We get a quite disingenuous/dishonest/outright lying 2012 campaign advertisement from President Barack Hussein Obama, the person who said his administration would have the most open and transparent administration in history. You know, the one that has no secrets.
Obama’s ad tells part of the truth, the part that favors him, just enough to fool Democrats and Obama Kool-Aid drinkers. In a campaign ad that is now running in Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin, he claims that his policies have promoted clean energy jobs and reduced the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, while enduring secretive unfounded attacks from the energy industry. And he even has the nerve to promote his ethics record. And all of this in a 30 second ad.
You can, if you have a very strong physical constitution, watch the ad here.
Let’s examine what Obama claims in the ad, then look at what Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story.”
- Claim: Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama — The Rest of the Story: The Oil & Gas industry in general, and the Koch brothers in particular, have been anything but secretive in their attacks on President Obama
- Claim: Implication that President Obama has created 2.7 million “clean energy industry” jobs — The Rest of the Story: The number 2.7 million came from a Brookings Institute report. The ad cites the report from the Brookings Institute (see page 4 of the report). That report says, “The clean economy, which employs some 2.7 million workers, encompasses a significant number of jobs in establishments spread across a diverse group of industries… Most clean economy jobs reside in mature segments that cover a wide swath of activities including manufacturing and the provision of public services such as wastewater and mass transit. A smaller portion of the clean economy encompasses newer segments that respond to energy-related challenges. These include the solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, fuel cell, smart grid, biofuel, and battery industries.  [all emphases mine]
The report says that the “clean economy establishments added half a million jobs between 2003 and 2010.” Obama was inaugurated in January, 2009, so his claim to any job created before he was inaugurated is a outright lie! Further, the report refers to “clean economy” jobs, not “clean energy” jobs. The great majority of the “clean economy” jobs are not in the “clean energy industry.” But as we have seen, Obama is quite adept at comparing apples and oranges.
Bottom line: Obama claims ANY job, regardless of its nature, to belong to the “clean energy industry,” and tries to claim that the “clean economy” and “clean industry” are the same thing!
- Claim: Implication that Obama played a role in the increase in US domestic oil production — The Rest of the Story: Most domestic oil production growth was worked up, leased, drilled and plumbed-up for production over the last decade or more, long before he was inaugurated. His policies have actually done just the opposite – they have reduced production. Increases in production have come from two sources:
- Fracking of shale in the Baaken field: despite the EPA’s efforts to stop fracking, the Baaken field continues to produce
- Gulf of Mexico: deepwater discoveries in the gulf that have been brought on line over the last three years were discovered years before Obama was inaugurated
- Claim: The US dependence on foreign oil is now below 50% — The Rest of the Story: While his claim may be true, the ad fails to explain why it is true: oil consumption is down because we remain in an economic recession/depression, something he promised to end if elected.
The ad says, “Independent watchdogs call this president’s record on ethics ‘unprecedented.'” The “unprecedented” line comes from a statement by a coalition of government watchdogs in 2009, just three months after Obama took office. It specifically referred to Obama’s promise to increase transparency and to end the “revolving door” of former lobbyists becoming presidential appointees. He kept neither promise.
The ad, filled with innuendos, assumptions, half-truths, and out-and-out lies, will play well with the dim-witted who will take President Barack Hussein Obama’s claims at face value, not bothering to do any kind of research and/or fact checking.
If this is his FIRST campaign ad, what can we expect as November approaches?
But that’s just my opinion.
