Candidate Obama promised not to raise taxes on individuals who make less than $250,000. Now that he is “President” Obama, the White House tells us that it will let the process decide and that “hypotheticals” cannot impact the President’s decision. Obama promised with brave words that his job was to represent us to Washington, not Washington to us.

Yet the very people who were instrumental in dismantling the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which led to the financial crisis we are in today now occupy some of the most powerful seats in Obama’s Administration. Obama who said he would not allow lobbyists to have reign is now surrounded by men like Leon Panetta, present Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who last year alone was paid some $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees from various organizations, $130,000 of which came from lobbying firm Fleishman-Hillard, or Eric Holder, present Attorney General, who was paid $2.1 million dollars last year alone as a partner at Covington & Burling and a registered lobbyist.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the man who occupies perhaps one of the most important roles in America’s financial crisis, is surrounded by aide after aide who earned millions working for the same Wall Street firms which broke our financial system. Lobbyists and the most elite special interests rule the court of the Obama Administration and have their hands on the levers of power.

Candidate Obama addressed America’s disdain for the ongoing war on terrorism and told us that he preferred a messy peace overseas rather than protracted American deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and promised to immediately bring our young soldiers home.

Now, Obama the Nobel Laureate is surging tens of thousands of troops abroad with no end in sight. Obama, who said “no torture” conveniently retained the practice of extraordinary rendition, meaning we won’t torture suspected terrorists anymore, but our intelligence allies will do it for us instead. Even Cindy Sheehan, vilified by many as the “irrational anti-Bush chick” was arrested in front of the White House with 61 other individuals early this month protesting Obama’s policies of continuing the war.

Obama is supposed to represent America, yet last month he became the first American Commander-in-Chief to preside over the United Nations Security Council – such to the point that even some mainstream media outlets jokingly referred to him as “President of the World” – a direct violation of Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution.

As a person of Filipino-descent, my people were heavily courted by Candidate Obama and lulled into the belief that Obama would mean opportunity and progress for us. Yet all we have seen is government of the super elite for the super elite. Here in Hawaii, Filipinos voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Yet what has Obama really done for Filipinos? Did we truly elect Obama just to get a little extra cash slipped into the stimulus bill for Filipino veterans? Some Hawaii Filipinos even fell in love with Obama because they thought his first name “sounded” Filipino.

Filipinos were told that having a dark skinned president meant bright days for all people of color. Yet now one cannot disagree with any policy of Obama – be it healthcare, taxes, the war – without being labeled a racist at the very least and a terrorist at the very worst. We’ve gone so far in such a short time that we are being told that using the word “socialist” to describe the policies of the new Obama Presidency is akin to using the “N” word.

In Congress sits a bill which would allow Obama to shut down the Internet at will, all in the name of national security. What kind of national security do we have when the nation cannot assert its objections?

Filipinos and many other minorities voted for the name, voted for the change, but in the end, all of us, regardless of our skin color ended up with a Presidency that is based on promises that have not been fulfilled and money that is now being aggregated in the hands of an extremely select few. Those who voted for Obama out of hatred for the Bush Administration ended up getting a new President who seems strangely like the former.

How far will this go? Will we even recognize the United States of America in 2012? The United Nations and IMF are calling for a new world currency and a central bank of the world. That means that all the hard work that you and I have labored for in dollars could very well mean nothing when the nations of the world dump the U.S. currency.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we still have to face carbon taxation to strip us for what little we have left, and environmentalists are even going so far as to say that dogs – America’s favorite pet – are worse than SUVs because of their carbon footprint.

Hawaii, this is no longer a question of right or left. The question is up or down: do we want to go up to the calling of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that our Founding Fathers laid before us, or down to backwardness, economic collapse, and de-industrialization of our country just so money, land, and wealth will be consolidated in the hands of a very select few?

You be the judge if the person you voted for accomplished the change that you believed in. This is not to condemn or put guilt on any of us – after all, between working themselves to death to pay taxes and make ends meet, Hawaii residents barely have enough energy and willpower to study any candidate beyond feeling good when they see their signs on the street or photos on the internet – but the question we must ask is whether the America we are living in today is the America we want our children to inherit. My answer to that is NO.

The time has come for good men and women all across Hawaii to organize and make loud and clear their discontent. Hawaii voted overwhelmingly for Obama, but the disappointed citizenry of Hawaii – that is, the state that supposedly Obama is a son of – can send a shout to Washington, D.C. in 2010’s elections by throwing out the agents of “Obama change” from the very lowest county office to our congressional delegation and putting in people who will not permit our Republic to fall any further from grace.

Filipino activist Jose Rizal said, “There can be no tyrants while there are no slaves.” The time has come for us all to show ourselves free men. The battle for America will be determined by the decisions we make and the ideas we believe. We can ill afford any more broken promises and broken dreams. Tell your friends and family to phone, e-mail, fax, and visit in person their elected officials and share their disappointment. Pay attention to the news, blog, and think for yourself. Write letters to the editors of your local papers and make noise until those in power can no longer stay in power because of the strength of your cause. Act as though every single day were the day of the election. We must defend our way of life before others take it from us.

Daniel de Gracia, II is a resident of Waipahu. Reach him at mailto:daniel.degracia@gmail.com

Guest Commentary...