One of my friends just excitedly sent out an email saying that she just found a job after searching for two years. She was ecstatic, and why not? She is a beautiful, professional female with an excellent skill-set who was formerly in the mortgage industry.
And she will be making $12.50 an hour.
Ah well, she says optimistically: At least it's a foot in the door.
Meanwhile, Obama is busy running all over the USA, giving glam interviews and hangin' with trendy celebs. I have mixed feelings about this: On the one hand, I like a President who actually listens to the people and tries to reach out to them. Goodness knows that George Bush never did.
But, is Obama really listening? At a recent "Town Hall" meeting at the White House, his aides sifted through thousands of questions which eager citizens sent in, and he answered only a select few. He obviously only wanted to answer the questions which would support his views: To do otherwise would be akin to shooting himself in the foot. So, is he listening to all of us, or only the ones who can (in some way) further his agenda?
And how much of these fun little escapades really help our nation as we sink deeper into the mire? Is Obama losing sight of the people in his almost frenetic attempt to be King of the Media?
He is acting less like a President and more like a rock star, while our nation trembles on the brink of economic collapse, Muslim nations in the U.N. have declared religious free speech to be illegal in U.N. Resolution 62/154, and Korea is about to send up a nuclear warhead which will be able to directly threaten the USA, and the war(s) continue unabated.
Obama may be a "fun" President, but it is becoming frighteningly apparent that he may not be able to assume a leadership role.
Perhaps that doesn't matter any more. Perhaps America is in it's great decline. We are a people more interested in image than substance. But our very lives and freedom hangs in the balance.If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, we are Dancing With the Stars as our nation crumbles from within.
22 comments:
I don't know how you can look at the same events and Obama activites that I have from a wide variety of sources and seen the speeches and read the press releases and Q&A bits and pieces and think that he is somehow no content and all posture.
When in reality he has offered not only legislation but intelligent and well reasoned arguments, discussions and debates; bearing in mind the massive difficulties the world is having with the current fiscal issues we are ALL suffering with.
As for the online townhall, there was no pre-screening so all submitted questions can be seen, so you can judge of there has been selective picking of questions.
The very fact that the Obama administration has not only been transperant but also constantly offering information and material, should be welcomed, espcially considering the last closed house.
But it is no good comparing Obama to the Republican failure that was in for 8 years, anything Obama does will look good with that fake comparison, best instead to try and take on the steps Obama is taking with a fair and open mind to the grave economic situation the world finds itself in.
What I have liked about Obama's public profile so far is that he has chosen to appear in places that traditionally a sitting President has not.
While on Leno, for example, he reached a very wide American audience. Many people who probably would not have watched him had he been on MSNBC or something like that. He talked about the financial crisis in terms that people could understand and explained his plan to rebuild.
Will his plan work? Who knows, I don't think that there is a playbook for this one. Prominent economists around the world can not agree on what the best course of action will be. Only time will tell us that.
The fact that he is out there speaking with conviction and inspiring people (that has to be part of the recovery don't you think?) is great to watch.
Agreed Scott but if you're anti-Obama from the outset then your take of these acts is never going to be positive.
Bush's first address to the people, not counting the inauguration, was the day after 9/11.
And we know he hated press conferences. Often, he would just go out, read from a TV screen, and walk away. If he called on anyone for a question it was Jeff Gannon.
Obama said he would run a transparent administration. Part of that is going to be frequent updates and press conferences. So far he is at least doing that.
The collapse happened before he was even elected. Rome was already on fire before he even took over. That is the reality of it all.
If anyone is Nero, it was the people who believed in the nutty idea that the free market could regulate itself. This view started to form sometime in the mid 70s. In the 80s it started to become reality.
And remember what happened? The Savings and Loan collapse? The government had to bail those institutions out too. But the S&L were only a small segment of the banking sector, so it was not too bad. They were bailed out, a few people went to jail, and then we forgot.
The push to deregulate pushed on however. We learned NOTHING. We allowed the rest of the banking sector to do similar things that the S&Ls were doing. They wrote bad paper on commercial real estate.
In 92 we got a new President, but by 94 the Congress started to go neo-con. They pushed through the bill that undid the last firewall. Banks could then be insurance companies, insurance companies could be banks, and Greenspan - who was still running the FED and whom everyone trusted - decided not to regulate commercial paper.
In 2000, we got another new president - making all three branches neo-con.
And then we all act shocked that the same shit that happened in the late 80s happened again?
And there are STILL people claiming that the market can regulate itself.
The reality is Obama has been on the job for just over three months. So no, things are not fixed. Things may very well keep declining. These problems have been simmering since the mid 70s, the heat was turned up a little in the 90s, and it became a rolling boil from 2001 - late 2008. It all imploded in the last 6 months.
Do you really think it is reasonable to expect it to be cleaned up in three months? How about 1 year?
The question as to if Obama will be successful or not can not be answered yet. We have to wait and see. For how long? I do not really know. But I have a feeling that it will be longer than three months.
