On the occasion of President Obama’s first 100 days in office, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) highlights five memorable quotations from the Obama Administration:
“What it does not contain, however, is a single pet project, not a single earmark, and it has been stripped of the projects members of both parties found most objectionable.”
— On Feb. 9, President Obama characterizes a stimulus bill that contains over 9,000 earmarks as not containing “a single earmark”
“As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President’s Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets, not because I believe in bigger government — I don’t — not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited — I am.”
— On February 24, Obama makes his first address to a joint session of Congress and claims he does not believe in “bigger government”. Two days later he releases his budget outline which dramatically increases the scope of the federal government.
“I want to underscore that one of the mistakes governments have made over time in dealing with economic crises is putting the brakes on too quickly or in ways that hurt growth just as it’s starting to take hold. We just want to be careful not to do that.”
— On March 12, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner admits that tax hikes “hurt growth” — while ducking questions as to whether Obama’s planned tax hikes would go into effect in 2011 regardless of the condition of the economy
“I don’t know if the President is aware of the events.”
— Robert Gibbs on April 14, in response to a question about the nationwide “tax day tea parties” attended by at least 578,000 people in hundreds of cities nationwide.
“I’m not making jokes about it. I’m being completely sincere that only in Washington, D.C. is $100 million not a lot of money. It is where I’m from. It is where I grew up. And I think it is for hundreds of millions of Americans.”
— Robert Gibbs on April 20, attempting to defend the paltry sum of proposed budget cuts by Obama: $100 million, which is less than 0.003% of Obama’s FY 2010 budget and less than one day of interest on the “stimulus” bill