What's wrong with Obama?

[Splashleigh]

So after reading the Slate article that Adam H posted i'm getting kinda worried. Here in Australia we were so excited when Obama got in, because unfortunately, American politics dictates a lot of policies here. But we've been increasingly surprised at the lack of love for him that seems to be filtering through lately. Universal health care should be enough to make you love him forever, i cannot comprehend how a modern first world country doesn't have it. My friends and i don't get it....what's wrong with obama?

[Bob]

he hasn't been able to do anything because every time he tries fox news calls him a socialist and people believe it

[Sir SkratchaLot]

he hasn't been able to do anything because every time he tries fox news calls him a socialist and people believe it

Those are big words, from a communist freedom hater.

[yeahwho]

For one year straight we were on the periphery of a Great Depression, yet we never slid into that abyss. Those who call him socialistic etc. must have completely missed all of the corporatist maneuvers of the past two years.

I like him and I like his ability to lead in the face of a bunch of whining ungrateful babies. I'm also very happy that some of these teabaggers and republicans now have power, lets see them shut up and work for a living. Do they have anything in their toolboxes besides being against policies and right wing propaganda?

[ericg]

i'm all about love too but i am with 'everyone else' as well adam. i hope you're not just trying to save face after you went on tour...

barry went to the bilderburger meeting this year. shame on him and hillary.

[p-branez]

Splashleigh: What do you think is wrong with Obama?

Sometimes it's good to hear ideas to answer this question from an outsider, someone with a different set of eyes looking at an issue.

also: I spent part of this summer in Singapore, and it wasn't until then and watching all the Asia-Pacific news, did I remember that Australia, and to a greater extent New Zealand, are a couple of the most advanced countries in the world (#2, #3 Human Development Index). I was there when Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as PM and know that if I was in U.S. at the time, I never would have known.

So how would you say U.S. politics impacts Australian politics?

As for me, I don't think the state of U.S. has as much to do with Obama as it does the American public.

[Splashleigh]

It's interesting you should bring up the PM takeover, i was in NYC at the time with my best friend and the only way we found out was because everyone at home was posting about it on facebook. It was bizarre that it didn't even seem to be a blip there.
From an outsider's point of view Obama seems to be a godsend. There are things that i just don't understand about American politics/social policy, especially health care and education. Here, the government loans us our tertiary education debts so that there's no financial block to getting a degree. It's such a shame that people are forced to lose education because they can't afford it.
The states policies effect us in really huge obvious ways ie GFC and Iraq but also your trends influence ours. We had a conservative liberal (here liberal is right wing) leader for ten years and when the US started swinging towards the left so did we and in 07 we got a left party into power. So when it seems that Obama is falling out of favour it puts us on our toes.
I was talking with a friend at dinner last night about this and she thinks that it's a PR problem. Obama's admin stopped the recession from being the great depression in her view but it was through policies that were economically responsible that he didn't necessarily make clear to the public what was going on, is that the case?

[MCD]

sorry to jump in here, but i think that the problem that many americans have with our leadership-whether right or left-over the last couple decades is that they feel like they know better for us than we do. the most recent-and most relevant-example of this argument is health care. whether right or wrong in anyone's mind, the vast majority of americans did not want the healthcare reform that was pushed through a very willing congress. the beauty of american politics is that every two years we have the opportunity to let the people that we have elected to represent us know what we think of the job they are doing. just like an annual review that your boss gives you. the american people decided that our elected officials were not doing a good job of representing our will. our government is set up to work for us, not the other way around. i don't understand the arrogance of 535 elected officials telling the 300 million americans who they represent that they know better for us than we know for ourselves.

the bailout is another example of why the american people are fed up with 'business as usual' in washington. this bailout was clearly bi-partisan, and is clearly a nod to the interests of big business over the interests of individuals. something that is wonderful about the american spirit is that we embrace all freedoms, including the freedom to fail...if the businesses that my tax dollars were spent bailing out had not made bad business decisions then they might not have found themselves in the predicament that they ended up in. but damn all of the small business owners that have sunk their life savings into a dream and either failed or succeeded, the government decided that it was their position to spend money that they don't have-i.e. future tax dollars out of my pocket-to save business that made poor decisions.

if i spend more than i bring in month after month, and year after year, eventually no one will give me the credit to continue spending. our government is doing just that. spending dollars that they don't have, spending dollars that they are betting they will have. they just take it from us. need more money? no problem! just raise taxes...look, i don't care who it comes from, the rich or the poor, but a continually elevated rate of taxation is not the answer for americans. it is not what we want, but it is the only way that our government will continue to remain solvent. i work for the money that i earn, and all that i want out of my government is clean and safe streets, protection from enemies-both foreign and domestic, and the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. extra taxes on the individual so that large corporations can continue to keep afloat-and keep paying into the government coffers-are not the way to the american dream.

