The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
PolitiFact has compiled more than 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter.
We rate their status as Not Yet Rated, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.
The report card at right provides an up-to-the-minute tally of all the promises.
Other ways to browse the Obameter
Promises we’ve rated recently
Institute electronic record-keeping for the Veterans Benefits Administration
The Promise:
"As president, Obama will transform the paper benefit claims process to an electronic system that will be interoperable with the VA's health network as well as military records. This will reduce error rates, improve timeliness, and enhance the overall quality of the claims decisions."
Strengthen international rules against commercial whaling
The Promise:
"As president, I will ensure that the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling. Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable."
Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and double its budget in the next four years
The Promise:
"The IAEA is understaffed and underresourced at a time when demand for its expertise are growing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job. They will work to double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million). They will press countries to adopt the "Additional Protocol," -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities — and seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol. They will work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security. And they will call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency's ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities."
Update October 8th, 2012:
Obama's support of nuclear security agency fell short of campaign promise
Expand Early Head Start and Head Start
The Promise:
"Will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both."
Launch a Children's First Agenda
The Promise:
"Obama will launch a Children's First Agenda that provides care, learning and support to families with children from birth up to 5 years old."
Increase the number of high school students taking college-level courses
The Promise:
"We're also going to set a goal of increasing the number of high school students taking college level or AP courses by 50 percent in the coming years."
Update September 25th, 2012:
The number is probably on the rise, but we don't have an accurate count
Double funding for Federal Charter School Program and require more accountability
The Promise:
"Will double funding for the Federal Charter School Program to support the creation of more successful charter schools. An Obama-Biden administration will provide this expanded charter school funding only to states that improve accountability for charter schools, allow for interventions in struggling charter schools and have a clear process for closing down chronically underperforming charter schools. An Obama-Biden administration will also prioritize supporting states that help the most successful charter schools to expand to serve more students."
Update September 25th, 2012:
Obama's support of charter schools falls short of campaign promise
Address the dropout crisis by giving schools incentives for more dropout prevention
The Promise:
"Will address the dropout crisis by passing his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school - strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time."
Create a Presidential Early Learning Council
The Promise:
"I will create a Presidential Early Learning Council to coordinate this effort (early childhood education) across all levels of government and ensure that we're providing these children and families with the highest-quality programs."
Update September 20th, 2012:
President's early learning council exists as an interagency board
Restore the Great Lakes
The Promise:
"Restore the Great Lakes - Will push for the passage of the Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act, which will move us past playing defense against environmental problems and toward a comprehensive restoration of the Great Lakes."
Support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
The Promise:
Will support "repeal (of) the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions."
Create 5 million "green" jobs
The Promise:
Will "create 5 million 'green' jobs; will invest $150 billion over ten years to deploy clean technologies, protect our existing manufacturing base and create millions of new jobs."
Invest $50 billion in auto manufacturing facilities for fuel efficient vehicles
The Promise:
Will provide "support to domestic automakers to invest $50 billion to retool their manufacturing facilities in America to produce [fuel efficient] vehicles."
Improve high school graduation rates
The Promise:
"When I am president, we'll fight to make sure we are once again first in the world when it comes to high school graduation rates."
Bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda
The Promise:
Obama and Joe Biden will "turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington, so we can bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the American people."
