Candidate Obama vs. President Obama

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

In response to the thread title, I did. That's why I didn't vote this time. Either way I'd have been let down or bamboozled. Oh well, train's left the station. It's gone just the way I thought it would go. Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride. I'm neither Rep or Dem. I don't believe either has the power to make the changes I'd like to see. I do believe there will be a shitload of change coming out of my pocket. Glad I don't have children.

Evster2012 ... You do know that you don't have to vote for the people on the ticket?

You can vote for any one!!! In fact, if you dislike every one, you can go out and vote for Micky Mouse if you please.

It's all in the write in ticket law, as long as you are a registered voter you can ask for a write in ballet and a pen and write down who ever you want.

I understand you grief dude but, if you don't vote they can take your right to vote away and that's not good. It almost happened to me but it just so happen that some one I went to high school with worked in the voter office, she called me out of the blue and said, "there talking about voiding your voting right's, what are you going to do?" I said to her, "I don't like the candidate's, so I've never voted".

She said, "well, you can re-register as unaffiliated (not being part of any party) and just vote in the main 4 year election". I agreed and have not missed a poll to this day.

Just something for every one to think about.

[TypeO]

Evster2012 ... You do know that you don't have to vote for the people on the ticket?

You can vote for any one!!! In fact, if you dislike every one, you can go out and vote for Micky Mouse if you please.

It's all in the write in ticket law, as long as you are a registered voter you can ask for a write in ballet and a pen and write down who ever you want.

I understand you grief dude but, if you don't vote they can take your right to vote away and that's not good. It almost happened to me but it just so happen that some one I went to high school with worked in the voter office, she called me out of the blue and said, "there talking about voiding your voting right's, what are you going to do?" I said to her, "I don't like the candidate's, so I've never voted".

She said, "well, you can re-register as unaffiliated (not being part of any party) and just vote in the main 4 year election". I agreed and have not missed a poll to this day.

Just something for every one to think about.

Dude, they don't take your voting rights.

You could be deleted from the precinct rolls if you never show, thinking you're no longer in that area.

But re-registering is a minor inconvenience.

But it's not losing your RIGHT to vote.

Staying current on your voting eligibility is your responsibility, not the government's.

And I'm pretty sure Ev's aware of write-in ballots, although writing in "Mickey Mouse" doesn't send near the message people have come to believe it does.

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

Dude, they don't take your voting rights.

You could be deleted from the precinct rolls if you never show, thinking you're no longer in that area.

But re-registering is a minor inconvenience.

But it's not losing your RIGHT to vote.

Staying current on your voting eligibility is your responsibility, not the government's.

And I'm pretty sure Ev's aware of write-in ballots, although writing in "Mickey Mouse" doesn't send near the message people have come to believe it does.

OK, let me rephrase that. If you get taken off the party's polling list you can vote? You have to have at least a non-partisan registration, yes? Some state's let "non-partisan's" vote in primaries and some don't, I don't know what would happen if you don't have any affiliation, will you no longer be on any of the list's at the poll's?

I'm looking on-line and found this ...

In most states, you need to register at least 30 days before the election.

at http://www.declareyourself.com/voting_faq/...9.html#eligible

So, if you are no longer on a registered affiliate's polling list can you go to the poll on election day? I think not, so, you will not be able to vote until you re-register (in advance of an election) one way or another.

I'm sorry if I'm being picky (correct me if I'm wrong) here but that's the way it work's right?

[NickZepp]

Nobody really expected anything different did they?

I think a lot of people were becaues of his hype. Obama really put out a voice for change. He was talking about all these things he was going to do. Get rid of dept, cut taxes for the middle class, his message was all about hope and it was really a positive message. But since he's become president he's been pretty much the opposite. Watch any speech he gives to the overseas crowd and you see him basically rip America every chance he gets. How can the leader of a nation hate his own nation so much?

[marolyn]

How can the leader of a nation hate his own nation so much?

not hatred...merely an acknowledgement that the u.s. is not perfect...a little humility goes a long way!

[jabe]

I think a lot of people were becaues of his hype. Obama really put out a voice for change. He was talking about all these things he was going to do. Get rid of dept, cut taxes for the middle class, his message was all about hope and it was really a positive message. But since he's become president he's been pretty much the opposite. Watch any speech he gives to the overseas crowd and you see him basically rip America every chance he gets. How can the leader of a nation hate his own nation so much?