[Drederick Tatum]

^yeah healthcare reform is the real problem, not the billions being spent on futile wars in distant countries.

in a country obsessed with national security and preserving American lives, how do more American citizens die? at the hands of freedom-hating terrorists or from a negligent healthcare system? Harvard Medical School comes to some shameful conclusions. http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

so what's wrong with Obama? well for starters he's failed to dismantle the vast, secret, and intrusive national security apparatus that Bush set up over the last decade, and he's prolonged a war that is a constant drain on the US taxpayer and in which young Americans sacrifice their lives for absolutely nothing.

[Dorothy Wood]

I think what's wrong is that hens trying to please too many people at once, because he's afraid of the anger. but i think it's just causing more anger.

[Dorothy Wood]

I don't agree with the idea that government officials are "arrogant" for deciding what's best for citizens. there are a lot of idiots in this country who need to be told what to do. and so far the people telling them what to do are corporations and television personalities. which i find far more disturbing than government.

i mean seriously, the U.S. is a huge complicated monster of a place, and your average citizen would have no fucking idea how to run it. i don't want average citizens in charge, i want exceptional people who've studied law and public policy, and have a genuine interest in progressing society.

i am an intelligent person, with a rather high IQ, and I don't have any answers for solving our country's problems...so how come so many dumb asses claim to know what's best?

i say fuck that, i refuse to let idiots win. i don't want ignorant easily-manipulated morons determining the course of my country because they shout the loudest.

[MCD]

^yeah healthcare reform is the real problem, not the billions being spent on futile wars in distant countries.

in a country obsessed with national security and preserving American lives, how do more American citizens die? at the hands of freedom-hating terrorists or from a negligent healthcare system? Harvard Medical School comes to some shameful conclusions. http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

so what's wrong with Obama? well for starters he's failed to dismantle the vast, secret, and intrusive national security apparatus that Bush set up over the last decade, and he's prolonged a war that is a constant drain on the US taxpayer and in which young Americans sacrifice their lives for absolutely nothing.

trust me...our military personnel giving their lives, and taking lives all over the world does not make me happy...i wish we could bring each and every american serviceman and servicewoman home. no buts. no 'they need to be there.' none of that...bring them all home.

dorthy...don't let them tell you how to live your life. that's when they've got you.

[RobMoney$]

I'm also very happy that some of these teabaggers and republicans now have power,


If they're the "tea-baggers", doesn't that make you, as being opposed to them, grammatically-speaking, the tea-bagee?

[RobMoney$]

^yeah healthcare reform is the real problem, not the billions being spent on futile wars in distant countries.

We spend as much on Welfare as we do on Defense. Interesting that the liberals never seem to have an issue with that spending...

in a country obsessed with national security and preserving American lives, how do more American citizens die? at the hands of freedom-hating terrorists or from a negligent healthcare system? Harvard Medical School comes to some shameful conclusions. http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

If I wanted to live in a nanny-state I'd move to France, work 32 hrs per wk, retire @ 62 and enjoy the wine and cheese.
No Thank You.

[Drederick Tatum]

We spend as much on Welfare as we do on Defense. Interesting that the liberals never seem to have an issue with that spending...



If I wanted to live in a nanny-state I'd move to France, work 32 hrs per wk, retire @ 62 and enjoy the wine and cheese.
No Thank You.

you find the fact that liberals might prioritise welfare over defense spending interesting?

but yeah, fuck those poor people. as long as you're happy right.

seriously though, is that not the point of America's overwhelming focus on national security? to save American lives?

[RobMoney$]

Apparently you, & liberals in general, seem to think defense is not a priority.
Or even necessary.

I respectfully disagree.
There is no bigger priority than ridding the world of tyranny.
And yes, we do try to do it for the entire world as best as we can. We can all debate the merits of those intentions all day long, but that is supposed to be the goal of the American military.

[Splashleigh]

it just doesn't seem so much defence as offence and the rest of the world is dragged into america's tactics. On the one hand it seems the states government are happy to be the ones who know what's best for other countries and the world in general and on the other they claim it's all about defending their own citizens and fuck who gets caught in the crossfire.

[saz]

Apparently you, & liberals in general, seem to think defense is not a priority.
Or even necessary.

