Resolved: Obama's performance in the White House has not been successful

Energy Policies C1: Investments into green energy President Obama's first term has shown lack of success in the green energy sector. The Obama Administration’s investments into the private sector green energy sector have shown failure . Some of these distinct examples which follow through across the board include: Solyndra, a solar energy corporation, was awarded $535 million dollars of taxpayer money and $25 million in tax incentives by the Obama administration. The company filed for bankruptcy. (1) Ener1, a green battery manufacturer, was awarded $118 million dollars of taxpayer money under the Obama Administration American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The company filed for bankruptcy. (2) Beacon Power, a green energy storage company, was awarded $43 million from the DOE by the Obama Administration. The company filed for bankruptcy. (3) Another example of these investmnts which the Obama Administration seems addicted to is Sempra, a San Diego based energy company. It received $42 million from the government and $12 million in rebates. The plant currently operates with about 5 full time employees. As a result, that is $10.8 million of government subsidies per worker; a clear failure for the Obama Administration. (4) Despite Obama’s promises of “five million green jobs created” on his campaign trail, he has failed the promise. Obama’s $38.5 billion loan guarantee program has amounted to about 3 400 new jobs, says the Washington Post. That equates to about $5 million per job. The Post stated that Obama promises to “create or save 65,000 jobs. ” That is 4,996,455 shorter than the campaign promise. (5) C2: Oil and Keystone The Keystone pipeline, one of the greatest job-creating proposal during the Obama Administration, was rejected by Obama. This clearly shows that he has not succeeded in the energy sector with the massive amounts of jobs that this oil pipeline would have created, both for construction and manufacturing. In fact, the Keystone XL pipeline was projected to create 7 000 manufacturing jobs and 13 000 construction jobs in the United States alone, for a total of 20 000 jobs. (7) This is clearly an Obama Administration mistake on energy policy as it would not have only created manufacturing and construction jobs, but also it would have led to more domestic oil imports. As a result, the price of domestic oil would decrease. Ultimately, Obama implemented a horrid policy for gas. In fact, over his first term, there was a 100% increase in gas prices. (8) Energy Secretary Steven Chu himself said, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe. " (8) Obama has both directly and indirectly influenced the price of gas via performing actions to limit onshore and offshore oil extraction; blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline; refusal to build new refineries; refusal to permit new nuclear power plants; and refusal to limit burden on refineries to boost production. (8) In conclusion, Obama has failed to keep gas prices low and implement cost saving procedures such as the Keystone XL Pipeline Jobs C1: Unemployment For me to win this criteria, I must show how Obama has had a negative return in jobs throughout his first term. In other words, I must prove that there are now less people working than when he took office. My opponent must prove the other side. When Obama took office in late 08 and early 09, the unemployment rate was at 7.8%. (10) Right now, the unemployment rate is at 8.3%. (10) This by itself should affirm the resolution. There are currently more unemployed than when Obama stepped into office. The U-6 unemployment rate is a more accurate measure of the discouragement of the American public in the jobs sector. (11) The trend clearly shows that Obama’s policies have worsened the economy. From this, we can again see that President Obama has again failed in keeping the unemployment rate low. Putting all of this into historical context in previous recessions, we can clearly see how Obama has failed at managing it: 221k jobs monthly gained after the recession of 1975. 285k jobs monthly gained after the recession of 1982. 89k jobs monthly gained after mild recession of 1991. 41k jobs monthly gained after 2009 recession. (12) From this we can infer that President Obama has failed to manage what was left of the recession when he came into office. C2: Failure of the Stimulus On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed in a $825 billion stimulus plan which was designed to upstart the economy. The Obama Administration offered five predictions of what the stimulus would accomplish when implemented. Needless to say, these predictions failed. 1. Obama promised that the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8%. In early 2012, the unemployment rate was supposed to drop to 6%. This was all according to “rigorous analysis” done by the Obama Administration. 12.8 million people are currently unemployed, 8.1 million cannot find work, and 1.1 million have given up. Failed. (13) 2. Obama promised that the stimulus would show immediate gains in jobs. ” I'm confident . .. our 21st century investments will create jobs immediately," adding, "We've got shovel-ready projects all across the country," said President Obama. The stimulus did nothing create these jobs and projects. “"Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected,” he said later on. Failed. (13) 3. The President stated that the stimulus would lift “2 million Americans out of poverty. ” Since Obama took office, an additional 6.3 million Americans have fallen into poverty. Failed. (13) 4. The president promised the emergence and resurgence of a “green economy. ” (Refer to Energy policies). He gave out $35.2 billion to green energy companies. The clean energy sector has not jump started and shows for little more than 1% of the total workforce. Many of the loans have been lost to companies such as Solyndra and Ener1. Failed. (13) 5. Obama promised that the stimulus would put 1 million electric cars on the road. General Motors' Volt, expected to be a hybrid hit, fell far short of its sales goals in 2011 by 38 percent. Fisker Automotive, which received half a billion dollars of stimulus money, also fell short of its manufacturing goals. The companies are now exporting factories to Finland. Failed. (13) A chart outlining the effects of the stimulus is very conclusive (14): Foreign Policy C1: Middle East Peace Obama’s major foreign policy gaff is the fact that he has postponed and worsened the Israeli-Palestine peace process. His diplomacy, instead of focusing on mending the peace process, has been an aggressive condemning of current Israeli policy. He spoke out against Israeli settlement construction on lands which they clearly own. Not only does the US have no authority to preside over this, but they also have no leverage as clearly seen by lack of effectivenes. “Veterans of the Middle East “peace process” shook their heads in wonderment as what at first appeared to be a rookie error evolved into a two-year standoff between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” states the Washington Post Obama has also proposed moving back Israeli-Palestinian border to the 1967 line. This has been met with great dissent from the pro-Israel crowd in America and the Israeli government. In conclusion, Obama failed with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and harshened conditions between Israel and the United States. (15) (16) C2: New START The New START treaty between Russia and the United States shows both the lack of determination and the danger of this treaty. Given Russia’s current military arsenal, they will not be affected by this treaty and no reduction of military forces will be present on Russia’s side. (17) However, abiding by this treaty, the United States will have to trim 20% of its arsenal. (17) As a result, this treaty negativey impacts the US but not Russia. Conclusion Obama's first term has not been successful. Sources . http://www.debate.org...