Roger L. Simon

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How long has Obama been President?

April 1, 2009 - 11:38 pm - by Roger L Simon

Is it just me or does it seems as if Obama has been President for three or four years already? He is so all pervasive in our world, so constantly with us, that if feels like he’s been around forever. Maybe it’s because his speeches and statements go on and on. Quentin Letts across the Pond at the Daily Mail appears to have picked this up: “He spoke slowly, in a meandering manner. Some might say that he was thoughtful and professorial. Others might call his manner circuitous, even yarny. Am I saying that he was a bore? Oh dear. I find that I possibly am.”

Of course, Letts goes on to say that this is “arguably” a good thing, but I don’t think it is (and don’t really believe he does either). Whatever the case, as someone once on the left and therefore then in favor of big government, I now wonder what I possibly could have been thinking. The idea that we are going to have more of Obama and company if some of his expansionary programs are actually enacted is enervating in the extreme. I’m not sure people will suddenly go John Galt. I think they may just go to sleep or run shrieking from the room.

Meanwhile, our Secretary of the Treasury warns of more CEO firings ahead. [Does he mean you?-ed. I think I'm still a bit under the radar. Don't be so sure. What if he reads this post? Hmm... maybe I should return my bonus. You didn't get one. That makes it easier.] He also assures us the “world” is with Obama and there is more spending ahead. Do these people actually think they know what they are doing? Sometimes I suspect… in the small hours of the morning… they are are lying awake in bed, terrified they are charlatans.

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30 Comments, 30 Threads

  1. 1. David Thomson

    “He spoke slowly, in a meandering manner. Some might say that he was thoughtful and professorial. Others might call his manner circuitous, even yarny.”

    One might also describe Barack Obama as intellectually shallow. There are literally a number of senior college students far better prepared to be president of the United States. It is only Obama’s skin color that discourages many Americans from admitting the truth. Let’s be frank: we have a dummy in the White House. Our country is in serious danger. Do we still have roughly 45 months of this madness to endure?

    There is also something else that is most disturbing. I don’t sense that enough Americans are horrified by the government takeover of companies. The myth that “FDR saved capitalism during the depression” dominates the national dialogue. Even George W. Bush apparently bought into the fantasy. A lot of people don’t see anything wrong with a fascist economy—as long as you don’t call it that. But this is truly what is rapidly occurring today in the United States.

  2. 2. HardHeadedWoman

    When I was about 6 months pregnant it seemed that I had always been and that it would never end. BO’s Presidency is worse. It seems infinite.

  3. 3. Data Schlepper

    President Obama’s presence is a lot like the run-up to Christmas. Every year, starting around November, its impossible to escape. The songs, the displays, the sentiment.
    By December 25 its dificult to keep it at bay.

  4. 4. Pops in Vienna

    Sorry to say Roger, but only the handful of people who leave comments on PJ seem to be fed up with Obama.

    All of his approval ratings are above 60% and I think most of the country, if not the world are convinced that the financial crisis was caused by Bush. The public is still drinking the Kool Aid.

    It’s only the tin foil hat crowd who wants to see a birth certificate, college grades,etc.

    Obama is pretty much teflon, primarily due to his race along with a lot of help from the main stream media. Amazing that the press hasn’t turned on him yet after the way he “manages” press conferences and is destroying their 401Ks. It’s also amazing that the Wall Street fat cats support him, despite his usurpation of the Constitution (AIG bonuses).

    The world has gone nuts

  5. 5. Mike_K

    Obama is still new and getting a lot of benefit of the doubt. The economy may start to recover in the next six months. Then the enormous debt that has been run up with no thought, or even reading the details of the bills, will be the topic.

    Time to read Atlas Shrugged again.

  6. 6. Gaffe Prices

    circumlocution

  7. Sorry, Pops, I don’t think so. He may be personally popular, but so is Britney Spears.

    And Obama doesn’t have her butt.

  8. 8. Godzilla

    Here is the Rasmussen page that tracks daily approval ratings of Obama.

    Daily tracking poll.

  9. 9. Pops in Vienna

    Hah hah, good one Charlie. Yep, the One definitely does not have Britney’s “assets”.

