Bush and Obama are both terrible, they are the same.
No they're not. There's really no comparison.
Bush was a giddy frat-boy President who shat on the American constitution and wrecked the lives of millions abroad.
Obama is a thoughtful, articulate President - actually worthy of the name 'President' - who is still struggling to put right the mess he inherited from that jackass.
How does spending more money then the previous and printing enough money to surely create the largest inflation crisis we've ever seen in our lifetime actually make someone worthy, articulate, and thoughtful??? You're so caught up in hating Bush you can't even see what is happening TODAY.
it is widely believed that the CBO does not accurately project cost/deficits
look at your link for 2009, then click on the link for the updated 2011 "picture"
it appears that what they projected for 2009 was about 300 billion overestimated
it is definitely appropriate to be debating Bush right now, he has been on every TV/news show promoting a book called the decider where he stands behind everything he did. From what I have seen he takes zero responsibility for the mess we have now
I just watch some stuff Byrnzie posted for me on the other thread...just when I thought I had an idea...boom!
and all I can think is next election I have to do more homework before I vote, man that shit is still bothering me.
Godfather.
You aren't the only one, I keep thinking about this interview, not the best example but is frustrating to hear people talk about what they want but they don't fully understand what it cost to get what they want.....
Ms. WALKER: He didn't listen to the people of the district. It was the stimulus, it was the TARP. It was a myriad of other bills. We have things that needed to be done like I-35 expansion, and making sure that we are responsibly spending money. And so he just lost touch with the people.
she complains about the stimulus and then complains that I-35 in Texas hasn't been expanded. spending is spending isn't it?
American Heritage Foundation? A credible, non-biased source?
Like religion, we all look to sources that will support OUR BELIEFS. Because, in today's political world, all that matters are our beliefs. Facts are secondary.
Another Failed Presidency
By Geoffrey P. Hunt
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.
In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
George Bush Jr didn't fail so much as he was perceived to have been too much of a patrician while being uncomfortable with his more conservative allies. Yet George Bush Sr is still perceived as a man of uncommon decency, loyal to the enduring American character of rugged self-determination, free markets, and generosity. George W will eventually be treated more kindly by historians as one whose potential was squashed by his own compromise of conservative principles, in some ways repeating the mistakes of his father, while ignoring many lessons in executive leadership he should have learned at Harvard Business School. Of course George W could never quite overcome being dogged from the outset by half of the nation convinced he was electorally illegitimate -- thus aiding the resurgence of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, is historically illiterate, and woefully small minded for the size of the task-- all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
What a crock of shit.
Couldn't have said it better myself. The crock of shit bit. If anyone with a scrap of brains can't see what an absolute disaster the George W. Bush presidency was then I question they deserve the right to vote.
Another Failed Presidency
By Geoffrey P. Hunt
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.
In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
George Bush Jr didn't fail so much as he was perceived to have been too much of a patrician while being uncomfortable with his more conservative allies. Yet George Bush Sr is still perceived as a man of uncommon decency, loyal to the enduring American character of rugged self-determination, free markets, and generosity. George W will eventually be treated more kindly by historians as one whose potential was squashed by his own compromise of conservative principles, in some ways repeating the mistakes of his father, while ignoring many lessons in executive leadership he should have learned at Harvard Business School. Of course George W could never quite overcome being dogged from the outset by half of the nation convinced he was electorally illegitimate -- thus aiding the resurgence of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, is historically illiterate, and woefully small minded for the size of the task-- all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
What a crock of shit.
Couldn't have said it better myself. The crock of shit bit. If anyone with a scrap of brains can't see what an absolute disaster the George W. Bush presidency was then I question they deserve the right to vote.
That was a brilliant response there gabbers....You must be a politician :shock:
Another Failed Presidency
By Geoffrey P. Hunt
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.
