The Persistence of Obama Love
The stock market has been tanking steadily since his election, but public approval for President Barack Obama remains high. And this despite the fact that his carefully composed centrist stance during the campaign has been replaced by an economic policy that is at least as strongly liberal as FDR’s New Deal or LBJ’s Great Society, if not more so.
Why don’t Americans feel more betrayed, or at least more wary? And if the economy doesn’t show strong signs of recovery, at what point will Obama be blamed and his approval rating start the long downward slide that so many other presidents (not just George W. Bush) have experienced?
Obama was the recipient of a remarkable degree of adulation during the campaign, as well as extremely high expectations, some of which he himself fostered (“A nation healed. A world repaired.”) That combination is what John McCain tried to exploit and parody, with only slight and temporary success, in his campaign ad entitled “The One.”
Some of Obama’s continuing popularity is a reflection of these initial perceptions, as well as the usual goodwill given incoming presidents. In addition, there’s the extra bump he gets from having taken on the mantle of leadership in a time of grave crisis that began on someone else’s watch. In hard times people are looking to trust leaders to guide them through it all.
Remember President Bush’s astronomical favorability ratings post-9/11? They stayed quite high and only began to drop to below 50% sometime during 2005. Until then, he was seen as successfully defending the country from a threat not of his own making, and enjoyed widespread approval. Afterwards, he was blamed for a lengthy and costly war that was considered by many Americans and the media to be discretionary and therefore unnecessary, and offensive rather than defensive.
But Bush’s lowest ratings occurred early in October of 2008, with the financial meltdown. Fairly or unfairly, Bush and the Republicans were (and still are) seen by most people as owning that crisis because it occurred on their watch. As any serious student of the history of financial regulation and subprime mortgages knows, this is a vast oversimplification of reality. But most people lack the time, the inclination, and the objectivity to attempt to study the tedious facts and evaluate them fairly. It’s hardly surprising. The truth is that the factors leading up to the financial meltdown are so complex that even so-called experts disagree wildly not only on its causes, but on its cures. It is also unsurprising that the breakdown of their opinions falls along political and party lines.
As a result, the steady decline of the markets has been matched — and perhaps exceeded — by a near-universal collapse of faith in experts, particularly of the financial variety. If the deer-in-the-headlights look of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Secretary Treasurer Henry Paulson was followed by the humbling of the once-mighty Alan Greenspan, then who could expect a whole lot more from Obama-appointee Geithner, or judge him too harshly if he fails to deliver?
Obama is therefore the beneficiary of two somewhat contradictory forces: raised expectations and goodwill towards his presidency in general, and lowered expectations of financial experts in particular. In addition, his enormous stimulus bill and the broad reach and scope of his ultra-liberal budget proposal are seen as at least being active — and therefore good — by those who think that in a crisis it is better to do something rather than nothing.
Neo-Neocon is overlooking race guilt. Many whites have been propagandized into believing they are a cancer on the world. Barack Obama offers them absolution as long as they behave themselves. His policies are ultimately an indirect attack on white society. Race relations in this country are being set back a minimum of twenty years. The vile and disgusting David Duke will definitely benefit from this sad state of affairs. How bad are the attacks on whites in our country? Please take a look at this link—it will blow your mind:
http://angrywhitedude.com/?p=1231
I am feeling that the tide has changed. Obama has ‘jumped the shark’ as they say. Now that people have good reason to question his experience and judgment it appears to be OK to do so. If the market continues down he will have a difficult administration.
Patience, people. This POTUS has a double-thick layer of candy-coating. It will take a little while longer to melt. But make no mistake, the melting has begun. A 70%+ approval rating down to 60% in one month! That’s a decent descent for a new president. Carter didn’t go down that fast. Heck, NO new president’s numbers have come down this fast. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Especially if that head is full of “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
“Some are having buyer’s remorse, as witnessed in the latest mild protests of David Brooks and the tentative ruminations of Christopher Buckley. Both seem to have discovered recently, to their great surprise, that Obama is — gasp — a liberal.”
Evidently Buckley and Brooks missed the memo. The memo begins something like this:
If it walks like a duck…..
I have someexperience in Psychologial Operations and I can attest to the fact that cognitive dissonance (CD) can cut both ways. Many times when you introduce CD to the infromation stream you get a perverse reaction and reinforce a belief or attitude instead of undermining it. The hearer doubles down to protect themselves.
I think that’s what happpend when McCain chose Palin. It was clear from the first that Palin had more experience then Obama. That’s why the Obama campaign did everything they could to smear her. The smears were effective because soft Obama supports wanted to believe. I think that will remain the case until they no longer can deny that his policies are having a measurable adverse effect on their wallets. When Obama’s support collapses it will collapse in a big way. He will go from 60% approval to 30% virtually over night.
I hear Hugo Chavez remains popular with the recipients of wealth transfers in Venezuela. I guess it’s easier to buy popularity than to earn it.
For an Obama voter to turn on him now would be an acknowledgment of a failure in judgment, and that is especially threatening for most people.
This may be especially pronounced due to the dramatic gap between their aspirations and the reality of his character and ideology. It’s one thing to admit that you’ve overestimated someone, but another to acknowledge that you were wholly incorrect in your estimation. This calls into question ones competency to analyze any significant political question.
Also the state media is making every effort to promote and defend Obama, and to cast the opposition and other dissidents as responsible for the current mess. Evidence has emerged that the major news outlets are coordinating their coverage with his staff. So much of the public has not been provided with an even-handed depiction of what is occurring.
Well, cognitive dissonance is costing them their 401k’s – and a whole lot more.
Their kids won’t even get the chance to blow it this bad seeing as how their self absorbed parents have already squandered their future for them.
David Thomson, I don’t know if your are praising or criticizing the Angry White Dude site. Let me give you a little info on why I started the page and why in less than 11 months we have gone from 24 million in worldwide traffic to 350,000. Whites are tired of being blamed for all the world’s problems. White men, in particular, are ridiculed by nearly everyone in tv, movies, commercials, feminists, etc.
I started my page to be a place where all people could share opinions and ideas without the bounds of political correctness. I don’t allow the N or F words…but everything else is pretty much open. I have found that conservatives have well thought out convictions while liberals generally resort to calling names. However, we have had many liberals comment where I have really enjoyed the debate.
David, if you are a liberal, do you have the guts to make voice your comments? If you are a conservative, do you agree or disagree with my posts? I welcome everyone and hopefully through courteous dialogue, we can all understand each other better.
AWD
Absolutely correct about libs and by extension Obama voters in the majority, anyway. You have many who can’t admit that the whole hippie/flower power thing was a dead end as well as Communism. Many would rather sink the ship than be wrong about their whole socialist fantagasm. And many have been crammmed to the gills with so much union and MSM propaganda that they can’t believe the truth when it becomes as plain as the nose on a pit bull’s face.
I have to agree with Jerry. I also had some experience in the field of pyschology. My general critique of the field is the jargon–taking observations that everyone recognizes and puffing them into a syndrome. Fact is, folks hate being wrong, and double that when it comes to admitting that they are wrong. That reality is coming home quickly to those who are invested in the stock market, or whose parents derive their income from the market.
