With all deference to Desperado, I wanted to piggy back on his idea of looking back at the last year since Obama was elected president. However, instead of evaluating his performance, I wanted to take a look at the political landscape. Obama made a lot of noise about changing the tone in Washington. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last. George W. Bush made the same pledge when he went to Washington. He got worse in the intervening eight years, but to be perfectly fair, I'm not sure it was all or even mostly his fault. At least not Bush individually.
Similarly, Obama has tried to reach across the aisle, but he has also done his fair share of wall-building as it may be called. While people on the left are applauding his decision to freeze out Fox News, that action is definitely not one someone would take if the want to mend fences. That being said, like most presidents, Obama is in the peculiar situation of trying to be conciliatory while not being a push over. Sometimes, that requires people to make hard choices.
Memory is a funny thing sometimes. People that support the president (any president) will come out and say their president has been getting more flack than any president before him. Obviously, it becomes a bit hyperbolic at times. George W. Bush took on abuse just like Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush before him. In fact, you got to go back pretty far to find a president that was immune to such abuse. It certainly hasn't happened in my lifetime even if Ronald Reagan came close. It is not only our right to oppose policies we disagree with, but it is also our duty.
One of the things I have noticed is the fact that those that oppose Obama's policies have done a couple of things that are new to the political discussion. First, they have asserted that Obama wants to destroy America (or segments of it). This is something I never heard from mainstream Democrats and any elected Democrat that uttered such a thing in the past was usually frozen out of power. There will always be segments that say such things, but those segments have become more mainstream. Maybe it is having a major cable network that argues such things. Maybe it is allowing talking heads to take control of the Republican party. Either way, it is damaging to public discourse. If we could agree on anything in the past, it was that everyone wanted what was best for America.
The second thing we've noticed is an increase in what I would call fantasy strategies. In other words, the strategies and ideas attributed to Obama are pure fantasy. He has been called a Socialist that wants to convert the United States into a socialist country. Excuse me? When did he say this exactly? This is attrbuted to all of his policies. Instead of fighting the policy, they make it up. He doesn't want counseling for seniors, he wants death panels. He wants rationing. They didn't stop there. Now, they are making up what happens in other countries. You don't want to end up like England or Canada. You might actually get health care for an affordable rate. Oops, I can't say that, so I people are dying in line. You say I'm wrong? Go buy a plane ticket to go to London and prove me wrong.
The tragedy of it all is that there are realistic points to make against Obama's ideas. Health care reform needs those ideas. Our energy policy needs those ideas. More than that, our policies around the world need as many ideas as possible. We need the best minds this country can muster to beat all of these threats to the well-being in our country. If the best minds are stuck hatching hair-brained conspiracy theories then we don't have the brain power we need to get these things done. Happy Anniversary Mr. President, I hope this next year goes smoother than the first.
And thanks for your kind words. I had a good (and very vocal) teacher. Who can also be found on these pages somewhere.
LOL
I was bitterly disappointed in GWB. By the end of 2007, I was verging on absolute disgust.
His father is/was a different story. I honestly felt he was qualified to be president back in 1988.
But I've read enough history/biographies to know that even the family thought little Georgie was kind of a hopeless cause and didn't think he'd amount to much.
Which, in the end, we see was correct.
I still think he was a "bought and paid for" president. Bought and paid for by.....whom? Halliburton perhaps. The fact that GWB raised millions of dollars in campaign money in 2000 and 2004 still baffles me. He's not *that* likeable. Something fishy about that entire campaign and the smell goes right to Dick Cheney, IMO.
Funny how you and I are BOTH right almost ALL of the time.
If only Bush had OUR batting average.........NO recession, Iraq war over in three weeks, grateful Iraqis give us 200 Billion barrells of oil to reward us, Bin Laden praying on a Wal-Mart rug at Gitmo, Talilban in hiding in a little cave in properous Afghanistan, and "same day" service for Katrina victims as they enjoy Pepsi and Boudoin in the air conditioned Superdome, equipped with a generator.
...actually a very good and fair assessment...which is more than i can say for some of your commentors...