In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
George Bush Jr didn't fail so much as he was perceived to have been too much of a patrician while being uncomfortable with his more conservative allies. Yet George Bush Sr is still perceived as a man of uncommon decency, loyal to the enduring American character of rugged self-determination, free markets, and generosity. George W will eventually be treated more kindly by historians as one whose potential was squashed by his own compromise of conservative principles, in some ways repeating the mistakes of his father, while ignoring many lessons in executive leadership he should have learned at Harvard Business School. Of course George W could never quite overcome being dogged from the outset by half of the nation convinced he was electorally illegitimate -- thus aiding the resurgence of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, is historically illiterate, and woefully small minded for the size of the task-- all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
What a crock of shit.
This "piece" just says "Obama bad" without citing any specific examples. This would get a C at best in a high school English class.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win ."
Bush and Obama are both terrible, they are the same.
No they're not. There's really no comparison.
Bush was a giddy frat-boy President who shat on the American constitution and wrecked the lives of millions abroad.
Obama is a thoughtful, articulate President - actually worthy of the name 'President' - who is still struggling to put right the mess he inherited from that jackass.
How does spending more money then the previous and printing enough money to surely create the largest inflation crisis we've ever seen in our lifetime actually make someone worthy, articulate, and thoughtful??? You're so caught up in hating Bush you can't even see what is happening TODAY.
What inflation crisis?
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win ."
some of the comments in this thread don't make any sense. your logic is so flawed.
Bush was a terrible President. there's so much evidence to support that. why even try and compare him to Obama or any other President. it's like you think if you point out other Presidents flaws it will make Bush look better. doesn't work like that. that's why the Country is so screwed up. excuses, excuses, excuses. always wanting to blame someone else or take focus away from what's being discussed. why is it so hard for some of you to hold your leaders accountable for their horrible actions?
two wrongs don't make a right. they never have and they never will.
some of the comments in this thread don't make any sense. your logic is so flawed.
Bush was a terrible President. there's so much evidence to support that. why even try and compare him to Obama or any other President. it's like you think if you point out other Presidents flaws it will make Bush look better. doesn't work like that. that's why the Country is so screwed up. excuses, excuses, excuses. always wanting to blame someone else or take focus away from what's being discussed. why is it so hard for some of you to hold your leaders accountable for their horrible actions?
two wrongs don't make a right. they never have and they never will.
People on the Train can bash Bush all they want. Really doesn't keep me up at night. What does keep me up at night is what's going on with our country TODAY and people pay MORE attention to Bushs' flaws rather then facing the countries problems of today. Obama IS a terrible president. Then I have to watch all of you act as if your not biased and you all blame Obama where it is due. Bullshit. People post shit on here from Huffington Post and Media Matters like it's all accurate shit then when anyone posts anything in return against it you all claim the site or info to be bogus. excuses excuses excuses. It's only accurate if you WANT to believe it.......right? And why wouldn't we compare the two? Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years. Why is it so hard for YOU people (if you're american) to hold your leaders accountable.
It'll get here Markinball. It'll get here. No doubt about it. You can't just print more and more money without there being some type of negative affect in return.
People on the Train can bash Bush all they want. Really doesn't keep me up at night. What does keep me up at night is what's going on with our country TODAY and people pay MORE attention to Bushs' flaws rather then facing the countries problems of today.
Do you mean the problems facing the country "TODAY" that are directly predicated by the sheer ineptitude and criminality of the Bush administration? Those ones? I see...
Don't think you're in any position to talk about bias here (glass houses... stones... etc. etc.)
Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years.
May I refer you to the original post? How can you say that Obama's record comes within a light year of matching that litany of utter failure, ignorance and incompetence.
Why is it so hard for YOU people (if you're american) to hold your leaders accountable.
I know I'm not American, so maybe I'm not allowed to answer this, but I cetainly feel like asking you the very same thing about the last leader. Again with the stones and glass houses, etc etc.
Just goes to show how aptly titled this thread is...
Post edited by wolfamongwolves on
93: Slane
96: Cork, Dublin
00: Dublin
06: London, Dublin
07: London, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
09: Manchester, London
10: Dublin, Belfast, London & Berlin
11: San José
12: Isle of Wight, Copenhagen, Ed in Manchester & London x2
How does spending more money then the previous and printing enough money to surely create the largest inflation crisis we've ever seen in our lifetime actually make someone worthy, articulate, and thoughtful???
