Do you think Obama can do the job?
I dont know if this is against the rules posting like this. but i was wondering what many of u think? do u think that obama can be president that he can do what he says he is going to. Do u think he will end the war ASAP? what are ur views.
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Permalink Reply by Traveling Zach on -
I semi-agree with this, whither we like it or not he is going to be President, and now instead of complaining about it, we should be more about now what do WE DO. Not to say that we can't be critical of hie decisions, most of you know i'll be the first to point out, say how poorly his cabinet choices were (which DJ is pretty much the old guard), but there's a difference between that and saying, well he's gonna fail, oh well, he sucks... i like what Jaria said that, one person would never be able to do it all anyway..
Now my opinion on the whole thing now is that, when we see this in history, his presidency will probably be marginalized. While it was definitely history just the act of electing him, He's been dealt a pretty shitty hand, and there's also comes the understanding that his promises will probably hit the back burner and replaced by a focus on foreign policy and the economy. But i place my hope in us anyway.. that WE can make a better future..
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Permalink Reply by Xeranar on -
His cabinet picks are bad for what reason? I read your Vilsack thread, I am honestly intrigued for you to at least point me to articles to read up on the vilification of his cabinet. I'm not a huge fan of any of his cabinet, but I don't label them anywhere so far right as a threat to my way of life. Just justify why you hate his cabinet in more than 10 words and I will honestly be satisfied.
On a side note: Obama's presidency is unlikely to be marginalized. The 19th century presidents were marginalized except for Jackson and Lincoln. The 20th were marginalized pre-WWII (except for Teddy Roosevelt). Obama's won't be marginalized until near the end of our lives if he fails to pick up the pieces left by Bush. But I suspect due to the nature of economic downturns and his approach to the flow of goods and capital we should see a slight upswing by the end of his term or at the beginning of his second term. The crumbling of our society is far overblown. We're hiccuping and facing some of our extravagance coming to an end. More modest society will return and we'll survive the storm. As DJ has pointed out the instant gratification of politics has hit the wall. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will our society be rebuilt. It took us 28 years between Reagan and Bush to ruin our society, it took 35 years from the end of FDR's life to elect Reagan. Our society moves at a snail's pace in human time but at a flying rate in world history. Just sit back, relax, things will right themselves, just don't get lackadaisical about our society, but realize it isn't collapsing.
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Permalink Reply by Traveling Zach on
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Ten words is easy, and since you read about Vilsack and are plenty capable of doing your own research i'll stick with the national security team (also because its what i'm most disappointed in). For a candidate who ran on a mostly anti-war platform, it has really just been a issuance of continuity. Clinton, Gates, Ross, Jones, Emanuel, all symbols of the past, nothing really of a changing of the guard in Washington that we were told was imminent. Lol, i mean the reappointment of Gates is actually history making, being the first secretary of defense to keep his position when there's been a shift of party's... that's right, look that up, ever...
Dennis Ross- well, here's a quote.."With the best of motives and intentions, we listened to and followed Israel's lead without critically examining what that would mean for our own interests, for those on the Arab side and for the overall success of the negotiations...Far too often, particularly when it came to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, our departure point was not what was needed to reach an agreement acceptable to both sides but what would pass with only one -- Israel." Aaron David Miller, a member of the Ross-led US negotiating team in 1999-2000.... Worked under Clinton and Bush #1..
Rahm Emanuel- again another Clintonite, and also very close to wall street. That part really doesn't bother me as much as much as i though we were being sold NEW leadership.
Oh and James Jones.... oh Jones- well his resume goes as follows; "Jones is the former supreme allied commander of NATO. He is president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy. The institute has been criticized by environmental groups for, among other things, calling for the immediate expansion of domestic oil and gas production and issuing reports that challenged the use of the Clean Air Act to combat global warming.
Recently retired from the military, Jones has parlayed his 40-year military career into several corporate directorships. Among them is Cross Match Technologies, which makes biometric identification equipment. More germane to Jones’ forthcoming role in Obama’s inner circle, though, might be Jones’ seat as a director of Boeing, a weapons manufacturer, and as a director of Chevron, an oil giant." -DN
lol, Sorry totally more than ten words, but thats how i feel about that.. and there's plenty more..
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Permalink Reply by ChrisTK on -
To all that responded to this discussion i thank you for your opinions.
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Permalink Reply by lowkey on -
I believe that Obama will be one of the middle of the road presidents. Neither great nor so bad that he'll stick out.
He's been dealt a rotten hand domestically and internationally it's not much better.
As for his handling of the economy:
I am encouraged by the fact that he is including tax cuts into his plan ($100B for Businesses, $500/yr for single or $1000/yr for couples) although I think the cuts should be bigger.
Interestingly, Obama is talking about continuing the business tax refund program which would help get more capital into businesses hands. From The Star:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed stimulus package would provide businesses with billions of dollars in refunds on taxes they paid several years ago.
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The refund provision would enable some companies posting losses last year to get refunds for taxes paid as far back as five years earlier.
The businesses could refile their old tax returns, using the losses suffered last year to offset profits made when times were good.
Under current law, businesses can use losses to offset profits the two previous years.
However I have my concerns given his projections of $1 Trillion dollar deficits for years to come (source).
