1.
Senator Obama, you’ve said "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you
know, 72 degrees at all times...” Why should an American who works hard
and pays his bills on time not be able to decide for himself what kind of car he drives, how much food he eats, and where
he should set his thermostat? And if he can’t decide those things, who
are you proposing should do it for him?
2.
Senator Obama, if getting billions of barrels of oil from ANWR and offshore won't lower the price of oil, why does Nancy Pelosi
believe the price will go down if we release only a few million barrels from our strategic oil reserves? Do you believe she wrong? If you think she is correct, do
you not believe in the law of supply and demand?
3.
Senator Obama, if we have to save the oil and the trees for our children, then don't they also have to save it for their children? And their children's children? At what
point would anyone be allowed to drill for oil or cut down a tree? Who should
make those decisions?
4.
Senator Obama, it has been widely reported that ExxonMobil made $1,500 in profit per second in the second quarter of 2008. But during the same period, it also paid $4,100 per second in taxes. As a percentage of revenue its profit was just over seven per cent, yet you’ve called for a windfall
profits tax on the oil companies. Don’t you think that $4,100 per second
is enough to pay in taxes? And if you believe a seven per cent profit is a “windfall,”
don’t you, to be fair, also have to apply such a tax to all American businesses whose profits exceed seven per cent?
Have you any idea how many businesses such a tax would apply to, or how much the economy would suffer if that much revenue
was extracted from it?
5.
Senator Obama, will you promise that if elected you will not support any slavery reparations legislation, and will veto any
such legislation that makes it to your desk? If not, why not?
6.
Senator Obama, you've said you'll increase the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour. A
small business with a few minimum wage janitors may have to fire one of them and make the others work harder in order to absorb
your mandated increase in wages. No doubt those who receive the raise will be
happy, but what would you say to the unskilled laborer who loses his job because of the increase?
7.
Senator Obama, do you believe that anyone who would vote against you is a racist?
8.
Senator Obama, polls show approximately 90-95 per cent support for you among black voters.
Does that suggest that many black voters are racist?
9.
Senator Obama, a woman who serves as one of your campaign precinct captains and who is the co‑chair of the Houston Obama
Leadership Team had a Che Guevara poster prominently displayed in one of your campaign offices. After you learned of the incident, did you advise all your offices to remove such posters? Your campaign issued a statement that it was “disappointed” to see the media account of the
poster “because it is both offensive to many Cuban‑Americans, and Americans of all backgrounds.” Many people sport Che Guevara T-shirts, probably without knowing much about that revolutionary communist
or the murderous atrocities he committed. Can you enlighten some of those uneducated
now, by giving us your opinion of Che Guevara?
10.
Senator Obama, you were one of the Illinois politicians cited in the indictment of your long-time friend
and fund-raiser Tony Rezko for having received political contributions from his kickback funds. Although you reportedly returned $85,000 in political contributions you received from Rezko and his family,
inasmuch as there would appear to be a conflict of interest, if elected President, will you promise not to pardon Rezko, who
was convicted of corruption charges for trading clout as a top advisor to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich?
11.
Senator Obama, 1960s radicals and Weather Underground militants William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn disappeared in 1970 after
a bomb, designed to kill army officers in New Jersey, accidentally destroyed a Greenwich Village townhouse, and eventually turned themselves in to authorities in 1980. Although they
were never prosecuted for their involvement in 25 bombings, because of improper FBI surveillance, they nevertheless would
be considered shady characters by many Americans. How did you come to know and
become friends with Ayers and Dohrn? Is it true they have been babysitters for
your children? Do you still associate with them?
Do you condemn their involvement with the Weather Underground of the 1960s?
12.
Senator Obama, in your July trip overseas you visited eight countries in eight days, which one fawning CNN anchor described
as “Incredible!” We assume you were not piloting the plane, didn’t
press your own suits, and had your meals prepared by others. Would you describe
what you did as “incredible,” or do you think the media has gone overboard in its unabashed enthusiasm for you?
13.
Senator Obama, blacks and the media support you in overwhelming numbers, but that support does not extend to many other segments
of the population. What do blacks and the media see in your candidacy that others
do not?
14.
Senator Obama, you said you favor affirmative action "when properly structured." Can
you explain what you meant by “properly structured?” When is a quota
not a quota?
15.
Senator Obama, if you lose the election there will be immediate media criticism that “America was not ready” for a black President.
Will you tend to agree with those charges, or will you accept the fact that perhaps millions of Americans simply don’t
agree with your policies?
16.
Senator Obama, for more than 30 years liberals have been arguing that we need a tax on gasoline that is great enough to discourage
consumption and encourage research into alternate fuels. Now that we have the
high prices they wanted all along, suddenly those high prices are not a good idea. Which
is it? Are high oil prices good or bad?
17.
Senator Obama, why do you want to double foreign aid? How will you pay for that
increased aid? Isn’t balancing the budget here at home more important than
trying to curry favor with other countries? Will there be strings attached to
your increased aid? If not, why not?
18.