Why did he need to spend money? Do you think it may have had something to do with the financial crisis that was created under the Bush Administration?
some of the comments in this thread don't make any sense. your logic is so flawed.
Bush was a terrible President. there's so much evidence to support that. why even try and compare him to Obama or any other President. it's like you think if you point out other Presidents flaws it will make Bush look better. doesn't work like that. that's why the Country is so screwed up. excuses, excuses, excuses. always wanting to blame someone else or take focus away from what's being discussed. why is it so hard for some of you to hold your leaders accountable for their horrible actions?
two wrongs don't make a right. they never have and they never will.
Obama IS a terrible president.
Lets hear about OnTheEdges reasons why Obama is terrible.
after reading a bit on the stuff that Polaris sent and the watching the vids that Byrnzie posted
I am disgusted and wonder why we are jabbing at any particular president past or present when they all seem to have been dirt bags in one sense or another and surrounded them selfs with greedy or blood thirsty criminals,
then the Tea party comes into play...just a shifty group of criminals taking advantage of the present party's low approval ratings ? I don't know, I am a patriotic American but must admit that I was not aware of the real inter workings of our government as much as I thought I was and still have things to learn but I realize now that arguing and name calling over this stuff is nonsense on our end (the train), as I said next time I vote for pres. I have lots of home work to do as do we all. lets not let politics on the Train be a tool to create bad feelings or hate.
But i was raised to believe Crest was best and Colgate well what can be said, i'm just thinking toothpaste and sardines from Maine Toms its good stuff from the east coast
after reading a bit on the stuff that Polaris sent and the watching the vids that Byrnzie posted
I am disgusted and wonder why we are jabbing at any particular president past or present when they all seem to have been dirt bags in one sense or another and surrounded them selfs with greedy or blood thirsty criminals,
then the Tea party comes into play...just a shifty group of criminals taking advantage of the present party's low approval ratings ? I don't know, I am a patriotic American but must admit that I was not aware of the real inter workings of our government as much as I thought I was and still have things to learn but I realize now that arguing and name calling over this stuff is nonsense on our end (the train), as I said next time I vote for pres. I have lots of home work to do as do we all. lets not let politics on the Train be a tool to create bad feelings or hate.
some of the comments in this thread don't make any sense. your logic is so flawed.
Bush was a terrible President. there's so much evidence to support that. why even try and compare him to Obama or any other President. it's like you think if you point out other Presidents flaws it will make Bush look better. doesn't work like that. that's why the Country is so screwed up. excuses, excuses, excuses. always wanting to blame someone else or take focus away from what's being discussed. why is it so hard for some of you to hold your leaders accountable for their horrible actions?
two wrongs don't make a right. they never have and they never will.
People on the Train can bash Bush all they want. Really doesn't keep me up at night. What does keep me up at night is what's going on with our country TODAY and people pay MORE attention to Bushs' flaws rather then facing the countries problems of today. Obama IS a terrible president. Then I have to watch all of you act as if your not biased and you all blame Obama where it is due. Bullshit. People post shit on here from Huffington Post and Media Matters like it's all accurate shit then when anyone posts anything in return against it you all claim the site or info to be bogus. excuses excuses excuses. It's only accurate if you WANT to believe it.......right? And why wouldn't we compare the two? Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years. Why is it so hard for YOU people (if you're american) to hold your leaders accountable.
are you referring to the articles i posted from huffpo? if you would click the links on most of the ones i post you would see that those articles were written by AP writers or they were picked up from the wire services and posted on that site and i just post it here. that is why i provide a link with every article that i post so people can see where it came from. most of the articles i post are NEVER written by huffpo writers. and as far as media matters goes, it is the only organization out there that is proving peoiple like gless beck and fox news wrong. if not for media matters, this shit would go on unabated and fox would be even more powerful and just as unaccountable for what they report.
