Look folks, as you can tell, I am a die hard sports fanatic…yes, I mean a fanatic! I do like to dabble in politics and religion from time to time but I rarely engage in those topics in this forum because I am absolutely aware that my peers that post and frequent this site are much smarter than me in these particular categories…and just smarter in general to be completely honest.
…but I have to say this…
RW, I love u man, you have had my back more than once here and I appreciate it, …Jerr, I know you are going to dig into me over this…and even ol’ Buck might just try to tear a piece outta me as well.
Obama.
Well, lets see what he has on his plate.
First of all, he is the first black president…(half black…kinda in line w/ the Tiger Woods thing….its ok to like him …right?)
Look, its kind of like a good friend of mine said one time….
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” -Mahatma Gandhi
Yeah, we were taking in a Cubs game when he said that…and I remembered it well. We were drinking beer and sharing a dog.
Look at what all is on the old man’s (Obama) plate, A new American depression, the finacial responsibility for strategic American industries at the expense of becoming the fodder of right wing radicals who would describe the effort as an arrogant act to turn our country into a Socialistic minority.
Take also into consideration,…Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan (which he has strong-armed as of recent), Russian expansion, Chinese expansion, Somalian pirates, Hugo Chavez (yes, he’s an idiot..but an idiot that sits on the 5th largest oil reserve on the planet), OPEC hoping for upwards of $100 per barrel of oil, and as a few friends point out, solar flares capable of taking out an entire American electrical grid, another 5 mile meteor, aliens from Planet X invading…and, yes, …same sex marriages.
I cannot quote the movie verbatim…but in the movie “The Contender” …the senator said that (and I am definately paraphrasing here) he could not ask for greatness…only the potential for greatness. Greatness is not acheived by any individual…it is thrust upon the individual by the circumstances at hand.
No, I am not a poet…just the best I can do to describe the situation I see before me.
Mr. Obama certainly has enough on his plate…and I am a die-hard Republican but I cannot deny the effort that the man has put before us…on our behalf…be us black or white.
Certainly the circumstances are upon him to achieve greatness…that is sad for us as a country…but in my opinion, …a great opportunity to have a man who (in my humble opinion) has the ability to achieve greatness….well, to just go and get it.
There are 300 Million Americans that would greatly appreciate his effort.
His head isnt stuck in the sand.
I repeat….I appreciate his effort.
How bout them 3rd place Bravos?
You’re welcome to your opinion. The only good thing I can think of to say about the current administration is that it isn’t the last one. I’ll probably start sitting out national elections from now on. I can find other ways to piss in the wind if that’s what I want to do.
I will of course vote for Obama one more time. As I have said before, I owe the Republicans than much. I would work to get him one more term gladly and after that start fishing from the banks of Lake Anarchy again without regrets. I will piss into the wind before I vote for another Republican again. That does not make me a die hard Democrat.
I sincerely did not expect huge changes in months. In fact I did not expect huge changes in years. I have always been on record as believing that we will have troops in Iraq when I have grandchildren and that my grandchildren may serve there.
The issue of torture is the most fascinating to me. I had a great discussion with an ultra right wing uncle of mine that was bemoaning “empathy” as an attribute of judges. He is one of those “the law is the law and we are a nation of laws” kind of guys so I asked him if he would prosecute torture. He looked like he had just taken a bite out of a turd sandwich and actually said that the torture we do is legal.
Life is too short to argue that shit. You just smile and keep walking. Like Jesse Ventura said, let’s talk about it again in a couple of years.
But yeah. As to whether or not Obama was the best choice we had in the last election? Hell yeah. And I will appreciate his efforts and I will hope that the nations start to prosper once again and I will always hope that we will get our military heads out of our asses but now I must admit I do not see THAT happening. Blowing shit up is just too easy an option to let slide and we spend one hell of a lot on fireworks annually. Gotta do something with them I guess.
If you can come to the conclusion that the current administration is better than the last administration then you can say that progress is being made.
We’re not. Obama’s chief prosecutor doesn’t think so, depending upon the intent (I think, whothehellknows what he’s saying.
If it’s illegal, prosecute. Don’t dally, don’t tarry, don’t dilly-dally, send the evil doers to jail. Either prosecute or STFU and stop trying to make political hay out of the situation (with all due respect).
Anyone taking bets? I want in on the action, if so. I’ll give odds.
If the criteria for “better” is ‘how many private companies can we commandeer, takeover or give to the unions’ and how many trillions in deficits we can rack up, then it is infinitely better than any recent administration.
And just wait, we haven’t started saving money for tax payers by putting crack whores, deadbeats and drug-rehabbers on their health care plans.
I’m still willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but I’m not getting that good vibe…..
Oh God yeah. Nothing would suit me more than for Cheney to STFU.
To try and make the argument that if some nut blows up a pizza parlor in Peoria it will be because we stopped torturing suspects is such patent nonsense that it is hard for me to listen to without getting emotional.
