Originally Posted By ecdc Chris Matthews nailed it. The people of Louisiana have been all too happy to accept federal money for the last few years. And the sheet irony of a Republican citing the failures during Hurricane Katrina as a way to fault the government? Wow. It's pretty rich of Republicans to run the government into the ground for 8 years them say, "Well that's government for ya!"
Originally Posted By dshyates I wish the GOP would get their ducks in a line. As I said somewhere on here "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". But we are facing an unprecedented problem. Taking inflation into account this crash is far worse than '39. But given the state of capitalism, I think it will be much shorter. The companies that survive will recover much faster. Kroger won't go under nor will they have empty shelves. They will buy from foreign suppliers, and pull out much quicker.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "far too self serving for me-- " Spot on. That's really all that needs to be said.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney LOL, I just read this thread and about maybe 10 posts were actually about Obama's speech (verdict: great) and another 25 posts were about Jindals response (verdict: not so great) ;D. Havent seen either yet, just an observation.
Originally Posted By DAR <<That said, Obama gave one of the finest State of the Union Addresses I have ever seen.>> Pump the brakes kid. It was a very good speech, the guy can talk. But I'm more interested to see if these proposals will work. Otherwise this will end up being nothing but hot air.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper You know, here is the State of My Family speech. I want to build a brand new house in the mountains. We are going to buy a couple of brand new vehicles to get to said house. We are going to furnish said house with wares from around the country. When we are not staying at said house we are going to tour the world by private jet and possibly even my 100 foot yacht. Oh, you want to know how I am going to pay for all that? Let's not sweat the small stuff.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***And was Jindal addressing the nation or a group of pre-schoolers?*** lol. ***Pump the brakes kid. It was a very good speech, the guy can talk. But I'm more interested to see if these proposals will work. Otherwise this will end up being nothing but hot air.*** A great deal of the measure of a President's effectiveness has to do with how well they communicate. It really does. If they can inspire and comfort, and rally the people around a common cause, then they are very effective. Two great examples are Kennedy and Reagan. The detractors can say whatever they want, but both of those men delivered what the public wanted (and wow, from two totally different parties to boot!). We'll see how well the initiatives work out in the fullness of time. If things don't work out all that well, I have confidence in the fact that our President is able to be nimble and flexible much more than perhaps some other leaders over the years so I'm not pinning all my hopes on "this" one effort by any means. In the meantime, I would say that the President is selling what he's selling in a BIG way and, for now, that's exactly what he's supposed to be doing imho.
Originally Posted By dshyates "Pump the brakes kid. It was a very good speech, the guy can talk." All I said was it was one of the finest State of the Union SPEECHES I have ever seen. I said nothing about his effectiveness as a President.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper It wasn't really a State of the Union but it was an outstanding performance. And, I think that needs to be considered. "CNN" is asking a poll question that is something like, "What did you think of Obama's Address to Congress?" Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Didn't Watch. Well, the delivery and "performance" was exceptional. His ideas sound great on paper. But, there is no realistic way even HALF of what he proposed can be payed for so it does leave me feeling a bit deflated. It isn't far from the race for class president coming down to the candidate that wants to put kool aid in the fountains. That sounds GREAT but if it isn't realistic then what does it really mean?
Originally Posted By DAR I have a question. Who decides to build a school close to some train tracks. First of all besides the nuisance it brings. It's really not that safe.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***It wasn't really a State of the Union but it was an outstanding performance.*** It wasn't really a state of the union address. You know that, right? ***But, there is no realistic way even HALF of what he proposed can be payed for so it does leave me feeling a bit deflated.*** Yes, there is. No problem, in fact. So, why so deflated? ***It isn't far from the race for class president coming down to the candidate that wants to put kool aid in the fountains. That sounds GREAT but if it isn't realistic then what does it really mean?*** How is this remotely relevant? He's not promising "pie in the sky", he's working towards realistic goals. And if you think "he can't do it", let's all remember for a second that he just threw down a billion dollar spending bill without breaking a sweat. If that doesn't do it, he can go for five billion next time. And there are plenty of rich people out there to tax, in order to pay for it. I like.
Originally Posted By DAR Here's some Fact Checking regarding the speech: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/fact_check_obama" target="_blank">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/fac...ck_obama</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck ***But, there is no realistic way even HALF of what he proposed can be payed for so it does leave me feeling a bit deflated.*** +1. The government's ability to invent money out of thin air is not limitless. That's why people like me are so worried about this strategy of Obama's. But once again, the GOP has proven that they have no legitimate alternative, so here's hoping ...
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I'm watching Jindal now. Am I just really biased, or is he really sucking at this? He sounds sing-songy and phony and looks awkward as heck.> As I said on another thread, he sounded like Mr. Rogers speaking to a group of less-than-gifted 5 year olds. How many times did he say "We can do ANYTHING!!" with that slow speech pattern as if to say "really, kids, we can! And I like you just the way you are." This was particularly jarring after Obama had just spent an hour plus speaking to us as though we were adults. Obama's speech was about as good as it could have been. It's only a speech after all; its purpose is to buoy the country's attitude and outline proposals (which must be accepted by Congress, of course, and the devil is always in the details). And some things are beyond any president's control. So by itself, a speech can only do certain things. Chief among those things are setting a tone, rallying the country, and communicating his vision for where he'd like to lead the country. And on all those points, it was about as good a speech of this type as I've ever seen.
Originally Posted By DAR I think we learned two things last night: Americans can do anything. Hillary Clinton couldn't look more bored at these things no matter who is in office.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper As she was strolling down the aisle did anyone else think she forgot herself for a moment and actually thought she WAS the President? This isn't about Dems vs Repubs for me and hasn't been in a long time. I didn't vote for McCain or Obama. At 40 years old and with two kids who are getting older every day I am really concerned about what they are going to be saddled with. I liked some of the themes Obama hit on last night but I believe his spending plan...which ain't over yet...is akin to building a pretty skyscraper on top of the San Andreas Fault Line.
Originally Posted By tiggertoo <<This was particularly jarring after Obama had just spent an hour plus speaking to us as though we were adults.>> I agree. I thought Jindal's “Americans can to anything” speech had such a see-Jane-run tone that it was almost offensive.