However, the crash that Jerry speaks of will come when those not connected to the stock market find themselves unemployed or nearly so, as their employers talk about the need to trim costs. This kind of real life is beyond the reach of the media.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a recent class graduating from college finds it nearly impossible to get a job, and the prospects for ensuing classes are no better.
And then, of course, there will be those who will never change their minds and continue to blame everyone but the President’s policies.
It’s too bad that there is no coherent opposition party–one that across the board understands economics, with candidates who see themselves as teachers as much as orators.
After all, didn’t the last election consist of two candidates whose combined economic knowledge couldn’t fill a thimble?
I pin my hope for O’s popularity failure on the youth. They are witnessing the slow death of their parent’s “income wealth distribution”.Them!That should bring us a new generation conservatives.
Race is a huge factor. Decades of affirmative actions in the work place have taught whites not to voice any criticism of blacks lest they get fired or the company gets sued. It will be fun to see what happens when people figure out they can criticize Obama and nothing will happen to them.
Another factor is that sooner or later the ‘Obama is such a nice guy’ mask is going to slip. He’s a classic narcissistic personality type, superficially charming but meaner than arattlesnake. Exhibit One: His gift of DVDs to a British PM who is completely blind in one eye, losing vision fast in the other and known to be very much afraid of the day he’s totally blind.
Personally I can’t wait to shove Obama down the throats of a great many people who voted for him.
“Respectful criticism” of the president needs first to be earned. Obama is not worthy of respect; he is a disgrace to the office.
Given his past radical associations (Wright, Ayers, et.al.) and his far-left voting record, combined with zero achievement beyond promoting himself, he has not earned respect yet.
Our only hope is to elect a sufficiency of moderate Democrats and Republicans in 2010 to put the brakes on our rapid descent into socialist hell.
“David Thomson, I don’t know if your are praising or criticizing the Angry White Dude site.”
I am praising your site—which I inadvertently found earlier this morning. At this moment, it seems we are on the same page. I was hoping people would be outraged at the shenanigans of the Detroit City Council. I am most certainly not comparing you to David Duke!
Unfortunately there is no ‘lemon law’ for sitting presidents.
Too bad.
David, in that case, welcome to the AWD family! lol. Thanks!
AWD
#11 naftali – You nailed it. When I was in High School in the late 70′s (Carter era), my classmates became conservative really quickly. Graduation was coming up, and there were no jobs. None. Even the entry-level jobs were taken by more experienced workers. I knew no one who liked Carter.
Wait until we get nearer to graduation. With the job-losses we are sustaining now, there will be nothing for the youth. Nothing. Obama’s numbers will just plummet, as the youth abandon him in droves, like rats from a sinking ship.
Btw, another reason O’s numbers remain high, is that he’s allowing Congress to draft and pass the bills, allowing him to keep his hands clean. Congress’ numbers are plummeting. It’s funny how people could blame Bush and ignore Congress’ abject approval ratings during the election, but now, they do blame Congress and not Obama.
My daughter recieved a college grad offer today and is expecting 2 more before May. I was excited that she graduates with a new car, small car payment and no college debt. Just fantastic scholarships.
Ooooops. She is now in debt. Her share is 25,000
I suspect Obama will add another 15,000 in debt per year for a while.
#3 donttreadonme: “..full of “sound and fury, signifying nothing.””
In reference to the adoration and maintenance of the high approval rating of our Dear Leader, I impatiently prefer, “..To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
creeps in this petty pace from day to day..”
But, like many here, I believe that his first-monthly 10% decline is percipitous and is a precursor to a continued slide as more people watch their wealth evaoprate.
This is the affirmative action BIG MISTAKE. No non-black wants to admit that s/he voted for the first affirmative action President, hoping he was up to the task, and he isn’t, like most affirmative action hires. He is the living painful testimony to the failure of affirmative action. BHO skated along on his race and charisma his whole life, and has never had to actually perform. Never released his grades, never published a paper as had all other Law Review bigshots. Is it any surprise he is clueless as the what to do in the most powerful position in the world? No real world training, no work ethic. All show and no go. Perfect affirmative action hire.
Don’t dismiss the power of the Left to use polls and propaganda to create “consensus”. The polling industry is a cottage industry controlled by a few with no oversight and no accountability. They derive the majority of their revenues from political polling and there is no reason to give anyone the benefit of the doubt that their operations are transparent, ethical and honest. They can and do contrive polling results to suit their employers with an eye on repeat business. There is no way that Obama had a 70% approval rating the first month after election when 1) he only received 53% of the vote (minus roughly 3%? ACORN fraudulence) and 2) he had done nothing for which to assess his approval. The polls are useless unless their database can be verified and the questions scrutinized for bias. Often, they conduct an obviously biased poll just to get the press release in the headlines and we all know our MSM is not too interested in investigating the reliability of polls it reports in favor of Obama.
I would like to see some investigative reporting on the “list suppliers” of the polling industry. I remember reading an article in 2007 that some big financeers for Hillary’s campaign had purchased a huge polling company but I’ve not been able to track down that info. It was speculated that Obama’s huge database of cellphone numbers and emails was worth millions of dollars within the political establishment. Even honest polling companies can be buying “tainted” lists.
The more completely one is fooled, nay, the more enthusiatically one participates in the folly, the longer one will defend one’s foolishness. Must be some kind of law or axiom.
Hey, give him a chance, by the way!
FYI, My company’s filter blocks AWD for “Racism amd Hate”.
Long time lurker, 1st time poster.
14. John R:
“Respectful criticism” of the president needs first to be earned. Obama is not worthy of respect; he is a disgrace to the office.
I will give thier president the same amount of respect they game mine. Zero. Remember, “Dissent is patriotic”.
naftali @11
“It’s too bad that there is no coherent opposition party–one that across the board understands economics, with candidates who see themselves as teachers as much as orators.”
I have a lot of experience in the field of educating people (or trying to). I’ve taught in the classroom in high school and college. I now work as a securities’ analyst for a small firm. I began to notice what I am about to describe back in 1985 when, as a Jesuit seminarian, I had to be plugged into a high school classroom as an emergency fill in for a semester. I was not prepared for this experience, and I did not study education courses in college. However, I did bust my tail in long hours of preparation before and after classes in order to impart the material and make it interesting and challenging. What I learned was quite a shock to me. It was almost completely out of synch with how I remembered my high school years: the kids already, in the Eighties, were showing that their brains literally did not work the way mine was trained to process. For starters, they have much shorter attention spans. That was the real shocker. In the years after, while I was immersed in my grad studies, both while I was still a Jesuit seminarian and after I had left the Society and gone on to MBA studies, I gradually assimilated an understanding of how their brains work. For many kids, being brought up on the video habit – and particularly a video habit that caters to very limited attention spans – their minds literally work like a machine that flips through picture cards in a rolodex. Their brains literally flip pacards.