and for you to not see that bush's presidency has had a direct effect on our current situation i suggest you doa little independent reading and see if you can see if you can see how we got here from bush's tragic presidency. you talk about the deficit, how about the wars? that is a severed artery that just bleeds money away. how about our trade policies? and i too would like to hear specifics on why you think obama is so terrible. yes he has his flaws and has made mistakes, but nothing near the scale of the bush crime family.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
after reading a bit on the stuff that Polaris sent and the watching the vids that Byrnzie posted
I am disgusted and wonder why we are jabbing at any particular president past or present when they all seem to have been dirt bags in one sense or another and surrounded them selfs with greedy or blood thirsty criminals,
then the Tea party comes into play...just a shifty group of criminals taking advantage of the present party's low approval ratings ? I don't know, I am a patriotic American but must admit that I was not aware of the real inter workings of our government as much as I thought I was and still have things to learn but I realize now that arguing and name calling over this stuff is nonsense on our end (the train), as I said next time I vote for pres. I have lots of home work to do as do we all. lets not let politics on the Train be a tool to create bad feelings or hate.
Godfather.
Sweet Caroline!!!
Best post by Godfather ever!
completely agreed!
see, godfather, we are not as crazy as you once thought. we just do some research and try to make up our own mind about things. kudos to you, it is good to see that you are open to looking into things a little deeper. just be careful though, because it can be like an onion sometimes. the deeper you dig, the more it stinks...
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
after reading a bit on the stuff that Polaris sent and the watching the vids that Byrnzie posted
I am disgusted and wonder why we are jabbing at any particular president past or present when they all seem to have been dirt bags in one sense or another and surrounded them selfs with greedy or blood thirsty criminals,
then the Tea party comes into play...just a shifty group of criminals taking advantage of the present party's low approval ratings ? I don't know, I am a patriotic American but must admit that I was not aware of the real inter workings of our government as much as I thought I was and still have things to learn but I realize now that arguing and name calling over this stuff is nonsense on our end (the train), as I said next time I vote for pres. I have lots of home work to do as do we all. lets not let politics on the Train be a tool to create bad feelings or hate.
Godfather.
you are absolutely right ... the problem isn't so much who is the current president ... the problems are that gov't are acting on behalf of corporations - plain and simple ... depending on which corporations those are - determine the consequences ... when you are beholden to weapons and oil - you get war and mass suffering ...
and as far as this thread goes ... bush is relevant because of this:
if i dug a 500 ft deep hole and put you at the bottom with no way of getting out and then put a lid on the hole and started to fill it up with toxic waste ... you are gonna spend all your time trying to save yourself ... that's what obama is doing ...
now, having said that ... obama has to be nothing short of a disappointment to those on the left simply because of the restrictions he's put upon himself ... the reality is that the right will smear him regardless - he should at least have the courage to do what is right as opposed to trying to appease everyone ... the right aren't interested in helping americans ...
Another Failed Presidency
By Geoffrey P. Hunt
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.
In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
George Bush Jr didn't fail so much as he was perceived to have been too much of a patrician while being uncomfortable with his more conservative allies. Yet George Bush Sr is still perceived as a man of uncommon decency, loyal to the enduring American character of rugged self-determination, free markets, and generosity. George W will eventually be treated more kindly by historians as one whose potential was squashed by his own compromise of conservative principles, in some ways repeating the mistakes of his father, while ignoring many lessons in executive leadership he should have learned at Harvard Business School. Of course George W could never quite overcome being dogged from the outset by half of the nation convinced he was electorally illegitimate -- thus aiding the resurgence of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, is historically illiterate, and woefully small minded for the size of the task-- all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
“We the people are the rightful masters of bothCongress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
It'll get here Markinball. It'll get here. No doubt about it. You can't just print more and more money without there being some type of negative affect in return.
Well when it does, you can tell me "i told you so" but until then you have nothing at all. The economy is a very, very complicated system and adding a few tril into it will not necessarily cause an inflation crisis. If it gets to 50 to 100 trillion credits, then you've got something to worry about. By the way, very little of the money is actually printed (fiat money).