I for one will continue to hope that folks like Cheney and Rumsfeld are the last vapors of the Nixon administration and will soon blow away into the wind never to be heard from again.
Still predict a 2012 blowout RW?
Yeah, if someone makes that argument I’ll be in agreement with you. Likewise, I’ll want to throw up if someone makes the argument that if we’d only done more with the Israeli/Palestinian issue then we could avoid those things; those nuts are religious fanatics and you cannot reason with them. Just like the abortion doctor killer, they are terrorist nutcases and being nice to them doesn’t stop them from killing (hey, has anyone asked “why did that guy hate the good doctor”, yet?).
Yes. I’ll bet 10 Obama commemorative plates/coins that the cult-of-personality won’t subside in 3.5 years. We now know how someone without a resume’ can get elected & the current GOP is in too much disarray and too stupid (or, throw in whatever epithet you wish if you don’t think I’m being harsh enough) to figure out an answer. The only hope the GOP has is to make gains in ’10 and pray that it can thwart some of the tidal wave that the Obama re-election sweeps in.
It won’t be close.
Remember, ACORN is slated to work the census (science won’t matter in that case), so ’16 could be another wipeout, what with the 72-to-1 registered voter advantage that Democrats will have in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.
Would this qualify? It’s from January 22..
Frankly, I’ve always been skeptical of the notion that the B/C program “kept us safe”…but if it did, then I can’t see how the cosmetic changes O is introducing will change that.
The “kept us safe” line is the biggest bunch of bull shit ever spewed.
Cheney knows he is not going to be prosecuted for anything and that he can hop from podium to podium giggling about it.
Just go away old man. You have had your chance now just please go away.
My political views cannot really be classed into one party or one ideology but I will try to explain them in a few words. I believe that in any election, I should vote for the person that presents the greatest opportunity for improving their jurisdiction.
Obama is handling these issues the best he can and is in the same position as Gorbachev was with the USSR after years of very bad management. He has to figure out how to do all the damage from all the years of harm the previous administration caused. And he has to figure out how to honour as many promises as he can to ensure re-election because it would be downright foolish to think the GOP will change enough over the next four years to be a party worth voting for.
I say this with a bit of sadness because the GOP has some very good ideas that I seem to agree with. Too bad that their actions circumvent these ideas. They talk about smaller government but they choose to bring their government into the bedroom of gay citizens. They try to bring government into the women’s health clinics across this nation. It is my personal opinion that the GOP has some serious work to do before they can earn the trust of the American people again.
I doubt that on the morning of 9/12/01, anyone would’ve given odds that more than 8 years later we’d still be looking on 9/11 as the last terrorist attack on our soil. I’m not giving 43 all the credit or anything, but….that is one area where the spending seems to have shown some sort of positive result, be it DHS, airport security, intel, or whatnot. BTW, the official biggest bunch of bull ever spread is “no, she won’t gain weight after having kids”.
I’ll be quite happy for Cheney to go away and the fastest way for that to happen is for President Teleprompter to STOP TALKING ABOUT THE LAST ADMINISTRATION, blaming them for all the ills and using them as a punch line for darn near every speech.
Yeah, it could easily be some of the most easily uttered BS of our time…
…but it could also be the hardest thing to actually prove in our time.
All I really know is, nothing else really happened here at home. That would tip the scales towards….
Jessica, I agree with you as well.
Can I make the assumption that you grew up across the pond and later moved to the greater Denver area?
…Or would that be just presumptuous of me as usual?
There have been terrorist attacks since 9/11 on our soil. In order to be labeled as terrorism 3,000 or more deaths do not have to occur.
Those who assassinate doctors as well as those who murder military recruitment officers fall under the same heading as far as I am concerned.
I can argue that the little gnome that sits at the end of my driveway stops lightening strikes. After all, there have been no lightening strikes at my house since I put him down there. And lightening did strike once before I put him down there so obviously he is doing a great job.
By that definition, wouldn’t every drive-by gangland shooting & drug deal gone bad also be acts of terrorism?
When you’re able to bring in the lightning strikes, cuffed, for booking BEFORE it strikes the earth, present evidence of the lightning’s plans for attack & wire taps from the undercover agents that detail the months of preparation of its impending strike, then I’ll give your gnome all the credit for thwarting the act of violence. Until then, I’ll acknowledge the successful law enforcement agents & feds who have stopped the documented terrorist activities from happening, even if Keith Olbermann tells the troops that they weren’t really a big deal (and nowhere near as physically dangerous as what Bill O’Reilly SAYS).
No. Standard political posturing is a given. I’m not going to blame Obama for the Muslim convert who killed the soldier yesterday & anyone who does is exploiting a horrific situation for political gain (see: George Tiller). If Al Qaeda, which is weaker than it was 8 years ago, comes back to its former glory, then…..yeah, I’ll say “why did we change one of the few things that was working?”