Obama Campaign Promises

In the intense election of 2008, many Barack Obama campaign promises were made. The future president had a way with words, and a real penchant for painting a vivid portrait of a utopian America. Obviously, that hasn’t exactly happened the way President Obama planned. He has, however, managed to strong-arm his way to delivering at least a few of the major promises he made as a candidate. Below are some of the hallmark assurances of the Obama campaign, and whether or not the President has managed to make them happen.

1. Closing Guantanamo Bay. In the last decade, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has become the go-to place for stashing potential terrorists and prisoners of war. The powers that be have conveniently ignored the whole Bill of Rights thing in holding them. Candidate Obama wasn’t a big fan of this policy, and promised to shut down Guantanamo back in 2008. But when he attempted to do it, mile after mile of red tape and legal implications were unraveled. As it stands, Guantanamo remains open and in operation indefinitely.
2. Passing health care reform. It is a good thing that President Obama built up so much political capital during the campaign and right after the election, because he certainly needed every ounce of it to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Though Republican members of congress are still fighting tooth and nail to repeal it through courts and legislation, this is the highlight promise that Obama was able to deliver on. Whether it actually makes it to implementation, however, might turn out to be a different story.
3. Create a database for voters to look up ethics and lobbying information. During the 2008 campaign, Obama was all about transparency. If candidate Obama had his way, voters would know every time their representatives in congress took a bathroom break. But after his election, it seems that the President has taken a liking to mystery. That, or his staff can’t figure out how to work Microsoft Access. Whatever the cause, no central database with information on lobbyists and ethics issues has been created.
4. Getting troops out of Iraq. If you look at this promise from the right perspective, it has been kept by the Obama administration. Back in August of 2010, the last of the so-called “combat” troops left Iraq for good. But thousands of soldiers remain there to help the “transition process”, which is just politician-speak for handing off power, telling native soldiers “good luck”, and getting out of dodge.