Stupidity.

I'm afraid the Urkel "Did I do that?" administration is in over its head.

[NickZepp]

not hatred...merely an acknowledgement that the u.s. is not perfect...a little humility goes a long way!

No one said the US is perfect but that doesn't mean you can say the US sucks like he does.

[Medhb]

As all probably remember, I voted for him and debated for him. I must admit to beginning to feel a disappointed. On the foreign relationships front, I, personally, feel he is making good strides to building better relationships. I'm very pleased that we are uniting with Russia to 'encourage' Iran and N. Korea to stop any nuclear plans.

On the other had, domestic affairs....he's scaring me. Everyone who screamed 'socalism' and I ignored, you can say 'I told you so'! Either I didn't carry the vision through far enough or his vision and mine were a bit different.

No import taxes, yet we're going to put energy taxes on all manufacturing in the US? OK, do the energy taxes but we MUST have import taxes....he's making a recipe for destruction.

The gaffes that have occured in the short time he's been president have been more than one would expect to be normal.

Yes, I'm nervous.

As many here have pointed out....and I've always believed personally as well, we NEED a good strong thrid party. But we need to support it! Grass roots, If it could be pulled off with the sophistication that Obams's campaign was maybe it could really happen.

OK, I'm not eating crow for dinner yet but it looks like my appetizer is crow eggs on a bed of mixed wild greens

[BUCK'EYE' DOC]

In terms of the thread in general, having run for political office, you learn quickly there is a significant majority of the campaign that is skin deep merely saying what sounds appealing, while a minuscule minority devoted to actual goals and plans you can accomplish.

And look at all the fools and suckers who fell for these lies from Obama and voted for him and got him elected!

And a contributing factor is/was the liberal media fawning over him and giving him a pass on his gaffes and misteps, when they would be all over George Bush in a minute if he did the things that Obama has done.

Don't you people get it yet? The media is and has formed a false perception of the man just to fit their agenda, and now that you are waking up and realizing it, it is too late.

Our country will be in financial ruins by 2012, and the government will be supporting everyone and we will be living in a welfare state. And this is just where the libs want us. If we are dependent on the government for life, then the importance of the government increases, and then it becomes indispensible to us. Government bureaucracy is the only entity that becomes bigger and grows just because it becomes bigger. It is self perpetuating. The more money the goverment spends, the more money it needs to spend just to grow and get bigger. That eventually leads to communism, where you are dependent on the government for everything. Socialism is just one step to communism. Do you really want this? I don't.

edited to say: This post is not directed to any one on this forum, just "people" in general.

I am not trying to offend anyone here who voted for Obama.

[Sloppy Joe]

Don't you people get it yet? The media is and has formed a false perception of the man just to fit their agenda, and now that you are waking up and realizing it, it is too late.

There lies the problem. The electorate unabale to seperate the chaffe from the wheat.

You hear what you want to hear.

[TypeO]

As all probably remember, I voted for him and debated for him. I must admit to beginning to feel a disappointed. On the foreign relationships front, I, personally, feel he is making good strides to building better relationships. I'm very pleased that we are uniting with Russia to 'encourage' Iran and N. Korea to stop any nuclear plans.

On the other had, domestic affairs....he's scaring me. Everyone who screamed 'socalism' and I ignored, you can say 'I told you so'! Either I didn't carry the vision through far enough or his vision and mine were a bit different.

No import taxes, yet we're going to put energy taxes on all manufacturing in the US? OK, do the energy taxes but we MUST have import taxes....he's making a recipe for destruction.

The gaffes that have occured in the short time he's been president have been more than one would expect to be normal.

Yes, I'm nervous.

As many here have pointed out....and I've always believed personally as well, we NEED a good strong thrid party. But we need to support it! Grass roots, If it could be pulled off with the sophistication that Obams's campaign was maybe it could really happen.

OK, I'm not eating crow for dinner yet but it looks like my appetizer is crow eggs on a bed of mixed wild greens

There you go making sense again!

Cut that shit out, it completely destroys the image we conservatives have created of liberals!

I keed, I keed.

But seriously, I gots so much for you for your no-bullshit stance.

You are unquestionably liberal, yet you don't ignore or rationalize issues you find untenable, and you readily admit when they are untenable.

We ALL – left, right, moderate – should strive for this same attitude.

