Revisionist history

I have heard a lot of rhetoric about the Socialist policies of President Obama. With this in mind I examined how President Obama Stacks up against President Reagan on some of the things people seem most concerned about.

Taxes:

Both Presidents lowered taxes upon arriving in office. Reagan on the rich (going as far to drop the top tax bracket below the next bracket), Obama on the middle class and poor. While Obama plans on raising the taxes on the rich (letting the Bush tax cuts lapse) Reagan raised taxes 6 times including a tax on gasoline and cigarettes which is similar to the new tax on tanning which I have heard referred to as a case of the government trying to tell us what we can and can not do by taxing us. Reagan also put in place taxes Social Security and raised taxes on small business.

Immigration:

Obama has yet to put anything regarding immigration into action and has not yet even settled on a plan for immigration reform, failing to live up to a campaign promise. Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granting amnesty to certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously. The Act also granted a path towards legalization to certain agricultural seasonal workers and immigrants who had been continuously and illegally present in the United States since January 1, 1982

Nuclear:

Obama has worked out a deal with Russia to lower each nations nuclear weapons stockpile by 30% which has been met with resistance from the right with claims that we will be unsafe.
In April 1982, Reagan declared publicly that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought." He added: "To those who protest against nuclear war, I can only say: ‘I’m with you. In 1986 at the Reykjavik summit stated “It would be fine with me if we eliminated all nuclear weapons,”, which also was met with resistance from the right with safety concerns.

Deficit:

Obama has added a significant amount to the Federal Deficit to be sure – second only to Roosevelt - but next on the list are George W. Bush, George H. Bush and the Reagan. One big difference is that none of them had to deal with the shear loss of federal revenue that Obama has been saddled with. The difference in Federal revenue from 2008 to 2009 was $368 billion which is only about $150 billion less than the total federal revenue in Reagan’s first year and the highest single year loss of revenue in US history.

Bailouts:

For some reason the government bailouts of the banks is largely attributed to Obama when in fact is was put in place by President Bush. Obama made no changes to the program once in office. George Will recently stated, “bailouts began under the Reagan administration” and Reagan even authorized a government take over of Continental Illinois Bank and Trust in 1984. Government takeover claims have been a tenant of the move to Socialism rants aimed at Obama.

I too wish Reagan and Obama were not so similar however the facts show otherwise.