Obama is Bush on Steroids

If you hated George W. Bush as President and you love Barack H. Obama as a President, I’m not sure exactly why. Perhaps it’s because one is a Democrat and the other is a Republican even though that’s not a good reason. They have their obvious differences, but their similarities are striking especially on some large issues. Here is a list of how Obama is similar to Bush or Bush on steroids:   

1. Increase in Spending:  Under President George W. Bush’s reign the Federal Government spent liberally. His last year in office the Federal Government’s outlays were $2.982 trillion. This year under Obama the projected outlays are $3.795 trillion. (Bush on Steroids)

2. Debt:  The total debt in 8 years under the Bush Presidency was $4.9 trillion. Under Obama the debt has increased by about $5.6 trillion in almost 4 years. (Bush on Steroids)

3. Increase in Size of Government:  The number of Federal Employees grew by 53,000, under President George W. Bush and by 123,000, or 6.2%, under President Obama. (Bush on Steroids)

4. Unemployment:  Unemployment levels under Bush were subpar. The lowest level was 4.2% and the highest 7.3% when he left office. Bush instituted tax cuts after the first recession in 2001 and that helped lower the unemployment rate from 6.3% to 4.4%, but a severe recession struck in 2008 and the unemployment rate rose. Under Obama the unemployment level rose to 10%, largely due to the financial and housing crisis in 2008, and has bottomed out at 7.8% in September of 2012. The rate is currently 7.9% and Obama has been unable to return them near normal levels. (-)

5. War:  George W. Bush started two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barack Obama started two wars, one in Libya and a covert drone war in Yemen in addition to continuing the war in Afghanistan. (Mini George)

6. Guantanamo Bay:  Guantanamo Bay was open under Bush and is open under Obama despite Obama’s promise to close it in one year. He received the Nobel Peace Prize and stated that Gitmo would be closed, but it still isn’t. (Same)

7. Immigration:  George Bush and Barack Obama both failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform. In fact the issue was largely ignored during both Presidencies. (Same)

8. Patriot Act:  The Patriot Act was signed into Law under Bush and Obama signed the Patriot Act extension despite Obama criticizing the Bill in the past. (Same)

9. Healthcare:  George W. Bush expanded Federal Government Healthcare with Medicare Part D. The program cost $62 billion in 2010. Under Obama the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed (also known as ObamaCare). ObamaCare is projected to cost $1.674 trillion over the 9-year span from 2014 through 2022. That is an average of $186 billion per year. The cost will probably even be more than these projections assume. (Bush on Steroids)

10. Regulation:  If you love regulation, you’ll love George Bush and Barack Obama. In Bush’s first term, regulations increased by 4.4%. The first three years of Obama’s one term, regulations increased by 7.3% or a total of 11,327 pages. This does not even include the ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank regulations. (Bush on Steroids)

11. Bush Tax Cuts:  The Bush Tax Cuts were extended under Obama. (Same)

12. Czars:  Both President Bush and Obama greatly surpassed any other President’s usage of Czars. (Same)

13. Drone Usage:  Obama has already authorized 283 strikes in Pakistan, six times more than the number during President George W. Bush's eight years in office. As a result, the number of estimated deaths from the Obama administration's drone strikes is more than four times what it was during the Bush administration -- somewhere between 1,494 and 2,618. (Bush on Steroids)

14. Rendition:  Rendition - The CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program consists of seizing "terror suspects," detaining them without warrant or trial, and sending them offshore to outsource their "interrogation" to third world countries where they are tortured for information and confessions. Torture was one of the big criticisms faced by the Bush Administration, and in February 2009, the Obama Administration wasted no time in quietly retaining the practice of rendition. (Same)

15. Afghanistan Troop Casualties:  During the Bush presidency, which ended on Jan. 20, 2009 with the inauguration of President Obama, U.S. troops were present in Afghanistan for 87.4 months and suffered 570 casualties—a rate of 6.5 deaths per month. During the Obama presidency, through today, U.S. troops have been present in Afghanistan for 29.1 months and have suffered 970 casualties—a rate of 33.3 deaths per month. (Bush on Steroids)

