Patterico's Pontifications

5/30/2014

Obama’s Hypocrisy in His 2009 Speech to Veterans: The Hypocrisy You’ve Heard About . . . and the Hypocrisy You Haven’t

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:14 pm



You may remember this Obama quote from 2009:

Today, I can announce that we’re taking another step. I have directed my Chief Performance Officer, my Chief Technology Officer and my Chief Information Officer to join with Secretary Shinseki in a new reform effort. We’re launching a new competition to capture the very best ideas of our VA employees who work with you every day.

We’re going to challenge each of our 57 regional VA offices to come up with the best ways of doing business, harnessing the best information technologies, breaking through the bureaucracy.

And then we’re going to fund the best ideas and put them into action. All with a simple mission—cut those backlogs, slash those wait times and deliver your benefits sooner. I know, you’ve heard this for years. But with the leadership and resources we’re providing, I know we can do this. And that is our mission.

Taken together, these investments represent an historic increase in our commitment to America’s veterans—a 15 percent increase over last year’s funding levels and the largest increase in the VA budget in more than 30 years. And over the next five years we’ll invest another $25 billion more.

These are major investments, and these are difficult times. Fiscal discipline demands that we make hard decisions—sacrificing certain things we cannot afford. But let me be clear. America’s commitments to its veterans are not just lines in a budget. They are bonds that are sacrosanct—a sacred trust we are honor bound to uphold. And we will.

Flashbacks are a bitch, aren’t they?

Yes, you’ve probably already been reminded of that speech. But here’s what you may not remember. That quote above is from a speech that Obama delivered on August 17, 2009 to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix. Here is what else he told the vets:

Already, I’ve put an end to unnecessary no-bid contracts. I signed bipartisan legislation to reform defense procurement so weapons systems don’t spin out of control. And even as we increase spending on the equipment and weapons our troops do need, we have proposed cutting tens of billions of dollars in waste we don’t need.

Think about it. Hundreds of millions of dollars for an alternate second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter—when one reliable engine will do just fine. Nearly two billion dollars to buy more F-22 fighter jets when we can move ahead with a fleet of newer, more affordable aircraft. Tens of billions of dollars to put an anti-missile laser on a fleet of vulnerable 747s.

And billions of dollars for a new presidential helicopter. Maybe you heard about this. Among other capabilities, it would let me cook a meal while under nuclear attack. I’ll tell you something. If the United States of America is under nuclear attack, the last thing on my mind will be whipping up a snack.

It’s simple enough. Cut the waste. Save taxpayer dollars. Support the troops. . . . [I]f Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with that kind of waste, I will veto it.

Tough talk. And equally ironic in view of actual events. From earlier this month — May 9, 2014 — we get this story: Obama’s New Helicopter Fleet Could Cost $20 Billion:

The Pentagon has awarded a contract to begin development of the most expensive helicopters ever made.

Each helicopter will probably cost at least $400 million. The entire project, to build at least 23 helicopters, has been estimated to eventually cost between $10 billion to $17 billion. By comparison, the project could pay the combined defense budgets of Finland, Norway, and Sweden for one year ($16.9 billion).

The passengers for this enormously expensive helicopter fleet? The President of the United States and his entourage.

. . . .

The president’s helicopters must have a full suite of defensive countermeasures to throw off the targeting and guidance systems of missiles. They must be “hardened” against the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear blast that could fry electronics and knock out everything from smartphones to helicopters.

Yes: the electronics must be hardened against a nuclear blast, so that you can still run helicopters, smartphones . . . and of course all your basic kitchen items, so you can whip up a meal.

This man is utterly shameless.

57 Responses to “Obama’s Hypocrisy in His 2009 Speech to Veterans: The Hypocrisy You’ve Heard About . . . and the Hypocrisy You Haven’t”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. The government is here to help us.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  3. this word invest

    You keep using that word, food stamp. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  4. the life of whatever whore is the acting US president at any given time is simply not worth 17 billion dollars

    I don’t care who you are

    so just pick a decent vice president and keep it real

    this means you, food stamp

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  5. That really is surreal.

    JD (e5a0fa)

  6. But will the hardening be sufficient to facilitate cake baking?

    Colonel Haiku (1be348)

  7. Obama continues in his role as POTUS and there’s not an unjaundiced eye in the house. That’s why they call it “acting”!

    Colonel Haiku (1be348)

  8. Let’s not forget to hold the next President as accountable, regardless of party affiliation. Or the members of Congress. Sometimes we forget that we do have some power.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  9. The worst part is I’ve internalized the style of this man’s speech. I know where he would have paused for applause, the hand gestures, and the cadence he would have used. I can hear it.

    Ok, maybe that’s not the worst part because he plans on spending $20B on a helicopter fleet to ensure he can get a grilled cheese sammy during armageddon.

    I’ve got a Mr. Heater Big Buddy and a few propane bottles to make it through nuclear winter and he gets a $400 mil helo?

    Yes, I know he’s the Preezy. Still, it’s pretty bad and I want it to stop.

