Do We Value Truthfulness?

I’ve heard a lot of people say, “I’ve heard Barack Obama say…” and we have all heard him say a lot of things. How do I judge what a man says? I would simply like to trust what people say to me, but I think we have all been lied to and what do we do when someone lies to us? Do we simply decide to believe the liar or do we learn something from the lie that was told to us?

I believe that people want to believe our leaders. We want to give them the benefit of the doubt unless they have been proven to lie. The danger with a man like Barack Obama who has never actually accomplished anything and who runs on a bunch of promises is that we don’t have much of a record to look at. So, the question is, if we are going to possibly make this man the most powerful man on the face of the earth, is he honest? Can we trust Barack Obama to do what he says he will do?

Let’s look at just a couple of small things. Number one, Senator Obama said that he would take public funding for his campaign if John McCain would pledge to do so. John McCain, who has been a champion of campaign finance reform, pledged to take public funding. This means that funds available for the McCain campaign would be limited to $80,000,000 for the campaign and the idea is that both candidates would have the same money to run on so people would not get a barrage from one and not from the other. It evens the playing field if both candidates stick to it. John McCain agreed to it and so did Barack Obama. However, once he had McCain agree, Obama decided not to be a man of his word. McCain, even though he knew it would put him at a disadvantage, stuck to his word and Barack Obama DID NOT. He lied in order to suck McCain into a deal which he knew would put McCain at a severe disadvantage. In the last debate when confronted about this, Obama did not bat an eye. He did not apologize for the lie, he simply justified himself and moved on.

Why is this important? Well if all we have is words, it’s important to know if the words are true.

He said that William Ayers was only a man who happened to live in his neighborhood. Is that true? No, it’s not true. William Ayers is a man that is documented to be a person that Obama has had a 20 year relationship with. He helped form a foundation with Mr. Ayers and in fact, Barack Obama launched his political life from the living room of William Ayers who happens to be an unrepentant terrorist. For the purposes of this blog, I don’t care about the character of Mr. Ayers. I do care about the character of Mr. Obama. Why did he feel the need to lie?

Why is this important? Well if all we have is words, it’s important to know if the words are true.

When asked about his pastor of 20 years who was spouting anti-American sentiments from the pulpit. Mr. Obama said that this man who was his pastor for 20 or more years, married he and his wife, baptized his children. A man who he sat under his teaching for at least 2 Sundays a month for 20 years, Mr. Obama says he was not much of an influence on his life. He was just a pastor that had relationships in the neighborhoods Mr. Obama was working in as a community organizer. But in fact Mr. Obama titled his book after the title of the book that his pastor wrote.

Why is this important? Well if all we have is words, it’s important to know if the words are true.

Now there are many more examples of things Mr. Obama seems to have lied about, but these suffice. All we hear are words. Mr. Obama says that he will lower taxes. Can we believe that when it would seem that he says one thing when it’s convenient and then does the opposite as in taking public funds for the campaign. His pledge didn’t seem to matter when the rubber met the road and he wondered why we cared that he didn’t live up to his promise as if we should not expect him to keep his word. When examining the record, Mr. Obama has never EVER voted for a tax reduction. Why should we expect him to do so now? In fact when he says 95% of all working Americans will receive a tax break. Economists say this is virtually impossible. But Mr. Obama wouldn’t lie. Would he? Maybe he would.

He says he is not a socialist and yet when you read his own book he prides himself on picking friends who are “communists”. He says you have to be careful to pick your friends right and he was always fascinated with the socialist and communist view. He says he has no relationships with terrorists and yet he is supported by the former spokesman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and many shady characters which seem to have backed his campaign from terrorist nations. But he wouldn’t lie would he? He lied about Mr. Ayers and his relationship with his former pastor, so would he?

The question at hand is this: if all we have are promises, can we trust the man who promised. One careful look at McCain says he is consistently a man of his word. Once careful look at Mr. Obama says he has made many questionable statements (lies). I can’t trust him. Can you?

Until Later,

Don