oudeis on 19/1/2010 at 18:55
So here we are, a year after the inauguration of Obama. His installation marked the end of eight years of perhaps the worst mismanagement and misrule in US history. But are we better off for having elected him?
The first, most obvious answer for me is "Of course we fucking are, you mouth-breathing cretinoid". The end of almost a decade of anti-intellectualism alone would have been worth it. Merely by assuming the office he turned down the dial of global anti-Americanism a few notches. He appointed smart people who weren't grovelling yes-men (and women) to the cabinet. Add to this that the Stimulus package kept the economy from going past the u-bend and taking most of the world with it and I'd say yes, we made the right choice.
Once you get past all this I'd be hard-pressed to cite any concrete achievements, however. Don't mistake me: I'm not jumping on the 'He's all talk and no walk' bandwagon. But by trying to build consensus with the Rebelpublicans I think he's slowed himself down and needlessly tied his own hands. It's been apparent from the first that for all their talk about objections in principle to his agenda that the GOP would rather see the country fail than him succeed. We expected that they would be obstructionist but I can't think of a single significant act of co-operation, let alone concession, on their part. The stimulus, Health Care, Guantanamo, Afghanistan policy- all they have done is oppose without offering any viable alternatives. Maybe it's time to stop trying to place nice and just be a dictatorial motherfucker. I don't know if it would help but consensus building hasn't worked at all. Besides, I'd really love to see the Red State goon squad have their turn having their heads shoved in the shit trough.
I think he's running out of time to show what he can do. The special election in to fill Kennedy's seat today is widely seen as a referendum on Health Care reform, and if the Democrats lose they no longer have a filibuster-proof majority. Of course, with that self-aggrandizing scumbag Lieberman in the party that was never a sure thing anyway. If Obama doesn't come up with something impressive and yes, popular- or even populist- I think the mid-term elections this year could cause a whole lot of trouble.
Discuss:
nicked on 19/1/2010 at 19:07
Also, he caused Danny Glover to be cast in 2012, to the benefit of all humanity.
AR Master on 19/1/2010 at 19:10
Whenever some nerd sneers about "anti intellectuallism" I am grateful for being given a good marker to stop reading, thanks
oudeis on 19/1/2010 at 19:17
Whenever some fool use the word 'nerd', especially on a web forum spawned by a cult computer game, I know that he is inherently anti-intellectual. You have given us a good marker to stop reading your posts.
p.s. Punctuation is your friend.
Al_B on 19/1/2010 at 19:42
Not wanting to nitpick, but it would probably be best if you specified which country you wanted people to vote on (I'm sure there's more than one out there...)
I don't live in America so I can't really give an informed opinion, but from what I've seen it looks like Obama's simply out of his honeymoon period at the moment.
june gloom on 19/1/2010 at 20:07
Ugh. I fucking hate threads like this, and polls like that. I'm sorry, but even if we were better off- and I'm not saying we are or aren't, that's really up to the individual drowning in debt to say- there's no reason to make yourself look like a douchebag by declaring everyone who disagrees with your position to be inbred. Thanks a lot asshole, I was hoping I could go 3 days without seeing another example of stupid political jingohad.
Queue on 19/1/2010 at 22:30
Quote:
Punctuation is your wah wah wah, I'm a big sloppy pussy.
im inbred as hell, and have the teeth to prove it.
...could eat a watermelon through a fence.
Thief13x on 20/1/2010 at 03:56
NOW our country is better off than it was one year ago;)
CCCToad on 20/1/2010 at 04:05
Are we "better off"? I think the obvious answer is hell no. I can't claim to speak for the whole country, but all it takes is a visit to a coffee house, barbershop, or any such institution where strangers mingle and converse. Every single time, there is a single topic: There's no work to be found anywhere. Yes, the Dow Jones might be above ten thousand, but thats a lot of comfort to someone who's just had their house foreclosed on. The reason people aren't spending money isn't because they have no confidence in the market: its because they have no money to spend. I'm just lucky enough to have been spared (inflation aside) because I am employed by the Federal Government.
The real question is this: "Are we better off than had McCain been elected?" . Hard to say. I'm prejudiced by a strong dislike of both candidates, so I'd give this one a big maybe. Either way, anyone who was hoping for the president to magically fix the economy had "overconfidence bred of ignorance": Its Econ 1001 knowledge that the Fed and other major institutions that control lending(I'm vastly oversimplifying for sake of brevity) have much more control over the economy in the sort term than the President does.
edit: saw the news, wtf is up with Massachussets? Thats not something thats supposed to happen there.
2nd edit: Just noticed this:
Quote:
Add to this that the Stimulus package kept the economy from going past the u-bend and taking most of the world with it and I'd say yes, we made the right choice.
I believe you're referring to the bailout package passed under Bush's presidency by the 110th congress. The "stimulus" was very slow to actually disseminate(something that is agreed on by sources both (
http://www.slate.com/id/2232185/) for it and against it. Everything I've read about it indicates that it was intended as a recovery bill, not a meltdown-prevention bill.