    Steve57 (61329d)

  10. Yes, I know he’s the Preezy. Still, it’s pretty bad and I want it to stop.

    Steve57 (61329d) — 5/30/2014 @ 11:32 pm

    Word. I don’t mind covering the guy- after all, he is The Most Powerful Man in the World- but really, 400M for a helicopter? He can’t get along on one for 250M, one that doesn’t have the leather seats and a refrigerator for his Wagyu beef?

    I bet the Chinese could build him one for considerably less.

    Bill H (f9e4cd)

  11. you know – and I know you know – this whole “US President” thing is starting to get just kinda stupid and cheesy

    in fact this whole “America” thing is more than a little past the ex-date and I think if you looked inside and asked your inner voice about this that, yes, you’d agree with this assertion

    and then we could get a pint of strawberries and put them on the stove and scrabble them around and then shoovle them through a strainer

    easy enough, right?

    then we can commingle the resultant strawberry confitconcoctionreductionadmixture with…

    wait for it…

    absolut peppar with a black pepper rim!

    and that would be the bestest way to start the summer I think

    if nothing else it would make for a good baseline we might can try and top next year

    oh like you have a better idea

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  12. But will the hardening be sufficient to facilitate cake baking?

    Colonel Haiku (1be348) — 5/30/2014 @ 9:59 pm

    As a cost cutting measure, we could find a swap-meet sourced Easy-Bake Oven.

    Bill H (f9e4cd)

  13. Easy-Bake Ovens spew carbon like Peter King spews lust for young boys

    it’s a VERY real problem

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  14. Easy-Bake Ovens spew carbon like Peter King spews lust for young boys

    it’s a VERY real problem

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/31/2014 @ 12:52 am

    You do know the heat source for one of those was a 100 watt bulb? Not much carbon output there, my happy friend. Also, it’s Hairy Reid, not Peter King. Get your AoSHQ memes straightened out.

    Bill H (f9e4cd)

  15. But here’s what you may not remember.

    Unless the lickspittle media details it all out for the LIVs to read and understand, in effect, nothing happened.

    Blacque Jacques Shellacque (d3cdd0)

  16. This emperor dares us all to regard his naked body and remark upon it. When we do, we are racist.

    His Ju-Jitsu is as effective as he needs it to be.

    Fellow Star Trek: TNG afficianados – we are very much in Picard’s predicament when he was prisoner (Chain of Command I, II). We see four lights and the world demands we see five.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  17. if not which sports are more popular than cricket thereI was surprised to learn from my doctor that cleaning my ears with Q tips was really not a good idea at all. Even though I was always careful not to push them into my ear too far I was cleaning the inside of my ears. Having the inside of your ears cleaned should be left to a medical professional that can actually see inside your ear while they are cleaning it.. Instead they back up, fester and contribute further to the problem. Many people w

    cheap nike free run uk (62d23f)

  18. i will substitute soda water for the booze,happyfeet. Being able to watch the democrats implode on president shit for brains will be the best summah evah.

    mg (31009b)

  19. hey Mr Feets!

    are you a moron too? (see #14)

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  20. As the second most tech savvy person in government behind AlGore……. one would wish that he would discover the Cisco Telepresence like VTC suites and push an initiative for world leaders to use compatible equipment. The amount of money it would save on traveling, security costs and AF1 costs would be very significant.
    The sad truth is that most politicians would prefer the veterans do their last patriotic duty by hurrying up and dying. 15 years from now when the number of VA recipients is much lower due to the military cuts over the past 20 years you can bet some clown will claim they solved the VA wait times.

    vor2 (58243b)

  21. Bring back the firing squad.

    mg (31009b)

  22. …..and don’t forget the Presidential buses! How many times has he used his? Twice?

    MayBee (846936)

  23. Why would you take a bus when you can take a billion dollar helicopter?

    JD (eb5cbd)

  24. No that was Kate Upton’s uncle, Fred, who washed away, more than a hundred years of Edison’s work

    narciso (3fec35)

  25. With friends like Barack Obama, our vets don’t need foreign enemies.

    ropelight (8c93a2)

  26. Do you think Kate Upton made it big because of her uncle Fred’s connections or was it
    her acting talent?

    elissa (ee6233)

  27. Regrettably, Obama’s words say a lot more about us than any of them say about him. Simply put, that we (or enough Americans) allowed him to enter the White House in 2008-2009 (in spite of how easy it was to know how disreputable he was well before the election) and to be returned to that same place in 2012 (in spite of how easy it was to know how disreputable he is) is a reflection of our own socio-political corruption and decline.

    Mark (99b8fd)

  28. As Stalin said, “It’s not important who votes, it’s only important who counts the votes.”

    ropelight (8c93a2)

  29. Ah, yet another concrete example that all Obama promises comes with expiration dates.

    J.P. (bd0246)

  30. Then there’s Ezra Klein on the VA:

    “If you ordered America’s different health systems worst-functioning to best, it would look like this: individual insurance market, employer-based insurance market, Medicare, Veterans Health Administration.”

