lenore answered: re:Tell us how you think President Barack Obama has handled the economic crisis so far. What's he done right? And what's he gotten wrong?...

It's called emphasis.. It's necessary when typing to convey emphasis on a certain point.

It certainly is not hysterical in any way shape or form.

The All Caps were simply headers that were more fully explained...

I am glad, however, that Obama hasn't dragged us into another extremely expensive, unjustified, unfunded invasion.

Maybe if he had, we wouldn't be fighting terrorists here on US soil again...

You can castigate Bush all you want...

Yet the wisdom of his actions are becoming more and more apparent day by day. Especially when contrasted with the ineptitude of Obama and his minions..

There, not one captial word!! :D

Enjoy yer vacation.. I'll be here when you get back.. :D

Michale.....

Since it seems you've returned to ranting and raging in lots of CAPITAL LETTERS (oddly enough, what you so often accuse the "hysterical left" of doing), I don't see much point in responding.

I am glad, however, that Obama hasn't dragged us into another extremely expensive, unjustified, unfunded invasion.

I wish you peace, Michale. I'll be back after vacation.
Cheers
David

He has???

Last time I checked, NK still has nukes...

Last time I checked, Iran is still obtaining nukes...

Last time I checked, Russia is still reaping the benefits of our self-gutting...

Last time I checked, China told the US to "stuff it and oh, by the way, pay your bills"...

Oh yes and Obama has managed to utterly mangle our relationship with THE most important ally we have in the MidEast..

What has all this alleged "good will" that Obama has allegedly secured gotten us??

Not a damn thing...

The ONLY thing that the world has taken from Obama's many BOW AND APOLOGY tours is that the US doesn't have the balls to do anything more than take out a few Somali pirates with a few snipers...

There is not ONE US ally that thinks the US will stand with them if the kaa-kaa hits the fan..

I am curious, though, what would you have him do differently?

Oh where to start...

OK, in no particular order..

LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY..

If Obama can't secure the borders (which is obvious he can't) then he shouldn't cap on states when they do HIS job for him...

IS IT A CRIME OR IS IT AN ACT OF WAR??

What the HELL is with this Mirandizing crap.. You mirandize when you are worried about obtaining a "win" in court..

You interrogate when you want to save lives..

Why does Obama always seem to Mirandize??

WHAT PART OF **NO** DOES OBAMA NOT UNDERSTAND??

If Congress tells you to take a hike with regards to new laws, you don't use your Agencies to circumvent Congress.

The ONLY smart thing that Obama has done in his year+ in office is to maintain the monitoring and surveillance apparatus that Bush put into place..

But he tarnished THAT smart move by pushing for Civilian trials.. Blocks away from the WTC site, fer chreest's sake!!

What was he thinking??

I'll tell you, he WASN'T thinking..

The man is simply not fit to command.. He has ZERO clue on what it takes to lead troops, let alone lead a country...

Thank the gods, that he is going to be a one-termer...

It's sad, because it will probably set race relations in this country back a couple decades..

This man should NEVER have been elected.. PERIOD

Michale.....

It seems to me that Obama is continuing most if not all of the policies of the Bush administration when it comes to terrorism.

(Much to my chagrin, I'd add. I actually feel safer w/ him as President because he's generated so much more goodwill throughout the world. But you know where I stand on this so I won't rehash.)

I am curious, though, what would you have him do differently?

Best
David

I also know that many of the lobbying efforts ARE geared towards keeping our troops safe and well equipped..

Yes, I know that there are those who cheat and scam and screw the US in the name of "Defense" and "Support The Troops"...

But that doesn't (or shouldn't) negate the very real and pressing need that the Defense lobbying represents...

"A civilization progresses best when it can defend itself."
-Commander George Kirk, FINAL FRONTIER

All other considerations are secondary.

Michale.....

You do know, of course, that one of the biggest lobbying industries is defense, right?

Cheers
David

I will concede that, generally speaking, the GOP is probably a Tad ("not a Hillary but a Tad" :D you probably won't get that unless you were on Okinawa in the early 80s.. :D)... anyways... The DP are probably a tad less corrupt than the GOP.

I'll grant you that..

BUT...

But, when you look at the circumstances in the here and now, with that little War Against Terrorism thingy, that minuscule difference doesn't even come CLOSE to matching up with the HUGE deficit that the DP has compared to the GOP with regards to fighting a war...

In other words, I would rather have a more corrupt government with regards to Wall Street and Finance issues that knows how to kick ass and take names, rather than a government that is LESS corrupt in the Finance area, but goes out of it's way to coddle and protect and Mirandize scumbag terrorists who are doing their best to brutally murder as many innocent Americans as possible...

In short...

I don't want to lead a battalion of Pearce's into battle, but I probably wouldn't mind them when it comes to cleaning up afterwards...

It's all a matter of priorities...

Michale.....

What does it matter?? Something is being bought, rather than earned...

This is a big difference and why right now it's easier to believe the Dems are working more to help Main St.

Do you HONESTLY believe that??

Seriously??

Do you think that the DP are pulling these scams and bribes and backroom deals to help YOU and ME???

Honestly???

The Dems are simply pulling these deals to help the Dem Party..

PERIOD...

All one has to do is look at all the campaign contributions made to Dems in the last couple years to know that.

Guess who was the biggest recipient of BP donations???

President Obama...

And here I thought *I* was the idealistic one amongst this crowd...

Wake up and smell the corruption, David... :D

There really isn't any difference between the GOP and the Dem Party when it comes to corruption and being bought...

You can't tell me that Murtha et al didn't sell the table, either...

Michale.....

As the minority party, I think Republicans could certainly push for lobbying reform to a great political advantage. It would provide actual evidence that they are indeed looking to "serve the needs of Main St and John Q. Public" instead of just talking about it.

