Wall Street and the auto industry bailout, healthcare reform, Iraq and Afghanistan, the "birthers," the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, immigration, 9.1% (16% real) unemployment, "shellacking" 2010 Midterm Congressional elections, civil unions, same-sex marriage, al Qaeda, bin Laden, renewal of the Patriot Act, continued rising tide of home foreclosures, national debt and budget deficit, August 2, 2011 deadline for raising national debt limit, he is not "one of us," not a Christian, but an "in-the-closet" Muslim, "he has a European state of mind," the 24/7 blogosphere of criticism, and a respected TV commentator calling him, a "dick," etc, etc. Need I say more?
So, Barack Hussein Obama, you wanted to be President of the United States?
When I see and listen to President Obama, sometimes I think of those memorable words by the gospel hymn composer, James Cleveland, "Nobody told me the road would be easy. But, Lord, don't believe you brought me this far, just to leave me."
History will record not only that Obama was the first African-American to be elected president of the United States, but that he was also president during a time when our nation was confronted with issues and problems of historic, if not unimaginable, magnitude.
There is a tradition of partisan opposition between the two major parties in our country. Most of the time, notwithstanding speeches in Congress or criticism in the press, there is usually a commonality of noblesse oblige, of decency underlying even some of the most vociferous rhetoric.
It it now clear that the Republican Party is dominated by persons who, under no circumstances, no way, no how, in this life, or the next, will accept the legitimacy of Obama, as an African-American, as president of this great nation. Few people have the guts or the courage to tell it like it is, lest they be criticized for "playing the race card," or suggesting that an African-American who becomes president somehow should not be criticized, but "given a pass" based on some offensive "double standard," etc, etc.
I am not suggesting or advocating any kid-gloves treatment of Obama because of his ethnicity. However, any careful observer of the media or listener to talk radio across our nation can only conclude that the antagonistic opposition to Obama is because of who he is, pure and simple. Ex-constitutional Harvard Law Review president, no-drama Obama, has obviously unhinged a substantial segment of our body politic.
Otherwise, how else to explain the bizarre behavior of the Republican Party leadership holding a press conference at the same time as President Obama had called his press conference, and, proposing as their signature political solution to our debt and budget crisis a proposal for a balanced-budget amendment to our Constitution? Is this a serious proposal or just sham political posturing?
It takes a vote of two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate to pass such a proposal. Then, assuming this occurs, such an amendment has to be submitted to the legislature of 50 States for ratification. For such an amendment, or any amendment for that matter, to be incorporated into our Constitution requires three-fourths of the states to ratify it. This is the Republican congressional leadership's "timely solution" to our debt crisis?
Meanwhile in the real world, according to the Economist the IMF predicts that by 2016 China will become the largest economy on a "purchasing-power-parity basis." China now has estimated foreign exchange reserves of more than $3 trillion and last year ran a budget deficit of 2.5% of its GDP.
And we have Congressional Republican clowns suggesting that we default on the payment of our debt obligations rather than raise the debt limit?
I agree with the president. The Republican congressional leadership needs to take a page from the playbook of Obama's 10- and 13-year-old daughters' discipline in doing their homework.
If Congress were serious, they should reflect on what's going on in the real world efforts to revive our domestic manufacturing economy. Again, China is a key player.
In a speech in Iowa in last week, President Obama spoke about his desire to have more manufacturing in the U.S. Specifically, he mentioned wind turbine components as one of the things that should be made more in the U.S.
GE Energy, a part of GE, whose chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is head of the president's Council On Jobs and Competitiveness and Economic Recovery Advisory Board, buys most of their drive systems from offshore: mainly Europe (Moventas of Finland and others) and China-based (Nanjing Gear Company) suppliers. Hold on; something doesn't compute here.
If Jeffrey Immelt and President Obama are committed to creating U.S. jobs, why can't they buy from a domestic company? Such a company, in turn could buy from American steel companies, creating thousands of U.S. jobs! This seems more in line with the president's domestic manufacturing agenda than having GE Energy continue to import gear boxes made with European and Chinese steel. Additionally, it would save GE Energy significant freight cost and reduce their carbon footprint of shipping these heavy components from around the world to the U.S.
Hey, but what do I know? I just may be another one of those persons the White House describes as part of their "complaining base of supporters."
There's still time to bring in the calvary headed by Sasha and Malia before August 2, 2011.
Inexperience, over-their-head, spinelessness, and seeking out a job for which you are not yet qualifed at the expense of others are all qualities which have nothing to do with the color of your skin.
By the way, are you forgetting Obama's mother in the equation?