Senator Obama, do you agree with Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters that we should nationalize the oil companies? Are there any other businesses that you think should be nationalized?
If so, why? Should other industries fear nationalization? Why would that not be socialism?
19.
Senator Obama, you’ve threatened to drastically raise the capital gains tax. Where
will the economy get the needed cash to start new businesses if you confiscate it via higher capital gains taxes? History has shown that a lowering of the tax always promotes business growth and expansion, while raising
the tax always slows the economy. How do you expect your tax to do otherwise,
or do you have some unique economic skills that prior administrations in both parties lacked?
20.
Senator Obama, you plan to raise income taxes. Even if you limit those increases
to the wealthiest Americans, how do you avoid the job losses that would necessarily result from such an increase? If, for example, a millionaire pays your higher taxes by foregoing the construction of a larger home or
a new boat, what do you say to the middle-class carpenter or boat-builder who lost his job because of your tax increase?
21.
Senator Obama, you plan on removing troops from Iraq and expanding our
presence in Afghanistan. Won’t the terrorists simply follow American troops from Iraq
to Afghanistan? Isn’t it easier to fight them in Iraq,
where the terrain is much more suited to our troop movements and our military tactics?
22.
Senator Obama, some would say that if we had not gone to war in Iraq,
perhaps one of the more than 4,000 Americans killed there might instead have lived to find a cure for cancer or heart disease. Is it not also the case that had we not killed more than 20,000 terrorists in the
war, one of them might have lived to plant a nuclear suitcase bomb in an American city?
23.
Senator Obama, the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires that employees be given up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year
in order to care for a child, spouse, or parent. Many American businesses have
run into significant productivity problems because of employees who take unfair advantage of that law. Employers have also had to raise prices to compensate for the added cost of hiring replacement and additional
workers. You have now called for a paid family leave act. How can you not expect many more employees to take unfair advantage of that law, inasmuch as they will
be able to stay home while receiving full pay? How will that legislation not
further reduce the ability of American businesses to survive in the increasingly competitive global market?
24.
Senator Obama, more than 31,000 American scientists have signed a petition urging the United States government to reject the
Kyoto global warming agreement and any other similar proposals; they believe there is no convincing scientific evidence that
human release of carbon dioxide or other alleged “greenhouse gases” are causing or will cause a catastrophic heating
of the Earth’s atmosphere. Over 9,000 of those 31,000 scientists have PhD
s. You accept the arguments of the “global warming” theorists and
support enormous government programs to reduce carbon dioxide reductions, even though the full scientific evidence has not
been gathered. What do those 31,000 scientists know that you don’t know? Or what do you know that they don’t know?
Are you willing to accept that there is room for some doubt about the global warming theories, and encourage more scientific
study before forcing drastic negative changes in the American standard of living or imposing tremendous costs on the economy?
25.
Senator Obama, if we don’t now drill for oil in the ANWR reserves, or offshore, can we ever drill for it there? When will the time be right? Or should
we leave the Alaskan oil untouched forever? And if we are not allowed to drill
for oil offshore, why should we sit back and watch other nations access it?
26.
Senator Obama, 92 per cent of ANWR would be left untouched if drilling is allowed in the other eight per cent. Between $150 and $230 billion in tax revenues would be generated by drilling there. Between 250,000 and 750,000 jobs would be created. There are
estimates of between 9 and 16 billion barrels of oil in ANWR. Yet you believe
we should leave that oil untouched, and instead continue to buy more oil from other nations.
Why?
27.
Senator Obama, many experts believe the solution to our energy needs lies in the enormous coal shale reserves in the United States. Where
do you stand on accessing that source of energy?
28.
Senator Obama, America has shown to be
much more environmentally sensitive than almost all other nations. That suggests
there would be fewer oil spills and contamination if we drill for oil in Alaska
and offshore than if other nations do the drilling and sell it to us. If you’re
concerned about the environmental impact of oil exploration, isn’t it better for the Earth to let the Americans do the
exploring and drilling? Don’t you trust American engineers and workers
more than foreign engineers and workers?
29.
Senator Obama, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many Americans concluded that the government should have more helicopters
available for the purpose of rescuing people trapped by flood waters. Many other
American concluded that people who live by the coast should have enough sense to heed weather service warnings to get out
of town when a category five hurricane is approaching. Where do you stand? How responsible should Americans be for their own well-being, and how much should
they depend on the federal government? What is your proposed budget for helicopter
rescues of stranded storm victims?
30.
Senator Obama, even if all Americans were able to buy electric cars tomorrow, they’d have to plug them in at night for
re-charging. Where will all that electricity come from if we don’t build
more nuclear power plants, or use oil, coal, or gas to generate electricity? No
experts believe we can generate all the electricity we’ll need from solar and wind power, so where will we get the electricity
we need to maintain, let alone improve, our standard of living?
31.
