Petition expressing extreme disappointment with President Obama's policies

See similar petition here.

Whereas candidate Obama promised to bring real change to our nation's politics; and

Whereas tens of millions of Americans donated their time and money to his election and trusted Mr. Obama to live up to his word; and

Whereas President Obama violated Democratic ideals and aided Republicans by:

  1. escalating and widening the disastrous, corrupt war in Afghanistan, causing attacks on civilians, cover-ups, and further hardship and casualties for our troops (bin Laden is dead, and al Qadea is elsewhere -- why are we even there?);
  2. threatening war with Iran;
  3. secretly sending special forces to 75 countries -- see this article;
  4. expanding drone attacks, causing many civilian deaths;
  5. authorizing assassination without trial, even of US citizens;
  6. increasing total defense spending to nearly a trillion dollars a year;
  7. authorizing an attack on Libya without prior authorization from Congress, in violation of the War Powers Act;
  8. twice delaying the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and continuing the use of private mercenaries;
  9. continuing overseas rendition, torture, the Guantanamo prison, and domestic spying;
  10. choosing as his health care plan a plan designed by the Heritage Institute; it enriches insurance companies and fails to contain a public option, not to mention single-payer;
  11. choosing conservative Democrat Max Baucus, his advisor Jim Messina, and the other members of the Gang of Six to design the Senate's health care compromise; Baucus had brokered the passage of George W. Bush’s 2001 tax cuts and 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan, and had spent the better part of the Bush presidency cutting deals with Republicans and infuriating fellow Democrats. Other transgressions included voting for the war in Iraq, the energy bill, the bankruptcy bill and to confirm Supreme Court Justice John Roberts. (source);
  12. extending President Bush's unjust bailouts of the banks and Wall Street;
  13. proposiong a budget deal more regressive than Pres. Reagan's (see evidence);
  14. opposing a bill that would have imposed windfall taxes on Wall Street bonuses;
  15. surrounding himself with military, legal, policy, and economic advisers held-over from the Bush Administration and from the right wing of the Democratic Party;
  16. allowing the FBI, under the direction of Bush hold-over Robert Mueller, to spy on domestic peace activists and to raid their homes, as reported here and here;
  17. cutting back-room deals with Big Pharma and Big Insurance that eliminated a public option, prevented re-importation of medicines, and benefited the corrupt and inefficient health industry, in violation of his campaign promise (see also this);
  18. repeatedly firing progressive staff members, including Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod, based on distorted right-wing smear campaigns, without giving the accused a chance to defend themselves;
  19. allowing anti-choice provisions to be included in health care reform, despite his campaign pledge to "make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president";
  20. disallowing single-payer advocates a seat at the negotiating table (unclear whether Obama himself made this decision) and reneging on his promise to support a public option;
  21. supporting assassination of an American citizen residing overseas; see Glenn Greenwald's analysis;
  22. failing to support the Employee Free Choice Act, despite union support during his election and his promise to "to fight for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act";
  23. proposing to open sensitive coastal areas to offshore oil drilling;
  24. favoring $50 billion in government subsidies for nuclear power but not for green energy;
  25. announcing in November, 2010 a two-year freeze on federal workers' wages. "This action -- negligible in its effect on the federal deficit -- affixed the presidential seal of approval to the strategy of handing workers the bill -- and the blame -- for the economic havoc caused by Wall Street fraud, corporate tax relief and war (souce);
  26. expanding the definition of terror to include domestic nonviolent civil disobedience, see this article;
  27. working with Republicans in the Deficit Commission to gut Social Security, relying on false claims of pending insolvency, and ignoring the option of eliminating the income cap on social security taxes (see this and this and the editorial Whacking the Old Folks from the June 7, 2010 issue of The Nation.)
  28. supporting corporatist, conservative Democrat Blanche Lincoln against progressive challenger Bill Halter in the Arkansas Senate race; see Biden Sends Fundraising E-Mail For Blanche Lincoln;
  29. failing to push for meaningful action about climate change at the Copenhagen conference;
  30. appointing pesticide pusher Islam Siddiqui as chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the US trade representative;
  31. supporting the court martial of Bradley Manning, who leaked the "Collateral Murder video" and documents about the war in Afgahnistan; see also this;
  32. pushing for strong enforcement of federal marijuana statutes US vows marijuana enforcement regardless of California vote, Medical Marijuana Industry Is Unnerved by U.S. Crackdown ("Medical marijuana advocates accuse the Obama administration of going back on earlier promises not to go after groups abiding by local laws."); see also this article and this article. "The president campaigned on the promise that he'd stop federal raids on medical marijuana operations that were in compliance with state laws, a vow that Attorney General Eric Holder repeated after the election. But then the Obama administration raided more than 100 dispensaries in its first three years and is now poised to outpace the Bush administration's crackdown record." (source)