WOW..You guys are sure interesting...
I am not pro Obama nor was I pro Bush.Obama has done poorly since he has taken over. His policy on having the Fed Buy T-bills is going to set inflation on fire. Oil prices will go through the roof. You watch.
The Liberals in Congress have been running the show and have since 2006. So if you want to say the last 6 of 8 years you would be right. Not the last 8 years.
Do not judge Obama by using Bush as a yardstick.If you did then Ryan Seacrest would make good President...LOL
I have all kinds of data for you guys but can not send it over for tonight. Showing mistakes..I will send them over tomorrow.
I am on the radio from 8-9am today talking about these.:)
Have a good night....LOL
Tom:)
onemansview:
you open by saying you're neither for or against and then get it wrong bu saying "Obama has done poorly since taking over" when, in reality, that is blatently not the case and both polls, public support, educated opinion and raw data has proven otherwise.
Bad way to start, the you use the word Liberals, when clearly, unless you don't know what liberal is, they aren't running congress. The Democrats are and they are not liberal by any politicla stretch of the imagination, you're using a perjorative catch-all.
You then laugh at your own joke, also a bad idea.
Finally, nail in the coffin, you plug your radio show.
Cheers for that.
Interesting contributions, everyone.
Daniel, Tom is a personal friend of mine, who was merely trying to be pleasant when faced with such vitriol. ;o) He doesn't know what to make of it all, and does have a great radio show from what I hear of it. I keep missing it (Sorry, Tom!!!)
Vitrol?
No, not really, more about reasoned argument in the face of knee-jerk reaction and vulture style journalism.
But still...
i wish he would focus on keepin the jungle bunnies from stealin shit and killin people.
onemansview,
Show them the data, please. People need to be educated. I wanted to write on this topic too. I decided against is because I know exactly how the "regulars" will respond.
Good luck!
There is no data Michelle, it makes me laugh, this shows up the pointlessness of divisive partizan politics.
You rolled over and took it from Bush for years before the questions on how competent he was started flooding in and a few months in of what has been a great Presidency based on what has actually been done in the short period of time is suddenly EVIL.
Don't make me laugh.
The polar thinking will be the death of America.
Daniel,
Your comments mean nothing. You do not live in te U.S.
"I" did not roll over. I wrote just as opinionated emails to representitives then as I do now. The difference is I disagree with Obama more and I happen to think, as you put it, is the EVIL one.
vitriol
Noun
1. language expressing bitterness and hatred
Saur got it right.
Michelle:
Bad logic, we don't live in an isolationist paradise, we live in a global economy so International affairs matters, on a grand and terrifying scale.
Show me evidence of Obama being an EVIL one and we can have a grown up chat, until then, read some books.
Uncle Joe:
No, she didn't aside from the fact that much of her own writing since Obama came into power has expressed a bitterness about that victory and a willingness to perpetuate Obama myths and give them air when they died a long time ago.
Seriously, ya'll need to read more and get a grip as to how well your leader is doing in difficult circumstances, some of us would kill for a man that competent.
"Show me evidence of Obama being an EVIL"
I said I happen to think this. It is my opinion.
Daniel, you really are here on this site to spew. You are an internet troll.
I just got fired from a job that sent me on int'l business trips. I can't sleep.
Michelle:
You don't know what a troll is.
And now you backtrack, in what way has Obama done acts that are EVIL in your wise and profound sense of understanding?
I await with baited breath...
M@:
You're fucking kidding me dude? Why? Peace.
No Daniel, I won't respond. Your intent is not to discuss or debate. Your intent is to name call and be a know it all. You think what you think, and that is fine, I disagree.
Michelle:
Sorry, again, you're wrong.
You say you won't respond and then respond, I desire discussion and debate, hopefulyl backed up with hard evidence but no one is giving me any.
As for name calling, no, that is last resort when people refuse to debate.
I'm glad it's fine with you that I think what I think.
Cheers.
The only thing they listen to is the crinkle of money
Ok fine, I read all the comments, post etc. Daniel is not an internet troll. HOwever, he is very interesting? His interest in our politics over here in the US of A intrigue me. And I say this knowing that If I ever met him in person I would like him and have a great time...and he's sort of hot ;)
Here's the whole deal
Peace is for sale but nobodies buying. Want to know why? Cause peace is not lucrative. You can't jack with the oil prices, you can't use the military as a scapegoat, you can't say the economy is bad because of peace...cause peace does not sell. It breeds boredom within the confines of our destructive, greedy, self inflicted society.
And on another point..."free market"???? you mean "CAPITALISM????" that equates to one thing. MOney.
It will never change. People/humans will always climb over the dead to get what they want. Be it Obama or Bush, the people will never change.
However, I stand beside my original and simple statement on this subject.
Obama is a TROJAN HORSE and you will all learn this in time.
Thanks for the personal reference Doozie, I am touched.
;-)
Post a Comment