You continue to have my undying and unequivocal respect for your political views.

You refuse to drink the kool-aid or to wear the rose-colored glasses.

I don't always agree, but at least I know you're honest with yourself.

[Medhb]

There you go making sense again!

Cut that shit out, it completely destroys the image we conservatives have created of liberals!

I keed, I keed.

But seriously, I gots so much for you for your no-bullshit stance.

You are unquestionably liberal, yet you don't ignore or rationalize issues you find untenable, and you readily admit when they are untenable.

We ALL – left, right, moderate – should strive for this same attitude.

You continue to have my undying and unequivocal respect for your political views.

You refuse to drink the kool-aid or to wear the rose-colored glasses.

I don't always agree, but at least I know you're honest with yourself.

Thanks so much TypeO, that means a lot to me.

I think one of the problems with humanity in general (which of course affects any entity we touch) is we are afraid to admit we were wrong, or change our minds, or reconsider. Once a plan has been laid it seems like it's full speed ahead and damn the torpedo's.

I see this all the time from upper management where I work and I'm pretty confident it's not unique to my particular workplace. If people would just allow their pride to move out of the way and re-assess on a regular basis, and react to those re-assessments...well, how many disasters could have been diverted. How many courses of action could we now be changing?

I hope that Obama will soon do a re-assessment and realize the long term affects of some of the very important plans he is currently laying down.

Let's pray that a strong 3rd party representitive comes along in the next 3 years because if Obama doesn't live up to expectations and the republicans don't get it together and find a strong candidate then where shall we turn?!

I'm already half ass seriously considering moving to Costa Rica and joining a commune The biggest hitch is my husband says I'll have to send him postcards

[cryingbluerain]

How come the 'Savior of the World' approval ratings keep dropping?

...weird

July 17, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) — An average of five national polls conducted in July indicates that President Barack Obama's approval rating has slipped under 60 percent.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans surveyed approve of the job Obama's doing as president, according to a CNN Poll of Polls released Friday.

In early June, Obama's average approval rating was 62 percent.

"Recent polls indicate that Obama's lowest ratings — and biggest losses — come on the public's perception of how he is handling the economy,"

....How could this be?

George W. Bush also drew a 57 percent approval rating six months into his presidency..

[zosodude13]

And the major media outlets still cover for his gaffs, blunders, lies, daily policy changes, etc., etc. Remember when the Obama worshippers around here said how he would listen to both sides of the isle. Instead, he uses his strong arm tactics that he learned so well in Chicago politics from Rezko and Wright. Why do they not trash him for not removing troops from Iraq? Why do they not trash him for sending well over 20,00 troops to Afghanistan? Notice how the major media now hardly reports about American losses in these campaigns but when President Bush was in office they could hardly wait to show the body bags. Where are all the Bush bashers that do not have the guts now to say that their "Hero" Obama is doing the same things? What rock has Hermit crawled under? Where are all the liberal Know - it - all's that have been duped?

Only 6 posts and you know about a member who was banned in summer of 08?

Icantquityoubabe, glad to see you're back

[Rock Action]

I think many who supported Obama are now sorry they did so. But their ego's are too big to admit it. Its still early, but he hasn't shown me shit.

He's shown ME shit. Nothing but shit, in fact.

[THE FIRST LEDZEP]

2012 BYE BYE PHO

[THE FIRST LEDZEP]

2012 BYE BYE PHO

[el mago]

2012 BYE BYE PHO

big things!!!

[NickZepp]

I think the problem is no longer the president. It's the system. Our government is a liberal one, even on the republican side. They are owned by big business and can't get out of it.

[The Rover]

The Washington Post

By Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Barely six months into his presidency, Barack Obama seems to be driving south into that political speed trap known as Carter Country: a sad-sack landscape in which every major initiative meets not just with failure but with scorn from political allies and foes alike. According to a July 13 CBS News poll, the once-unassailable president's approval rating now stands at 57 percent, down 11 points from April. Half of Americans think the recession will last an additional two years or more, 52 percent think Obama is trying to "accomplish too much," and 57 percent think the country is on the "wrong track."

From a lousy cap-and-trade bill awaiting death in the Senate to a health-care reform agenda already weak in the knees to the failure of the stimulus to deliver promised jobs and economic activity, what once looked like a hope-tastic juggernaut is showing all the horsepower of a Chevy Cobalt. "Give it to me!" the president egged on a Michigan audience last week, pledging to "solve problems" and not "gripe" about the economic hand he was dealt.