I'd like to see the Dems push for it as to me they seem much more interested in achieving a balance between corporate interests and the people.

It's fantastic that Harry Reid and the Senate leadership have just endorsed Sherrod Brown's amendment to break up the banks, for example.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/06/reid-backs-breaking-up-ba_n_566192.html

To paraphrase Joe Biden: This is 'effin' big!

Look for lots of lobbying against it. It's certainly not going to make Dems popular w/ Wall Street.

As I've stated before, with Democrats, lobbying buys you a seat at the table. With Republicans, it buys you the table.

This is a big difference and why right now it's easier to believe the Dems are working more to help Main St.

Cheers
David

No one is claiming that the DP would be "more likely" to do it..

Obviously, the DP has as many Corporate Whores (TM ChrisWeigant.Com :D) as the GOP...

But, in the here and now, the DP is the only ones CAPABLE of doing it.

Once the GOP becomes the majority Party again in 2011 and takes the White House in 2012, then THEY will be the ones on the hot seat...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Corporate Whores=CW???

Chris Weigant=CW???

..........

Naw, it's GOT to be a coincidence..

:D hehehehehehehe

Michale.....

If this is the new GOP and what they stand for, why wouldn't they be willing to put forth lobbying reform?

Why would Dems be more likely to do this?

As would I...

But until we, ALL of us, can look past the USvsTHEM/Political Party Above All Else mindset, this will never happen.

Do away with lobbyists all together. Get rid of political partys totally...

Put EVERY American on equal footing as far as access to their leaders go...

Only then can we have the kind of government that we really need...

Barring that, the next best thing is simply to put me in charge and then everything will be OK... :D

Michale.....

Here's what I don't understand then.

If this is the new GOP and what they stand for, why wouldn't they be willing to put forth lobbying reform?

Why would Dems be more likely to do this?

Think about it like this, if the GOP grabbed this issue and put the Dems on the defensive, wouldn't that help them out?

I honestly don't care who sponsors it or introduces it, I'd just like to see true lobbying reform.

-David

A fiscally responsible government that is less intrusive and committed to serve the needs of Main St and John Q Public insteal of.... er... I mean INSTEAD of.. :D.. Wall St and Goldman F CEO....

Can you say with a straight face that ANYTHING that Obama has done in the last 8 months made your life or my life better??

I doubt it.... :D

Imagine for a second, a bill called the "Corporate Lobbying Reduction Act" or something like this. I'd love to see some folks on both sides be put on the spot for opposing this.

You and me both..

But we can't count on the GOP to put this forth, so it's up to the Democrats..

Oh my gods, we are so frak'ed....

Michale.....

What do you think they stand for these days then?

Perhaps the Obama Administration should clean it's own house and get rid of IT'S lobbyist and corporate problems before it tries to point the finger at others, no??

This is actually not a bad idea. If Democrats were to bring back campaign finance and lobbying reform, I think they might actually be able to pass it.

I'd love to see stronger campaign finance and lobbying laws. Now there might be some folks from both sides of the aisle who would fight this.

Imagine for a second, a bill called the "Corporate Lobbying Reduction Act" or something like this. I'd love to see some folks on both sides be put on the spot for opposing this.

Cheers,
David

Ya know, that tired old dog simply will not hunt anymore.

It just SEEMS that all the TP is about is anti-Obama because practically everything that Obama has done in the last year or so has been wrong and bad for the country..

I mean, seriously...

How the hell does the US Government expect to impose financial discipline on the private sector when the Government itself hasn't CLUE ONE as to what financial discipline is all about, eh??

Perhaps the Obama Administration should clean it's own house and get rid of IT'S lobbyist and corporate problems before it tries to point the finger at others, no??

Maybe if the Obama Administration spent less time SPINNING and more time DOING, this country would not be in the mess it is in now...

Michale.....

I think it's interesting that the Tea Party and folks like Rand Paul are generating the most enthusiasm among conservatives because otherwise there seems to be a bit of a vacuum in the Republican party.

By that I mean, they don't seem to stand for much of anything anymore except being anti-Obama. They're even willing to take a pro-Government stance if it means trying to make Obama look bad - reference all the blame being tossed around about the BP oil spill. Somehow this is suddenly Obama's fault in the eyes of many Republicans. They're also willing to try to appear on the side of the people against Wall Street. Funny, given that there philosophy over the past 30 years has been deregulation.

From a branding perspective, the Tea Party is also interesting. It provides a brand that folks aren't familiar with. It's an opportunity for re-branding. "Tea Party" starts with a clean slate. While Republicans haven't done much to try to rehabilitate their brand.

Here in Ohio from a Democratic standpoint, it was a little disappointing that 2 progressive candidates who ran small, grassroots campaigns w/o a lot of corporate backing lost their primaries to more traditional Dems who picked up corporate sponsorship. David Krikorian lost to an establishment backed candidate Surya Yalamanchili. And Jennifer Brunner lost to the more established and more conservative Lee Fisher. Though both races were close.

I think it's a good sign that the races were close but still a little discouraging that the candidate who raised more money won.

Just a couple of comments on a Thursday morning.

-David

Rather ironic, no?? :D

The Tea Party, which is unarguably a "centrist" or even a "progressive" movement, is actually pushing the GOP further to the Right...

In a further burst of irony, you have DP leadership using perverse slurs against the Tea Party, pushing more moderates and independents that would normally lean Left, into the Tea Party camp.

I saids it before and I saids it again..

I think the Tea Party will have more of a negative impact on the DP than on the GOP. Because Left-leaning independents that WOULD have stayed home in disgust over the DP candidates will now actually turn out and vote for the TP/GOP candidate.

Michale.....