John Hawkins
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Barack Obama's first year in office was one long string of gaffes, foreign policy blunders, and domestic disasters strung together in a long, terrible line. Although it's not possible to adequately catalogue every blunder in Obama's first year in something shorter than a book, here are some of the many, many blaring lowlights that really stood out:

Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution

1) The stimulus that didn't: The Democrats shoved through a stimulus bill that cost more than the Vietnam and Iraq wars combined. Why? Over and over again, they said "jobs, jobs, jobs." In fact, the Obama Administration said that if the bill passed, they expected it to keep unemployment below 8%. Instead, unemployment hit a 26-year high of 10.2% in November.


3) Thanks for the help on the campaign. Enjoy your new company! In what may be the “crookedest” government deal since the Teapot Dome Scandal in the early twenties, Barack Obama broke legally binding contracts and spent more than 50 billion dollars in taxpayer funds to save union jobs at GM and Chrysler. When it was all said and done, the unions, which provides political shock troops for Democrats all across the country, ended up with more than 50% of Chrysler and almost 40% of General Motors. Jack Abramoff, Bernie Madoff, and Charles Ponzi together couldn't have bilked as many Americans out of their money in a hundred years as Barack Obama did with this scam.

4) Obama lets you know what he really thinks about race: Barack Obama has been well served by letting his supporters play the race card for him while he keeps his hands clean. That way, he looks like a good guy, even while his friends and allies scream "racism" at everyone who gets in his way. However, the mask slipped on the Henry Louis Gates case and Americans got to see what Obama really thinks about race.

After admitting that he didn't know all the facts, Obama accused the police of "stupidly" arresting his friend and then went on lecture everyone about the racism that surely had to be involved. It was Obama's most revealing moment on race since he tossed his own grandmother under the bus even as he supported Jeremiah Wright.

5) Book 'em, Danno! The decision to put 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed on trial in New York is simply bizarre. No one in the Obama Administration has been able to give a coherent explanation for why KSM is being tried in New York while other terrorists are facing military tribunals. Why increase the chances of a terrorist attack in New York, give KSM the chance to spew propaganda in the court room, risk the release of sensitive intelligence data, and give a slick lawyer a chance to let Khalid Shaikh Mohammed off via a loophole? This is all doubly true since both Barack Obama and Eric Holder have assured Americans that KSM won't be released, no matter what happens. That should help America's image abroad -- making a big show of putting a terrorist through our criminal justice system and then in essence telling the world it's a sham trial that's about as meaningful as the courtroom proceedings in North Korea or Cuba.

6) This is the most important fight ever! Here's when we give up: Since Obama got into office, the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan has markedly deteriorated. General Stanley McChrystal gave Obama a plan to help turn things around, and after months of golfing, Obama got around to partially approving it -- along with a timeline, explaining when we were leaving. Just after telling Americans how vital Afghanistan was, not just to America's security but to the world, Obama then told the audience when we'd be starting to pull out, whether we won or not. After it became clear that the timeline had the potential to dramatically undercut support for the war, the administration backpedaled like they were training for the Tour De France, leaving everyone confused about where we really stand.

7) Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Al-Qaeda nipping at your nose: Isn't it great to know that after all the obtrusive, annoying, and time consuming searches we have to endure at the airports, terrorists can still get on airplanes with explosives? Moreover, despite the fact that our government was given every warning that the Christmas Day Pantsbomber was a threat, not only did they manage to fail to connect the dots, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano declared that "the system worked" because passengers managed to thwart the terrorist attack. As if that wasn't insulting enough, aggravating, completely ineffective new rules were implemented because of the attack, and after the Nigerian pants bomber was foolishly put into the civilian court system, he immediately stopped talking. Where's Jack Bauer -- or for that matter, Dick Cheney -- when we need some adults to help protect our country?

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John Hawkins