I respectfully disagree.
There is no bigger priority than ridding the world of tyranny.
And yes, we do try to do it for the entire world as best as we can. We can all debate the merits of those intentions all day long, but that is supposed to be the goal of the American military.

there's a difference between having a strong national defence (which would still top the rest of the world combined) and an incredibly bloated, wasteful defence budget, filled to the brim with welfare and or jobs programs for defence contractors, who are building shit america doesn't need. plus, not to mention the cost of maintaining an empire (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12824).

[Bob]

We can all debate the merits of those intentions all day long, but that is supposed to be the goal of the American military.

i don't think that's in the constitution...

[Drederick Tatum]

Ridding the world of tyranny is the goal of the American military?

wow. I'm not sure even George Bush believes that kind of exceptionalist rhetoric any more.

The DOD's official mission states something completely different, "The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country." (http://www.defense.gov/about/#mission)

so as you can see offensively imposing American democracy upon other countries is not only against international law, it's also not the goal of the American military.

[valvano]

i guess the massive failure of his "hope" and "change" premise has played no part of his low approval ratings, nor his cramming through a health care bill that nobody wanted, nor his racking up a higher deficit in his first 2 years than all other presidents combined, nor is global "apology for the US" tour..

of course, anybody else who's experience prior to coming to DC was "community organizer" would expect similar results...:confused:

[kaiser soze]

yeah and he's blacker than all of them put together too!

Thanks for posting the data to back up your facts vulvano! Here's some pretty colored charts you can look at

http://www.lafn.org/politics/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html

http://www.ibew.org/legislative/W080714_JustFacts.pdf

I'm not looking forward to the GOP witch hunt (again) that will definitely suck the $$$$$$ right from under our feet. Cut spending my ass - they just know how to make it look good.

Don't hold your breath for them to fix anything, they just want to be asses which they have been for the past 2 years not working with the electorate which has brought us to where we are now.

[valvano]

anybody who references a union website for political facts is a fool...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/72404

compare the deficit ratio of Bush 2 in 8 years vs Obama in just 2

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019931-503544.html

[kaiser soze]

nor his racking up a higher deficit in his first 2 years than all other presidents combined

I'm still having a hard time seeing how his deficit numbers outscore all Presidents combined?! I am also not convinced that the 3 trillion is completely attributed to Obama's and Dem policy. Do I like it? NO - but I think this shit is being played up for GOP favor

you believe the deficit #'s are strictly Obama's/Dem's doing...all of it?

People need to ask why did the banks and automakers fail and follow the paper trail. I guarantee it goes way past Jan 20th 2009.

http://www.google.com/search?q=bush+signs+bailout

fool

[kaiser soze]

The one thing that is a bit upsetting and a massive kick in Obama's nuts is how bailed out companies donated to the opposition. Granted it was truly a lose lose situation.

Don't bailout - massive job/investment loses
Bailout expecting political kickback - massive favoritism

I really don't know how this would have worked in the dem's favor without looking like a bribe.

But then I find it particularly ironic that the opposition would accept such donations (greater than the dems). I mean the audacity for them to "fight" the bailouts and then gladly take the moolah afterwards. Leading me to believe the whole bailout bit was one big fucking Corpo-Republican scam, the timing was impeccable.

[saz]

compare the deficit ratio of Bush 2 in 8 years vs Obama in just 2

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019931-503544.html

yes, because bush paid for the iraq and afghanistan wars, plus his tax cuts for the rich on the country's visa card. bush's bail out of wall street, and financial meltdown should also be included in what obama or mccain had to inherit. now the mess is being sorted out, as that article cited the 18-member national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform panel.

[kaiser soze]

but what people fail to realize is that bush's deficit came from a Clinton Surplus

part of the added deficit are bush's policies (including the wars)

[yeahwho]

anybody who references a union website for political facts is a fool...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/72404

compare the deficit ratio of Bush 2 in 8 years vs Obama in just 2

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019931-503544.html

So we should trust the conglomerate mainstream corporate media and only use them as reliable sources? Never look beyond a well funded commercially sponsored statistic from the reliable corporate media source. I think the very fact that you discount all evidence contrary to your own belief system is very telling. And everything you post is anti-Obama, anti-union and anti-social.

Do you have any support towards your Country and mankind in general or are you mainly interested in being against stuff? It would be fantastic if you could give us the name of some great politician who has ideas for fixing GWB's complete dismantling of our financial system.

[valvano]

It would be fantastic if you could give us the name of some great politician who has ideas for fixing GWB's complete dismantling of our financial system.

i'd say any non politician could easily fix the mess that DC..