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win ."
"With our thoughts we make the world"
0
g under p
Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
after reading a bit on the stuff that Polaris sent and the watching the vids that Byrnzie posted
I am disgusted and wonder why we are jabbing at any particular president past or present when they all seem to have been dirt bags in one sense or another and surrounded them selfs with greedy or blood thirsty criminals,
then the Tea party comes into play...just a shifty group of criminals taking advantage of the present party's low approval ratings ? I don't know, I am a patriotic American but must admit that I was not aware of the real inter workings of our government as much as I thought I was and still have things to learn but I realize now that arguing and name calling over this stuff is nonsense on our end (the train), as I said next time I vote for pres. I have lots of home work to do as do we all. lets not let politics on the Train be a tool to create bad feelings or hate.
Godfather.
BRAVO godfather, I came to the same rational before the 2008 Presidential election amd chose to vote for someone else other than McCain/Obama. I realize that the corporations of this country REALLY runs this country and it matters none who is President from whatever party is in charge. My enthuiasium has faded a bit from the political spectrum cause I now see that it is what it is.
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
People post shit on here from Huffington Post and Media Matters like it's all accurate shit then when anyone posts anything in return against it you all claim the site or info to be bogus.
Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years.
1- Hard to call Obama terrible when from where I stand it seems like he prevented the second Great Depression
2- Huffington Post is also critical of Obama for not being liberal enough
3-That last statement is just false, if for nothing else look at how many American Soldiers and Iraqi civilians have died since Bush invaded the country...... that is a lot of damage to a lot of families
and I just can't figure out why I have not heard ONE Bush sympathizer admit that Obama had to spend all of that money because of BUSH. Did Obama create that financial crisis? really? how does one put the world's biggest economy in the toilet in the first few months of a presidency??? tell me On The Edge!!!
People post shit on here from Huffington Post and Media Matters like it's all accurate shit then when anyone posts anything in return against it you all claim the site or info to be bogus.
Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years.
1- Hard to call Obama terrible when from where I stand it seems like he prevented the second Great Depression
2- Huffington Post is also critical of Obama for not being liberal enough
3-That last statement is just false, if for nothing else look at how many American Soldiers and Iraqi civilians have died since Bush invaded the country...... that is a lot of damage to a lot of families
Gimli 1993
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
and I just can't figure out why I have not heard ONE Bush sympathizer admit that Obama had to spend all of that money because of BUSH. Did Obama create that financial crisis? really? how does one put the world's biggest economy in the toilet in the first few months of a presidency??? tell me On The Edge!!!
People post shit on here from Huffington Post and Media Matters like it's all accurate shit then when anyone posts anything in return against it you all claim the site or info to be bogus.
Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years.
1- Hard to call Obama terrible when from where I stand it seems like he prevented the second Great Depression
2- Huffington Post is also critical of Obama for not being liberal enough
3-That last statement is just false, if for nothing else look at how many American Soldiers and Iraqi civilians have died since Bush invaded the country...... that is a lot of damage to a lot of families
OntheEdge's comments are so typical of the regurgitating, misinformed, uneducated citizenry that will stop at nothing to spread the propaganda of hate and idiocy.
I just cannot believe that there are people who are so incredibly warped in this country. Oh wait, yes I can. Bye, bye America, your precious citizens have destroyed your legacy. Greed, stupidity, entitlement, laziness - intellectual and physical (obesity rate at 30% you fat fucks!), corporate slavery, big oil, materialism, consumerism, TV obsessions, celebrity worship, stagnation, stubborn, tired philosophies, have all dismantled the integrity and intelligence in this country.
OntheEdge's comments are so typical of the regurgitating, misinformed, uneducated citizenry that will stop at nothing to spread the propaganda of hate and idiocy.
I just cannot believe that there are people who are so incredibly warped in this country. Oh wait, yes I can. Bye, bye America, your precious citizens have destroyed your legacy. Greed, stupidity, entitlement, laziness - intellectual and physical (obesity rate at 30% you fat fucks!), corporate slavery, big oil, materialism, consumerism, TV obsessions, celebrity worship, stagnation, stubborn, tired philosophies, have all dismantled the integrity and intelligence in this country.