Now, the bulk of the population has a brain that is more or less in this mold, to varying degrees. Explaining economic principles and finance concepts is a challenge. Those topics are not conducive to an exciting presentation. You need to be patient. You need to pay attention. You need to be disciplined to understand and integrate it all. I know a LOT of college grads who have trouble with this.
And yet it must be done. Most people are not stupid, but there is a fair amount of ignorance of all kinds out there. We are all born into a condition whereby we do not know a lot, but we all (hopefully)grow up assimilating and integrating as much knowledge as we can. Ignorance, on the other hand, is kind of a condition that we choose to remain in. It’s a combination of both sloth and pride that cements this.
Many people do not want to know. There is nothing one can do about it. Even if you package it in an appealing way, if the recipient wants none of it, then that is that.
Therefore, even the most charismatic and engaging “leadership” can only do so much. People have to inclined towards wanting to learn and to suffer the arduous task of gaining that knowledge. It’s called having the ability to delay gratification. This is what most worries me about the nation’s future. If our population is showing marked deficiencies with being able to delay gratification, then we are in big trouble.
This is so true. People find it very difficult to admit that they showed poor judgment and that other people showed better judgment.
At the end of the day people will only turn on Obama once they are convinced this wasn’t their fault. No one is going to say; I shouldn’t have believed Obama would automatically solve all of my problems, I’m an irrational idiot. It is when people believe that Obama is not doing what he said he would do, when he gets caught in lies or hidden agendas revealed that they can criticize Obama while keeping their egos intact.
Two personal examples of the “double standard-cognitive dissonance-refusal to admit a mistake” whatevery you want to call it about people who supported Obama and refuse to admit they made a mistake.
1. Last spring and summer when Obama was stepping on his tongue all over the campaign trail (57 states, attack Pakistan what have you)I made a bet on a web site community that I post on. I brought that fact up that the guy was making mistakes that the media would have crucified Bush for, and I bet that I could predict the response from my Obama supporting friends.
Sure enough it came in almost word for word: (wimpy, whiny, nasal exxagerated voice) “Well, he’s only making mistakes because he is campaigning so hard and he loves this country so much and he is trying so hard and wants to do his best.”
Yeah and the other candidates, (read Republicans) don’t love this country and aren’t trying hard.
2. One of the women I teach with is a moderate who leans Democrat (more of the blue collar Reagan Democrat type) and is sort of conflicted because she has a gay son in the Navy (talk about a conflict). The day after Obama’s stuttering and stammering press conference a few weeks ago, I pointed out, that “I don’t want to hear anyone tell me Bush is inarticulate in speaking off the cuff after that performance. (Sidebar: Best line about that presser was one of my students the day after, “Mr. D_____ I wanted to watch the thing but I dozed off during his first answer)
Anyway my friend responds, “Well I thought it was a great performance. He was only “hemming and hawing” because he was searching for the right words and the right things to say, that’s the sign of a real brain. Bush would have just shot from the hip like “bring it on.”
I shook my head and stared at my dear colleague in disbelief. The look in her eyes was that of someone who was desperately trying to believe what she was saying.
Pride goeth before a fall…or in this case an EPIC FAIL.
The people who are still clinging onto 0bama with a death grip are either blind or too prideful to admit what a joke this administration is. The Pre-School President is not being taken seriously by the WORLD.
Now our country is becoming a JOKE rather than the most POWERFUL mamajama in the free world. Barack is ready to sell us out to Islam [but, yeah...sure he's not MUSLIM]:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/03/obamas-going-islam-.html
How much wealth and rights granted by the Constitution will the American public lose before we rise up and start impeachment proceedings? I don’t think we can afford to wait out his term and hope for the best.
“24. sherlock:
FYI, My company’s filter blocks AWD for “Racism amd Hate”.”
Strange, my filter blocks whitehouse.gov now for the same reasons.
Roosevelt never lectured the american people. he embraced middle class values and he understood evil when he saw it.
Roosevelt was also the under secretary of teh navy and governor of, by far, the nations largest state. The guy had serious chops. Obama has never done anyting, nothing, zero. Roosevelt had been on the matt before. Polio taught him alot about being a fighter. Obama, the professors candidate, has never been there. Roosevelt was a seeker of responsibility, Obama has always shirked. . . .
I agree with the race factor here. But it’s complex and there’s a lot of other factors here as well. To a lot of people, it’s not what the obvious truth is that matters, it’s what has been repeated over and over again that they perceive as the truth. That’s why the media played so powerfully into this election. From this point on, any feelings Chris Matthews has up his leg are only his past utterances returning to bite him in the arse! And he now knows it.
There is a huge portion of the black community who admittedly see Obama as the “great black hope” and they simply WILL NOT SEE HIM FAIL! But if they were to inspect him closely and without the profound emotion, they’d find that he shares very little in common with them and least of all their collective past. Many of my own ancestors were forced to walk the Trail of Tears, but I (like him) would require “schooling” to learn how to appear to have been “oppressed”. I would also have to had to hang out with questionable people to learn to have “problems” with the “white man” who is also at least half of MY makeup.
Democrats have historically begun their Presidencies with their highest approval ratings. Obama will almost certainly be no different. The only two things will be different.
First, the MSM has, in a survival spasm, clustered around him to a degree that the country has not seen since FDR built the MSM. The MSM is however dying and his approval rating will not last as they melt away. Some of the Libertarian party people predicted the fading of the MSM during this four-year Presidency as early as 1994 based on the Internet technology maturing. That party has some smart people, we should show more respect to Ron Paul.
Second, a thing that may change everything is if Obama really does not have a valid birth certificate. Some of the states now have bills in process that task their Secretaries of State to verify legally the eligibility of everybody running before they may put them on the ballot. If Obama is not legally eligibility to serve as President, it will come out before the next election. Everything he signs and every judge he appoints will loose legitimacy whether the Congress removes him from office or not.
Fred,
I think you could start a support group for people who have experienced that kind of shock in the classroom.
It’s not just video games, it’s also that most presentations by professional teachers are designed to turn the brains off too. It’s called classroom management–the more the kids are docile, the less problems you have.
Whenever kids are truly challenged intellectually, there is this rush of energy that pours out of them, and then classroom management becomes very tricky–because it’s the ‘good’ and ‘smart’ kids that are causing trouble.
And we haven’t even addressed the massive problems with curriculum.
Learning economics is learning to think in paradoxes–a kind of logic that the designers of curriculum think is too advanced for kids. I don’t think that it is, if kids are exposed to it early and continually. For instance, my kids have been watching James Burke videos since they were watching Disney videos. And they still watch and love James Burke, long after Disney has faded into the old toy problems.
But dude, I am so with you on that classroom shock. Oh hey, let’s make it an official psychological syndrome. Um, ICSD. Initial Classroom Shock Disorder. It’s usually coupled with OSCDD–Oh Sh*t, Civilization is Doomed Disorder.
Sherlock, corporations are so scared by political correctness they can hardly operate! The worst thing for any US corporation is a threat by racial extortionists Jackson or Sharpton of a protest or boycott. That is why we’re subjected to mindless “diversity” seminars that have no substance. They haven’t read AWD and have no idea what the page is about. Corporations have allowed themselves to be painted into a politically correct corner.