[kaiser soze]

BAM! He told you!

We should get Britney Spears up in there and get all "Oops she did it again" on them!

Or even Mickey Mouse - I heard he likes it when the gloves come off!

Fabio....Charlie Sheen....David Duke....Gene Wilder....Will Smith....All the Baldwin Brothers....Santa Clause....Jesus....

[Dorothy Wood]

i'd say any non politician could easily fix the mess that DC..

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH AHAHAHAHHA

[Sir SkratchaLot]

This is part of the problem with the American Dream. Every dumbass off of the street thinks they can rise to the occasion and run a business, fix the world's problems, be president, etc. etc. They think the world is simple because they are simple.

[Burnout18]

This is part of the problem with the American Dream. Every dumbass off of the street thinks they can rise to the occasion and run a business, fix the world's problems, be president, etc. etc. They think the world is simple because they are simple.

There are so many dumb motherfuckers who get lucky and think because they excel in one area of life they can run the world.

[p-branez]

I heard former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) lecture this year and he talked at length about how he thinks the American Dream - rising beyond expectations and environment - is still both possible and relevant. I asked him a question about his apparent simplification about the unique youth/development experiences of diverse Americans. He gave me an extended answer and said the key is to have a positive attitude. All people can view their world with a positive attitude and if you keep that attitude, you can overcome any obstacle in life to achieve your goals.

Sure, it may be overly idealistic and sappy, but coming from a US Senator, it didn't seem so ridiculous; it seemed like he really believed it. It's something I've kept with me for a while now.

[DIGI]

Apparently you, & liberals in general, seem to think defense is not a priority.
Or even necessary.

I respectfully disagree.
There is no bigger priority than ridding the world of tyranny.
And yes, we do try to do it for the entire world as best as we can. We can all debate the merits of those intentions all day long, but that is supposed to be the goal of the American military.

To paraphrase the words of Joe Sestak from Real Time last week. What we need to do is to put money into making the military smarter strategically, not just waste money building more ships and tanks. Build IT systems that can help track down Bin Laden, not waste billions of dollars to float ships in waters where we think he could possibly be.

ALSO-

Fuck Fox News. It's time for Obama to quit being a pussy. He spent the better part of 2 years trying to please both sides and look where it got him. Grow a set, remember what you wanted to do, and just fucking do it. There's no bargaining with these right wing retards. The longer he fucks around, the stronger Palin's push for office becomes. That would officially be the end of the fucking world.

[saz]

(y)

It's time for Obama to quit being a pussy. He spent the better part of 2 years trying to please both sides and look where it got him. Grow a set, remember what you wanted to do, and just fucking do it. There's no bargaining with these right wing retards. The longer he fucks around, the stronger Palin's push for office becomes. That would officially be the end of the fucking world.

spot fucking on. also, joe sestak was great last week. too bad he didn't win that senate race. he's the kind of person the dems and the country desperately needs.

[p-branez]

To paraphrase the words of Joe Sestak from Real Time last week. What we need to do is to put money into making the military smarter strategically, not just waste money building more ships and tanks. Build IT systems that can help track down Bin Laden, not waste billions of dollars to float ships in waters where we think he could possibly be.


spot on here, too.
An economic take on "Obama Wants Spending Cuts, He Should Start With Military (http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/11/obama-wants-spending-cuts-he-should.html)

A couple links to check in that post.
Here's what our defense spending is doing now: (http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE59Q4X920091027)
(Reuters) - The defence bill President Barack Obama will sign into law on Wednesday contains a new provision that would pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said on Tuesday.

Under the legislation, Afghan fighters who renounce the insurgency would be paid for "mainly protection of their towns and villages," Levin said.

Now, Carl Levin is my senator, and soon I'll be sending him a letter. Is our politicians' best idea for winning a war and best use of taxpayer money paying people to switch sides?

Also, check out the article from Dean Baker - another Michigan connection - PhD economics, University of Michigan on "Massive Defense Spending Leads to Job Loss (http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/defense-spending-job-loss/)"

[saz]

Is our politicians' best idea for winning a war and best use of taxpayer money paying people to switch sides?

that's how the surge (bribing sunni militia groups) worked.

[p-branez]

It works in the short term - like aiding Afghan mujahideen to fight Soviets worked in the short term. Simply bribing groups or individuals leaves the chronic religious, cultural, economic, and geographic reasons for conflict unaddressed.

[saz]

yep. and like you pointed out, it's pretty sad that such a policy would be relied upon.