"I should have brought a pencil."

So my brother comes by the other day and was looking for some rhetorical ammo to fire at his debate adversary from work. It would seem that the Obama supporting colleague was enamored with the president's decision to kill Bin Laden, and wanted to know what exactly Obama has done that's "so bad."  My brother was caught off guard as to an off the top of his head run down. This is a byproduct of being surrounded by my family - one rarely has to justify his disapproval of Obama.

In an effort to aide my brother, I gave him a quick run down - off  the top of my head - including a stat that I very recently heard which was so staggering to me I felt compelled to repeat it here, along with the short list I gave my brother.

The national average for a gallon of gasoline in January of 2008 was $1.86. It's now $3.45, more than double. The POTUS signed an executive order closing GITMO his first day in office, it's still open. For the first time in US history America's credit rating was down graded from AAA to AA. For the second time in US history America's credit rating was downgraded, this time from AA to -AA. Under Obama's confused foreign policy America has lost Egypt as an ally while Iran has gained uranium. The president's own words just two days ago were, "...Egypt is neither an ally nor an enemy." Setting aside my opinion that there is no neutral in North Africa, I'd say this is a man attempting to walk back his support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Iran is nearing 20% enrichment of uranium - the red line number at which no one can stop them from achieving weaponizing - with no clear policy objective from Washington on how to stop them. Unemployment has never dropped below 8%, something he assured Americans would happen after QE1. We're now on QE3 (that's Quantitative Easing, or put plainly, printing money to give banks in the hopes that they will loan it out to business and business will hire you and me. And here I thought Leftists didn't believe in trickle down economics). The yearly cost of health insurance premiums has risen on average by $2,500, per family. A record 98 million Americans now receive some form of federal or state benefit, that's nearly 1 in 3. When Dubya left office 17 million Americans were on food stamps. That number under Obama has reached 47 million. He has spent more money in 3 1/2 years than the adjusted dollars spent by President George Washington to President George H. Bush, combined. George W set a debt accumulation record of 4.9 Trillion in 8 years. Obama is at 4.4 Trillion, in just over 3 years. And this spending figure does not account for implementation of the benefit portion of Obamacare, scheduled for 2014. It should be noted, Obama promised to cut the national debt in half by the end of his first term. It was at 12 Trillion when he assumed office. It stands now at 16.4 Trillion. The man whom promised to improve America's image around the world, in particular the Muslim world, has seen no les than 4 embassies attacked this week, two overrun, and one US Ambassador murdered - the first such assassination in 30+ years. And most damning of all, the number you will never hear reported even though Bush was routinely crucified for it - according to DoD records 70% of all US military casualties in the Afghanistan war occurred within the last 3 1/2 years. 80% of all those wounded were wounded in the last 3 1/2 years (source). Where have you heard that reported? Thinking of it in that context I almost don't blame my brother's coworker for not knowing. If he simply watches the nightly news or reads the occasional online headline, how could he?

By the way,  the title quotes my brother as I paused to catch my breath. I hope he has a better day at work tomorrow. But hey, in this economy, at least he's employed.