AWD speaks the truth without political correctness. Truth is what the left truly hates.
AWD
Pardon,
Another proofreading victory. “old toy pile”. Pile pile pile.
Avitar #34: One can only hope. Now there’s hope you can believe in. Yes we can. Hope for a change!
What part of INCOMPETENCE do you not understand?
Obama thinks he’s king and all his subordinates will provide for his wishes.
From the way he has performed to date, there could not have been a more incompetent person elected.
This crap is getting old; Who the F really cares or can do anything about it?
I have a real life to live before the next war, which will be damn soon.
he’s great at spending other peoples money. how much did he spend today to fly to ohio to show off saving 25 jobs. he should have stayed in dc with his telepromter and used the money to create 50 jobs.
..I recently saw “Vatel” — a movie with Gérard Depardieu, Uma Thurman, and Tim Roth about the steward of Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé who prepared lavish fetes and banquets. The movie centered around a last ditch attempt of Condé to curry favor with Louis XIV in order to pay off massive debt.
While an indifferent movie, the contrast between the nobles and royalty of Louis’ court and the peasants who toiled behind the scenes was striking. The waste, jaded lifestyle, and disregard for the common man who provide for them is staggering.
No communist or socialist here, but the movie just put me in mind of how that dilettante, his Lady Macbeth, and his court of pompous fools mince through their roles while we labor and have our wealth dissipated by these uncaring bastards.
Wonder if there will be a revolution and if it will be televised?
So what’s the Obamatard’s carbon footprint these days? He doesn’t care because he is now king and everything’s free.
Three major things bothered me about this article. One, the idea that some people will support Obama come hell or high water. Most of the people on this blog will love Bush regardless of what he did or didn’t do. Right or wrong, there is always the fringe die-hards who will support their “team” no matter what they do. It’s not about the fringe, it needs to be about the middle.
Second is the “shape-shifting” attributed to Obama, given McCain. ALL politicians lie to get our votes…it’s always been the way of the world (and probably the main fault with a 2 party system). McCain shape-shifted by going to the religious right as if all of a sudden he had seen the light. Why did he go to Liberty college after denouncing its leader a short-time before? Because he was shape-shifting.
Third, the talk of cognitive disonance and patriotism. We were called unpatriotic for years for disagreeing with Bush, but now the author would seem to condone speaking out against the President if you felt it was the right thing to do. Please, pick a side on the issue! I never felt bad about speaking about Bush, and I won’t about Obama either. So, speaking of which, on to cognitive disonance. While I am one of the few who is not yet ready to write the history of the Obama presidency, I have grave concerns about some of his recent choices. The bailout bill, while not his fault, is not structured the way he said it would be and the rest of the yearly budget is still to full of pork. Even though “only” 60% of it is democratic pork, he made a promise, and simply pushing that promise to next years budget makes me a little ill. I’m sure there will be more that I won’t like about Obama, and I’ll be sure to say so, but you all wouldn’t have wanted me to throw Ronnie or any other republican president under the bus after 2 months, so I’m sure you’ll keep your comments to what he has done so far…., right?
Oh, and one more small point. I don’t want Obama to do well because he is the first black president. I want him to do well because he is our president and we need him to do well. He doesn’t have to do well on every initiative that Rush doesn’t care for, but on the balance, the country needs to be in a much better place in a few years when I have to vote again.
Jack
So, since I haven’t seen many republicans tell me what was wrong with Bush, I’ll take credit for being the Dem who dispelled the myth of cognitive dissonance on our side.
Classic Saul Alinsky brought to you by “Jack.” Make the enemy aware of his own rules and playbook and point out how he is inconsistent with his own principles. Make it stick. Shove it in hard.
And I don’t want Obama to succeed, if those policies are socialism. If he had an unlikely change and decided to go more in the direction of his hated Ronald Reagan, I would support him.
Oh, and Jack markets are forward looking and they are pricing in what they see are the effects of the new tax policies and the cap and trade system (carbon tax). It will do great harm to the economy.
And I’m pissed off at what this is doing to my retirement portfolio. I’m not rich and I didn’t screw anybody to accumulate that modest portfolio. Granted, I have a lot of years to go, but I resent the damage Barry O is doing to our investments. These are people, Jack, who are only trying to save and invest so they don’t have to rely solely on social security when they retire. What makes me even angrier is that I am somehow necessary collateral damage so the government can get to double its historical trend as a portion of Gross Domestic Product.
Barry O can’t hold a candle to my education in economics and finance. He even messed up P/E ratio the other day. The markets did not miss that little revealing moment.
A large proportion of the American electorate has formed a “personal” bond (in their own minds, at least) with President Obama. No matter how bad things get, it is going to be extremely difficult for conservatives to get through to these voters:
http://trackacrat.com/category/barack-obama/
It seems the intention of Obama is to punish business owners/achievers who earned their wealth off the hard work of lower income workers. Subliminally Obama likens them to the plantation owners who earned their wealth off the hard work of slaves. Punishing the rich is a form of retribution for the injustices of the past.
We were called unpatriotic for years for disagreeing with Bush
There is really no substantial evidence of this phenomenon. It’s a canard. No one in the administration or Republican party pressed such claims (Ari Fleischer was addressing the press, and he was not warning against political dissent). The Democrats themselves promoted this charge.
You need to get over your romantic image of yourself. In reality your opinion is of no consequence.
#43 Jack:
“I want him to do well because he is our president and we need him to do well. ”
Just out of curiosity, did you feel the same way about George Bush?
He was our President, too.
I don’t have to wish well to a self-absorbed boob whose policies I believe are “Zimbabwefying” America.
As far as I’m concerned, the fellow who claims to have been born in Hawaii can go and piss up a rope.
Re # 41. Войска ПВО: [..] I recently saw “Vatel” — a movie with Gérard Depardieu, Uma Thurman, and Tim Roth about the steward of Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé who prepared lavish fetes and banquets. The movie centered around a last ditch attempt of Condé to curry favor with Louis XIV in order to pay off massive debt.
While an indifferent movie, the contrast between the nobles and royalty of Louis’ court and the peasants who toiled behind the scenes was striking. [..]
I liked “Vatel”-s “melange” of somptuosity and pettiness – should I remind you “Ridicule” which was as well a nice illustration of… well, absurdity and pettiness, both pics happening just Moliere’s and Voltaire’s times.
And a funny thought… how would fare Moliere and Voltaire in today’s PC, Obama’s Washington?
Shipped to Guyana, I supposed…
I wish some reputable polling organization would ask people whether they voted for Obama or McCain. We know it was about 53% to 47%. But I wonder how many who actually voted for Obama would now deny it?
RE #43/Jack:
1) [...] Three major things bothered me about this article. [...] Most of the people on this blog will love Bush regardless of what he did or didn’t do. [...]
Jack, this is really silly. As far as I know those who post on PJM, they are quite a “diverse” bunch, far of being an illustration of the “rabid” Bush-lovers or Obama-haters liberals invoke all day long (or have invented for MSNBC’s exorcising use). I, for myself, I am neither a conservative nor a republican – I am simply a deeply, truly, loudly and actively liberals & lefties detestor, whom I consider very dangerous. And Obama IS a lefty, despite his triangulations.