    I checked out Godzilla’s link and Obama’s approval rating is 56%. The Washington Post has him at 66%. Who to believe? The special N.Y. Congressional race was sobering. The Republican should have won that one easily. Instead the Dem is ahead by 13 votes. Like the Tea Parties, there was a pee poor turn out of irate types like us.

  10. 10. tim maguire

    Pops, maybe you were confused by a media still insisting that Obama has stratospheric approval levels, but the truth is those levels didn’t even outlast the inauguration. By mid-February, they were average and last I checked, not even that.

  11. 11. Pops in Vienna

    Hi Tim,

    Hope you are right. All I know is that if Bush was president and all this was going on, his approval numbers would be around 11%.

  12. 12. Eric J

    So I wonder if Hillary is calculating to the day when she has to resign as Sec. of State in order to run against Obama in the Primaries.

    The question then becomes, does she need a significant success at State (at least something that’s a success in the eyes of primary-voting Democrats) in order to mount a plausible campaign?

  13. 13. R Greenlee

    Pops –

    “Amazing that the press hasn’t turned on him yet after the way he…is destroying their 401Ks.”

    You might want to check with David “Dow Jones” Thompson on that. He follows the market closely, and even though his daily predications are marvelously inaccurate, he will confirm that the major indices are up during the BO administration.

  14. 14. Jamie Irons

    Take a look at Neo-neocon’s post for April 1:

    “Feel overwhelmed? [continued]”

    for an interesting take on why we may be feeling so enervated.

    Jamie Irons

  15. 15. Pops in Vienna

    Good point #12 R. Greenlee:

    I just checked in on Bloomberg and see the Dow is climbing and expected to go higer. Existing home sales are up too. My 401K is in the toilet, so I thought everybody else’s was. I don’t even want to open the envelopes anymore.

    I’m beginning to think we might climb out of the financial crisis and Obama will end up a hero. By the time our grandkids start complaining about paying off the debt, he’ll be out of office. He will be out of office, won’t he? Won’t he?

  16. 16. JH Spyker

    I’m not sure people will suddenly go John Galt.

    So far, there is no record of anyone actually having “gone John Galt.”

    But it’s a lovely fantasy.

  17. 17. Chavo

    As a resident and small business owner in San Diego, my wife and I have been thinking of going John Galt for about a year now. The only thing keeping us “on the grid” is our daughter and extended family. If we could figure out a way to buy some land somewhere and bring the whole extended family with us, we would.

  18. 18. MarkD

    I once had a very personable and glib guy work for me. Everybody liked him. We even made excuses when things didn’t turn out well. Needed training. More time to get acclimated. New release…

    Eventually, it became obvious that the only thing the guy was ever going to produce was smiles and excuses. He left of his own accord. I don’t hate the guy, but I sure feel stupid for having let it drag on longer than it should have.

    I suspect the Obama presidency will go the same way. He’s a likeable guy. At some point, the damage wrought by his policies will become impossible to ignore. We’ll never hate the man, but we’ll be wondering why we listened to a guy who produced nothing.

  19. 19. GOP=HISTORY

    At Post # 1 David Thomson says , ” It is only Obama’s skin color that discourages many Americans from admitting the truth.” Where does Mr Thomson find these “many” Americans who are discouraged by President Obama’s skin color and therefore do not admit Mr Thomson’s “truth”. I have not found ANYONE at the pajamas media website the least bit discouraged by President Obama’s skin color from “admitting” or declaring any version of the “truth” they can think or dream of ! I wonder if this is the same David Thomson who on Sunday, March 22nd posted, ” I also expect the stock market to drop a minimum of 100 points tomorrow.” Actually the Dow ended the day March 23rd up 497 points ( went from 7,279 to 7,775 ), today it closed at 7,977. There are 2 kinds of people who predict what the stock market will do : 1. – Those that don’t know what they are talking about, and 2. – Those that don’t know they don’t know what they are talking about ! Is Mr Thomson a 1 or a 2 ? I’ll let him decide. In any case, have a nice day .

