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OBAMA: Four More Years of the Same
By Matthew EltonCopyright 2009 Matthew EltonMy advice to all Obama fans is to look past all the rhetoric and look atthe issues. Obama and Bush have almost exactly the same views onalmost every issue. In fact, their views are the same on so many issuesthat if we were to count all of the issues they have the same views on,there would be too many issues to count. It's easier to count the issuesthey don't have the same views on, of which there are very few:
Issues Obama and Bush disagree on:
 
Guantanamo Bay
 President Obama supports closing Guantanamo Bay (for this I applaudhim). Bush does not.
Global Warming
 Bush doesn't believe in global warming. President Obama believes in it(as do I) but whether he's actually gonna do anything about it remainsto be seen.
Abortion
 President Obama is pro-choice, so much so that even most pro-choicepeople think he's taking it too far. Obama wants to overturn every pro-life law ever created in American history except the fourteenthamendment (which is not in his power to overturn, fortunately). Roe.vs. Wade made it legal for women to seek abortions before the secondtrimester, which was at least somewhat reasonable. Once he signs itinto law, Obama's National Freedom of Choice Act would make it legalfor women to seek abortions at any point in their pregnancy, evenseconds before birth, and even during birth. It would legalize live birthabortion (a.k.a. induced birth abortion) in which drugs are used to forcea fetus to be born early, then it is left to die from exposure (whichusually takes about forty-five minutes). It would legalize partial-birthabortion, in which the baby is killed during birth by making an incisionin the back of its neck with a pair of scissors, inserting a catheterthrough this incision and into the brain, and literally sucking the brainsout with a vacuum (Wikipedia has a detailed description of theprocesshere). Bush is pro-life, and banned practices like these not onlybecause they are immoral, but because they're just plain dangerous.Before the ban on partial-birth abortion was enacted, the United Stateswas one of the only countries in the world to practice partial-birthabortion. Other counties like Great Britain view it as far too dangerousto be taken seriously as an actual medical practice. Obama promised
 
the American people several times that "the first thing I will do asPresident will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act into law." This was just one of Obama's many lies, since he has been in office for well overa month and he has not yet signed the Freedom of Choice Act like hepromised. Obama breaks yet another promise. Hopefully it's becausehe's had a change of heart. But I digress.
To my knowledge, these three issues are the ONLY issues thatObama and Bush disagree on. Let's look at some issues theydo agree on:
 
Issues Obama and Bush Agree On:
 
The Iraq War
 Obama's plans to withdraw troops from Iraq on a gradual timetablethat would withdraw two-thirds of U.S. troops from Iraq by August 2010(Source). This nineteen month withdrawal timetable is a far cry fromthe sixteen month timetable Obama promised during his campaign. Yetanother Obama lie. Yet another broken promise by Barack Obama.McCain had this to say about Obama's Iraq War plan: "I think it's apretty good timetable" (Source). A White House statement said thatBush “agreed that improving conditions should allow for theagreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizonfor meeting aspirational goals such as the resumption of Iraqi securitycontrol in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S.combat forces from Iraq.” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that Bushhad taken “a step in the right direction.” Obama, Bush, and McCain allseem to agree on exactly the same Iraq policy.In a recent address to the nation, Obama promised that the timetablewill withdraw all troops from Iraq. Yet another Obama lie. Like Bushoriginally proposed, Obama plans to keep 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraqeven after the withdrawal is complete! (Source). Obama's plan willestablish a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq even after the warcomes to a close. So much for "giving the Iraqis their country back" asObama promised. Yet another Obama lie. Yet another broken promise.Rachel Maddow of MSNBC had this to say, "I do think they expect ... alittle bit of heat from the left on this, from the anti-war majority in thiscountry, and I expect that the timing of this announcement will not beenough to dampen that criticism. ... It looks very much more like aBush plan than it did like a Barack-Obama-the-campaigner plan."
The War on Terror
 Obama's plan for a troop surge in Afghanistan follows the exact same
 
tactic that Bush used in Iraq. Need I say more?Obama also wants to extend the War on Terror into Pakistan, despitethe fact that the Pakistani government has forbidden the U.S. fromdoing so.
Torture and the Suspension of Habeus Corpus
 What about the CIA's use of torture on detained terrorist suspects? TheObama Administration supports the CIA's program of transferringdetainees to other countries with no legal rights and holding themindefinitely without a trial (Source). I was hoping that perhaps Obamawould reinstate our Constitutional right to habeus corpus (whichPresident Bush suspended in 2007) but it doesn't look like Obamasupports habeus corpus. When the British government pressuredObama to release information about the alleged torture of a CIAdetainee, Obama replied by thanking Great Britain “for its continuedcommitment to protect sensitive national security information.” It'sfour more years of the same - CIA torture being kept top secret ratherthan being exposed for the evil it is.
Abstinence Education
 In the 2009 budget, Obama recently passed $28 million budgetincrease for abstinence education which was supported by andoriginally proposed b Bush himself late in Bush's presidency.
Affirmative Action
 Obama thinks that affirmative action needs reform because it iscurrently based solely on race when it should be based on socio-economic status. That's what Bush has been saying all alone.
AIDS
 Bush spent fifteen billion dollars fighting AIDS. Obama showed strongsupport, saying, "I think President Bush -- and many of you here today-- have shown real leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS."
Budgets
 As a senator, Obama voted for all of Bush's budgets. That includesnineteen spending bills that Bush proposed and Obama supported.
Death Penalty
 Bush supports the death penalty.. So does Obama. In 2006, Obamastated, "I believe there are some crimes -- mass murder, the rape andmurder of a child -- so heinous that the community is justified inexpressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimatepunishment."
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