2) [...] Oh, and one more small point. I don’t want Obama to do well because he is the first black president. I want him to do well because he is our president and we need him to do well. [...]”
Jack, this position is bit elusive for me – normally, in a democracy/social contract polity like the USA, the idea is that our main concern should be for the group to survive and prospere, not for the occasional leader of this polity to swell. Yet, with the Obama presidency, we reached the point where, unfortunately, many people see a Kenyan goatkeeper’s son personal fulfillment transcending the interests of the larger group, group that has to pick up the tab for this absurd 1960-s tai-chi revival that the 2008 presidential election was.
Jack, can’t you do better? By the way – are you a democrat voter?
Ziegler, LA documentary film maker -
#44 Fred – Is there something wrong with holding you accountable to your own rules? Fill me in…
And yes, markets are forward looking. The point being….? Are you saying the markets have been right in the past few years? I think they have not, so why do you think they suddenly have it right now? The markets are based on confidence (as conservatives know) and the confidence is low now. We can spend all day talking about whether it’s the actual state of things or the current President…as Republicans, you’ll assume it’s Obama, but that’s another canard so far (it may be accurate long term, but you spent the entire Clinton era calling it a canard, and fiscally, you were wrong).
And it sounds like you and I are in the same boat in terms of portfolios and retirement. Difference is, I’m not out here trying to muck rake about how the President will fail, and you are trying to make it happen. Not advocating false approval, but you are pinning your argument on Obama’s two months as the problem and trying to multiply it across his whole term…not sure how that helps you (or me). I’d rather say it was a Bush led disaster (since he did get us here) and that we should be thankful that the plummet he caused will reverse. Like it or not, the market is less concerned about the president as they are about the state of the world economy…you’ll likely disagree, but the history proves it.
#47 Jacob – I don’t make it a habit of talking to people who aren’t willing to hear the other side. You won’t, as evidenced by your not knowing how many times Dems were called unpatriotic by the Right. I’d love to discuss it with you, but since you aren’t willing to speak honestly, I have to spend my time in more fruitful pursuits. If you are ready to honestly talk about the issues, make me a point and I’ll talk. Nothing personal, but you appear to be stuck to one side and don’t want to talk about issues.
Jack
Jack, there is no double standard. When you take the word of enemy prisoners at Guantanamo Bay over that of your own soldiers that is arguably unpatriotic. When your military and allies had finally gained the upper hand following the surge in Iraq and the first response from Democrats was to call your greatest general a liar, and then try to force the president to withdraw the troops before victory would become apparent; that is also arguably unpatriotic.
When you watch your new president systematically worsen the current economic crisis and it is unclear whether or not he is doing it on purpose it is arguably unpatriotic to not voice your dissent.
Wasting time calling George Bush an idiot or a liar without a just argument was probably not unpatriotic, even if it is irresponsible and unfair. I wonder if Democrats feel the same way now that the tables have turned?
Hey,Jack:
I for one will cheerfully admit that Bush was a massively overspending, big government twit. That said, I hope the country does well for the next 4 years. If Obama’s prescription is further massive spending of money that we don’t have (which it is), then I too hope he fails. I hope Congress totally shreds his budget. I’d like to see tax cuts instead (which have been shown to work several times now) but that of course won’t happen. (Excuse me, tax cuts for those who actually pay the taxes.) One cannot spend ones way into prosperity. It doesn’t work for individuals and it doesn’t work for governments. I am so puzzled as to why nobody on the left seems to grasp this seemingly elementary concept. And by the way, for many of us it’s what is true and correct and moral and constitutional, not whether the home team always wins.
I think your key point explains it all: some percentage of his supporters will never change their minds. What’s the percentage? Maybe a third of voters are True Believers so invested in him that they will never admit they were wrong, for whatever reason.
Let’s call the remaining 2/3 the rational voters. If 75% of the rational voters decide he’s a disaster, his total approval still won’t go below 50%, just because of the true believers who won’t admit they made a mistake.
The flip side of this is that if his approval is only at 60%, then he’s already lost most of the voters who haven’t given up their sense of reason to the cult of personality.
“This is so true. People find it very difficult to admit that they showed poor judgment and that other people showed better judgment.”
Very true from my encounters with those people in the real world.I learned a long time ago to swallow my pride and accept advice from those who know better.Namely my parents for starters.Although i am willing to give Obama leeway at the start of his presidency,the economy continues to slide and some spending projects in that stimulus bill arent going to cut it and deserve the axe.FOrtunately im still employed though working at a lower rate here in the great white north.My total time off from being laid off?Three weeks before i found another job.I guess im one of those fundamentals of the economy that are strong!John Mccain,i still like the guy!
Throw Obama under the bus? Damned right I am. After all Obama did just propose to raise taxes on the richest 1% of the country. The WSJ and Neil Boortz have stated that around 65% of these people are small and medium sized business owners – the most productive members of our society. And these people pay their business taxes through the income tax code.
Obama wishes to raise their income tax rates. That means that these people will have less money to keep – money that they used to run and expand their businesses in the past. Now they’ll have to make due with less, and that translates into slower growth or perhaps even no growth in our economy. This happened during Hoover’s (and I believe FDR’s) administration during the Great Depression – it isn’t too difficult to learn why the economy slowed down when one makes an honest effort to find out who the richest in our society are and how they got there.
In short, Obama has more faith in the slackers, punks, and couch potatoes in resurrecting our economy than in the people who will work 70, 80, 90 hours a week. I find this to be utterly incomprehensible, except when viewed from the perspective of how a Cloward-Pevin radical sees the world and how to go about reforming it. And the Cloward-Pevin model for reforming society is a dispicable one, one that depends upon, and takes advantage of, suffering in order to further the agenda. Maybe you can explain to me why this model is acceptable to use here (or at any time), Jack.
You’re damned right I’m throwing Obama under the bus after only two months – in fact, I hope Obama fails and this isn’t simply the only reason why I’ve come to this position, too (do you really want to get into what Obama and a considerable segment of the Democratic party is about to do those 1700 inner-city children who depend upon vouchers in Washington DC, Jack?). Just don’t try to say that I didn’t have good reasons for coming to my position.
Perhaps 20% of all voting age adults in the United States can be considered Far Left or very close to it. At the opposite end, perhaps 20% are true conservatives, with the remaining 60% consisting of what I call the Middle Muddle. Obonga got most of them and all of the 20% Far Left. You aren’t going to get anything out of those folks. They are true believers in socialism and have skin in the game for their cause.
The big question is will the majority of the Middle Muddle come to their senses and realize we simply have to reverse course from this Seventies’ Rerun? A lot of the under-30 crowd who voted for Obonga have no memory of what that decade was like. It was just not good at all, for those of us who remember it and lived through it.
A lot of clarification of who we are is going to happen during the next four years.