Despite such bravura, Obama must be furtively reviewing the history of recent Democratic administrations for some kind of road map out of his post-100-days ditch.

So far, he seems to be skipping the chapter on Bill Clinton and his generally free-market economic policies and instead flipping back to the themes and comportment of Jimmy Carter. Like the 39th president, Obama has inherited an awful economy, dizzying budget deficits and a geopolitical situation as promising as Kim Jong Il's health. Like Carter, Obama is smart, moralistic and enamored of alternative energy schemes that were nonstarters back when America's best-known peanut farmer was installing solar panels at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Like Carter, Obama faces as much effective opposition from his own party's left wing as he does from an ardent but diminished GOP.

And perhaps most important, as with Carter, his specific policies are genuinely unpopular. The auto bailout -- which, incidentally, is illegal, springing as it has from a fund specifically earmarked for financial institutions -- has been reviled from the get-go, with opposition consistently polling north of 60 percent. Majorities have said no to bank bailouts and to cap and trade if it would make electricity significantly more expensive.

According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, more than 80 percent are concerned that health-care reform will increase costs or diminish the quality of care. Even as two House committees passed a reform bill last week, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that the proposal "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs" and dramatically raises the cost "curve." This sort of voter and expert feedback can't be comforting to the president.

As writers who inveighed against last year's GOP candidate and called George W. Bush's presidency a "disaster," we're equal-opportunity critics. As taxpayers with children and hence some small, almost certainly unrecoverable stake in this country's future (not to mention that of General Motors, Chrysler and AIG), we write with skin in the game and the fear that our current leader will indeed start busting out the 1970s cardigans.

Of course, it's too early to write Obama off. Just a few years ago, Republicans and Democrats alike were puzzling over the "permanent" GOP majority. And less than two years ago, the smart set was buying advance tickets for Rudy vs. Hillary. Yet there's no question that Obama's massively ambitious domestic agenda is at a fork in the road: One route leads to Plains, Ga., and early retirement, the other to Hope, Ark., a second term and the revitalization of the American economy.

The key to understanding Obama's predicament is to realize that while he ran convincingly as a repudiation of Bush, he is in fact doubling down on his predecessor's big-government policies and perpetual crisis-mongering. From the indefinite detention of alleged terrorists to gays in the military to bailing out industries large and small, Obama has been little more than the keeper of the Bush flame. Indeed, it took the two of them to create the disaster that is the 2009 budget, racking up a deficit that has already crossed the historic $1 trillion mark with almost three months left in the fiscal year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1702093_pf.html

[Medhb]

Oh, I see. When it was President Bush it was all his fault. Now it's the system. That's conveinant.

What, may I ask, is your point? Do you have anything of value to add to the conversation or are you a mirror of the First_Zep or whatever the heck the name of that thing is that can't post a cohesive thought is.

Everything you've said so far could be easily exposed as untrue but I make it a practice to never wrestle with pigs.

Welcome to the forum

[Medhb]

I think the problem is no longer the president. It's the system. Our government is a liberal one, even on the republican side. They are owned by big business and can't get out of it.

You make a really good point there. No matter who is steering this boat it's in for a treacherous ride. I pray for calm waters and a land of milk and honey in our future

[ZPN]

When he was raising all that money, I was not expecting a lot (after all I voted for Nader in 2000 & 2004: I couldn't deal w/Nader & his voters being blamed again for republicans being in office, so I voted for Obama). But I thought he would at least allow Single Payer to be "on the table", even though he didn't support it!

Nader tried to work within the Democratic party for decades, and finally gave up. Sadly, Nader predicted/understood everything that's happened in the last 8+ years. Now the public is finally catching up (ie Single Payer, living wage, one party system...) to him, and it's too late for him to be President (he's too old). I saw him speak a few times and he was truly amazing-brilliant, funny, and compassionate. He filled auditoriums & even stadiums when he charged admission: most politicians can't do that for free. But because the DEMOCRATS kept him out of the debates, tied him up in court to keep him off ballots and pd for ads saying Nader was getting money from Republicans (so were Democrats, but why should they bother mentioning that inconvenient truth?), he didn't have a chance.