  33. overseeing the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, despite his June 2008 statement: "I strongly favor diversity of ownership of outlets and protection against the excessive concentration of power in the hands of any one corporation, interest or small group. I strongly believe that all citizens should be able to receive information from the broadest range of sources. I feel that media consolidation during the Bush administration has had the effect of eliminating a lot of the diversity of information sources available to persons who have to rely on more traditional information sources, such as radio and television broadcasts and newspapers."
  34. prosecuting whistle-blower Thomas Drake, who exposed fraud, corruption, and illegal surveillance in the NSA "Trailblazer" program; "Even neo-conservative secrecy advocate Gabe Schoenfeld, whose far-flung idea it was to use the Espionage Act to prosecute leakers, calls Obama's conduct 'draconian.'" (See The New Yorker's Damning Dissection of "Leak" Prosecution of Thomas Drake);
    See Obama's Crackdown on Whistleblowers;
  35. nominating George Beck as US Attorney in Alabama (see Obama Proposes a Wretched Nominee for Controversial U.S. Attorney Post);
  36. approving the use of taxpayer funds for religious schools (Solicitor general surprises justices in religious schools case)
  37. compromising with Republicans on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich; Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said this about the estate tax provision included in the tax cut compromise: "We had the president -- George W. Bush -- we couldn't get it done then and we're getting it done here."
  38. choosing JP Morgan banker Bill Daley as chief of staff, despite Daley's approval by the Chamber of Commerce, "Daley publicly pushed the line that Obama and the Democrats overreached with healthcare reform; opposed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency....[and] kvetched about the electoral plight of centrist Democrats in a December 2009 Washington Post op-ed." (source)
  39. failing to support Wisconsin workers whose collective bargaining rights were taken away by Governor Walker, the Koch brothers, and Republican legislators. This despite his earlier promises to support workers. See Shoes for President Obama;
  40. failing to prosecute Bush-era crimes, thereby aiding Republicans and allowing them to hide the truth about their policies from the American people ("...the incredible lengths to which Obama has gone in his crusade to fully protect Bush, Cheney, and their co-conspirators, an effort that has included making threats to England should it be so uncouth as to reveal any evidence of wrongdoing", from An Honest Look at Obama's First Year); see also Obama, Press Ignore GOPer Use of DOJ to Cheat Voters, Taxpayers; WikiLeaks has now revealed that Obama worked behind the scenes to prevent the Spanish judge from prosecuting Bush &ammp; Cheney for war crimes; '"The only people Obama has prosecuted are the whistle-blowers" ;
  41. Compromising early and unnecessarily on raising the debt ceiling. "President Obama initially tried to strike a 'Grand Bargain' with Republicans over taxes and spending. To do so, he not only chose not to make an issue of G.O.P. extortion, he offered extraordinary concessions on Democratic priorities: an increase in the age of Medicare eligibility, sharp spending cuts and only small revenue increases. As The Times’s Nate Silver pointed out, Mr. Obama effectively staked out a position that was not only far to the right of the average voter’s preferences, it was if anything a bit to the right of the average Republican voter’s preferences." (Paul Krugman); "It is now beyond dispute that President Obama not only favours, but is the leading force in Washington pushing for, serious benefit cuts to both social security and Medicare." (Glenn Greenwald);
  42. Suspending a federal scientist for publishing a paper about the effect of climate change on Arctic wildlife (see Federal polar bear scientist back on the job);
  43. Blocking investigation of foreclosure fraud; see Why is the Obama Administration Trying to Block Investigation of Foreclosure Fraud? and this;
  44. Backing down on strengthening Bush-era smog standards, despite EPA director Lisa Jackson's statement that the current standards are "not legally defensible given the scientific evidence on the record” of dangers to human health" (source). In rejecting the stronger standards, Obama repeated Republican talking points by citing "the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty" -- despite "the EPA's own studies show that a tighter standard could have created $17 billion in economic benefits" (source; see also here);
  45. Supporting free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, despite the opposition of many Democrats and despite the approval of most Republicans (Trade Deals Wed Obama to Republicans as Democrats Vow to Oppose);
  46. Allowing a contractor working for pipeline developer TransCandada to conduct the environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline (source);
  47. "Siding with insurers rather than patients, the Obama administration also changed the rules to prevent patients from appealing contractual disputes, such as a particular service or medication is covered in a policy." (source);
