by Wendy Morgan

Created on: September 17, 2009   Last Updated: September 24, 2009

There is an old joke about a politician who dies and is given the choice between heaven or hell. Heaven is wonderful and he loves it, but a quick trip to assess hell, and he finds out hell is even better. It's fabulous. There are drinks, parties, the whole works. The politician chooses hell, but when he officially arrives, it's hot, there is hard work and overall it is a down right miserable place. The politician asks the devil what happened to the amazing place he visited and the devil answered, "When you visited, we were campaigning."

Such was the campaign of Barack Obama. During the campaign there were promises of recovery, redemption and the realization of true American potential. The promises were grand, the ideas even more so. But now, not even one year through the first term, reality has set in and it has hit hard. The campaign is over, the promises and dreams are gone and the truth is much uglier than anyone could have imagined.

The hype of the sitting President was huge, bigger than anyone could really comprehend. Barack will save us, was the general mantra. The televised interview of an Obama supporter during the campaign, summed up the perception perfectly when she explained to the reporter, that if she helped elect Obama she wouldn't have to make a house payment, buy gas or support herself.

The president would do it all for her. Isn't that the American dream? Having someone provide every single necessity for you? Under the campaign promises of Barack Obama there was a new dream, and it was government sponsored.

While touting the miracles that Obama could offer, the campaign was adept at hiding, or at the very least disguising, was the cost of all of these 'dreams'. Within 9 months of election, our national deficit is so huge, it has the potential of still being around for our great-grandchildren to pay off. At the expense of the American taxpayer, we have given money to large corporations that couldn't manage their own money and so consumed with greed, they wouldn't even give up their 'well deserved' bonuses.

And again at the taxpayers expense, the government now 'owns' and 'runs' General Motors (also affectionately referred to as Government Motors). The taxpayers have taken on a phenomenal financial burden and the result of outcries against government spending have been dismissed or ignored.

Obamas campaign also touted it's ability to draw in experienced, knowledgeable people who could help clean up past government transgressions, and get America

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