Ladies and Gentlemen, the Obameter
Fascinating article posted on Yahoo! today regarding a new movement by news outlets like the St. Petersburg (FL) Times and the National Journal to keep track of President Obama’s progress on the fulfillment certain promises. This mechanism of sorts, called the “Obameter”, is essentially a checklist of the over 500 promises Obama made over his campaign, many of which are realized as non-pragmatic even in his own camp. The article also offers a theory as to why politicians go back on their promises: to paraphrase, smart politicians will realize the folly and long term future detriments of certain promises that got them in office and do not follow them. It is my hope that Obama realizes this about some of his own policies (see massive government healthcare program, stimulus package consisting largely of funds spent towards unknown causes, etc). Article.
