began in 1992 along with the Clinton administration’s installation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which effectively stifles Mexican agriculture and industry.²⁵ The once open border has consequently been closed and the immigrants crossing it termed “illegal”. “Illegal” immigrants are politically excluded and have no rights of citizenship so they can be exploited by sectors wanting cheap labor, such as in the agriculture sector. I believe the increased border enforcement causes violence and criminalizes those merely searching for employment. 

• Education: Obama supports the testing approach to education, defined by his Race to the Top program.²⁶ In my opinion, education should not be judged based on how well students perform on tests. Education should be dedicated to the cultivation of human creativity and cooperation and the improvement of human society. Reaching a predetermined level of performance on a particular skill does not qualify as real learning. I believe teaching to test imposes obedience and conformity, and prevents students from exploring and creating.

I don’t believe Obama is fit to be president because of the mentioned reasons. Consequently, I will not vote for Obama in 2012.  Finally, I would like to end with a quote by one of my favorite political activists, Ralph Nader: “Unconditional voting for the least worst of the two parties means that your vote has no political leverage whatsoever”.²⁷

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¹ Lori Montgomery, Shailagh Murray and William Branigin. Obama signs bill to extend

Bush-era tax cuts for two more years. December 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121606200.html

² Phil Izzo. More Than 1 in 7 Use Food Stamps in U.S. March 2012. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/03/02/more-than-1-in-7-use-food-stamps-in-u-s/

³ David G. Taylor. No Possibility of a Minimum Wage Increase. August 2011.  http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/316/increase-the-minimum-wage-to-950-an-hour/

⁴ Martha M. Hamilton. Change in control of the House probably dooms any chance of passage. April 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/43/sign-the-employee-free-choice-act-making-it-easie/

⁵ Louis Jacobson. No Sign of Action on Promise About Executive Bonuses. January 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/45/forbid-companies-in-bankruptcy-from-giving-executi/

⁶ The Office of the President-Elect. The Obama-Biden Plan. http://change.gov/agenda/health_care_agenda/

⁷ David G. Taylor. No Sign of Action From Congress. July 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/318/restore-superfund-program-so-that-polluters-pay-fo/

⁸ Angie Drobnic Holan. Obama Abandons Cap and Trade as Republicans Take Over the House. November 2010. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/456/create-cap-and-trade-system-with-interim-goals-to-/

⁹ David G. Taylor. No Cap-and-Trade, No Revenue. August 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/465/use-revenue-from-cap-and-trade-to-support-clean-en/

¹⁰ Kate Gailbraith. An Eye on the Sky for Texas. March 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/us/state-climatologist-can-explain-why-texans-wont-need-umbrellas.html?_r=1&ref=earth

¹¹ Phyllis Bennis. Headlines of Not, the Iraq War is Not Over. September 2011. http://www.tni.org/article/headlines-or-not-iraq-war-not-over

¹² Robert Farley. Obama Announces Changes to Guantanamo Detention Policy. March 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/177/close-the-guantanamo-bay-detention-center/

¹³ Nat Perry. The Enduring Shame of Guantanamo. January 2012. http://consortiumnews.com/2012/01/12/the-enduring-shame-of-guantanamo/

¹⁴ Timothy P. Carney. Why is Obama putting a Fannie Mae/Goldman Sachs lobbyist/consultant as NSA? October 2010. http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/why-obama-putting-fannie-maegoldman-sachs-lobbyistconsultant-nsa

¹⁵ Wiliam Alden. Gene Sperling, Leading NEC Director Candidate, Made Millions on Wall Street As Economy Tanked. December 2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/sperling-nec_n_800167.html

¹⁶ Washington Post. Mark Patterson. January 2009. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mark-patterson/gIQAC9ct9O_topic.html

¹⁷ Lauren Tara LaCarpa. Goldman Sachs Subpoenaed for Financial Crisis Role. June 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-goldmansachs-idUSTRE7513HY20110602

¹⁸ Open Secrets. Top Contributors. September 2011. http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638

¹⁹ Karen Freifeld. Banks Paid $32.6 Billion in Bonuses Amid U.S. Bailout. July 2009. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aHURVoSUqpho

²⁰ Jack Maskell. Post-Employment, “Revolving Door,” Laws for Federal Personnel. May 2010. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/97-875.pdf

²¹ Campbell Brown. Commentary: Obama Breaks His Own Rule. January 2009. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-01-23/politics/campbell.brown.lobbyists_1_new-rules-lobbyists-president-obama?_s=PM:POLITICS

²² Associated Press. Md. Governor Signs Bill Legalizing Gay Marriage. March 2012. http://online.wsj.com/article/AP2ebb13a485c3465d9c1116d7bb9af189.html

²³ The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The Candidates on Death Penalty. http://www.pewforum.org/RP08_Compare.aspx?issue=DeathPenalty

²⁴  Barack Obama. Obama Says Border Patrol Has Doubled the Number of Agents Since 2004. May 2011. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/10/barack-obama/obama-says-border-patrol-has-doubled-number-agents/

²⁵ Jeff Faux. How NAFTA Failed Mexico. June 2003. http://prospect.org/article/how-nafta-failed-mexico

²⁶ Diane Ravitch. How, and How Not, to Improve the Schools. March 2012. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/22/how-and-how-not-improve-schools/

²⁷ Allison Kilkenny. Ralph Nader: Stop Voting for the Least Worst. October 2008. http://allisonkilkenny.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/ralph-nader-stop-voting-for-the-least-worst/