At least you still have beer, and some good music.
Couldn't have said it better myself. The crock of shit bit. If anyone with a scrap of brains can't see what an absolute disaster the George W. Bush presidency was then I question they deserve the right to vote.
That was a brilliant response there gabbers....You must be a politician :shock:
Godfather.
Sometimes Godfather, the truth hurts. The man was a walking clusterfuck that couldn't piece together a coherent statement - Palin without tits, as it were. He really couldn't do anything right. Unless you were rich and didn't have any family in the military I guess.
Comments
How does spending more money then the previous and printing enough money to surely create the largest inflation crisis we've ever seen in our lifetime actually make someone worthy, articulate, and thoughtful??? You're so caught up in hating Bush you can't even see what is happening TODAY.
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bus ... -pictures/
look at your link for 2009, then click on the link for the updated 2011 "picture"
it appears that what they projected for 2009 was about 300 billion overestimated
it is definitely appropriate to be debating Bush right now, he has been on every TV/news show promoting a book called the decider where he stands behind everything he did. From what I have seen he takes zero responsibility for the mess we have now
You aren't the only one, I keep thinking about this interview, not the best example but is frustrating to hear people talk about what they want but they don't fully understand what it cost to get what they want.....
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =131060190
a little highlight...
she complains about the stimulus and then complains that I-35 in Texas hasn't been expanded. spending is spending isn't it?
American Heritage Foundation? A credible, non-biased source?
Like religion, we all look to sources that will support OUR BELIEFS. Because, in today's political world, all that matters are our beliefs. Facts are secondary.
Couldn't have said it better myself. The crock of shit bit. If anyone with a scrap of brains can't see what an absolute disaster the George W. Bush presidency was then I question they deserve the right to vote.
That was a brilliant response there gabbers....You must be a politician :shock:
Godfather.
pretty good
This "piece" just says "Obama bad" without citing any specific examples. This would get a C at best in a high school English class.
"With our thoughts we make the world"
What inflation crisis?
"With our thoughts we make the world"
Bush was a terrible President. there's so much evidence to support that. why even try and compare him to Obama or any other President. it's like you think if you point out other Presidents flaws it will make Bush look better. doesn't work like that. that's why the Country is so screwed up. excuses, excuses, excuses. always wanting to blame someone else or take focus away from what's being discussed. why is it so hard for some of you to hold your leaders accountable for their horrible actions?
two wrongs don't make a right. they never have and they never will.
People on the Train can bash Bush all they want. Really doesn't keep me up at night. What does keep me up at night is what's going on with our country TODAY and people pay MORE attention to Bushs' flaws rather then facing the countries problems of today. Obama IS a terrible president. Then I have to watch all of you act as if your not biased and you all blame Obama where it is due. Bullshit. People post shit on here from Huffington Post and Media Matters like it's all accurate shit then when anyone posts anything in return against it you all claim the site or info to be bogus. excuses excuses excuses. It's only accurate if you WANT to believe it.......right? And why wouldn't we compare the two? Obama has spent more money and done more damage to this country then Bush has, and it only took him two years. Why is it so hard for YOU people (if you're american) to hold your leaders accountable.
Don't think you're in any position to talk about bias here (glass houses... stones... etc. etc.)
May I refer you to the original post? How can you say that Obama's record comes within a light year of matching that litany of utter failure, ignorance and incompetence.
I know I'm not American, so maybe I'm not allowed to answer this, but I cetainly feel like asking you the very same thing about the last leader. Again with the stones and glass houses, etc etc.
Just goes to show how aptly titled this thread is...
96: Cork, Dublin
00: Dublin
06: London, Dublin
07: London, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
09: Manchester, London
10: Dublin, Belfast, London & Berlin
11: San José
12: Isle of Wight, Copenhagen, Ed in Manchester & London x2
Why did he need to spend money? Do you think it may have had something to do with the financial crisis that was created under the Bush Administration?
