by Joe Kaufman
As the National Debt hit $16 trillion on the first day of the convention, it was appropriate that the final day would mark the one year anniversary of the collapse of the Obama funded Solyndra. That aside, this was clearly the strongest night of the DNC convention, featuring powerful speeches made by the President and Vice President. But while many of the words sounded nice, there was little substance behind them, just more of the same rhetoric that permeated throughout the previous two nights – plus at least a couple new offenses.
Congressman John Lewis of Georgia was once a leader in the American civil rights movement. He fought to end segregation, which he was a victim of. However, that does not give him the right to use the issue of race to make a phony political argument. A large part of his speech dealt with what he and a number of Democrats refer to as “voter suppression laws.” He’s upset because some states are forcing voters to show an I.D. before they vote. He wants people to believe that Republican leaders are racist for wanting to do away with voter fraud.
Leading the Pledge of Allegiance was former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a beautiful lady who was shot by a deranged individual looking to take her life. She was escorted to the stage by DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. It was a way for Wasserman Schultz to appear before the crowd without her having the opportunity to make any damaging remarks, something she’s become accustomed to. Giffords’ touching convention moment was ruined by what seemed to be another Democrat attack on religion.
Just one day after the DNC was chided for not mentioning the word “God” in its platform, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of late President John F. Kennedy, took a veiled shot at the Catholic Church, during her speech which focused on women’s rights. She stated, “As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously, and today, it is under attack.” She then proceeded to complain about how a number of states are restricting women’s access to reproductive health care, i.e. abortions, one of the main things the Church shuns.
Ex-Governor of Florida Charlie Crist gave a speech with virtually no substance whatsoever. But the fact that he was speaking at the Democratic convention was a story in itself, as he has been a Republican for the majority of his life. If the GOP despised him for recently switching his party registration to run against Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate, this act put the nail in the coffin.
Former presidential contender, Senator John Kerry, gave a strong speech – considered to be the best one of his life, albeit very negative. He attempted to scare the viewing audience by saying that Mitt Romney “has all these neocon advisors.” Along with these boogeymen who he says Romney will “rely on,” Kerry stressed that Romney has no foreign policy experience. But considering Obama has embraced the Muslim Brotherhood, has helped give Islamists control of Libya, and has acted weak with Iran, aside from some terrorist kills, just about anyone may arguably be better.
V.P. Joe Biden’s speech was also strong — at least it sounded strong. The theme of his talk was “Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive,” two of the only positive things that President Obama could take credit for. The speech contained much class warfare, not unlike the rest of the convention. He said that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are “not for preserving Medicare.” Yet, under the Romney/Ryan plan, Medicare is unchanged for those 55 and older and is reformed for those under 55, allowing for the program to continue well into the future.
The Majority Whip Dick Durban introduced President Obama, as he had in the previous two DNC conventions. He gave a shout-out to the UAW, which had members seated in the crowd. This is the same UAW that caused the fall of the American auto industry and then benefited from the auto bailout. Durban, who authored the Dream Act, praised the President for bringing the kids of illegal immigrants “out of the shadows.” Though, he didn’t mention all the legal immigrants, who work very hard to become citizens and don’t have to live in the shadows.
President Obama had a strong speech as well, but one which offered little meaning. Charles Krauthammer of Fox News described it as “one of the emptiest speeches I have ever heard on a national stage.” Obama kept telling the viewers that they had a definitive choice as to who they should pick to be President for the next four years, but he didn’t give much reason for the viewers to choose him.He stated, “Now, I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth.” Nearly four years ago, Barack Obama said he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office. He said if he didn’t have the economy fixed in three years, he’d be a one-term President. He said that people elected him to tell the truth, but when he used the words “I never have,” he wasn’t quite telling the truth.
He said, “We can give more tax breaks to corporations that shift jobs overseas or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants and train new workers and create new jobs here…” With this too, he was fooling the public. The tax breaks that he’s talking about are to entice companies to come back to America. Apple, Cisco, Pfizer and others all said that they would repatriate at least $1 trillion of corporate profits sitting overseas, if Obama would only cut the corporate tax rate. His answer to them was that he would raise taxes on them, not cut them.
His harsh words against oil companies were also disturbing. He stated, “Unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan or endanger our coastlines or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.” Meanwhile, he was willing to pay Brazil and Mexico with our taxpayer money to drill off our shores, and then make the double-payment to them to sell us the fuel that we could have retrieved ourselves. His idea of a stimulus plan is to stimulate other nations’ economies.
Furthermore, he said he would use the money that America is no longer spending on war in Iraq and Afghanistan to bring down the debt. This, while the money he’s talking about was borrowed to pay for those wars. What he’s saying is that he’s going to pay down the debt with more debt.
Maybe Obama shouldn’t have given voters so many choices with the upcoming election, because with all of the hope and change that he offered the country, Americans may wind up seeing it all for what it really is: empty promises. They may wind up “moving forward” indeed — and choosing someone else.
Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/joe-kaufman/dnc-final-day-hope-promises-and-deceptions/
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