    Instapundit

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  31. Probably been pointed out that the LINK button kinda works now, although you have to close the A tag by hand. No STRIKE button. [Pale Moon 24.5.0(x64), Win7x64, Intel i7]

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  32. Ezra JournoLista Klein is so brain-jarringly stupid and profoundly ignorant that it is a daily miracle when he makes it through a day

    JD (eb5cbd)

  33. What happens when the strike button goes on strike?

    It is all good (vintage Commodore 64, basic, 6502)

    felipe (098e97)

  34. IBD editorial, Investors.com, today re Obama’s constant campaigning, the latest suggesting his sights set on U.N. 2017. One scary combination if Hillary, heaven forbid, becomes queen and Obama gets himself instilled into the U.N.

    Judy Eaton (9d1bb3)

  35. I dunno, Judy. This sounds below “his” paygrade.

    felipe (098e97)

  36. Obama should go for teh hat trick and resign.

    Colonel Haiku (2c96b3)

  37. Judy, my personal preference for 2017 would be for him to be “retired” from public life, playing golf everyday in Hawaii and having his autobiography about his presidency ghost written.

    elissa (ee6233)

  38. What are the odds that big O retires to HI, declares hisself a native,
    and demands to head the “new” govmt?

    felipe (098e97)

  39. I wonder how accurate the following is. Knowing Obama (and give the National Enquirer for being accurate about John Edwards, Jesse Jackson, Rush Limbaugh and a few other public figures), it’s probably more correct than not.

    Meanwhile, The ENQUIRER has learned the first couple plans to live nearly 5,000 miles apart when their days at the White House come to an end. Obama reportedly plans to settle in his native Hawaii, where his presidential library and political center will be located. Sources say he’ll live with his longtime pal Bobby Titcomb, who was busted for soliciting a prostitute in 2011. Michelle will remain in Wash­ington, D.C., until the couple’s youngest daughter Sasha, 12, finishes high school. Daughter Malia, 15, is a high school sophomore.

    Mark (99b8fd)

  40. I guess there aren’t any good schools in HI; but more likely, she just doesn’t like the atmosphere there.
    It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there!

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  41. (vintage Commodore 64, basic, 6502)

    Don’t laugh. I used an Atari 800 and a 300 bps acoustic modem to access Compuserve back in ’79.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  42. elissa, my personal preference would be for Obama to be DNC Chair or any other Democrat Party position requiring competence.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  43. Twitchy just linked to DWS’s twitter account; DWS apparently sobered up and deleted the selfie.

    But the internet is forever.

    http://redalertpolitics.com/2014/05/17/picture-debbie-wasserman-schultz-will-haunt-dreams/

    Content alert: what is once seen cannot be unseen.

    Steve57 (61329d)

  44. I am sure that lovely selfie photo of Ms Wasserman Schultz will never appear in an
    opponent’s campaign ad. Never.

    elissa (ee6233)

  45. Such competence!

    Steve57 (61329d)

  46. Kevin, if the job of DNC chair requires competence, what’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz doing in it?

    Perhaps it further speaks to the slim pickings…

    Dana (a17707)

  47. IBD editorial, Investors.com, today re Obama’s constant campaigning, the latest suggesting his sights set on U.N. 2017. One scary combination if Hillary, heaven forbid, becomes queen and Obama gets himself instilled into the U.N.

    The UN would seem to be more of a Bill Clinton gig… International audience and all. And if Hill were also president, they would be like Rulers of the Universe or something .

    Dana (a17707)

  48. Kevin, if the job of DNC chair requires competence, what’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz doing in it?

    Place holding!

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  49. Further to Obama’s hypocrisy: Weasel Zippers reminds us that Barack Obama was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

    http://weaselzippers.us/187840-obama-was-on-veterans-affairs-committee-from-2005-2008-yet-still-feigns-ignorance-of-problems/

    Let’s see him keep trying that “I just found about this from the news and nobody is madder than me” schtick.

    Steve57 (61329d)

  50. In fact, he was a sub-committee chairman, who never called a meeting of his sub-committee in the two years prior to announcing his campaign for the Presidency (it was brought up during the campaign).

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  51. no sweet dreams in that
    teh Debbie Poodleman Schultz
    will haunt my nightmares

    Colonel Haiku (a2ae70)

  52. I believe that there’s another DWS selfie up over at Powerline’s This Week In Pictures.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  53. We’re going to challenge each of our 57 regional VA offices to come up with the best ways of doing business, harnessing the best information technologies, breaking through the bureaucracy.

    Ah! One VA office per state!

    J.P. (bd0246)

  54. Ah! One VA office per state!

    Makes sense. I’ve got a jar of coffee from an upstart (as opposed to start-up) company, whose marketing blurb claims that “we’ve traveled to all 51 states marketing our products”, and I’m left wondering whether they’re counting DC, or whether they visited the same state twice and didn’t realise it.

    Milhouse (b95258)

  55. We’re going to challenge each of our 57 regional VA offices to come up with the best ways of doing business, harnessing the best information technologies, breaking through the bureaucracy.

    Garbage In, Garbage Out.

    Sammy Finkelman (8cd742)

  56. What is the difference between Obama and any tin-pot african dicator or Detroit mayor?

    They all use our money to live like pimps. And they should all be in jail for it.

    Smarty (efeb5a)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0960 secs.