16. Defense Spending:  Defense Spending Levels has only gone up during President Obama's first term from $616 billion under Bush in 2008 to $768 billion in 2011. (Bush on Steroids)

17. Habeas Corpus:  The Obama Administration also continued Bush's suspension of the long-standing legal tradition of habeas corpus, insisting that it has the right to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely without trial. (Same)

18. Post-Partisan President:  Despite promises of being a post-partisan president, Obama has tussled with Republicans and raised the rhetoric higher on healthcare and the economy, blaming them for trying to undermine his agenda despite having majorities in both the House and Senate for almost two years. Some say it's shades of former President Bush who also promised bipartisanship, but rarely made it work. (Bush on Steroids)

19. Transparency:  Amid promises of transparency, Obama is running secret wars a la Nixon and Bush. Today's Washington Post, for example, reveals that the administration, which arrived with plans to cut back on the wars, is expanding "a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups" in Yemen, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Also, why won’t Obama release many of his records? Furthermore, Obama promised to publish all non-emergency legislation to a website for five days before the President signs it, but then broke that promise over and over again. (Bush on Steroids)

20. Executive Orders:  Both Bush and Obama have issued executive orders, a lot of executive orders. Obama and the left accused Bush of running an “imperial presidency.” Then Obama came along and did the same thing as Bush. (Same)

21. Stimulus:  Bush passed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. The law provided for tax rebates to low- and middle-income U.S. taxpayers, tax incentives to stimulate business investment, and an increase in the limits imposed on mortgages eligible for purchase by government-sponsored enterprises (e.g., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The total cost of this bill was projected at $152 billion. Obama singed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The cost of the bill is a principal amount of $840 billion, and when adding interest owed, a total amount of $1.2 trillion. (Bush on Steroids)

22. Lobbyists:  Despite promising to keep lobbyists out of his administration, Obama broke his word again and again, making 17 exceptions to this promise in his first two weeks as president. Bush was also greatly influenced by lobbyists. (Same)

23. Earmarks:  Obama did a shameless 180 degree turn on earmarks by sharply criticizing them (and bragging that he would pass legislation without a single one) and then signing a spending bill with literally thousands of them. (Same)
24. Bailouts:  Bush authorized $13.4 billion in bailouts for General Motors and when Obama took office he authorized tens of billions more for Detroit. (Same)

25. Ben Bernanke:  Another continuation of Bush era economics, fiscal policy, and monetary policy: Obama's appointment of Ben Bernanke to another term as Fed Chair. (Same)

26. Dealing with Disasters:  Bush poorly handled the aftermath Hurricane Katrina. Obama poorly handled the aftermath of the Gulf Oil Spill. (Mini George)

27. Golf:  In just ten months as U.S. President, Obama has already played as much golf as George W. Bush did in his entire eight years in power. (Bush on Steroids)

28. Said Ridiculous Things:  I’m sure some of you are surprised at this category as you may have thought Obama never makes a speaking mistake, but you’d be wrong. He rivals Bush in his speaking gaffes.  

Bush:

1. "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." —Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000Name

2. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." —Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

3. "They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

4. "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

5. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

6. "We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." --Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

7. "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." --LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

Obama:

1. "I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go." --at a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon

2. "One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy Corpse-Man Christian Brossard." –mispronouncing "Corpsman" (the "ps" is silent) during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2010 (The Corpsman's name is also Christopher, not Christian)

3. "The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.”

4. "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems." –attempting to make the case for government-run healthcare, while simultaneously undercutting his own argument, Portsmouth, N.H., Aug. 11, 2009

5. "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." -- defending his tax plan to Joe the Plumber, who argued that Obama's policy hurts small-business owners like himself, Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 12, 2008

6. "What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith..." --in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos

7. "On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

ETC. ETC. ETC.

If you hated George W. Bush as a President than you should probably hate Barack Obama too.