Natalie Gonnella
With President Obama's announcement this week officially announcing his intent to seek reelection in 2012, the Republican National Committee has outlined the "top 10" promises the President has failed to deliver on during his current term.
As the Administration prepares to step up efforts for the 2012 campaign, here's a look at the RNC's list of President Obama's biggest broken promises and the realities behind the Administration's current policy:
- Serious about reducing the deficit and debt: Since President Obama took office, the national debt has increased by $3.5 trillion.
- If you like your plan, you can keep it: As many as 69 percent of employees and 80 percent of small businesses could be forced to change health care plans under Obamacare's new regulations.
- The stimulus will keep unemployment below 8 percent: The unemployment rate is 8.8 percent and has remained above 8 percent for 26 straight months.
- Health care negotiations will be televised: The two biggest deals in Obamacare were reached in secret.
- Lobbyists “won’t find a job in my white house”: President Obama has granted numerous exceptions to his lobbyist ban.
- Obamacare will reduce premiums: insurance companies are raising rates because of the requirements in Obamacare, "muddying the democrats' contention that the law will rein in sharply rising premiums."
- The stimulus will create “shovel-ready jobs”: “[M]r. Obama reflects on his presidency, admitting that he let himself look too much like 'the same old tax-and-spend democrat,' realized too late that 'there's no such thing as shovel-ready projects.’"
- Housing plan will save millions from foreclosure: Only one in four of 2.7 million homeowners seeking assistance from Obama’s mortgage relief plan succeeded in getting their payments reduced.
- Stimulus jobs will not be shipped overseas: Stimulus projects created thousands of jobs in China.
- Transparency: The administration evades their own transparency rules by meeting with lobbyists away from the white house and Freedom of Information Act requests are also subjected to “secretive reviews” by the Obama administration’s political advisors.
The RNC's full outline of "broken promises," as well as links to analysis, articles and reports detailing each of the noted "truths" are available here.