#48 Bilgeman – Yes, I wanted Bush to succeed very much. It’s a real shame what happened and a lot of people are suffering because of it…I’m suprised you would think anyone would want us to be in the spot we are in…
As to the rest of your comments, well, you just seem to be bitter. I’m sorry for you. For your sake, I hope Obama fails and that you enjoy the suffering it brings to our country, since that seems to be what you want.
Jack
#51 misanthropicus – I’m not going to waste key strokes discussing if this site is predominantly frequented by Bush supporters or not…if you don’t see the answer to that, you never will.
To answer your question, I’m a democrat. I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Do with that what you will.
And I won’t go deeper than that with you, as anyone who feels it necessary to refer to the President as the son of a Kenyan goat-herder isn’t here to discuss issues. And before you retort, it isn’t about his actual parentage, it’s about you not having any respect for the office, the issues we face, or the solutions (as your name clearly states)…you are just having a giggle slinging insults, and not worth my time.
Jack
#53 Mike Blackadder – If you HONESTLY think Obama is potentially trying to ruin the economy, then you have gone down a conspiracy path that I won’t follow. Not going to convince you of anything, so I’m not going to try (I find I’m having to say this a lot this morning…I wonder if there is something in the air).
Jack
#54 Dr. Fred in PA – I’ll forego your implication that no one on the left can be moral/correct/constitutional, as that is you just trying to goad me. Moving on…
I too think we are overspending to a crazy degree. But I don’t think tax cuts for the rich are what is needed in this case. I think tax cuts across the board makes more economic sense. At the core of the problem at this point is confidence in the market…confidence improves by spending, but spending doesn’t improve without confidence…unless you inject money into the situation. Ergo, tax cuts across the board, people who “need” it will spend it on necessities, those in the middle will spend it on what they want, and the wealthy will run out and invent jobs.
Yes, you’ll call me a socialist I’m sure, but people spending money is how you get the funds back into the economy where it needs to be. Businesses and the rich will still get the money, they’ll just get it from the taxpayers directly and not through the government (presuming these businesses make a product anyone wants…if not, survival of the fittest). If you give it to the wealthy (a la the Bush bailout) there is always the chance they’ll just keep the money (the banks thought it better to hold it than make loans).
If someone is going to have the opporunity to hold on to the taxpayer funded bailout money, it should be the taxpayer, not a bank/business.
Regardless, I’m not sure why you all are so excited about hoping the President fails. It’s like you feel like you are being rebelious or something. I think its assanine and juvenile, but its also pretty sad.
Jack
58. fred
Increasingly, I look at the percentage breakdown in terms of producers verses parasites (or put another way earning versus entitlement).
Given that a producer vote carries the same weight as a parasite vote, Obama’s drive to encourage parasitism makes political sense for his brand of control freak.
Harsh? I don’t think it is at all. People have a responsibility to carry their own weight. The Obama government is actively undermining that fundamental ethic.
Will the under 30 crowd come to its senses? I have to wonder. A great many have been corrupted by the public education system and populist politicians. Logic and reason have no effect on their conditioning, but perhaps a bit of authentic suffering will. This is going to be worse than the 70′s.
In my post above, please replace ‘suffering’ with ‘hardship’ (until such time as Obama has succeeded in his effort to remake the US in the image of Kenya or some other dysfunctional banana republic.
Jack #61,
I said it was ‘unclear’ whether this is intentional. I’m not personally predisposed to conspiracy theories and it would take a great deal of evidence before I would believe that Obama was intentionally harming the economy.
However, I can’t reconcile any of his decisions with reason, which opens the door to interpreting his decisions as malicious. My gut feel is that Obama can’t settle himself to form a rational and mature course of action which is just a symptom of being an extreme left winger. He can’t get past blaming George Bush, evil capitalists and the status quo American Way for all the problems of the world. That’s why he and his followers don’t have a clue.
Am I bitter (ie. comment #53)? Probably yes, aren’t you for the same reason?
#59 Jack:
“As to the rest of your comments, well, you just seem to be bitter. I’m sorry for you. For your sake, I hope Obama fails and that you enjoy the suffering it brings to our country, since that seems to be what you want.”
Jack, have you followed recent events in Zimbabwe at all?
Do you realize that as recently as the late 1970′s Rhodesia was producing agricultural surpluses for export?
Robert Mugabe was elected President on a moderate platform, change the name of the country to Zimbabwe, and within the past ten years embarked on a program of dissappropriating white farmers of their landholdings.
Despite destroying his economy and starving the average Zimbabwean, he persisted in these policies…for God onlyknows what reason.
Take a good look at Zimbabwe, Jack…that’s where the US is heading under Obama’s policies.
Nothing more than a kleptocracy writ large.
If you think I sound “bitter” now, before this REALLY builds a head of steam and starts rolling, imagine what I’ll sound like on the other end…
and I won’t be the only one.
#65 Mike Blackadder – That you don’t understand or care for what Obama is doing is fine, but to even imply malice is beyond me. I don’t agree with much of what he has done thus far (or I at least need a better explanation than has been given to date) but I don’t doubt his positive intent.
I do appreciate the apparent attempt at transparency with regard to tracking how/where the money is being spent. You can (and likely will) question how transparent he’s being, but it’s a step in the right direction over the past 8 years (and I’m specifically talking about Bush and not all Republican presidents…Bush was especially secretive/shady).
As to being bitter, not really. I think Bush did awful, I never voted for him, I voted against those that supported him, and I spoke out. Past that, I did what I could…it’s the people that supported him so vigorously that need to reflect on that. As I did support Obama, I am going to have to take responsibility for how this goes, and I’m hoping I made the right choice. But I’ll continue to speak out about what I think he’s doing right/wrong.
Jack
#66 Bilgeman – All I can say is that I disagree. There is far too much talk of Obama’s evil intent. We blamed Bush for his bad decisions (including claims of incompetence) but he wasn’t called evil, the anti-christ, etc. This obsession with Obama being out to get us (you can define “us” as whatever group you want) is just over the top.
It’s simple enough to say he’s not a fiscal conservative and that you feel he’s redistributing wealth in an unfair/improper/not-fiscally-sound manner. But comparing what he is doing to Mugabe is really beyond the pale. While illustrative, it isn’t honest in terms of magnitude by MANY orders of magnitude.
Jack
BILGEMAN
#43
Once again, B’man, I couldn’t agree with you more. (and I would have put it exactly the same way !)
S.M.
Jack, Obama probably does think he is right, most people have the same affliction when it comes to their own judgment.
I think that when it comes to transparency you need to be able to see the forest from the trees. Hiding a bunch of pork in a supposed ‘stimulus package’ is not my idea of transparency. True transparency will probably destroy his presidency, because nobody signed up for this.
And when I asked whether or not you were also bitter I was extending you the benefit of the doubt with regard to the shameful conduct of Democrat politicians and media following the climax of the Iraq war. The skill and good conduct of American soldiers should have been vindicated by events in Iraq and they deserve our praise and respect, not lies. This is a legitimate reason to feel bitter; I thought you might agree.
#70 Mike Blackadder – Well, one of the things Obama didn’t do which he said he would was given at least 5 days for everyone to review legislation. The pork was there, it shouldn’t have been, and the mechanisms for spotting it and removing it weren’t allowed. But, it’s all in there to see and it will be trackable on the site (supposedly) so at least he’s going to have to own what he’s done.
