We've tracked this promise on penalty-free 401(k) withdrawals since President Barack Obama took office. It seems like it's time to stick a fork in it and declare it done.

The measure, which Obama proposed during the fall of 2008 as the economy was swooning, would have allowed workers to take money from their 401(k) retirement accounts before retirement, but without the usual penalty of 10 percent on top of regular taxes. The idea was to help cash-strapped workers get through hard times without having to absorb penalties for their bad fortune.

The potential downside to the idea is that money taken out now won't earn compounded growth later to build wealth. Also, early withdrawals lock in market losses that might turn around in time.

Penalty-free withdrawals weren't included in the economic stimulus bill that became the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nor were they part of Obama's budget outline, which Congress approved on April 2, 2009. It doesn't appear that any member of Congress has introduced such a measure. Everyone we've asked about the idea says it's not going to happen.

If this measure ever rises from the dead, we'll be happy to recalibrate the Obameter and take another look. But people across the country are preparing their taxes right now, and if they took money out of their 401(k) before retirement in 2008, that penalty will be there staring them in the face. We rate this Promise Broken.