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Help us rate Obama’s campaign promises

National
Bill Adair
By Bill Adair
May 14, 2012

Three and a half years ago, we launched an unprecedented effort to track President Barack Obama’s campaign promises.

We unveiled the Obameter, a database of more than 500 promises on everything from Afghanistan to autism. Since then, we’ve been tracking and rating each one, from In the Works to Promise Kept.

Our Obameter has been cited frequently in blogs, news stories, television shows and books as the authoritative source about Obama’s promises.

We’ll be updating the promises in the next few months, particularly the ones rated In the Works or Stalled, and we’d like your help. If you have information about developments on a particular promise, please send it to us. We’d love to get links to news stories, press releases, appropriations documents — anything that shows the outcome.

Send the tips and suggestions to truthometer@politifact.com

Our Sources

See Obameter items

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Bill Adair
Kay Hagan
stated on October 7, 2014 in a debate :
“The Common Core was not put together by the Department of Education in Washington. It was put together by governors and by states.”  
Mostly True
By Bill Adair, Tom Kertscher • October 8, 2014
Kay Hagan
stated on October 3, 2014 in a news release:
Says Thom Tillis “refuses to say what we should do to combat ISIS.”
Mostly True
By Bill Adair, Shaker Samman • October 7, 2014
Protect Oregon Driver Licenses
stated on April 21, 2013 in a campaign website statement:
Gov. Kitzhaber oversaw creation of the Oregon driver card law “behind closed doors without allowing any input from citizens who represent the public interest.”
Mostly False
By Bill Adair • August 13, 2014
John Kitzhaber
stated on July 18, 2014 in a campaign debate:
Oregon “is the most trade-dependent state in the nation”
False
By Bill Adair • July 25, 2014
Donald Rumsfeld
stated on February 17, 2013 in an op-ed in the "Washington Post":
Says wrestling was a favorite sport of Abraham Lincoln.
True
By Bill Adair • February 18, 2013
Chain email
stated on June 26, 2012 in a message forwarded to many people:
Says “a lip-reading instructor at the River School, a Washington, D.C., school for the deaf” has determined that during 9/11 ceremonies, Michelle Obama said, “All this for a damn flag.”
Pants on Fire!
By Bill Adair • June 26, 2012
Rick Perry
stated on January 8, 2012 in a Republican debate in New Hampshire.:
Says President Barack Obama “is a socialist.”
Pants on Fire!
By Bill Adair • January 8, 2012
Michele Bachmann
stated on November 22, 2011 in a Republican debate in Washington:
Says Apple CEO Steve Jobs told President Obama that the company moved factories to China because it needed 30,000 engineers.
True
By Bill Adair • November 23, 2011
Republican Party of Florida
stated on March 19, 2010 in a news release:
The Democratic health care plan is a “government takeover of nearly 20 percent of our economy.”
Pants on Fire!
By Bill Adair • March 19, 2010
Charlie Crist
stated on March 2, 2010 in the State of the State address:
Cover Florida “is available to any Floridian, offering basic coverage for about $150 a month, instead of the typical $600 a month.”
Mostly False
By Bill Adair, John Frank • March 3, 2010
C.W. Bill Young
stated on February 20, 2010 in a speech to Pinellas County Republicans.:
The Democratic health care plan is a “government takeover of our health programs.”
Pants on Fire!
By Bill Adair • February 25, 2010
Tom Price
stated on January 29, 2010 in a Republican retreat in Baltimore:
“Mr. President, multiple times from your administration there have come statements that Republicans have no ideas and no solutions” on health care.
True
By Bill Adair • January 29, 2010
Barack Obama
stated on January 27, 2010 in his State of the Union address:
The “pay-as-you-go law … was a big reason why we had record surpluses in the 1990s.”
Half-True
By Bill Adair, Louis Jacobson • January 28, 2010
Dick Cheney
stated on December 30, 2009 in a statement to Politico.:
President Obama “doesn’t … want to admit we’re at war.”
Pants on Fire!
By Bill Adair • January 3, 2010
Barack Obama
stated on September 20, 2009 in an interview on Meet the Press:
“Mathematically, the White Sox can still get in the playoffs.”
True
By Bill Adair • September 20, 2009

