100 DAYS - 100 GAFFES, BLUNDERS AND FAILURES

100 DAYS - 100 GAFFES, BLUNDERS AND FAILURES

* After muffing his first attempt to take the oath of office, Obama repeats his swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office, with no Bible, no press photographers and only 4 reporters present, to the dismay of press who expected "transparency".
* Obama signs executive order to close GITMO, but has absolutely no contingency plan or back up location to house existing terrorists or newly captured terrorists.
* Obama reverses order allowing new embryonic stem cell research, apparently objecting to a supposedly "false choice between sound science and moral values" - as if moral values are irrelevant in allowing embryonic research.
* $170 million spent on lavish inauguration of Obama with $49 million of it paid for by taxpayer money (triple what George Bush spent) - all for a candidate who supposedly campaigned on being more fiscally-responsible.
* Obama, inexplicably, returns a bust of Winston Churchill back to Britain, which loaned the prized gift to America as a show of loyalty and steadfastness after 9-11.
* Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, involved in the Rod Blagojevich scandal, admits to "multiple conversations" with Rod Blagojevich on who to offer Obama's vacant Senate seat. No further investigations of this by the media.
* Bill Richardson, Commerce Secretary nominee, withdraws under federal grand jury investigation of corruption charges while Gov. of New Mexico.
* Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary nominee, failed to pay $34,000 in back payroll taxes. Confirmed anyway.
* Gen. Anthony Zinni, offered and accepted position as Ambassador to Iraq, and then was never told that it was later given to someone else.
* Sen. Judd Gregg, Commerce Secretary nominee, withdraws after saying he could not support Obama's economic plans.
* Charles Freeman, National Intelligence Council Chairman nominee, withdraws nomination amid publicity surrounding his financial ties to China and Saudi Arabia and his outspoken views against Israel.
* Hilda Solis, Labor Secretary nominee, failed to pay $6,400 in back taxes and penalties going back to 1994. Confirmed anyway.
* Ron Kirk, US Trade Representative nominee, failed to pay $10,000 in back taxes. Confirmed anyway.
* Nancy Killefer, Chief Performance Officer nominee, failed to pay $1,000 in taxes and penalties going back to 2005. Nomination Withdrawn.
* Tom Daschle, Dept. of Health Secretary nominee, failed to pay $140,000 in back taxes and interest. Nomination Withdrawn.
* Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Surgeon General nominee, withdraws due to bureaurocratic bungling in aftermath of Tom Daschle's nomination debacle.
* Kathleen Sebelius, Dept. of Health Secretary nominee, failed to pay $7,000 in back taxes owed from 2005, 2006 and 2007. Confirmed anyway.
* Dawn Johnsen, Dept. Justice Office of Legal Counsel nominee, compared pregnancy to slavery, impling that opposing abortion "disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the 13th Amendment".
* Annette Nazareth, Treasury Dept. Deputy nominee, withdraws under criticism of her lax oversight of the banking industry while working at the SEC.
* Caroline Kennedy, a Catholic, is rejected by the Vatican as Obama's choice for Ambassador to the Vatican because of her outspoken support for abortion.
* Greg Craig, chosen as White House Counsel by Obama, had a long history of defending notorious clients including John Hinkley Jr., Cuban father of Elian Gonzalez, UN Sec. Kofi Annan during the his oil-for-food scandal, a Panamanian sought by US for murdering a US soldier and corrupt Bolivian leaders accused of murdering political opponents.
* Tony West, Obama's nominee for assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, served as defense attorney for "American Taliban" terrorist John Walker Lindh. This was never even mentioned in West's Senate confirmation hearings.
* Van Jones, chosen as Special Advisor For Green Jobs by Obama, describes himself as a "rowdy black nationalist" and admits becoming a "communist" and "revolutionary" and organized with black radicals, anarchists and communists.
* Martin Feldstein, appointed to Obama's tax-reform task force and a member of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board had been an AIG Board member for 21 years.
* Harold Koh, State Department top legal advisor nominee, after 9-11 lumped the USA along with North Korea and Iraq as the "axis of disobedience", sought a "transnational legal process" to control America's behavior and chastised the US for failing to "obey global norms".
* Tim Geithner, Treasury Sec. directly contradicts himself, saying he'd be "open" to replacing the US Dollar with a world currency, a day after testifying to the House of Reps. that he opposes replacing the dollar.
* Ray LaHood, Sec. of Transportation, floats the idea of taxing American auto drivers by-the-mile, only to be quickly shot down by a Transportation Dept. clarification.
* Arne Duncan, Sec. of Education, announces that he will end the D.C. voucher program for 1,700 low-income students and rescinded the scholarships already awarded to 200 more D.C. children, locking them into the worst public schools in the nation.
* Eric Holder, Attorney General, publically calls the US "a nation of cowards" for supposedly not addressing race relations to his level of satisfaction.
* Eric Holder, US Attorney General, vows to reinstate the "assault weapon" ban, even while 65 House Democrats wrote him in opposition to such a ban.
* Eric Holder, US Attorney General, stating the disposition of captured Somali pirate is "the possibility is that we would release him into this country."
* Obama move the US Census from the non-political Commerce Dept. to under his own Chief of Staff, making the Census, which determines congressional and electoral college apportionment, a direct political tool with clear conflict-of-interests.