Dems have a nice cozy arrangement: all they have to do (for now) to keep their cushy jobs and priveledged lifestyle (including a "public" health care plan!) is be slightly to the left of the psycho right wingers. What makes me REALLY angry is that by treating 3rd party progressive candidates this way (as spoilers), they are acting like THEY ARE ENTITLED to our votes! Liberal Dems like Kucinich and even Howard Dean will never get their endorsement and therefore won't be on the general election ballot. So as Nader said, we're left with the "evil of two lessers".

Yes, Obama is certainly a trillion times smarter than Bush and Palin, and probably less evil than Darth Cheney . I try to console myself with that fact. But there's a lot of nasty stuff still going on in this admin, and the Bush/Cheney admin may get off the hook for all the crimes they committed. Meanwhile, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the Dems to support serious election/media reform. Here's a simple way to eliminate the "spoiler" factor: instant runoff voting! Think the Dems want that? No way! Not when they can keep the status quo, marginalizing 3rd party candidates, demanding our votes, perpetuating a system where the person who raises the most money, not the person with the best ideas/policies, or even the most public support wins. I'm afraid that until we have instant runoff voting, we're stuck with only Democrats & Republicans. And as long as Democrats and Republicans run things, we won't get instant runoff voting. UNLESS the public refuse to go along with the media & the Dem establishment, and move in MASSIVE numbers to a 3rd party candidate. If we do, wait for the media/Dems to tell us the 3rd party candidate "can't win" (and is therefore a spoiler who will win the election for the Republicans).

[Hotplant]

My point is exactly what I said. Or, are you to "Pig Headed" to accept another point of view?

It's TOO..not "to." SRPlanet51 AKA....etc, etc, etc........

[Deborah J]

When he was raising all that money, I was not expecting a lot (after all I voted for Nader in 2000 & 2004: I couldn't deal w/Nader & his voters being blamed again for republicans being in office, so I voted for Obama). But I thought he would at least allow Single Payer to be "on the table", even though he didn't support it!

Nader tried to work within the Democratic party for decades, and finally gave up. Sadly, Nader predicted/understood everything that's happened in the last 8+ years. Now the public is finally catching up (ie Single Payer, living wage, one party system...) to him, and it's too late for him to be President (he's too old). I saw him speak a few times and he was truly amazing-brilliant, funny, and compassionate. He filled auditoriums & even stadiums when he charged admission: most politicians can't do that for free. But because the DEMOCRATS kept him out of the debates, tied him up in court to keep him off ballots and pd for ads saying Nader was getting money from Republicans (so were Democrats, but why should they bother mentioning that inconvenient truth?), he didn't have a chance.

Dems have a nice cozy arrangement: all they have to do (for now) to keep their cushy jobs and priveledged lifestyle (including a "public" health care plan!) is be slightly to the left of the psycho right wingers. What makes me REALLY angry is that by treating 3rd party progressive candidates this way (as spoilers), they are acting like THEY ARE ENTITLED to our votes! Liberal Dems like Kucinich and even Howard Dean will never get their endorsement and therefore won't be on the general election ballot. So as Nader said, we're left with the "evil of two lessers".

Yes, Obama is certainly a trillion times smarter than Bush and Palin, and probably less evil than Darth Cheney . I try to console myself with that fact. But there's a lot of nasty stuff still going on in this admin, and the Bush/Cheney admin may get off the hook for all the crimes they committed. Meanwhile, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the Dems to support serious election/media reform. Here's a simple way to eliminate the "spoiler" factor: instant runoff voting! Think the Dems want that? No way! Not when they can keep the status quo, marginalizing 3rd party candidates, demanding our votes, perpetuating a system where the person who raises the most money, not the person with the best ideas/policies, or even the most public support wins. I'm afraid that until we have instant runoff voting, we're stuck with only Democrats & Republicans. And as long as Democrats and Republicans run things, we won't get instant runoff voting. UNLESS the public refuse to go along with the media & the Dem establishment, and move in MASSIVE numbers to a 3rd party candidate. If we do, wait for the media/Dems to tell us the 3rd party candidate "can't win" (and is therefore a spoiler who will win the election for the Republicans).

Register as an Independant. I got so many calls from Democrats and Republicans before this election...why, they wanted my vote. So when they called me if gave me the opportunity to tell them my views on things.

We need a different party. These two parties obviously cannot do the job. But I have said before...in MY opinion Bush was the most disgraceful President in my lifetime! Cheney could be the anti-Christ!!