Obama actually writes a fair chunk of his speeches, doesn't he?

Yep.

Also: you can tell a lot about a candidate by the campaign he/she runs. A presidential campaign is essentially a dress rehearsal for the real thing in miniature, with similar challenges such as selecting and managing staff, making and communicating crucial decisions, and processing and navigating the various crises that pop up. By that measure, so far Obama is clearly the most capable candidate.

The only name you have is someone who has repeatedly and publically said, "*bleep* that job, I'm not doing it."

So when you find this mythical leader, let the rest of us know. I wanna get a picture of him as he rides into DC on his unicorn.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Unfortunately, national politics is a dirty sport that either corrupts or turns away most of the people I would want. What bugs me though, is how voters reward people for how they play the political game rather than their accomplishments. Congress has a NINE percent approval rating, yet the fucking sheep will forgive or forget it all as soon as the TV ads start flying, electing them all once again.

Don`t know if this has already been adressed in another thread or not.I only read a few.I Am an American citizen living in the BRD.Bundes Republik Deutschland.Is and always will be,with or without the Berlin wall.
Have been following the U.S. elections every time they come around for the last 18 years.It gets stupider every time.Candidates promising things that are soon forgotten,as soon as they are in office,Candidates backed by the weapons industrie ect.. and all the political mudslingen and bad mouthing that goes with elections.Now we have a black man asking for "change".

Obama claims to want some form of a social system in America.Does any one
understand what the price of a social system is.Here are a few things to think about, based what I deal with day to day.

1)There will be no overtime wages,but the overtime hours will still be worked:

A social system is strongly based upon the needs of the finacially weaker citizens.The logic here is ,if an employer can afford to pay time and a half to his workers, then he or she should be using that money to hire and pay someone that can`t find a job.This leads to the employies that he or she has
having to work longer hours for the same pay

2) Normal wages will be generally lower than they are now:

In a social system,
the employer and the employed both pay into the system 50/50.Thats health insurance, unemployment insurance,and retirement.Then comes income tax.The employee pays tax on his earnings while the employer pays tax on what he pays his employee.This generally leads to lower wages,and inadvertently contibutes to the unemployment rate because it is just to expensive to hire new people.

A little note on retirement:The money you pay for retirement is not for your retirement,it`s for the people that are currently retired.It may not and probably will not be there when you yourself retire.


3) The retirement ages rise : In Germanys social system, one of the rules for retirement at 65 is that you have worked for at least 40 years.If not then you will not recieve full benefits,if thereare any left to be recieved.
Because of the fact that people are indeed living longer and healthier,the Retirement age will most likely be raised to 67 here shortly.This also makes it difficult for a younger person just entering the job market to find employment,because the job place he needs is filled 2 years longer.

( A dark note on retirement:Pay into the system for 40 years,or until you´re 67 ,retire,draw your retirement for 2 to 3 years ,and then die.Get the picture? you will never get out what you paid in)


4) Socialized medicine sound good ? Think again:The already expensive medical system will be faced with having to treat people that have payed very little by comparison into the system itself.Therefore medical care must be kept cheap.The best and most effctive way to reduce cost is to reduce
the quality of care.Plain and simple.
I know that Americans don`t run to the doctor for every little fart that gets caught sideways.Unlike some people here.But the human mentality says "If I`ve payed for it ,I´m going to use it".This kind of thinking will drive medical cost way up,resulting in even lower quality.the only way to curb a drop in quality is to raise health insurance.this means you pay more for the same sorry care.:tsktsk:


I Know there is somebody out ther that does`nt believe me, or is thinking,"Its only these 4 little drawbacks", but it`s not.A social system cannot function
on these alone.Germany has since the early 50`s been living high on the hog within there system.In the last 10 years or so they have been struggling to keep there system upright.Our social insurance cost has been climbing steadily,while the benefits and wages sink.The revenue generated from the
payments into the system are`nt enough.They have had to find other by way of road tolls, ecological taxes and things the government don`t even tell us.I pay close to 500 Euros a month(about 630 Dollars) on social benefits and income tax.

All I have to say is if anyone asking for "change" gets in office,All you will have left is "change"

Have been following the U.S. elections every time they come around for the last 18 years.It gets stupider every time.Candidates promising things that are soon forgotten,as soon as they are in office,Candidates backed by the weapons industrie ect.. and all the political mudslingen and bad mouthing that goes with elections.Now we have a black man asking for "change".

Axelrod is the man who gave the Obama campaign its direction, its tone, its themes, its talking points, etc. How do I know this? Because here in Boston, we saw a preview of the Obama campaign 2 years ago when David Axlerod was running Deval Patrick's campaign for governor. The similarities between the two campaigns are uncanny...