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Don’t overlook spendthrift ways; John A. Lovra; Beaver County Times; October 13, 2010.
If we can use 2004 & 2008 as a guide, we can expect a flurry of pre-election letters from Mr. Lovra. From September 30 through October 11, 2004, Mr. Lovra treated us to six anti-Bush letters (here, here, here, here, here, and here). In none of those letters did Mr. Lovra tell us why to vote for Mr. Kerry. For 2008, Mr. Lovra wrote two anti-McCain/Palin letters (here and here). Other than the nebulous “change,” Mr. Lovra still never told us why to vote for Messrs. Obama and Biden.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I have been hearing reports that President Barack Obama’s policies are failing. In her Oct. 4 letter, Pat Bosh stated he ‘over promised and under delivered.’
“One area that he is blamed for is the high national debt, so let’s examine that one point.”
[RWC] I haven’t heard anyone blame Mr. Obama for our high national debt. The complaint is the debt is increasing during the Obama administration at a ridiculous rate as you’ll see below. When you read Mr. Lovra’s letter, you’ll find he provides debt data for the administrations of Messrs. Bush #1, Clinton, and Bush #2 but does not do the same for Mr. Obama. You’ll see the reason below.
“If you look at the 20 years prior to Obama taking office, we had a Republican president for 12 years and a Democratic one for eight.
“Ronald Reagan added $1.692 trillion to the debt.”
[RWC] You’ll find the debt data in this letter is pretty close to being correct, though it’s a tad overstated for Messrs. Bush and a tad understated for Mr. Clinton. You’ll find Mr. Lovra doesn’t provide debt figures for Mr. Obama.
“This increased by $1.587 trillion during George H.W. Bush’s one term.
“Bill Clinton increase [sic] the debt by $1.122 trillion in his first term, but only $418 billion in his second, while balancing the budget for the first time in 20 years.”
[RWC] Actually, the balanced budget of the Republican-majority Congress and the Clinton administration was the first in 29 years.
“George W. Bush increased the debt a whopping $4.897 trillion, $3.014 trillion in his second term.
“Now, because Obama’s polices haven’t succeeded in lowering the debt in 18 months while dealing with the wars and recession inherited from Bush, he has failed?”
[RWC] I’m sure it was an honest oversight <g>, but while Mr. Lovra noted the “recession inherited from Bush,” he failed to note Mr. Bush inherited a recession that started during the Clinton administration. As for the wars, Mr. Obama is following the Bush administration strategy for Iraq and Mr. Obama escalated involvement in Afghanistan.
I noted above Mr. Lovra didn’t provide debt figures for Mr. Obama as he did for the previous four presidents. That’s because debt increased $1.9 trillion during Mr. Obama’s first year and his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimates the debt will increase another $1.9 trillion by the end of 2010, for a two-year total of $3.8 trillion.
“It is clear that policies enacted by Reagan and continued under the two Bush presidencies didn’t work. Give Obama 18 months to turn things around.”
[RWC] You’ll note Mr. Lovra didn’t detail the failed policies of Messrs. Reagan and the Bushes.
As for “Give Obama 18 months to turn things around,” Mr. Obama’s OMB projects increasing debt through at least 2015, for a total of $19.6 trillion, an increase of $9.7 trillion. That’s almost double the debt in only seven years. It’s also the same increase as the previous four administrations combined.
Finally, let’s go back to Mr. Lovra’s letter of 9/1/08. In that letter, Mr. Lovra asked, “Are you happy with high unemployment and massive home foreclosures?” When Mr. Lovra wrote that letter, unemployment was 5.7%. During the Obama administration, unemployment hit 10% and has been hovering around 9.6% for months. The foreclosure rate throughout the Obama administration has been higher than when Mr. Lovra wrote his letter.
Mr. Lovra also asked, “Are you happy with our health care system?” Currently, a significant majority of people want Obamacare repealed.
Mr. Lovra also asked, “Do you like gas prices over $4 per gallon?” The Obama administration placed a moratorium on oil/gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. How does that help with gasoline prices?
Mr. Lovra also asked, “Are you in agreement with our policies in Iraq and Afghanistan?” As I noted above, Mr. Obama is following the Bush administration strategy for Iraq and Mr. Obama escalated involvement in Afghanistan.
Finally, did you note Mr. Lovra didn’t mention the Obama policies he likes?
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