  48. Deciding not to investigate possible police brutality in the crackdown on Occupy Oakland; see Despite Iraq Vet’s Cracked Skull, DoJ Sees No Evil in Occupy Crackdown;
  49. Pressuring state attorney generals to accept a deal with Wall Street companies that, in the view of many, largely exonerates the criminals on Wall Street (see See Glenn Greenwald at about 54:00);
  50. Trying, but failing, to extend the occupation of Iraq (see (Ibid, 57:00));
  51. Illegally defunding WikiLeaks, without due process (see (Ibid, 59:00));
  52. Overseeing the coorrdinated crackdown on Occupy protesters (Ibid, 59:00);
  53. Restricting access to the morning after pill (see Health Secretary blocks wider access to morning-after pill);
  54. Being "just as zealous as George Bush in stripping away environmental, health and safety protection at the behest of industry" (source);
  55. Nominating Jerome Powell to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. "Powel served as the undersecretary for finance under the president George H. W. Bush and was a partner of The Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group is a massive private equity firm and one of the largest defense contractors in the world" (source);
  56. Failing to pursue prosecutution of big banks for robo-signing (see Insight: Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks);
  57. Negotiating a free trade agreement, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership: "TPP has been under negotiation for three years and, unlike in past trade negotiations, Congress has been denied access by the executive branch to the draft agreement text. The few TPP texts that have leaked suggest that TPP would not only replic ate the job - offshoring investor protections of NAFTA but expand on them while also undermining Buy American procurement policy, imported food safety rules and medicine price containment policies" (source); see also this;
  58. Making permanent the Bush tax cuts for incomes up to $400,000 instead of $450,000, and other compromises in his rushed "fiscal cliff" deal of New Year's Day 2013 (Rep. Adam Smith says that this compromise made permanent 90% of Bush's tax cuts in return for just a two month delay before Republicans let sequestration kick in);
  59. Giving Shell Oil approval to drill beneath the Arctic Ocean off Alaska and blocking global action in Copenhagen and Durban (RootsAction);
  60. Selecting John Brennan as the nominee to head the CIA; see As Brennan Tapped for CIA, Case of Somali Detainees Highlights Obama’s Embrace of Secret Renditions;
  61. Praising Obama's Defense of Free Speech, NYT Leaves Much Unsaid "Let's begin with 'anti-American violence in the Muslim world.' Does it even approach the level of violence visited on Muslim countries by the U.S.? No. Not even close. It would have been good for the Times to mention this. It would also have been helpful if Cooper and the editors had explained that the U.S. actually has a horrendous record when it comes to supporting free-speech and democracy in the Muslim world";
  62. Loosening media ownership rules; see Obama Administration Seeks to Strengthen Rupert Murdoch;
  63. Nominating Jack Lew for Treasury Secretary (see Failure of Epic Proportions": Treasury Nominee Jack Lew’s Pro-Bank, Austerity, Deregulation Legacy);
  64. Nominating Ernest Minz for secretary of energy; see Energy Nominee Ernest Moniz Criticized for Backing Fracking & Nuclear Power; Ties to BP, GE, Saudis;`:w
  65. Appealing a federal judge's ruling that lifted age restrictions on the morning-after pill (see Women's health groups slam Obama administration's decision to appeal morning-after pill ruling);
  66. Nominating Tom Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry, to run the FCC (see Uh-Oh: AT&T and Comcast Are Ecstatic About the FCC’s New Chairman); and
  67. Nominating "the anti-union, fraudulent-banking Billionaire, Penny Pritzker, to be Secretary of Commerce."

Whereas the President's centrism, his failure to lead, and his unwillingness to decisively break with conservative policies and framing have confused the voters and allowed our opponents to portray the Democrats as servants of the rich and the powerful; and

Whereas the President's unsatisfactory leadership stifles hope, divides the Party, and contributed to the "shellacking" of Democrats in the midterm elections; and

Whereas Democratic voter turnout in 2012 is likely to be low, as it was in 2010, due to President Obama's centrism;

Whereas the fact that Republicans are worse is an unacceptable excuse; and

Whereas ignoring his failures just because the President is a Democrat would amount to tacit complicity in injustice: we must hold him accountable to prevent future wrongdoing; and

Whereas Preseident Obama has said, "We must form grass-root structures that would hold me and other elected officials more accountable for their actions" ; and

Whereas hiding our heads in the sand and pretending, for the sake of party unity, that all is well is counter-productive, since people will abandon the Democratic Party if they perceive that its members compromise their principles in order to win elections;

Therefore we express extreme sadness and disappointment at President Obama's repeated betrayals of Democratic ideals and ask the President to pursue more populist and progressive policies that will benefit all Americans. (Editor's note: a better option is for President Obama to withdraw and allow a stronger Dem to run in his place -- Aug, 2011)

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