Obama Flipflops on Campaign Pledge to Prevent Horse Slaughter, Media Mum

December 10th, 2011 12:02 PM

The Obama-loving media have been paying a lot of attention of late to flipflops made by Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney throughout their respective political careers.

Yet as Politico loosely addressed earlier this month, the current White House resident signed a bill in November that reversed his campaign pledge to prevent the slaughter of horses (picture courtesy NowTheEndBegins.com) :

Over the years, we’ve covered the efforts of former Playboy playmates Shane and Sia Barbi to put an end to the slaughter of horses in the United States. And, now that Congress has just lifted a ban that could result in a return to horse slaughter for meat after it had been outlawed for five years, the Barbi Twins are revamping their efforts. [...]

The twins are asking fans to get involving either by signing a petition, calling the White House (“Tell Obama to keep his promise to ban horse slaughter and pass H.R. 2966,” they write) or to call Wyoming Rep. Sue Wallis “who is pro horse slaughter and tell her that Americans don’t want to see PET horses as meat on our dinner tables.”

For some background, the elimination of this ban was placed into an appropriations bill that passed the House and the Senate on November 17, and was signed by the President the following day.

What Politico failed to inform its readers is that Obama in a presidential candidacy questionnaire from the Humane Society in 2007 promised to not end this ban.

But Politico wasn't alone. According to LexisNexis, not one major news outlet bothered to report that the bill the President signed on November 18 broke one of his campaign promises.

Given the subject - the slaughter of horses to be sold in the marketplace and eaten by humans - along with the high profile of the Barbi twins, one would have expected this flipflop to have garnered a great deal of attention.

Just imagine the media's outrage if George W. Bush had gone back on such a humane promise.

But when a President the press are trying to get reelected does it?

Crickets.