By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press Writer
WA****NGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was less
than
upfront in his half-hour commercial Wednesday night about the costs of his
programs and the cru****ng budget pressures he would face in office.
Obama's assertion that "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond" the
expense of his promises is accepted only by his partisans. His vow to save
money by "eliminating programs that don't work" masks his failure
throughout
the campaign to specify what those programs are—beyond the withdrawal of
troops from Iraq.
A sampling of what voters heard in the ad, and what he didn't tell them:
THE SPIN: "That's why my health care plan includes improving information
technology, requires coverage for preventive care and pre-existing
conditions
and lowers health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year."
THE FACTS: His plan does not lower premiums by $2,500, or any set amount.
Obama hopes that by spending $50 billion over five years on electronic
medical
records and by improving access to proven disease management programs,
among
other steps, consumers will end up saving money. He uses an optimistic
analysis to suggest cost reductions in national health care spending could
amount to the equivalent of $2,500 for a family of four. Many economists
are
skeptical those savings can be achieved, but even if they are, it's not a
certainty that every dollar would be passed on to consumers in the form of
lower premiums.
___
THE SPIN: "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond their cost."
THE FACTS: Independent analysts say both Obama and Republican John McCain
would deepen the deficit. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible
Federal
Budget estimates Obama's policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to
the
deficit over four years—and that analysis accepts the savings he claims
from
spending cuts. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, whose other findings
have
been quoted approvingly by the Obama campaign, says: "Both John McCain and
Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the
national debt over the next 10 years." The analysis goes on to say:
"Neither
candidate's plan would significantly increase economic growth unless
offset by
spending cuts or tax increases that the campaigns have not specified."
___
THE SPIN: "Here's what I'll do. Cut taxes for every working family making
less
than $200,000 a year. Give businesses a tax credit for every new employee
that
they hire right here in the U.S. over the next two years and eliminate tax
breaks for companies that ****p jobs overseas. Help homeowners who are
making a
good faith effort to pay their mortgages, by freezing foreclosures for 90
days. And just like after 9-11, we'll provide low-cost loans to help small
businesses pay their workers and keep their doors open. "
THE FACTS: His proposals—the tax cuts, the low-cost loans, the $15 billion
a
year he promises for alternative energy, and more—cost money, and the
country
could be facing a record $1 trillion deficit next year. Indeed, Obama
recently
acknowledged—although not in his commercial—that: "The next president will
have to scale back his agenda and some of his proposals."
___
THE SPIN: "I also believe every American has a right to affordable health
care."
THE FACTS: That belief should not be confused with a guarantee of health
coverage for all. He makes no such promise. Obama hinted as much in the ad
when he said about the problem of the uninsured: "I want to start doing
something about it." He would mandate coverage for children but not
adults.
His program is aimed at making insurance more affordable by offering the
choice of government-subsidized coverage similar to that in a plan for
federal
employees and other steps, including requiring larger employers to share
costs
of insuring workers.
___
THE SPIN: "We are currently spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, when
they
have a $79 billion surplus. It seems to me that if we're going to be
strong at
home as well as strong abroad that we've got to look at bringing that war
to a
close." These lines in the ad were taken from a debate with McCain.
THE FACTS: Obama was once and very often definitive about getting combat
troops out in 16 months (At times during the primaries, he promised to do
so
within a year). More recently, without backing away explicitly from the
16-month withdrawal pledge, he has talked of the need for flexibility. In
the
primaries, it would have been a jarring departure for him to have said
merely
that "we've got to look at" ending the war. As for Iraq's surplus, it's
true
that Iraq could end up with a surplus that large, but that hasn't happened
yet.
--
It is simply breathtaking to watch the glee and abandon with which
the liberal media and the Angry Left have been attempting to turn
our military victory in Iraq into a second Vietnam quagmire. Too bad
for them, it's failing.
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