Lets hear about OnTheEdges reasons why Obama is terrible.
Specifics please.
I am disgusted and wonder why we are jabbing at any particular president past or present when they all seem to have been dirt bags in one sense or another and surrounded them selfs with greedy or blood thirsty criminals,
then the Tea party comes into play...just a shifty group of criminals taking advantage of the present party's low approval ratings ? I don't know, I am a patriotic American but must admit that I was not aware of the real inter workings of our government as much as I thought I was and still have things to learn but I realize now that arguing and name calling over this stuff is nonsense on our end (the train), as I said next time I vote for pres. I have lots of home work to do as do we all. lets not let politics on the Train be a tool to create bad feelings or hate.
Godfather.
Sweet Caroline!!!
Best post by Godfather ever!
and for you to not see that bush's presidency has had a direct effect on our current situation i suggest you doa little independent reading and see if you can see if you can see how we got here from bush's tragic presidency. you talk about the deficit, how about the wars? that is a severed artery that just bleeds money away. how about our trade policies? and i too would like to hear specifics on why you think obama is so terrible. yes he has his flaws and has made mistakes, but nothing near the scale of the bush crime family.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
completely agreed!
see, godfather, we are not as crazy as you once thought. we just do some research and try to make up our own mind about things. kudos to you, it is good to see that you are open to looking into things a little deeper. just be careful though, because it can be like an onion sometimes. the deeper you dig, the more it stinks...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
you are absolutely right ... the problem isn't so much who is the current president ... the problems are that gov't are acting on behalf of corporations - plain and simple ... depending on which corporations those are - determine the consequences ... when you are beholden to weapons and oil - you get war and mass suffering ...
and as far as this thread goes ... bush is relevant because of this:
if i dug a 500 ft deep hole and put you at the bottom with no way of getting out and then put a lid on the hole and started to fill it up with toxic waste ... you are gonna spend all your time trying to save yourself ... that's what obama is doing ...
now, having said that ... obama has to be nothing short of a disappointment to those on the left simply because of the restrictions he's put upon himself ... the reality is that the right will smear him regardless - he should at least have the courage to do what is right as opposed to trying to appease everyone ... the right aren't interested in helping americans ...
Well when it does, you can tell me "i told you so" but until then you have nothing at all. The economy is a very, very complicated system and adding a few tril into it will not necessarily cause an inflation crisis. If it gets to 50 to 100 trillion credits, then you've got something to worry about. By the way, very little of the money is actually printed (fiat money).
"With our thoughts we make the world"
BRAVO godfather, I came to the same rational before the 2008 Presidential election amd chose to vote for someone else other than McCain/Obama. I realize that the corporations of this country REALLY runs this country and it matters none who is President from whatever party is in charge. My enthuiasium has faded a bit from the political spectrum cause I now see that it is what it is.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
1- Hard to call Obama terrible when from where I stand it seems like he prevented the second Great Depression
2- Huffington Post is also critical of Obama for not being liberal enough
3-That last statement is just false, if for nothing else look at how many American Soldiers and Iraqi civilians have died since Bush invaded the country...... that is a lot of damage to a lot of families
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
OntheEdge's comments are so typical of the regurgitating, misinformed, uneducated citizenry that will stop at nothing to spread the propaganda of hate and idiocy.
I just cannot believe that there are people who are so incredibly warped in this country. Oh wait, yes I can. Bye, bye America, your precious citizens have destroyed your legacy. Greed, stupidity, entitlement, laziness - intellectual and physical (obesity rate at 30% you fat fucks!), corporate slavery, big oil, materialism, consumerism, TV obsessions, celebrity worship, stagnation, stubborn, tired philosophies, have all dismantled the integrity and intelligence in this country.
At least you still have beer, and some good music.
Sometimes Godfather, the truth hurts. The man was a walking clusterfuck that couldn't piece together a coherent statement - Palin without tits, as it were. He really couldn't do anything right. Unless you were rich and didn't have any family in the military I guess.