Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Apparently Obama's fans are leaving him. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/NoemieEmery/Death-of-the-Obama-dream-41801612.html" target="_blank">http://www.washingtonexaminer....612.html</a> <<First, the financial crisis he was hired to fix has only grown worse under his tutelage, losing another 2,000-plus points on the Dow since his ascension. Second, the ‘smoothest transition on record’ stopped being smooth when Bush went back to Texas, and has since been a mélange of scandals and dithering. Third, the immense sums in his budget are starting to stun the more moderate Democrats, not to mention the Obamacons, who once put their hopes in his ‘moderate’ temperament. Fourth, he and some of his high-profile picks have shown a repeated addiction to unforced errors and slights---mixing up names, misplacing dates, dissing Nancy Reagan, dissing the British Prime Minister, dissing the Special Olympics, created and run by John Kennedy’s sister—giving the impression the administration is run by the under-informed and the boorish and socially compromised. Would Caroline’s father, who took part in his family’s effort to raise his retarded sister as normal, and who as president put great store in his special relationship with “Uncle Harold” McMillan, have found this amusing? One rather thinks not. In short, the idea of Obama, the eloquent, elegant, trans-racial hero, able to inspire his way around anything, ran into reality and was dissolved by it, revealing a not-well-prepared neophyte politician with an embarrassing penchant for gaffes. The markets are down, the price tags are up, the British are piqued, and the independents are heading back to the Republicans, who now have a (slight) lead in the generic ballot, for the first time in nearly three years. Obama’s teleprompter has its own blog, its own code name---Totus--- and is building a following. One laughs with it, and at him, which cannot be promising. For a would-be Messiah, this is hardly good news.>>
Originally Posted By gadzuux You've found a boilerplate right wing "hit piece" - they aren't all that hard to find. And to read them, you'd think that Obama is personally responsible the plunging markets, gigantic deficits,and million dollar bonuses for bankrupt executives. Now we get two paragraphs on how Obama hates on crippled children - with some Nancy Reagan thrown in for good measure. I have no idea what that's even referring to, but it must be true. The surprising thing is that a lot of people believe this stuff. Not the people that actually WRITE it - they know better, but they're hoping other people will. This is their "job" - to deflect any responsibility or accountability away from the bush administration, and his GOP henchmen in congress. But to do that, you have to peddle falsehoods, and deliberately engage in misleading people away from the actual facts. "Conservative ideology" becomes synonymous with "blatant deception". And the only thing that's important with this agenda is to fingerpoint at Obama whenever possible - no matter how ridiculous it is. Another column today from another right wing tool - Karl Rove - who suggests that Obama's first two months in office provides the perfect opening for a GOP return to power. Really. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123802235514741871.html" target="_blank">http://online.wsj.com/article/...871.html</a> Obama Points Back to the GOP's Future [excerpts] >> Suddenly it doesn't seem like a time of new politics and new concerns. Many Americans are anxious -- and in some cases angry -- about a set of old issues: deficits, taxes and the national debt. Mr. Obama's radical budget, his administration's slapdash operating manner, and events such as the AIG bonuses have revived animosity over government's size and cost. In response, tea parties are sprouting up, and opposition is growing to more bailouts, more spending, higher taxes and larger deficits, even among Congressional Democrats. Last fiscal year, the deficit was $459 billion. For this fiscal year, it was $569 billion when Mr. Obama took office. Under his proposals, another $1.276 trillion will be added to the deficit this year, for a total of $1.845 trillion. << Why do you suppose that is, karl? Obama spent two years laying out his key issues - reform health care, improve education, and move toward a more sustainable energy policy. Now he's been given the extra task of saving the universe after the absolute ruin left by his predecsessors - including Karl Rove. But he doesn't have a word to say about that - just that Obama's "radical" and "slapdash". Karl also finds room to complain about health care for children ... >> $911 billion for legislation signed during his first two months in office, including the stimulus bill and the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program << ... or "SCHIP" - the bill that the republicans killed late in bush's term. Who's against providing health care for children? Republicans, that's who. Eats into their bottom line. Karl ends it with this ... >> Invoking the language of fiscal responsibility, Obama is engineering prosperity-killing deficits and bankrupting spending. Mr. Obama has put front and center a set of issues -- spending and taxation -- that brought Republicans to power in the past and may bring them back again. It looks as if we may be heading back to the future. << This is music to my ears. This means that republican leadership still believes they can pitch themselves as the party of fiscal discipline, and fingerpoint about spiraling deficits and borrowing. Just let them try.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "In short, the idea of Obama, the eloquent, elegant, trans-racial hero, able to inspire his way around anything, ran into reality and was dissolved by it, revealing a not-well-prepared neophyte politician with an embarrassing penchant for gaffes." In their dreams. All this just goes to show how scared they are of the guy. It's Day 66, and they're already out with this stuff. Maybe if anyone was thinking straight on the GOP side they wouldn't do this.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Apparently Obama's fans are leaving him.<< Good to see more "country first" people are taking such glee in anything they can grasp on to insist Obama's the problem, not 8 years of Bush screwing everything up. "Ya, the ship is sinking! Ya!" How patriotic.
