With the Democrat convention over and Hillary Clinton out of the picture until 2012, it’s worth setting the record straight on what Obama will do if elected President. The following bold-faced pledges, promises, and proposals come from the Obama web site, various articles from respected newspapers or magazines, or directly from Obama’s speeches – including his acceptance speech at the convention. The observations following each item are the author’s.

Higher Utility Bills

Obama will require that 25 per cent of electricity be "derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind and geothermal by 2025." Because those energy sources don’t yet exist, electric companies will have to charge much higher rates in order to fund those new technologies – because Obama is requiring them to provide something that does not even exist. The consumer will have to pay much higher prices for electricity for the utility companies to invent those new energy-producing methods and to build those new power plants.

Outlaw State Abortion Restrictions

Obama didn’t mention this in his acceptance speech, which one might think surprising inasmuch as he promised Planned Parenthood it would be the first legislation he would sign if elected. Once you understand what he’s supporting, you will understand why he didn’t mention it. The “Freedom of Choice Act” will overturn all state restrictions on abortion. Does your state have a law that prohibits late-term abortions? Does your state have a law requiring that parental consent is required before a minor child can have an abortion? Does your state have a law requiring that women be given information about alternatives to abortion (like adoption)? Does your state have a law requiring that babies that manage to live through an abortion be given medical attention rather than be left to die in a cold stainless steel hospital pan? All those state laws will be rendered invalid if Obama signs the “Freedom of  Choice” legislation. 

Some might argue that Obama’s law would be struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because it violates the Tenth Amendment. But don’t count on that. The argument is correct, but the Tenth Amendment has, after all, been routinely ignored for decades - which is how we got Roe v. Wade in the first place.

Obama supporters worry that if one or two more conservative Justices are added to the Supreme Court, the Roe v. Wade decision could be overturned, “making abortion illegal.” That is an incorrect interpretation, based on ignorance of the U.S. Constitution. A reversal of Roe v. Wade would only mean that the issue of abortion would be subject to state law. Whether abortion would be allowed, limited, or prohibited, would depend on laws passed by each of the 50 state legislatures – as the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution intended. A complete prohibition on abortion would require a Constitutional Amendment - no mean feat, as supporters of the failed Equal Rights Amendment understand.

More Money for Teachers, Little in Return

Obama’s five-year, $90 billion education program includes doubling money for after school programs (so taxpayers without children can fund the day care of those who do), and to billions to provide "…professional development and coaching to school leaders, teachers and other school personnel," and to "develop multi-tiered credentialing systems that encourage principals to grow professionally.”  The federal government would "collect evidence about how prospective teachers plan and teach in the classroom,” thus further moving education from local control and placing it into federal supervision.

Teaching Parents Parenting Skills

Obama plans on spending $300 million over five years establishing "Promise Neighborhoods” in poor neighborhoods with high crime and poor student grades. Included would be "parenting schools for parents."

Required Public Service

Obama would provide a $4,000 tax credit for college tuition, provided the student engages in 100 hours of public service per year.

“Green” Corps

Obama plans on spending $390 million over five years on an “energy-focused Green Jobs Corps to engage disconnected and disadvantaged youth . . . to improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings in their communities, while also providing them with practical skills and experience in important career fields of expected high-growth employment." This “quasi-paramilitary organization” would be dedicated to environmentalism, and promises inductees practical employment training for future "green jobs." It is assumed the recruits will have to buy into Gore’s global warming hysteria.

Autism Czar

Obama pledges to spend $2.5 billion over four years on appointment of an "Autism Czar" to "ensure that all federal funds are being spent in a manner that prioritizes results."

Patent Reform

Obama plans on “opening up the patent process to citizen review.” It is unclear what this means, but one might suspect that it will be made more difficult for companies to obtain patents, thus discouraging research and development.

Refuse to Support Photo I.D. For Voting

Obama has voted against resolutions requiring a photo I.D. for voting. It is assumed he would continue that position if elected. At their Denver convention, the Democrats approved their national platform, which included this language: “We oppose laws that require identification in order to vote or register to vote.”

Note that a group that avidly supports Obama, “ACORN,” has registered 75,000 new voters in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. That is a surprising accomplishment, inasmuch as the voter rolls in that county already have 200,000 more registered voters than there are adults living there. Massive vote fraud is therefore expected in Cuyahoga County, as well as other areas where ACORN has been working feverishly. A photo I.D. requirement would go a long way toward reducing voter fraud – which is probably why Obama opposes it.