* Obama pre-selects journalists to be called for questioning at news conferences, essentially using all other reporters in attendance as just props.
* Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary gives a pointed insult to CNBC's Rick Santelli saying he's "not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives" after Santelli criticizes Obama's mortgage bailout plan.
* Hillary Clinton, Sec. of State, blunders and gives Russian Foreign Minister a mistranslated "Overcharge" button as a token gift.
* Obama goes on Jay Leno show and says his bad bowling ability is "like the Special Olympics", crudely insulting disabled children around the world.
* Obama thanks himself at a St. Patrick's day celebration, blindly reading the wrong speech from his teleprompter.
* Obama, supposedly so articulate, relies so heavily on teleprompters for even the most mundane and brief statements and announcements.
* Joe Biden, Vice-President, asks "Do you know the Web site number?" when he can't remember the web address for how the public will access information on the new spending/stimulus bill.
* Obama sends "secret" letter to Russia offering to give up our protection of Poland and Czech Republic in exchange for Russian help with Iran negotiations. Russia rejects the offer, but our close Eastern Europe allies learn they have no friend in Obama.
* Obama offends Armenian-Americans and breaks his campaign promise that "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide", instead refusing to even use the word "genocide" when he visited Turkey after being elected.
* Obama affectionally refers to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as "my man" saying "love this guy"... after da Silva blames the world's economic problems on "white, blue-eyed" bankers.
* Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme spiritual leader, quickly and harshly rebukes Obama's short video greeting to Iranians.
* Obama declares that the US is not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation with the Taliban.
* Obama insults Afghan President Hamid Karzai saying, "Karzai has a bunker mentality" and that Karzai's detached from Afghan people, which Karzai refutes and then says Obama needs to "settle down" and use "better judgement".
* Obama gives a paltry greeting gift (a set of DVDs) to British Prime Minster Gordon Brown who brings Obama a one-of-a-kind pen holder carved from the wood of an ancient British slave ship.
* Michelle Obama crudely breaks British Royal protocol by hugging Queen Elizabeth II.
* Obama stokes anti-American feelings while visiting Europe denigrating America by showing "arrogance" towards the world and being "dismissive, even derisive".
* Obama gives British Queen an iPod - loaded with speeches delivered by him.
* Obama bows fully at the waist to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, is the only foreign leader to bow to another at the G20 meeting and is the only US President to ever bow to any foreign leader in history.
* Obama aide blatantly lies about Obama's full bow to King Abdullah stating, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah.".
* Obama tries to use the North Dakota flood as an indication that man-made global warming is real and that his cap-and-trade plan would prevent such floods.
* White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs spend many days publically attacking radio hosts who disagree with Obama's policies.
* Hillary Clinton, Sec. State, laughs while describing the kidnapping of Americans by Somali pirates.
* Tim Geithner, Treasury Sec., delivers disasterous "plan" for Administration handling of economic crisis, sending markets immediately dropping nearly 5% within a day.
* Tim Geithner, Treasury Sec., states that "Our hope is that we can work with Europe on a global framework, a global infrastructure which has appropriate global oversight", hinting that the American economy too will be put under "global oversight".
* Obama glibly dismisses the trillions in wealth of American families being lost by wide market volatility by coldly stating he's not concerned with "the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market".
* Obama specifically tells Republicans to not listen to Rush Limbaugh, thus driving up Limbaugh's radio show ratings.
* Obama reverses 18-year policy on barring media from covering the return of dead soldiers, which used to be a private moment for families first seeing the arrival of their fallen loved ones.
* Obama proposes that Veterans wounded in war reimburse the VA for their medical care out of their own medical insurance.
* Obama laughs at the failing US automakers with thousands losing their jobs, in 60 Minutes interview.
* Obama demands and receives the resignation of GM CEO Rick Waggoner, while simultaneously saying "The United States government has no interest in running GM."
* Obama usurps Congressional budgetary power by unilaterally declaring, with no legislative authority, that the US will now back all GM & Chrysler warranties.
* Obama breaks campaign promise to "immediately" begin removing troops from Iraq at "one or two brigades a month".
* Obama breaks campaign promise to oppose earmarks, signs stimulus bill loaded with 9,000 pork-filled earmarks.
* Obama breaks pledge to consult Congress before carving out exceptions to the omnibus spending bill he signed into law - breaking his own signing-statement rules just two days after issuing them.
* Obama breaks campaign promise for new NAFTA labor and environmental regulations. He now says he won't.
* Obama, breaking his campaign pledge for greater "transparency", directs defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with anyone outside the federal government.
* Obama breaks pledge to give daughters a dog rescued from an animal shelter. Instead he buys one from a breeder, and names him "BO" - his initials.
* Obama breaks campaign pledge to end Bush-era warrantless wiretapping policies. He's decided to continue them, now that he's President.