Originally Posted By ecdc And of course, all polls show Obama with strong support and small negatives. But don't let the facts confuse you.
Originally Posted By Skellington88 Doesn't Obama have the same (or higher?) approval ratings as Ronald Reagan. Who was probably the last all-around loved President?
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <Not the people that actually WRITE it - they know better, but they're hoping other people will.> Translation - I don't agree with conservatives, so they must be lying.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <all polls show Obama with strong support and small negatives.> I read they're lower than President Bush's were at this point, and falling. I think people are realizing that President's Obama's moderate rhetoric doesn't match his liberal policies, and that giving inspiring speeches is no substitute for experience in governing.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I read they're lower than President Bush's were at this point.<< First, the fact that you read that at some right-wing site means nothing. You can't back it up (which is nothing unusual), but he's at 63% according to the latest Gallup Poll. Second, Bush was still enjoying Clinton's surplus until he completely screwed it up, too busy ignoring the threat from al Qaeda. Obama inherited a collapsed economy thanks to Republican deregulation and Bush's insistence on lowering taxes for the wealthy.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <First, the fact that you read that at some right-wing site means nothing. You can't back it up (which is nothing unusual), but he's at 63% according to the latest Gallup Poll.> You're welcome to go to Zogby and Rasmussen and check their poll numbers. <Second, Bush was still enjoying Clinton's surplus until he completely screwed it up, too busy ignoring the threat from al Qaeda. Obama inherited a collapsed economy thanks to Republican deregulation and Bush's insistence on lowering taxes for the wealthy.> The economy, and federal revenues, were already falling when President Bush was elected, he never ignored al queda, and the financial crisis wasn't caused by tax cuts or deregulation. Sorry.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>You're welcome to go to Zogby and Rasmussen and check their poll numbers.<< Already did. Here's a deconstruction on why Zogby's are dead wrong: <a href="http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/worst-pollster-in-world-strikes-again.html" target="_blank">http://www.fivethirtyeight.com...ain.html</a> >>The economy, and federal revenues, were already falling when President Bush was elected, he never ignored al queda, and the financial crisis wasn't caused by tax cuts or deregulation. Sorry.<< I know you're wrong, but there's no need to apologize.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <Here's a deconstruction on why Zogby's are dead wrong:> Dead wrong or a head of the curve? Time will tell. <I know you're wrong, but there's no need to apologize.> I'm not wrong, and I didn't apologize. That "sorry" was pity.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Dead wrong or a head of the curve? Time will tell.<< You clearly didn't read the analysis that showed how far off-base Zogby was during the election.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh Why is that clear? Because I didn't comment on it? I didn't comment on it because it's not relevant. It's the trend that matters, not the results of an individual poll.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***<Not the people that actually WRITE it - they know better, but they're hoping other people will.> Translation - I don't agree with conservatives, so they must be lying.*** Nope. Translation - we all know that you (the fomenters) are smarter than that.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***You're welcome to go to Zogby and Rasmussen and check their poll numbers.*** Why would anyone do that, after watching you go there time and again during the election season to show us how strong and likely to win McCain actually was?! lmao.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/MsgBoard-T-99915-P-1.asp" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/Ms...-P-1.asp</a>
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh <Why would anyone do that, after watching you go there time and again during the election season to show us how strong and likely to win McCain actually was?!> First, you're exagerating what I said about Sen McCain. For example, I just scanned about half the posts in the link of K2M's and didn't see a single post by me. Second, the polls didn't show the race being that close. I was hoping they were more biased then they ended up being, because that often happened in the past, but that didn't happen. Lastly, it's really irrelevant to the issue. President Obama's approval numbers are treading down, and his disapproval numbers are going up, and even left leaning pollsters are noticing it.
Originally Posted By FaMulan Of course, the detractors don't remember that in his Inaugural Address, the new President did say that things could get worse. They don't see and understand that it will take time to fix this mess and to re-build the Budget Surplus account that Bush and his administration spent like sailors on leave. President Obama inherited an absolute mess and is doing what he can to fix it, but instant gratification is not possible and patience needs to be practiced.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***the new President did say that things could get worse*** I think he even said things WILL get worse. And they did. And now they're getting better. I'm certainly very hopeful that things will get better and better from here. There's no guarantee, of course. But one thing is certain. If things DO get better from here, the Republicans are going to be so far out of power they might as well find a new country to govern. LMAO.