Continue affirmative action and racial quotas

Obama will do nothing to eliminate racial quotas in hiring or university admissions.

Overturn the Defense of Marriage Act

Obama has stated he will work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, which says that no state has to recognize a same-sex marriage from another state, and that the federal government may not treat same-sex marriages as marriages, even if they are considered valid by a state. Obama thus believes that if California and Massachusetts accept gay marriages, and those two persons move to another state, that other state must accept and recognize the marriage - even if that state does not permit gay marriages within its borders.

Obama also opposes a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage.

Eliminate Secret Ballots in Union Organizing Campaigns

Another piece of legislation not mentioned by Obama in his acceptance speech involves secret ballots in union organizing elections. Obama supports (and even co-sponsored) pending legislation - the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” - which would enable unions to organize companies without giving the workers the protection of a secret ballot. Under current law, unions can demand an election if they get at least 30 per cent of the workers to sign a card that expresses interest in joining the union. The actual election is then held by secret ballot, after the union and the employer argue their cases for and against membership.

Obama’s law would give the union representation as soon as they get 50 per cent of the workers’ signatures - there would be no secret ballot or election. Ask yourself what you would prefer: a secret ballot, or co-workers and union “goons” looking over your shoulder as you sign a “card?”

Then ask yourself what will happen if unions are successful organizing hundreds or even thousands or businesses under an Obama Presidency? Businesses will have drastically increased labor costs, which will lead to lower profits for the company (resulting in lower stock prices and decreased assets of pension plans, IRAs, and 401(k) accounts), higher prices for the company’s goods or services (because the business must pass on the higher wages in its prices), and companies going out of business (because they will not be able to compete in the world market with unjustifiable wage rates).

Note that Obama has promised the Teamsters Union he would end the federal oversight of Teamster activities. Apparently Obama believes there no longer is any corruption in that union, or the end of the oversight is payback for his support in ending secret ballots in organizing drives.

End Right-to-Work Laws

Obama supports the “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act.” This law would force state and local governments to bargain collectively with unions for all contracts with police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. This would supersede right-to-work laws in 26 states, forcing employees to join unions against their will. The law would also make it easier for unions to raise the wages of those workers; inasmuch as they are employees of villages, cities, counties, and states – taxes would have to be raised to pay for the increased wages. Further, the law would enable unions to effectively eliminate volunteer fire departments – goal they have long had, and which will also lead to higher local taxes.

Labor’s ultimate goal is to end all state right-to-work laws, through a repeal of Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Obama would go along with that goal, but it would likely face tough opposition in the Senate (depending on how many Democrats are elected in 2008). Repeal of Section 14(b) would result in wage increases and massive price increases across the 26 states that have right-to-work laws.

Make it illegal to hire replacement workers during strikes

Obama has told “big labor” that he would support legislation making it illegal for employers to hire replacement workers during a strike. Needless to say, that change would means that unions would never lose a strike – because the employers would have no choice but to give in to union demands. For companies that stay in business, the law means higher union wages and higher prices to pay for them; but for many companies, it will mean closing up shop for good.

Patriot Employers Act

This misnamed law, a pet project of Obama’s, would become law if he is elected. The law is “advertised” as encouraging employers to remain in the United States and not outsource, but it basically provides for tax breaks to companies that comply with a laundry list of union demands

Extend the voting privilege to all convicted felons

Obama appears more than willing to give convicted felons the right to vote – nationwide.  Current laws vary from state to state, but where felons can vote, Obama supporters have been out in full force registering ex-cons on parole – as well as men and women who are still behind bars.  The ACLU has been instrumental in forcing these changes to state laws.  (To a great extent this activity was prompted by George Bush’s razor thin victory over Al Gore in the 2000 election, which left strategists wondering which “voting block” they had missed.)

One local official in Cleveland, where a felon voter registration drive has been organized, said the efforts are to sign up people who have been “…caught up in the criminal justice system.”  One may wonder how many Americans are eager to have convicted child molesters casting votes for judges who have a propensity to hand down light prison sentences, but the Obama team is certain that the vast majority of felons would pull the Democrat lever.  That, in and of itself, should say something to the law-abiding voting public.

