The president promises something, tries to push it, congress won't pass it. Is that a broken campaign promise?

Question

the current events with gitmo made me wonder what people think?

I'm asking more in "general" though, no so much in this situation...

and does your opinion differ if the president has a congressional majority or not? (like it's understandable if he doesn't have a friendly congress, but should be able to pass it in his own party)

also, is a campaign promise a "promise he will get it passed" or a "promise he will try"?

Answer 1

Not at all. Campaign "promises" merely indicate how a particular candidate will vote and what their priorities may be. Given our political system, no rational person would interpret them as solemn vows.



To your second question. Congressional majority or not, there are still many divergent interests within a political party and a democrat from one state may feel differently than a democrat from another state.



Does any candidate ever promise they will actually get some particular legislation passed into law?



Revolution, if you've ever done any sales or public speaking then you know not to use "soft" language. Saying you will "try" is soft language. If you had 2 candidates that said the same thing but one said "I will..." or "I will fight to..." and the other said "I will try to...", you would think the second speaker was a wimp and kind of wishy washy. Politicians never say "try."

Answer 2

A campaign promise is a promise that he will "try" to get it passed. Nothing is guaranteed. But the reason we have elections is so that the people can choose the person who has a platform that is close enough to their view. Everyone knows (or should know) that there are 3 branches of government. Plus Congress holds the purse strings, so no president can do what he / she (female might be coming sooner rather than later) wants.



Obama pointed out that just because his party has a majority that that doesn't mean that everything he wanted will be passed. Not one president was able to claim that--even the ones with party majorities in Congress.



No person agrees with every member of their party on every issue. Some disagree about abortion, stem cells, welfare, gay marriage, illegal immigration, etc. Look at John McCain compared to say, Rush Limbaugh. Moderate Republican (McCain) v. Far Right Republican (Rush).



If the president doesn't have a majority, it's still not a mark on him. He will try his best to get it passed, but everyone knows that he doesn't have a magic wand that can force Congress to obey him.



No one can predict the future. A lot of things can happen before a president might be able to get to his or her agenda. Also (like now) there might be pirate attacks (cost money to prevent) or state disasters such as floods, hurricanes, swine flu outbreaks or drug wars.



All of these cost money and can make a president unable to complete the promise made during the campaign. So no, I wouldn't judge a president on whether he or she could keep a campaign promise. I would judge the president on whether he or she INTENDED to keep the promise and tried with all his or her might to do so.

Answer 3

congress is really scared about this they can see them self's getting voted out of office real quick in the upcoming congressional election if they put the gitmo gang here in the states ,when congress went along with clintons assault weapons ban the next congressional election they lost 52 seats because the nra really put the pressure on.today a demo majority congress voted to allow us to carry guns in national parks and the only reason so is there is a congressional election in less than 2 years.obama made a promise to close gitmo and he may do so but there is no need.but he has found out in recent weeks who really controls the government and its not him,hes like a new quarter back on a football team who thinks he hot but forgets without those guys to catch the ball or run it or the big 300 lb lineman hes just another bloody spot on the astro turf.

Answer 4

The real question is "Do the people even know that most promises are not things a president can do?" The president has no authority to enact a Windfall profits tax, Universal Health care or approve spending on entitlements.

Answer 5

No, it is not. It is reality. I think that many people like to think of the Presidency as some sort of dictatorship, or unrestrained power. Maybe it's a way to simplify issues or fixate both praise and blame on one person. There are checks and balances, as you point out, the President can only go so far alone. With Bush everyone makes out NOW like he did it alone, as if no one voted for him and his policies, as if Congress opposed his every act, etc. Of course everything Bush did had lots of support at the time. He didn't do it, they all did. But looking back, everyone paints Bush as the complete cause of those policies. Sure, now Obama is gonna be attacked by some for having to conform to Congress and other restraints. Obama gets blamed for the actions of the opposition while the people supporting Bush, blame Bush for their blind unquestioning support. Gotta blame someone, someone else, I suppose. Humans?

Answer 6

If a person promises to deliver, then they have failed to keep their promise if they do not deliver.



Pretty straightforward, I would think.



Most reasonable people do not promise things they cannot deliver... arguably one who does is either unreasonable or untrustworthy.



Or we can put it another way. Four years down the road, people are going to ask themselves whether they got what they thought they were promised. Do you really think most folk will just shrug and say, 'he tried his best', if they don't get what they wanted?

Answer 7

If he says he will it is a broken promise, If he says he will try it is not.

Dont make an "I will" promise knowing that Congress still has to approve it

Answer 8

It's not a broken promise, it's reality. He's done what he could on his end, now it falls on Congress. Unless he overstepped the executive branch powers, which I would hate to see, Congress still has their own voice and power, and we are watching to see what they do. They should be held accountable, as well.

Answer 9

The dem Senate rejected approval of the money because many are up for re-election next year and want to seem like they care about security and are fiscally responsible to their constituents. It's about keeping their jobs, obama included. This was no surprise to him.

Answer 10

It's not a broken campaign promise because he did the best he could. If Congress dosn't want to pass it, it isn't his fault.

Answer 11

no, this is also why he leads by commitee, so he doesn't have to shoulder the blame. he can say he tried, and others stopped him, he didn'tfail, we just didn't want to get along. it's always someone elses fault. couldn't possibly be that he promised rediculous things, right?

Answer 12

No. Obama just didn't realize with his lack of experience that the citizens don't want those Gitmo Terrorists living in our cities or states. That is due to his lack of experience. If he says they are harmless, let them all live in HIS neighborhood in DC.

Answer 13

I don't consider it a broken promise, but I would consider it a failure to deliver.

Answer 14

If he said he will then yes. If he said try to, no.

Answer 15

No. He has plenty of time to try again.

Answer 16

No.