...what about obama's postion on continued bush are terror policies such as rendition and patriot act wiretaps, sluggishness on don't ask/don't tell and oppsition to gay marraige, inaction on meaningful immigration reform, stewarding the largest budget increase in american history..not to mention his positions on the wars in iraq and afghanistan which do not seem to satisfy the progressive left...when will these take their toll on his fractuous democratic coalition...
Bush could have been any kind of president. When you are a puppet, it only matters who is pulling the strings.
You know, I really was disappointed in George H.W. Bush. I voted for him. I thought he was probably eminently qualified. More so than many others.
And it turned out I was mistaken.
Nice guy? Yeah, probably so. But wimp factor? Absolutely.
I think the family is probably pretty nice overall. Rich? Yeah. Elitist? Definitely (but you sure don't hear the whackjobs screaming about THAT, do you?).
I know one thing: I do NOT want another Bush in the White House. Whether it's Jeb or Jeb's son, George P.
What's even more amazing is that his daddy WAS NOT a good OR popular president. He was a "one termer". Why did anybody think his sons would be any different. I really think he got elected more on the people's habit of throwing one party out after 8 years in favor of the other just to change things around.
alienHunter wrote: My buddy says that MSM loves Obama and mercilessly castigated Bush and then asks me why. I respond that Satan always gets more negative press than Jesus.
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What a great line.
Not only was Bush a buffoon, he had a lot of BAD advisors. Not the least of which was that dick Cheney. Add Karl Rove and Rumsfeld and you've got a tri-fecta of self-serving assholes. Bush coulda been a decent president if he'd had people telling him the RIGHT thing to do.
When you get right down to it.....it's hard to believe anybody could be wrong ALL the time. As they say, "even a broken clock is right twice a day."
I agree. After Katrina, I begged for the troops to come back (the National Guard) from Iraq because it was obvious that Bush didn't have a clue.
"Heckuva job, Brownie".
That was the beginning of my disillusionment.
And this is probably why I am so filled with anger against the GOP.
When the MSM asked Bush what his best memory of being in the Oval Office 8 years was, his response was throwing out the first pitch at some freakin' baseball game.
WTF is wrong with that?
That just showed how damn shallow/incurious he is. Seriously, he is a male Sarah Palin. Not too bright; personally probably very charming and personable.
But come on, if GWB had a name like "George W. Watson" or "John Q. Public", and wasn't the son of a former president/VP/CIA director/Ambassador to China/United Nations, etc., AND the grandson of a U.S. Senator (Prescott Bush) AND also descended from big business on his mother's side (Pierce), does anyone think that he would a) be admitted to Yale; or b) be elected to anything more than HOA President?
I think we learned (at least some of us did) by 2008 that the White House is not a place for dummies.
In the Presidential flack department:
My buddy says that MSM loves Obama and mercilessly castigated Bush and then asks me why. I respond that Satan always gets more negative press than Jesus.
GWB was an abject fool...Everytime I see his picture I FEEL SORRY FOR HIM. The man is a hopeless buffoon. He screwed up from the get/go but I never noticed. Everybody said he was okay (here in Texas, anyway) and I had no reason to argue...until, Katrina. The images that I gathered from that experience were shattering and I saw things for what they were...hopelessly jacked up and retrobate. Yeah, he got a lot of bad press allright but he deserved it.
Obama is marching staunchly onward in the face of HUGE obstacles facing completely (as you said) fantastic charges of incompetence. My gawd, there is no valid comparison this side of the 3rd dimension.
But the right is loving it...cause 'they're opening people's eyes' That notion in itself is monumentally fantastic.
What's funny is that I am being told I am the extremist. I said that calling Obama a socialist is extremist and they not only disagreed but said it was the dumbest thing I've ever said. I'm just not getting it.....I will come up with a light topic today for Friday, this stuff is too depressing.
Precisely. The racists are coming out from under their rocks, and they are being encouraged by the likes of Palin and Bachmann.
carguy you speak the truth. tea party people not so many years ago would have worn their white hoods and sheets in public, now they wear big mac big guts and stretchy denim. i have no idea why fort hood shooting took place, as it is being investigated. but i can say with conviction that up front and center fox is drooling with their "alerts" over the soldier's ethnic name. what i worked out however is that for this individual to already be a major, and an army mental health "professional" only one year after obama becomes president is significant. because unless obama appointed him personally and recently, it will be hard to blame obama for this and not have bush, cheney, perry, cornyn, hutchinson and all the other anti-obama redneck republican lawmakers walk away pure as the white snow they represent.
