Politics

Obama says his policies are built on ‘kindness’

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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One day after a new poll showed that only a minority of Americans trust President Barack Obama, the president told an audience that his policies are based on kindness.

“Kindness covers all of my political beliefs,” Obama told his audience of wealthy investors, high-tech donors, journalists and fellow Democrats Tuesday, only two months after he slashed at GOP legislators, calling them arsonists, nuclear blackmailers, economic wreckers, hostage-takers, obsessives and irresponsible extremists.

“When I think about what I’m fighting for, what gets me up every single day, [kindness] captures it just about as much as anything,” he told his audience at the DreamWorks studio in Glendale, Calif., which he visited as part of a seven-stop fundraising trip.

“Kindness; empathy — that sense that I have a stake in your success,” said Obama, who told supporters during the November election “Don’t boo. Vote. Voting is the best revenge.”

Since Obama’s inauguration, the government’s debt owed by taxpayers has climbed by $7 trillion, the workforce participation rate has fallen from 65.7 in January 2009 to 62.8 percent in October, 2013, leaving roughly 9 million people on the sidelines, and Obama has pushed the Senate to pass a bill that would ensure the distribution of 30 million work permits and green-cards to foreigners during the next decade.

Also, during his first term, four U.S. civil servants were killed in Benghazi without any presidential intervention, inspectors at the Internal Revenue Service throttled regulatory approval for Tea Party activities, and justice department officials allowed hundreds of automatic guns to be sent to Mexican drug gangs.

The new poll by CNN and ORC, showed that “53% of Americans now believe that Obama is not honest and trustworthy.”

Only 46 percent of Americans think Obama is honest and trustworthy, down from 60 percent in January 2011, and 58 percent in May 2013, the poll showed.

That’s a critical loss, because his high level of trust helped persuade swing voters to support him — rather than the accomplished but un-empathetic business executive Mitt Romney — despite four years of high unemployment, huge deficits and slow economic growth. The loss will likely cripple his clout in Congress, and his ability to sway public opinion to his side during the last three years of his second term.

The one-quarter drop in his trustworthy score reflects the public’s recognition of Obama’s deceptive “you can keep your plan” Obamacare promises delivered in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

On Nov. 14, Obama admitted his deliberate deceptions, saying “My expectation was that for 98 percent of the American people, either it genuinely wouldn’t [eliminate their plans] at all, or they’d be pleasantly surprised with the [replacement plan] options in the marketplace, and that the [plan] grandfather clause would cover the rest,” he said.

In the last several weeks, at least 4 million Americans have been told that they cannot keep health insurance plans that don’t match Obama’s priorities. During the next year, many millions more plans will be cancelled, say experts.

Early this month, Obama claimed he had not made those promises, before he grudgingly apologized.

He made these promises more than 30 times.

Obama also told Americans falsely that they could keep their doctor once his national network was operational.

His deputies, including spokesman Jay Carney, claim that the health insurance companies are responsible for cancelled plans and a shrunken list of doctors.

Obama’s deceptions include other issues. For example, he has claimed several times during the last few weeks that the public supports the Senate’e far-reaching immigration plan. In fact, one poll reported that only two percent of Americans strongly support the large-scale importation of workers during a period of high unemployment. Others polls show that swing-voting moderates strongly oppose the Senate-type amnesty and immigration-boosting plans.

Throughout his DreamWorks speech, Obama placed his “kindness,” rather than the ability of Americans to govern their own lives, at the center of American political life

“I’m going to invest in infrastructure and building things like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hoover Dam and the Internet… because I’m investing for the next generation, not just this one,” he said benevolently.

“That’s what binds us together, and that’s how we’ve always moved forward, based on the idea that we have a stake in each other’s success… that’s what drives me.” Obama insisted, in a 26-minute speech that included 43 mentions of “I” and seven mentions of “me.”

“That’s what will continue to drive me…. and as long as I’ve got the privilege of serving as your President, that’s what I’m going to keep on making sure that I do — to put politics aside once in a while and work on your behalf.”

“God bless you. God bless America. Can’t wait to see your next movie,” Obama said as he finished the DreamWorks speech.

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