There is no “official word” from the Obama campaign, but based on the eagerness with which it is courting the “thug vote,” one should not be surprised if a President Obama welcomes a bill to “insure consistency among the states” by forcing all 50 to allow felons full voting rights.  Even bad weather will not keep inmates from casting votes, because ballots will be delivered directly to their cells by the prison guards.

Union Wage Insurance

Obama has proposed a “wage insurance” program, so that a union worker who loses his job can receive subsidies from the federal government to remain at his old union income level even though his new job pays less.  In other words, if union workers price themselves out of the market with unreasonable wage demands, America's non-union workers will foot the bill to compensate them for their poor collective bargaining decisions.  Imagine working for $15.00 per hour, right next to a new employee who is getting $24.00 per hour after he helped drive his former employer out of business.

Raise tariffs on imported goods

One of Obama’s top economic advisors, Leo Hindery, Jr., has said it is “way past time” to raise tariffs on imported goods, as a way of protecting the jobs of American workers. Of course, because Americans aren’t particularly eager to see prices rise dramatically, the Obama campaign hasn’t come right out and said he would do so. Instead, it releases statements such as, “We must forcefully counter the illegal subsidies, the manipulated currency exchange rates and the unfair labor and environmental practices that (other nations) are employing to strike at our economy.”

Most Americans would argue that if other countries want to continue subsidizing their products to sell them here at a loss, let them.  The citizens of those other countries are, in effect, partially paying for many of the products we buy in the form of higher taxes.  Americans gets the products they want at lower prices, the other countries pay higher taxes; we win, they lose.

But, because Obama owes the unions for their financial support in his campaign – and because he is in philosophical alignment with them on many issues, Obama may listen to his advisors and slap higher tariffs on foreign goods in order to help American businesses compete better with global competition.  And it’s certainly easier for a labor union to demand higher wages from an employer if that employer is partially protected from foreign competition by higher tariffs.

If Americans buy $50 DVD players from South Korea it’s because there aren’t any American-made DVD players on the market – no American company could compete at those low prices.  The “solution” offered by some is to add a $100 tariff to the imported DVD players, making it possible for higher-paid American workers to get into the DVD player manufacturing business.  “Level the playing field” is the phrase that’s always used.  (The federal government, of course, pockets the $100 tariff.)

Of course, those who make the high-tariff arguments neglect to consider that a lot fewer DVD players would be sold if the price went up dramatically.  Americans would obviously buy fewer players at $150 than at $50, regardless of where they come from.  Further, if you do buy a player at $150 rather than $50, you have $100 less to spend than if you had found one for $50.  That $100 which is no longer available to spend on something else causes lost sales in other industries.  (Many politicians – and even some prominent economists - don’t recognize that obvious side effect.)

As soon as the United States raises tariffs on foreign products, the other nations will raise tariffs on American products.  “If you’re going to stop buying our products, we’re going to stop buying yours.”  The retaliation will be immediate – and disastrous for the global economy.  Everyone loses.  Even the briefest summaries of the history of the Great Depression of the 1930s describe how the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill caused just such economic retaliation, lengthened the Depression, and extended it to Europe - where the economic miseries helped bring Adolph Hitler to power.

Americans can hope that Obama does not succumb to the “advice of his advisors,” but he already made the mistake of hiring people with those beliefs in the first place.  That, in itself, is not very reassuring.

Free Child Care and Universal Preschool

Obama has proposed free child care and universal preschool; no cost estimates or details have been released.  Families without children will thus be paying for the care of young children of other families, and this taxpayer-funded “freebie” is likely to encourage some poor families to have even more children.

Don’t be surprised if the employees of the child care and preschool facilities are all Obama supporters, eager to indoctrinate the children with their political agenda.

More Subsidized Public Housing

Obama has proposed more public housing; no cost estimates or details have been released.

Social Investment Fund Network

It is unclear what this “network” involves; Democrat Party documents mention federal funds for “social entrepreneurs.”  This may be an expansion of President Bush’s “faith-based initiative” program, but with large sums of taxpayer dollars going who-knows-where.  Use your imagination, but the term “social entrepreneurs” should make one nervous.

Establish a “Civilian National Security Force”

Obama made the shocking statement that the United States “cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set.... we’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, and just as well-funded.”  Obama has yet to explain what he meant by that comment, how it would be funded, or what the duties of the “security force” would be.  It does bring to mind something Hugo Chavez or Kim Jong Il might i