Help us rate Obama’s campaign promises

Clear
Markwayne Mullin
stated on October 1, 2026 in a speech at a rally in Oklahoma:
For President Donald Trump, “there’s no financial gain like the past presidents have had. It’s cost him to be in office.”
Pants on Fire!
By Louis Jacobson • October 5, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on October 4, 2026 in a Truth Social post:
Brazil’s quick election results are proof that places like Detroit, Philadelphia and California “take weeks to rig” their elections.
Pants on Fire!
By Amy Sherman • October 5, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on September 21, 2026 in an X post:
Roy Cooper was “in New York speaking at a New York Times ‘Climate Forward’ event” when Hurricane “Helene slammed into North Carolina.”
False
By Paul Specht • October 5, 2026
WinSenate
stated on September 25, 2026 in an ad:
Iowa Republican Senate candidate Rep. Ashley Hinson voted against releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Mostly False
By Loreben Tuquero • October 2, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on October 1, 2026 in a Truth Social post:
“I stated, numerous times, that it would take 4-6 weeks to get rid of THE IRAN NUCLEAR THREAT, and I did it in one night!”
False
By Amy Sherman, Maria Briceño • October 2, 2026
TikTok posts
stated on September 28, 2026 in a post:
These videos show scenes of alleged sexual assault at Cornell University.
Pants on Fire!
By Jeff Cercone • October 1, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on September 28, 2026 in an ad:
“Just months after” the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, David Jolly “was in Washington, pressuring Congress to expand drilling off the Florida coast, over $5 million in billings.”
Mostly False
By Samantha Putterman • October 1, 2026
Senate Leadership Fund
stated on September 16, 2026 in an ad:
Sherrod Brown supports “forcing childhood sex change surgery.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • October 1, 2026
John E. Sununu
stated on September 8, 2026 in his primary night victory speech:
“Chris Pappas voted to raise taxes 68 times. Every tax vote he’s made was to raise taxes.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • October 1, 2026
Mike Rogers
stated on September 24, 2026 in a TV interview:
Abdul El-Sayed “could not condemn the terrorist who tried to attack and kill 140 Jewish children right here in Michigan.”
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • October 1, 2026
Ashley Hinson
stated on September 2, 2026 in a social media post:
Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek “skipped 58% of the votes at the Statehouse this year.”
True
By Anna Mitchell • September 30, 2026
Mike Rogers
stated on September 23, 2026 in an X post:
“Abdul El-Sayed supports defunding the police and emptying prisons.”
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • September 28, 2026
WinSenate
stated on September 24, 2026 in an ad:
Sen. Susan Collins “voted to cover up the Epstein files” and Jeffrey Epstein’s “business partner funneled $3 million” to a Collins super PAC.
False
By Amy Sherman • September 28, 2026
Rob Sand
stated on August 24, 2026 in an ad:
Iowa once had “the best public schools in the country,” but is now “in the bottom half.”
Half-True
By Grace Olson • September 24, 2026
Republican National Committee
stated on September 2, 2026 in an X post:
“54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals.”
False
By Paul Specht • September 24, 2026
Texas PAC
stated on September 11, 2026 in an ad :
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico “supported using taxpayer dollars for sex change surgeries on young children.”
False
By Ben Brasch • September 24, 2026
Chris Pappas
stated on September 15, 2026 in a press release:
New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Sununu “led efforts to privatize Social Security.”
Mostly True
By Louis Jacobson • September 23, 2026
Sherrod Brown
stated on September 3, 2026 in a campaign ad:
Sen. Jon Husted “led the push to bring data centers to Ohio and gave billions of tax dollars to make it happen.”
Mostly True
By Cami Henry-Seymore • September 23, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on September 22, 2026 in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly:
The people who warned of climate change, the “Russia hoax” and the “Ukraine hoax” are the same people “now saying that AI is going to kill us all.”
False
By Caleb McCullough, Loreben Tuquero • September 22, 2026
TikTok posts
stated on September 20, 2026 in a post:
President Joe Biden “cut off 440 reporters’ credentials.”
Mostly False
By Jeff Cercone • September 21, 2026
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