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The emperor has no clothes

Dear Editor:

The president expounds for many years how he has the “most transparent administration,” and then he hands us Fast and Furious, Benghazi and the drone memos.

In his speeches, he talks about budget constraints and deficit reductions, but his actions produce the greatest level of spending since George Washington and the greatest percentage of citizens on the government dole, all with continuing resolutions since 2009.



He reports that the Taliban is in decline and greatly diminished; then we hear about “clerical errors” in the collection of data to support it.

He wants to continue “investment” in infrastructure rebuilding as part of even more stimulus plans. Then we remember that last plan, those memorable “shovel-ready projects.” (And that reminds me of that other knee-slapper by one of his colleagues, “You have to pass the bill in order to see what’s in it.”)




He fawns over his cronies in the Senate along with his legions of union supporters handing out reams of waivers to skirt laws (see “Cornhusker Kickback” and “Louisiana Purchase”). That is until now, when faced with mandated spending changes, he is quick to tout all the teachers, firefighters, FDA inspectors, TSA workers and White House janitors he’ll throw under the bus.

How about all that lofty rhetoric about closing the doors to lobbyists; no more influence peddling, but all the while, his peeps were offering waivers, so-called “recusals” and now outright selling access to the Oval Office for a cool $500,000 check (see The New York Times, Feb. 25).

His proposed budget for 2013 included some $50 million in cutbacks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for children’s’ vaccinations, and all you hear is crickets. But when the “sequestration” cuts $30 million, it hits the front-page news and is all the Republicans’ fault.

Meanwhile, when we need a leader to get his rear behind the desk in the Oval Office and get to a solution for government spending, no, he’s on the tour bus Air Force One, whipping up his base into a frenzy of doom and gloom for a 2 percent budget change, when there’s something like $45 billion in unspent cash in the coffers right now.

You just can’t make this stuff up. Is this the hope and change you voted for?

Rich Wontor

Basalt