I like Obama for the things I know he ISN'T going to do...
He isn't going to say, before leaving an environmental summit. "Good-bye from the world's biggest polluter."
or...
"We need to counter the shockwave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates." -George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2001
can't forget...
"When I was a kid I remember that they used to put out there in the Old West a wanted poster. It said, Wanted: Dead or Alive." -George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. Sept. 18, 2001
...
"Brie and cheese." -George W. Bush, to reporters, on what he imagines reporters eat, Crawford, Texas, Aug. 23, 2001
I could fill this page many times over with just the war rhetoric.
If Obama does nothing else he will prevent us being plunged into another war for profit in Iran. That is a million less people that will die for our greed. Well, not until his term is up at least.
Obama's ideas about health care are alot better than anything the opposition has suggested. Face it people, health care is expensive. Especially in the U.S. Washington let a problem as important as health care mushroom into a huge cluster fuck.
Try tallying up what we spend total on the armed services and everything attached with it. Nearly half our yearly budget.
The 860 billion or so we give out right to the military. The 300 billion or so in debt from previous military expenditures. The 100 billion or so we give to retired military personnel and the VA. And lets not forget the billions from discretionary spending, that isn't spent on other things, go right into military coffers.
Funny how we seemed so concerned about external threats, yet we let something as important as public health eat us from within.
I say "we" and "our" because this is our country. The Washington politicos and everything that goes with it survive from a socialist system funded by our tax dollars. So I personally don't give a crap about what the stuffed shirts think we can and can't afford.
There is plenty of money, they would just rather spend it on things other than assuring the welfare of their constituents.
Another 131 people died today for lack of health care. I bet those pompous wind bags in Washington sleep just fine tonight.
people might die in line in canada or england, but apparently not sufficient in numbers to rival people dying here without a place in the line. this fact is evidenced according to our WHO rating for overall health care outcomes. it's a have vs. have nots about rationing, because people with coverage are being scared about rationing, while uninsured people sick or afraid of getting sick are equally scared for their very lives. meanwhile insurance companies make 420% profit rise, and tea party people who can afford to travel to washington, visit eateries and pay hotels & taxis scream in zombie unison "healthcare NO!". just because crazy bachman told them that screaming "fire" in a crowded theater is the best way to get a point across. ironic happenings right at this moment. cspan features a "robust" debate on the homeland security act chemical "assessment" every 5 yrs, giving homeland security right to enter any chemical treatment facility or water treatment plant. culberson just said "terrorist attack not our concern, jobs are our immediate concern! he goes on to say its a dangerous, straightforward "environmental" bill to help EPA kill tens of thousand of petrochemical jobs in texas". usual republican "party of business can do it better than govt" bullshit! he apologizes for being hoarse because he's been at a tea party rally all day. meanwhile gene green (D) gives an intelligent explanation about why we cannot leave this important, national security measure to the sole discretion of the profit motivated chemical facility plant ownership. go figure, right now on fox cavuto is the ONLY media person insisting the fort hood mass shooting in progress is possibly a terrorist attack. he even had dana perino on just now, and she refused to criticize obama's handling of this situation, telling the irritated cavuto that "the president of the united states has a direct line to defense secretary and has his reasons for not raising a terror alert". she was quickly disposed of, so cavuto can rave on about the community needing to be on "high alert", clearly longing for the yellow-orange-red system of the previous terror monger in chief. now that homeland security is trying to become legitimate fox is drooling to bash them before the ft. hood situation is even finished happening. fox is not news, their only purpose now is to resist, bash and sabatoge obama, no matter the issue. and the tea party people talking about the dem healthcare bill as a "bigger threat than 911" warrants having some people publicly censured and called out by the REAL media. the current, coordinated "healthcare, EPA, homeland security, dems, etc are worse than 911 terrorist" IS A TERRORIST strike, a domestic terrorism initiative fully engaged and designed to harm our country. ps if you could not tell, i'm still glad i voted for obama.
Let's not fool ourselves.The reason the attacks have been so pervasive and vicious is very simple. First black president.