Unlike you seem to be, I’m not willing to throw all media and all dem politicians under the bus. People on both sides (and in the media) said things that weren’t right and I’m sure we’d agree on some of it (for example anything negative that was said about our soldiers in general).
But many Republicans tried to make the case that anyone who wanted to pull out was in some fashion calling the soldiers incompetent, or that they were “against” the soldiers. Folks who took it that far confused the issue and let a lot of other things get by without an appropriate level of notice.
As a non-solider, I can’t be bitter, but I am sad for them. I’m sad they haven’t gotten the health care they should have, there isn’t enough support for PTSD, and many of the facilities they have to put up with have been atrocious and that is entirely the doing of our own government who sent them to war. Disgusting.
Jack
#68
Bush wasn’t called evil etc?
What did you read or watch for the past 8 years?
You are either dishonest or deaf and blind.
The whole Bush administration was characterized
as evil incarnate by the MSM/liberal establishment.
What Obama is getting in small doses is what
every Republican President got in major doses
from day 1 and from before they became President.
The difference is that nobody has screwed up
more in such a short time as Obama has and
we are just starting. This guy is trying to
implement policies that have failed everywhere
they were tried. Not only that but he is also
clearly out of his league by several levels.
RE #43-Jack:[...] Oh, and one more small point. I don’t want Obama to do well because he is the first black president. I want him to do well because he is our president and we need him to do well. [...]”
Misanthropicus: “[...] normally, in a democracy/social contract polity like the USA, the idea is that our main concern should be for the group to survive and prospere, not for the occasional leader of this polity to swell. Yet, with the Obama presidency, we reached the point where, unfortunately, many people see a Kenyan goatkeeper’s son personal fulfillment transcending the interests of the larger group, group that has to pick up the tab for this absurd 1960-s tai-chi revival that the 2008 presidential election was. [...]
60/Jack: [...] I’m not going to waste key strokes discussing if this site is predominantly frequented by Bush supporters or not [...] And I won’t go deeper than that with you, as anyone who feels it necessary to refer to the President as the son of a Kenyan goat-herder isn’t here to discuss issues. And before you retort, it isn’t about his actual parentage, it’s about you not having any respect for the office, the issues we face, or the solutions (as your name clearly states)…you are just having a giggle slinging insults, and not worth my time. [...]
Misanthropicus: “[...] normally, in a democracy/social contract polity like the USA, the idea is that our main concern should be for the group to survive and prospere, not for the occasional leader of this polity to swell. Yet, with the Obama presidency, we reached the point where, unfortunately, many people see a Kenyan goatkeeper’s son personal fulfillment transcending the interests of the larger group, group that has to pick up the tab for this absurd 1960-s tai-chi revival that the 2008 presidential election was. [...]
Jack, thanks for allowing me to use your rhetoric as yet another illustration of the sads fact that “many people see a Kenyan goatkeeper’s son personal fulfillment transcending the interests of the larger group, group that has to pick up the tab for this absurd 1960-s tai-chi revival that the 2008 presidential election was. [...]”
Also, tell me how wrong Margret Thatcher was when saying that “the probalem with socialism is that sooner or later they’ll use up other people’s money” – in other words, how are the larger group’s (i.e. this nation’s) interests well served by the Kenyan goatkeeper son’s squeezing their legitimate earnings?
Dignify my query with an answer, por favor -
David Thompson (#1) hit the most critical point. There are many, many people who aren’t left-wing radicals, but who will never, never admit that they made a mistake, for fear of being called racist. And he’s also right that, just like how the hard right in Europe is benefiting from the self-dishonesty of the centrist parties vis-a-vis islam, the hard right here will see days not seen since the 1920s due to people so beaten into submission by racial guilt that they refuse to see a Leninist when he walks and talks just like one.
Rough times ahead.
#68 Jack:
“There is far too much talk of Obama’s evil intent.”
Maybe from some, but not necessarily from me. Frankly, I’m rather ambivalent about the guy. I didn’t vote for him, but I didn’t vote for the other self-absorbed boob either.
And quite honestly, whether it’s done through mal- or mis- or non-feasance isn’t REALLY the issue.
It’s that it is being done in the first place, y’see.
“But comparing what he is doing to Mugabe is really beyond the pale.”
How so? Apart from your own “feelings” on the matter?
Obama is attaxing, (not a typo, that), anyone he percieves as being able to pay for his initiatives while with the other hand extending them bailouts, subsidies and loan guarantees.
How is this different from Mugabe’s demagoguing against productive private farmers for being White Colonialists, and therefore having their properties subject to government confiscation for the “greater good”, (which looks a LOT like malnutrition)?
“While illustrative, it isn’t honest in terms of magnitude by MANY orders of magnitude.”
True enough, in its own way…Mugabe can only DREAM about confiscating and redistributing as much wealth as the Alleged Hawaiian has done.
And further to the previous comment, the roughest times ahead are for African-Americans. Dave’s an optimist if he thinks that race relations are only going to be set back 20 years. I think 50 years. We’re going to have at least one, and maybe two generations of whites and blacks who won’t trust each other if their lives depended on it after the magnitude of this betrayal becomes evident.
#69 SM:
“Once again, B’man, I couldn’t agree with you more”
Thanks…call me “Bilge”
Misanthrope – All you did was repeat “Kenyan goatkeeper” four times…that doesn’t make your arguement any better than when you only said it once (and it doesn’t change my response).
I would address your point about socialism if I though it was at all fair to EQUATE socialism to what the Democrats are doing. Since they are nowhere near the same thing, there isn’t any point in answering your question.
Focus on the specific issue you actually have a problem with and we can try to discuss it, but running around like a mad bomber, tossing “socialism” grenades isn’t very productive.
Jack
Jack,
a few responses:
“you are pinning your argument on Obama’s two months as the problem and trying to multiply it across his whole term”
History didn’t begin two months ago. It’s well known what kind of policies will lead to what kind of results. It is this to which people are responding, and they see it reinforced daily with the choices and justifications Obama gives. The next four years are going to even worse.
“but people spending money is how you get the funds back into the economy where it needs to be.”
This is the basic Keynesian error. Read up. Hazlitt, Mises, Hayek, et al (or dozens of contemporary commentators like Higgs, di Lorenzo, etc). If you do, and still maintain this view, then you are committed to error.
“I’m not sure why you all are so excited about hoping the President fails.”
You are dropping context. This has been explained dozens of times. Conservatives want his wrong-headed policies to fail so they will have some liberty at the end of the day. They don’t really have to wish for him to fail, since those policies will fail regardless. But if Obama fails to get them adopted (too late, of course) we would be better off.
“We blamed Bush for his bad decisions (including claims of incompetence) but he wasn’t called evil,”
Not true. Perhaps you haven’t had much exposure to the Kos, Huffington, and other sites where this sort of thing was utterly common.
Jeff
BILGEMAN
#77
Thanks – henceforth, Bilge it will be.
