| The statement |
The distortion |
| During the campaign, candidate Obama promised to "eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year." |
No such relief was in Obama's first budget proposal or the stimulus package. |
| While discussing increasing drug violence in Mexico, President Obama said, "More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States." |
Not exactly. That is the percentage of guns used in crimes that have been submitted by Mexico and traced by U.S. officials. Both countries say Mexican officials recover many more guns than they submit. |
| At a prime-time press conference in March, President Obama said he was angry about the "inexcusable" bonuses given to AIG executives. |
Maybe he should have been angry at his own staff, which watered down a bonus-limiting provision in the stimulus bill to any company receiving funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program. They feared banks wouldn't accept the bonus limits and that the limits wouldn't withstand legal challenges. |
| While banning the use of harsh interrogation tactics on terrorist suspects, President Obama said it was a time for "reflection" not "retribution" concerning prosecuting the architects of the Bush-era torture tactics. |
Last week was a torture contradiction-fest. On April 19, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Obama thinks the torture architects should "not be prosecuted." The next day, press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama wanted to "look forward" on the issue. The next day, Obama said it was up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide what to do. |
| During the campaign, Obama promised to remove troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. |
In February, the president said combat operations in Iraq would end by Aug. 31, 2010 - 19 months after his taking office. The compromise was a nod to the wishes of his military advisers. |
| The Obama administration has said that it highly values transparency. As a candidate, Obama criticized the Bush administration for cherry-picking intelligence reports on Iraq to fit its goals. |
The Obama administration has done its own cherry-picking. It released a condensed memo this month from White House intelligence director Dennis Blair that omitted this sentence, which contradicts its position on torture: "High-value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qaeda organization that was attacking this country." |
| More transparency: "For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said during his first full day in office. |
In a federal lawsuit filed in San Francisco by AT&T; customers, the Obama Department of Justice said releasing information collected through Bush-era warrantless wiretapping would disclose privileged "state secrets."
|
| Shortly after he took office, Obama ordered the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. While a candidate, Obama criticized the Bush administration for creating a "legal black hole" at Guantanamo, where prisoners didn't have any real due process to challenge accusations against them. |
Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan holds more prisoners than Guantanamo and prisoners there have few rights. But Bagram isn't being considered for closure. The ACLU calls Bagram "the new Guantanamo" and "a prison outside the law." |
| Early on, President Obama banned former lobbyists who join the administration from working at agencies they recently lobbied. |
He waived the rules on lobbyists so he could hire Raytheon's William Lynn as deputy secretary of defense. The administration said he was "uniquely qualified" for the job. The Washington watchdog group Project on Government Oversight said it was absurd to say that Lynn was uniquely qualified. |
| At the second presidential debate last year, candidate Obama criticized his predecessor's budget deficits: "When George Bush came into office, we had surpluses. And now we have half-a-trillion-dollar deficit annually." |
The Congressional Budget Office projects a $1.4 trillion deficit for Obama's 2010 budget. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In February, the president said combat operations in Iraq would end by Aug. 31, 2010 - 19 months after his taking office. The compromise was a nod to the wishes of his military advisers. |
|
|
|
|
|
At the second presidential debate last year, candidate Obama criticized his predecessor's budget deficits: "When George Bush came into office, we had surpluses. And now we have half-a-trillion-dollar deficit annually." |
|
|
|
|
|
The Congressional Budget Office projects a $1.4 trillion deficit for Obama's 2010 budget. |
|