Senator Obama, to the average white American some of the things said by the pastor of your Chicago church, Reverend Wright, are both vehemently anti-American and angrily racist. You attended his church for 20 years. Does
that mean you agree with his extreme viewpoints? If not, why did you keep attending
his church? Could you not have been aware, after 20 years, of what reporters
learned so quickly? And although you’re not responsible for what he has
said over the years, you always had the option of walking out. Why didn’t you, if you disagree with his views?
32.
Senator Obama, assuming you don’t think there is any such thing as a “typical black person” and are opposed
to insulting stereotypes, did you ever ask Reverend Wright to stop his diatribes against “typical white people”
– a phrase which you also have used in one of your books?
33.
Senator Obama, a large number of Americans are working solely because their employers provide group health insurance; typically
they are too young to retire and go on Medicare. If your national health plan allows them to be covered even if they were
to become unemployed, why should those people even bother to go to work? Do you
have any idea how many tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of Americans will simply quit their jobs and let the remaining
taxpayers fund their medical care if they are given the chance? How much will
those people cost the taxpayers? Why should working Americans be shouldered with
even more responsibility for non-working people?
34.
Senator Obama, you said that if your daughters make a mistake and get pregnant, you “don’t want them punished
with a baby.” Would you really consider a baby punishment, rather than
welcome it as its grandfather?
35.
Senator Obama, Saddam Hussein repeatedly violated 16 United Nations Security Council resolutions, yet you still believe it
was a mistake to send troops to Iraq and
remove him from power. How many resolutions must a dictator ignore before action
should be taken?
36.
Senator Obama, you said we should not have gone to war in Iraq,
especially because we ended up finding no weapons of mass destruction. But we
know Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons to kill thousands of Kurds in Iraq. Do you assume he used up every last ounce of those chemicals on the Kurds and had
absolutely none left when American troops arrived? Or might he have shipped the
leftovers off to Syria before the war
started? As President, will you investigate that possibility? Or will you be comfortable leaving those chemical weapons unaccounted for, possibly to be used against
Israel?
37.
Senator Obama, you said you would raise the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour. Why
stop at $9.50? Why not make it $30.00 per hour, to make it easier for Americans
to pay their bills and raise a family? If you see a down side to raising the
minimum wage to $30.00, don’t those same down sides exist, albeit to a lesser degree, if you raise the wage to $9.50?
38.
Senator Obama, in the past you’ve said you would support a bill restricting late-term abortions provided there is a
provision to protect the health of the mother. Is it sufficient for you if the
bill includes protection for the mother’s physical health? Or do you insist
on protection of the mother’s “mental health” which, of course, is subject to interpretation and would therefore
allow any late-term abortion to be considered justified? In other words, are
you playing word games in order to satisfy abortion supporters?
39.
Senator Obama, in 2002, as an Illinois legislator, you voted
against the Induced Infant Liability Act. That law was meant to protect the lives
of babies who “inadvertently” survived attempted abortions and then needed medical attention to survive. Can you explain why you voted against that bill, when a similar bill passed
the United States Senate unanimously? How can you endorse leaving to die a baby
who happens to survive an abortion? Have you sold your morality to the N.A.R.A.L.?
40.
Senator Obama, you are opposed to education vouchers, yet send your own children to private schools. Why shouldn’t the poorest Americans, many of them black, be able to use vouchers to improve the futures
of their children? Why wouldn’t more competition from well-run private
schools prompt the public schools to improve their standards?
41.
Senator Obama, you have said repeatedly that one of your goals is to "end America's
dependence on foreign oil." How can you accomplish that if you oppose drilling
for oil in ANWR and offshore, oppose more nuclear plants, oppose expanded use of our vast coal shale deposits, and will raise
taxes, reducing the amount of investment money available to fund exploration and alternate energy here in the United States? Even
if it takes a few years for ANWR and offshore oil fields to be fully productive, it will also be years before every American
has an electric or hydrogen car in the garage. And even if we stopped using oil
to fuel our cars, we still need oil to produce the tens of thousands of other products that require petroleum. We can’t make plastic from wind mills, can we? And won’t
the airlines continue to require fossil fuels for their planes?
42.
Senator Obama, in one foreign policy speech you promised to:
a. End the war in Iraq,
b. Ensure the Iraqi army and police can take care of things on their own,
c. Bring together all of Iraq’s neighbors in a
coalition to help Iraq,
d. Get all the Arab nations to open embassies in Baghdad,
e. Defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and
Pakistan,
f. Make the Pakistanis take responsibility for its extremism and border,
g. Take care of Bin Ladin after we find him in Pakistan,
h. Increase non‑military aid to Pakistan,
i. Increase aid to Afghanistan,
j. Double U.S. foreign assistance to Africa, the Middle
East and Asia,
k. Solve the Iran situation,
l. Make the U.N. “more perfect,”
m. Get China to work
with us on important issues,
n. Improve relations with “all the people of the world,”
o. Gather up all the loose and non‑secured nuclear materials around the world,
p. End U.S. dependence
on oil, and
q. Save the world by preventing the dangerous effects of climate change.
That’s
a staggering list of promises from someone whose resume is relatively slight. Can
