Is McCain more of the same with Bush? No. Actually, it is Obama who is more of the same with Bush. The similarities are amazing. I listed a lot of those in a previous blog post titled MORE OF THE SAME. In that post, I traced the early years and the personality similarities between the Bush and Obama. Now we come to the political side.
You ask: How can they be alike on the political side? Well, surprises never end. Let’s take a look at how they arrived on the scene and what experience they each had. Of course, when it came to executive experience, Bush did have the edge there since Obama had zero in that category. So there is a great similarity, one that needs not to be repeated.
How does their platforms line up:
Information taken from the 2000 Bush platform:
• Foreign Affairs: Bush promised a humble foreign policy with no nation building. (This, of course, was before 9/11.) Bringing our troops home and stop deploying them.
Obama claims the same thing but is faced with more problems in foreign affairs than Bush prior to 9/11. He has said repeatedly that he will bring the troops home from Iraq. However, he seems to have had to make a course correction and now says he will send them to Afghanistan instead and has stated that he will attack Pakistan.
• Economy: Bush promised tax breaks for all. Obama promises the same thing, only he wishes to go about it just exactly opposite and tax those who pay the most taxes and give to those who pay no taxes. Overall, the plan is the same and the rhetoric is the same: Tax breaks for those who pay, or maybe it’s don’t pay in Obama’s case, but both promised tax breaks. Of course, we have to take into consideration that Obama has also promised tax hikes, so the similarity there ends.
• Education: policy named No Child Left Behind: This was a Bush plan and hooked up with Ted Kennedy to expand it and get it passed. It is another failed program from the 60s, IMHO, yet Obama embraces such a plan and wants to increase the size of it.
• Energy: The Bush campaign supports a comprehensive energy reform bill which includes initiatives for energy conserving technologies as well as decreasing the foreign dependence on oil. Obama claims the same goals but refuses to understand what T. Boone Pickens is talking about when he says DRILL DRILL until the technology comes into being to replace the oil we produce in the U.S. Still the goal is the same, but so far no real means to achieve this has come forth from Obama’s camp and Bush had no other real plan other than perhaps using what we had in the way of oil and other fossil fuels to get us through until other forms developed.
• Redesign of military: Both announced a plan to do this but in totally opposite directions. One wanted to increase our strength, Obama wants to destroy our strength, but both still advocate redesign of the military.
• As far as the 2004 platform we found that Bush was calling for an easier Immigration plan : Obama calls for the same today.
• Strengthening Our Communities … because our children deserve to grow up in an America in which all their hopes and dreams can come true. This is a direct statement from the GOP 2004 platform and is in direct unison with Obama’s stand today.
• On the family:
A choice between strength and uncertainty.
A choice between results and rhetoric.
A choice between optimism and pessimism.
A choice between opportunity and dependence.
A choice between freedom and fear.
And a choice between moving forward and turning back.
The 2004 Republican Party Platform makes clear:
We choose strength.
We choose results.
We choose optimism.
We choose opportunity.
We choose freedom.
If one actually reads this and then hears what Obama has repeated over an over, one has to wonder if he actually took this rhetoric directly from the GOP 2004 Platform. It sure sounds like George Bush, so more of the same, it seems, is in order.
The similarities do not stop there so…
Here is a bit more: Obama has zero foreign policy experience and neither did Bush. For me that is not a good omen in this day and time. However there is a very great likeness in this field. George Bush picked Dick Cheney as his VP, a man who was a powerhouse in foreign affairs and has had the most influence over foreign policy of any VP in history. Obama picks Joe Biden, another individual with knowledge of foreign affairs and who, like Cheney, would be a strong influence and strong voice in foreign affairs.
So far, we don’t know a lot about who Obama would have in his cabinet and, of course, that will not be announced until after the election.
What we do see is there is more likeness between Barack Hussein Obama and George W. Bush than there is in John S. McCain and George W. Bush.
The left does not want to be shown the likeness and can only rant against Bush’s policies and claim that McCain is more of the same, but when the facts are laid out on the table, it is Obama who is more of the same. Those who think the economy is in bad shape today, which is actually a media perceived situation rather than reality, will find that given Obama’s desire to grow the government as Bush has done will really bring the economy below where it is perceived today. Both these individuals had great ideas and plans but no real way to attain the lofty goals. I say that Obama is more of the same while McCain is actually the change that is needed. It is in reduced spending that change will come, not increased government interference and more of the same failed 60s programs being proposed.
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