From Newsweek:
By all reports, the stimulus will be massive. Stanley Collender, a respected budget expert, thinks the 2009 deficit could exceed $1.3 trillion, about 9 percent of the economy (gross domestic product). In dollars, that would triple the 2008 deficit of $455 billion. As a share of GDP, it would dwarf Ronald Reagan's post-World War II record of 6 percent in 1983. Gasp.
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Under some circumstances, the stimulus could backfire. One possible pitfall is that foreign and domestic investors in U.S. Treasury bonds might balk at buying so many more securities. To convince them, interest rates might have to rise, which might perversely worsen the crisis. There might even be a panicky flight from the dollar. So far, the opposite has happened. Scared investors have crowded into "safe" Treasuries and driven their interest rates to astonishing lows. Still, psychology has governed this unpredictable crisis; a sudden shift in sentiment isn't inconceivable.
Even if this unpleasant surprise and others don't materialize, the stimulus remains a stopgap. The present crisis represents a fundamental break in the recent pattern of American economic growth. For the past quarter-century, the economy has advanced on an ever-rising tide of personal borrowing that supported expanding purchases of consumer goods — contributing to U.S. trade deficits — and a housing boom. But lending became reckless, and many households overborrowed. In its simplest terms, the "stimulus" substitutes the federal government's superior credit for damaged private credit.
But this cannot continue indefinitely. Rapid increases in the federal debt — much faster than in recent years — would threaten a further loss of confidence that might prolong today's financial crisis or, someday, trigger a new one. A growing federal debt burden would also compound the problem of paying the staggering retirement costs of aging baby boomers. So: Neither rising household nor government debt provides a plausible foundation for future economic growth.
I agree with Robert J. Samuelson's assessment (the author of the Newsweek piece). The overall stimulus will be mostly wasted and just be another debt the children of tomorrow will have to pay off.
As far as the current wars are concerned, I believe that Obama will stay the course that Bush has established. A progressive draw down in Iraq and an increase in Afghanistan. I don't believe he will open any new fronts unless something drastic happens.
Internationally, I believe that Obama will increase the prestige of the US regardless of how effective he is in other roles. He's a good speaker and someone that you just want to like. He's everybody's friend and the US could use that right now. Oh and he'll be more discrete about using torture so the world will like him more for that too.
Domestically, I believe that Obama will continue most of the privacy invading policies that Bush started. However, most people will grow to accept them and the agitators will be slowly silenced.
Overall, I think he'll end up in the top 15 Presidents but not the top 10. Respectable but not great.
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Permalink Reply by Aubrey; on -
I think obama is a great change for america. I, personally believe he can do it. All america has to do is give him a chance and time.
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Permalink Reply by kt on -
Does anyone agree with the notion that the president of the u.s. is very intregral in setting a national attitude that affects not only our own country, but others?
I saw not too long ago, Obama on tv (i don't remember what show) explaining, in not so many words, how ridiculous it was that there was more media focused on whether the Obamas should get a dog or not, than there was coverage on his actual politics. Then, I began to see other news shows/people express similar sentiments.
I think that people observe this attitude and (especially young people) will adopt it, as in, "Of course we should be talking more about the politics"...and it will be done. Look at how quickly American attitudes are changing from being depressed to being hopeful about the future.
I think that this is a little talked about, but important idea.
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Permalink Reply by brandie jess hopewell on -
i dont like obama cuz he is not a good president ever since he got president everything has been going bad
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Permalink Reply by connor jackson sevy on -
ABSOLUTELY!! he is well qualified and really smart the best thing is that he shut down gitmo! that place was full of torture adn racism! he can totaly do it the economy was bushs fault! bush was horrible he was a corporate puppet adn dick chney ran the country the whole time because bush was just a puppet! should we really leave our countries decisions to a guy that shot somebody!? and mccain was the exact same as bush so yeah lets have another 4 years of that!!
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Permalink Reply by brandie jess hopewell on
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U WISH HE HAS NOT BEEN DOING ANYTHING GOOD TO US BUT IF THATS WHAT U THINK OK JUST 3 MORE YEARS LEFT OF HIM CANT WAIT!!!!!!
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Permalink Reply by brandie jess hopewell on
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I THINK OBAMA IS NOT CHANGING ANYTHING ALL HE SAYS IS "YES WE CAN" STOP LIYING GOSH ITS LIKE STFU OBAMA
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Permalink Reply by Sheppard on -
Brandie,
I appreciate everyone's right to their opinion. Unfortunately, I don't think you've done much research or hold enough knowledge on the subject. Things don't just "go bad" in a matter of months. Many of the problems America is facing today have been the cause of policies and decisions of previous administrations. The result of those decisions is coming to head under the present president. And it really doesn't have anything to do with Obama himself.
Also, your statement, 'OBAMA IS NOT CHANGING ANYTHING ALL HE SAYS IS "YES WE CAN"' is very funny. What a number of people in this thread have said is true and makes Obama's statement the truth...WE, as in WE the people of the United States, CAN! The president is only one man in a democratic process that is riddled with difficulties. Its easy to spot someone who doesn't really know anything about the legislative process, they put the blame solely on the president. If we sit around and don't ever participate or influence government, to take a stake in it, then it won't make a difference whose president and three more years of waiting won't make a difference either.
Sheppard
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