EVERY PROMISE HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE — but even “Save the Whales?” Obama Under Fire for Backing Deal to Lift Global Ban on Commercial Whaling. “Environmentalists, already peeved with the administration’s handling of the Gulf oil spill, are accusing President Obama of breaking his campaign pledge to end the slaughter of whales. The Obama administration is leading an effort within the International Whaling Commission to lift a 24-year international ban on commercial whaling for Japan, Norway and Iceland, the remaining three countries in the 88-member commission that still hunt whales.”