In his press conference today Barack Obama spoke with hems and haws, lot of uhs and ums, and phrases like “it is my sense” and “if I can be helpful, ..” He is Senator, for crying out loud! He would not say whether he would return to the Senate to vote on the bail-out plan, whether he would suspend his campaign, or whether he would agree to delay the debate to resolve, the financial crisis. At one point he even deferred to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. He actually responded to a reporter about what he was planning to do by saying “you can talk to my staff.” Obama is the most ill-prepared, inexperienced candidate I have even seen, completely unequipped to be a leader. Today we saw a man how has no plan and no idea what to do. It is scary that he even has chance to be elected president. 

As the most liberal member of the US Senate, Barack Obama has taken positions to left of every other Senator. Based on his voting record he is even ranked to the left of Bernie Sanders, the lone Socialist Party member. His talk about reaching out to work with both Republicans and Democrats is just that: talk. Obama has never worked with Republicans on any significant legislation—ever. The one example he gave to Rick Warren was a lie: he promised to work with John McCain on a bill and then broke his promise when some fellow Democrats objected.

Barack Obama does not seem to understand the threat posed by militant Islam. He has called Iran a “small country” as a way to dismiss Ahmadinejad’s threats to annihilate Israel. He has received endorsements from the terror group Hamas.  He called repeatedly for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, regardless of the consequences, although more recently, with even the New York Times acknowledging the almost certain explosion of sectarian violence if his policy were followed, he has backed away from that position. His incessant repetition of the Democrat talking point that we “took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan” is nothing more than a ruse to distract attention from the success of the surge in Iraq (that he opposed).

However, it is Obama’s naiveté in dealing with terrorism at home that is truly stunning and scary. An oft-repeated Obama goal is the repeal of the Patriot Act. On this issue Obama has been getting away with exaggerating so-called losses in civil liberties, again without any critical questioning from a fawning mainstream media. He strongly opposes warrantless wiretaps, even though, in reality, only phone calls between the US and foreign countries are monitored, and the monitoring is by computer looking for key words or phrases that would trigger a follow up. Not knowing precisely who or what to look for makes obtaining a warrant impossible. Only after a suspect is identified by computerized screening could a warrant could be requested. If Obama gets his way, it will become much more difficult to identify and stop terror plots in the planning stages.

Obama would also sharply restrict our ability to conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists. The Patriot Act permits the government to conduct the secret investigation of a person suspected of plotting terrorism for 180 days before notifying that person that he or she is under investigation. This is perfectly reasonable. Early on in a terrorism investigation we need to keep the investigation secret so that the suspect does not cut ties with collaborators or warn them. The 180 day period of time allows federal investigators time to gather evidence while the suspect is unaware of being monitored—crucially important in building a case against a terrorist cell. Obama wants to require notification of the suspect that he or she is under investigation after only 7 days, rather than 180! When the Patriot Act was being reauthorized, Obama tried to make this change, but fortunately his proposal was rejected by the then Republican Congress. We won’t be so lucky next time. I wish someone would ask Obama why he wants to warn suspected terrorists that they are under investigation so quickly.

I am puzzled as to why Obama is so eager to gut the Patriot Act. There is no case I am aware of in which someone has claimed the Patriot Act has been abused. Yet Obama wants to weaken our ability to detect and gather evidence against terrorists. Why is Obama so sympathetic toward the terrorists?

The case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the 20^th 9-11 hijacker, illustrates very well how Obama would make us more vulnerable to terrorists. Moussaoui, the man who enrolled in flight school to learn to fly planes straight but not take-off or land, was arrested on an immigration charge prior to 9-11-2001 and therefore unable to participate in the hijackings as planned. He had a computer which contained records of all the wire transfers to all the 9-11 hijackers, but we only found this out after the fact. Law enforcement officials were not allowed to search his computer, since it did not have an obvious connection to the immigration violation. The Patriot Act changes this; such a search would now be permitted for information gathering purposes only if a reasonable suspicion existed that he could be involved in a terrorist plot. Wouldn’t it have been good to have the information on his computer months before 9-11? Note that the evidence would not be used to convict him; just to help stop the terrorist attack before it occurred. Under Obama, such proactive steps to break up a terrorist attack would not be possible. He wants to forbid such a search, even if there is reason to suspect a link to terrorism.

Bottom Line: Obama is not just soft on terrorism; he will make it easier for terrorists to operate within our borders and plan attacks. He does not seem to understand the nature of the threat we are facing, and he would be far less aggressive in prosecuting terrorists—to our detriment. We will be much safer under McCain than Obama.