  20. 20. California Dreamer

    There are 3 kinds of people–the third kind knows they don’t know exactly when certain things that have been in the works will happen. Today that thing was:

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board on Thursday agreed to give banks more flexibility in applying mark-to-market accounting to their toxic assets.

    The action by FASB, an independent accounting standards-setter, came after Congressional pressure to help banks that have been forced to record billions of dollars in lower values for distressed assets because of frozen markets.

    Investor groups opposed the change, saying it would let big banks conceal the real value of their toxic assets.

    KEY POINTS:

    * FASB allows banks to apply new mark-to-market guidance in the first quarter of 2009.

    * FASB clarifies when banks are required to take write downs on impaired assets, letting them record smaller losses on their income statements.

    COMMENTS:

    ANDY ENGEL, CO-MANAGER OF CORE INVESTMENT FUND, LEUTHOLD GROUP IN MINNEAPOLIS

    “I think it’s something that on a near term basis is obviously positive for the stock market — being able to allow these financials to put what maybe a more realistic price on their assets is a good thing”

    So, same assets as yesterday performing the same way, but quite different and more lenient accounting for them retroactively to last quarter. Of course, BO attributes it to the G20 summit. LOL!

  21. 21. Godzilla

    Pops in Vienna,

    Tedisco now up by 12.

  22. 22. David Thomson

    “I wonder if this is the same David Thomson who on Sunday, March 22nd posted, ” I also expect the stock market to drop a minimum of 100 points tomorrow.” Actually the Dow ended the day March 23rd up 497 points ( went from 7,279 to 7,775 ), today it closed at 7,977.”

    You need to review the total figures over the same time period. In that case, I look pretty good. Many of those gains on March 23rd soon thereafter disappeared. Today’s stock market jump is most assuredly due to the reversal on the mark to market madness—which is totally sensible. In other words, Democrats and liberal Republicans have admitted their previous error. The stock market will usually go up if Barack Obama does not get his way! It really is that simple. Obama is bad for the American economy.

  23. 23. GOP=HISTORY

    I believe we can conclude from David Thomson’s comment at post # 22 he has decided he is a 2. I had him pegged as a 1, missed that one !

  24. GOP=History, read #20. Therein lies your answer. It doesn’t include Obama in the equation. Read it.

  25. 25. GOP=HISTORY

    With or without President Obama in the equation Mr Thomson made a prediction on what the stock market would do . He was totally wrong and he refuses to admit it ! A real man admits his mistakes. That is my last word on this loser .

  26. 26. Lightnin' Hopkins

    “That is my last word on this loser .”

    Say it ain’t so, shrub.

    Oh, and have a demented day!

  27. 27. ricpic

    Obama & Co. know exactly what they are doing. They are expropriating the expropriators and will continue doing so till there is nothing left to expropriate. The immiseration of millions means nothing. They are doing Satan’s work as per the instructions of their model Satan worshipper, Saul Alinsky, and will continue to do so to the bitter end.

  28. 28. R Greenlee

    David Thompson –

    In what sense do you look “pretty good”!? First you announce the market will go down 100 pts from 7278. Instead it goes up 497. Then you say that “before Monday,” the market will have given up all of those gains. Instead it Closes Friday at 7776 — up more than 500 pts from your prediction.

    For your own dignity, just give it up. Only a fool would try and predict the daily point gyrations of the DOW.

  29. 29. Terrye

    Obama just goes on and on and on and on and on…just yammering and uh huhing and blah blah blah..By the time the next election rolls around it will be as if he has been president for decades, perhaps since the dawn of time.

  30. 30. srlucado

    Is it just me or does it seems as if Obama has been President for three or four years already?

    Everything yields to the Obamalmighty.

    Our Obama, who art in Washington, Deficits be thy name.
    Thy socialism come, thy will be done, On Wall Street as it is in Congress.
    Give us this day our daily food stamps, and forgive us our income, as we fail to forgive those who actually create jobs.
    And lead us not into bankruptcy, but deliver us from free markets.
    For thine is the Oval Office, and the teleprompter, and fawning media forever and ever.
    Amen.

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