* Hillary Clinton, Sec. State echoes Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel's exhortation to "Never waste a good crisis", hoping to use the economic crisis to implement otherwise unpopular global-warming policies forward.
* Janet Napolitano, Sec. of Homeland Security, never utters the word "terrorism" and instead replaces it with "man-caused disasters" in her first testimony before Congress, then actually defends it by saying she doesn't want to use fear.
* Janet Napolitano, Sec. of Homeland Security, visiting Canada erroneously implies that the 9-11 terrorists entered American through Canada. She also falsely stated that no terrorists have ever entered through Mexico.
* Janet Napolitano, Sec. of Homeland Security, erroneously states that illegally crossing the border "is not a crime per se. It is civil."
* Janet Napolitano, Sec. of Homeland Security, releases and then affirms a declassified document specifically warning that returning Iraqi veterans, gunowners, conservatives and those opposed to Obama's policies constitute "right wing extremists" and the "potential emergence of terrorist groups" composed of them.
* Senate proposes a bill to allow the President to shut down all private Internet Service Providers that he alone deems necessary for national security.
* Against current CIA Director Leon Panetta's advice and four former CIA Directors' advice, Obama releases selected classified "torture memos" which now helps terrorists train themselves to withstand our interrogation techniques.
* Obama declares that "these interrogation techniques... do not make us safer", is then contradicted by his own National Intelligence Director Adm. Dennis Blair who staunchly defended those techniques saying "High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used". Blair was later made to recant his comments to align them with Obama's comments.
* Obama does nothing to oppose North Korea from launching missile over Japan.
* Obama sends overtures of openess to Communist Cuba's leaders Raul and Fidel Castro. Later Obama is publically rebuked by Fidel Castro for mistaking their willingness to talk as a sign they're willing to address human rights abuses in Cuba.
* Obama provokes a possible trade-war with Mexico over less than 100 trucks.
* Obama warmly greets, smiles and shakes hands with rabidly anti-American Venezuelan Communist dictator Hugo Chavez, who only a month earlier had called Obama an "ignoramus".
* Obama sits in silence through a vicious 50-minute anti-American tirade by former Nicaraguan Leftist dictator Daniel Ortega.
* Obama burns over 9,000 gallons of jet fuel on Earth Day to fly to Iowa - just to push for "New Era" in green energy.
* Obama vows to pressure Congress to pass an immigration-reform bill allowing a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens.
* Obama contradicts his own campaign rhetoric where he warned against using fear, but then immediately resorted to using economic fear to drive support for his pork-laden stimulus bill.
* Obama, pushing for his stimulus, erroneously states that Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens told him that passing the stimulus would allow him to hire more employees. Owens responds saying, "realistically no" and that he'd actually still have to lay off employees.
* Obama warns Congressional Democrats of retaliation for voting for against his stimulus bill saying to Rep. Peter DeFazio, "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."
* Democrat leaders shut Republican Reps out of the House-Senate Conference negotiations on Obama's Stimulus Bill, to the dismay of House Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence saying the final stimulus bill was crafted "without a single House Republican in the room".
* Obama supported the $173 Billion AIG bailout specifically including $165 million Executive Bonus protections, then rails against AIG Executive Bonuses - that he knew all about ahead of time.
* $900 million of US taxpayer money to be given to Hamas supposedly to rebuild Gaza. That's just $900 million more that Hamas can spend on it's terrorist war with Israel.
* Obama states that government should spend money to meet the needs of people's families: "We need to restore the American people's confidence in their government — that it is on their side, spending their money wisely, to meet their families' needs ".
* Treasury Dept. cannot to state what the $700 Billion original TARP money given to banks was used for, as nearly all of it is still publicly unaccounted for.
* Tim Geithner, Sec. Treasury, states the Obama Administration won't let banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan/Chase pay back TARP money given to them through the bailout, even if they are financially sound and have the ability to do so, instead choosing to keep control over them.
* Obama signs $3.6 Trillion budget, half a trillion more than last year, quadrupling the federal deficit to $1.8 trillion from $470 billion last year.
* Obama breaks campaign promise to cut Bush's $470 billion deficit in half, and actually plans to maintain trillion dollar deficits for the next 10 years.
* Obama holds a press conference to proclaim that his Administration will cut 0.0027% out of his $3.6 TRILLION dollar budget, and his press secretary Robert Gibbs then defends it saying it's "a lot of money".
* Obama states he supports criminal charges against former Administration lawyers for simply giving advice regarding LEGAL CIA interrogation techniques.
* Obama repeatedly perpetuates the lie that "90%" of guns used by Mexican cartels come from the US, when it's actually only about 17%, according to the Obama Administration's own ATF testimony before Congress.

One more makes 101:
* Obama Adminstration officials threaten NYPD, FBI, NY Mayor and Secret Service to keep quiet about an Air Force One low flyby of Ground Zero area which terrified New Yorkers and angered NY officials."


Just how many of these 101 are positive change?

 

A seat on the board of directors of a corporation will do nicely, even if indirectly. Never mind that the seat was bought illegally.