Obama will increase taxes. About this there is no disagreement. He promises to raise income taxes on family incomes of $200,000 or more, which he says will only hit the wealthiest 5% of Americans. But that is not the whole story. Obama’s claim that he will only raise taxes on the wealthiest 5% is a brazen fiction that goes unchallenged by the MSM. Here is what Obama really plans to do with regard to taxes.

Impose social security taxes on all income, without a cap (as we have now): This tax increase will hit wage earners who exceed the current cap (currently $97,500) with an additional 6.2% tax on wages over this limit, and almost no one mentions that an equivalent tax will have to be paid by employers. Taxing business is no way to stimulate the economy; it will cause less hiring or even job losses. Self-employed workers will pay double, or a 12.4% additional tax on income above the limit.

Double the tax on dividends from 15% to 30%: A large number of Americans (far more than 5%), including many seniors, live partly on income from dividends. Now they keep 85% of what they earned; under Obama it will be only 70%. Disposable incomes will drop and buying power will be reduced, hurting both consumers (especially senior citizens) and the economy.

Raising capital gains taxes from 15% to 28%: Anyone who owns stocks and mutual funds will see capital gains taxes nearly doubled, and this includes far more than 5% of Americans. Approximately 52% of American adults own stocks directly or indirectly (in retirement plans, for example) and 8.5 million people paid capital gains taxes in 2006. Increasing capital gains taxes cannot help the stock market; it would likely cause declines in stocks, hurting investments and retirement plans for most Americans. And don’t forget real estate; investment properties that have appreciated in value are subject to capital gains as well. If higher tax revenues are the goal, history has shown that decreasing the capital gains tax rate has always generated an increase in revenues. In the three years following capital gains tax rate cuts in 1981, 1997, and 2003 the capital gains tax revenue increased 49%, 49%, and 88%, respectively. In contrast, when the capital gains tax rate was increased in 1986, revenue dropped 44% over the following three years. When asked by Charles Gibson why he wants to increase capital gains tax rates when history has shown that decreasing rates is what brings higher tax revenues, Obama’s response was revealing. He said he to raise the tax rates “for purposes of fairness,” regardless of the consequences. This is the kind of thinking we can expect from Obama; increasing taxes to redistribute income, even if it means an overall decrease in the nation’s prosperity. His response shows his near socialistic beliefs and telegraphs his true intentions.

Cancel the planned elimination of the estate tax: Obama and democrats will likely re-establish a limit above which taxes must be paid. The old rate was as high as 55%. I haven’t heard Obama give any numbers; he only confirms he will re-impose the tax. Small business owners and farmers get whacked with this when they try to pass on assets to their heirs, often requiring farms to be sold and businesses to be liquidated to pay the taxes.

Bottom Line: Barack Obama will be increasing taxes on most Americans, not just the wealthiest 5%, through multiple types of tax increases delineated above. The consequences will be a weakened economy, job losses, and lower prosperity for the nation. But he isn’t telling anyone, and the MSM is covering for him. Given the current problems with the housing market and the banking system, it is scary to imagine the shambles a President Obama would make out of the economy.

Why I’m Not Voting for Obama (and Why You Shouldn’t Either): A Series

 This is the first of a series of posts on Barack Obama and why I believe he does not deserve your vote for president,

Barack Obama: The Hidden Candidate

Barack Obama has mounted a campaign for president based largely on platitudes and generalities, but little substance. He should be forced to campaign on a higher intellectual level than repeating just the “Change” mantra and talking about how this is “His Time” and that “he is the one we have been waiting for,” but he has been largely unchallenged. What I find particularly worrisome is that Obama has a record that provides voters with a window into his true beliefs, but he has kept important parts of his record hidden, assisted by a cravenly biased mainstream media. He is rarely pressed to answer tough questions that would require him to explain policies or past actions.

Through skillful rhetoric Barack Obama is hiding who is truly is. To make an informed choice rather than an emotional one, voters need to know what Barack Obama really believes and how he would likely govern. This series of posts is designed to explore the facts about what Barack Obama believes, what he would do as president, and what the consequences would be. I will try to do this in an honest, unexaggerated way: no hype, just facts and straightforward analysis. I hope that clarifying Obama’s record will prove useful in accurately portraying who Barack Obama is, what he believes, what he would likely do as President, and why the consequences are so potentially damaging for the country.