Your work is excellent-please keep it up.
S.M.
TO: All
RE: Heh
“Never underestimate the power of cognitive dissonance.” — Neo-Neocon
I see it every day in my association with city-county governance where I live.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Here’s cognitive dissonance hard at work.
Jack says: I would address your point about socialism if I though it was at all fair to EQUATE socialism to what the Democrats are doing. Since they are nowhere near the same thing, there isn’t any point in answering your question.
Jack, the cheerleader, apparently has no understanding of what socialism is.
While I am not sure Jack is incorrect about Obama purposely trying to destroy the American economy, there is now little doubt that he is causing irreparable damage to the country with his shallow economic thinking (i.e., profit/loss ratios).
I doubt that Obama is inherently evil so much as he is incompetent. (“Never ascribe to malice that which may be easily explained by incompetence.”) This should have been apparent during the last year before the election but cognitive dissonance stood in the way for too many Democrat supporters. Reconciling the two conflicting thoughts of “charismatic black icon” and “inexperienced incompetent” was never possible. It is kind of like expecting viewers of “The View” to chew gum and walk at the same time. Just wasn’t going to happen before the election and those who are to blame for the present predicament won’t acknowledge it now. I didn’t vote for Obama and I don’t watch “The View” so, given what he seems intent on doing, I hope he fails spectacularly. Doesn’t matter whether we are 6 weeks into his tenure, a year, or more. He is a disaster unfolding before our eyes, we will long regret the day he was elected, and we will pine for the days of George Bush, Clinton, or hell, maybe even Jimmy Carter.
Re Jack’s slaloming (other gates: 43,52,59,60,61,62,66, 67), then Misanthropicus gates: 51,73 and 78:
Jack, do the honorable thing and try to beat gate 78, don’t dodge it.
Jack, I said that “many people see a Kenyan goatkeeper’s son personal fulfillment transcending the interests of the larger group, group that has to pick up the tab for this absurd 1960-s tai-chi revival that the 2008 presidential election was. [...]”
And this is, unfortunately, very true – and while you claim that my mentioning that person’s compelling ascendence is unseemly and counterproductive, I say that mentioning Obama’s (or Soetoro’s) ascendence is mighty legitimate because the most important propelling force in his being elected (on the background of a cultural implosion and public anxiety about the economy of this country) was his “redeeming” exoticism, not his (inexistent) experience or (equally inexistent) competence.
Can you trump my description of Obama’s exoticism as chief propelling force in his election with some examples illustrating his towering competence and assuring experience?
I’ll help you here: since, after triggering the current bolshevick legislation, he’s now ready to blaze through the foreign affairs jungle, please start quoting from his Columbia U, international affairs thesis about NATO-Soviet Union nuclear disarmament – from that we sure can glean his future moves in the field.
Another approach would be to quote from his Columbia U international affairs thesis about the post-colonial, North-South relationship – from this we can glean his future moves in this field as well, you will agree.
Great opportunity to show everyone that the Kenyan goatherder’s son is not a fraud, but he’s always been a man of great academic dedication, and his years and work at Columbia in the 80-s now will help this nation greatly.
Quote Jack, go ahead, I need enlightenment.
Best regards – confused in Los angeles
It is a truth that no one likes to be proved wrong. This is a very basic instinct of every herd animal, for to stand alone means you may be subject to grave danger. Humans are really no different.
But it is also a truth that how the message is delivered impacts its receipt. Examples, logic, and a modicum of respect for your listener go a long way. To simply call names does nothing but cause the other to put up more blocks, out of instinctive self-defense.
By nature, people want to hope that this mess will get better. But they want to see it in simple, black and white terms that are easy to understand and, therefore, easy to fix. The problem is that this mess is not simple, nor will it be simple to find our way out of it. The danger is that a cool, charismatic speaker like Obama gives folks an “easy out”. He tells them what they so desperately want to believe. It’s hard to try to understand the real dynamics that underlie this mess, and even harder to do so without pointing fingers. So even there, his lip-service to bipartisanship is heard before the reality of his actions (and the actions of those with whom he surrounds himself) are seen and rather like first-come, first-served, people take that easy way out. They listen and go about their business like the obedient little herd animal they are.
It’s frightening to contemplate the day when the average Obama supporter wakes up to the reality of his lack of experience and they see exactly where all this “hope and change” is taking this great nation. While in some ways his election is a triumphant example of hard-won American freedoms and something of which we should be proud, at the same time he is the wrong man for the job, for he represents the worst things our society has embraced. Respect for mere book learning has replaced respect for hands-on experience, entitlement has replaced hard work, instant gratification has replaced the fact that there’s no way any of us will ever take any of it with us when we die. When name-calling at the highest levels of our government is seen as “dialogue”, it’s time to stock the shelves, load the Sig and hunker down.
Now Saturday Night Live is doing the Obama Administration’s work for them by having an actor play tax cheat, Timothy Geithner, and blame this economic disaster on “the last 8 years” and, as usual from the mouth of Obama and his elitist mainstream media propagandists, a problem that this admininstration inherited.
Again, the people who caused this depression and who put millions of people out of work around the world and closed down businesses are the following: JIMMY CARTER who established and put into law the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to force banks to give mortgage loans to people (primarily minorities) who could not afford to make payments and some who were unemployed and on welfare but because of the law, were approved for the loans; BILL CLINTON who resurrected and expanded the CRA in 1995; ALAN GREENSPAN who kept interest rates in dangerously low levels which caused an over-abundance of money and credit to be available; and, BARNEY FRANK and CHRIS DODD who both refused to fix the quasi-Governmental Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae housing programs.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, LIBERAL ELITISTS, messiah-WANNA-BE AND HIS POMPOUS ADMINISTRATION: STOP CHANGING HISTORY AND BLAMING BUSH ON THIS ONE. YOU GUYS ARE COVERING UP FOR THE AFOREMENTIONED IRRESPONSIBLE CRIMINALS WHO WRECKED THE ECONOMIES OF THE WESTERN WORLD. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU.
#86 888:
“Now Saturday Night Live is doing the Obama Administration’s work for them”
Y’know, with GE stock at under 10 bucks a share, I’d LOVE to be a fly on the wall when NBC meets with their corporate Masters…
All things considered, I’m just glad God put Obama in the White House. Now I get it, I could never figure out how Bush got in, but it’s so clear to me now, it was to pave the way for the coming of Obama, a real President.
JackT, your last comment is just so bone-bendingly stupid that no response is really required.
88 Jack T. God had nothing to do with it; It was an epidemic of syphilis that reached its tertiary stage in democrats like you, and caused Obama’s election.I suggest you get some penicillin.
JackT is obviously on the committee to get pot legalized. There’s no other excuse for his idiotic post (see #88 for reference). Obama a “real President”? He’s definitely showing his leadership skills now isn’t he (see stock market for reference).
Hey look,there are stiil Cubans out there, who after 40+years of Castroite terror, and oppression, still support the beast!There will always be cretins: political and otherwise.
This is really an informative post!
This seems to inform the people the latest news and shares great ideas with what is happening with the state since Obama sat as president.