Nixon destroyed the reverence we once held for the office. Republicans were incensed that their party became a symbol of greed and corruption. So they felt justified in turn to scorn President Carter.
The score was somewhat evened up but the Reagan terms were filled with divisive ethical and legal issues like Iran contra. To even the score Republicans appointed Ken Starr to ride President Clinton throughout his term searching for any dirt he could find. He found some and we had the spectacle of a sitting President having to acknowledge a single immoral act to the world. The Republicans got even and American prestige sank lower.
Conservatives believe that GWB was a decent president and a righteous man. They couldn't comprehend the enmity of the people for a President who pursued a personal agenda through deception in order to justify a senseless war. They thought it very hypocritical that the left called for investigations and possibly criminal charges brought against their President for simply being taken in by shoddy intelligence. The left had never shown such passionate anger in the past and conservatives felt it was hyped just as their anger was hyped for political reasons against Clinton.
I imagine the conservatives would have hated Hilary Clinton with the same passion that they hate President Obama. That is a generalization though.
Despite the Republicans kicking obstructionist dirt in our faces, we are gradually starting to claw our way back out of the deep hole that those same hot-heads dug us into.
Anybody that thought recovery would be quick and easy is just not being realistic.
Obama/Biden 2012!
the greatest economic depression in history, the Republicans and the Supreme Court,
yet he was elected 4-times, even with high unemployment rates,
BECAUSE the VOTERS knew, WITHOUT A DOUBT, that he WAS ON THEIR SIDE.
His Fireside Chats were from the heart, he meant what he said, and he did what he said.
Fast forward to now,
Bill Clinton, the DLC, Barack Obama --
becoming the Republican Party of the 1970's --
and that's the best our Democratic Party can and will do folks.
Either one fits much better.....more vacations.. more golf.. more campaigning and less governing than any president in recent history..
hell ..he declared war on Libya and then went on vacation the next day... don't think people aren't noticing..
we have a record number of Americans on food stamps.. that includes a record number of African Americans....
we have unemployment over 9%
we have record breaking debt and deficit
several states are on the brink of bankruptcy
so Obama ...he goes out and sets a record for buying the most limousines in history
A new report from a watchdog group shows that the number of limousines owned by the federal government rose by 73 percent during the first two years of President Obama's administration.
The nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, showed that government data pegged the number of limos in the federal fleet at 412 in fiscal 2010, up from 238 in fiscal 2008.
NICE TOUCH... how about some more million dollar vacations by the first family on the taxpayers dime.. they go over well too when millions are out of work
Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/food-stamps/2011/05/31/obama-sets-new-records-food-stamps-and-government-limos#ixzz1QoohfgSO
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2011/06/26/obama-golfs-time-weekend/
REALLY!! No one noticed!
So I ask you, as a writer, to seek balance. The Repubs are despicable. But Obama has knifed his base in the back and thrown them under the bus. Such betrayal will earn him a special spot in Dante's 9th circle of hell. Alongside Brutus.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/04/05/4118097-bikini-graph-on-jobs-and-more
This President is no friend of positive economic policy, which undermines all of us. His policies demeans all forms of capitalistic principals and fundamental American ideals. This lack of respect for us is what brings out our disrespect for him.
His politics have not and will not ever match his retoric.
Yes, in America it is our responsiblity to speak out, everyone gets to make a statement about what the president does or does not do.
One teeny-tiny note: there's still time to bring in the *cavalry*. Calvary was a hill outside Jerusalem. :)
Go back to the primaries in 2000. Then go to the general election. President Bush, as a candidate, ran a very dirty primary campaign (e.g. John McCain's "biracial love child" who was actually adopted from India). However, if you remember clearly, nobody called him a terrorist, Nazi, Muslim, Arab, or shouted "Kill him!" during his *first* presidential campaign. Obama was hated passionately by a segment of the population before he even made one policy decision in office. Are you really, seriously going to compare that to President Bush?
After 9/11, the whole country rallied around him. After Iraq, though many had doubts about that decision, he was strongly supported by most of the American people. It was only after major flubs: bin Laden's escape from the mission at Tora Bora, NCLB (not the concept, but the implementation), Katrina, the debacle that was the Iraq war, the continued mire of Afghanistan--and his cowboy, "I don't give a flip" attitude about it all--that people began to really see who exactly they had put in the Presidency, and even his party turned against him.
President Obama's approval ratings are better than Reagan's were at this time in his Presidency--hardly what I would call challenging Bush for worst presidency ever. Bush wasn't even the worst President ever, but it seemed like he was fighting hard for the title.
Continued...
President Obama not only began the Presidency with the country in a disastrous state, he has been fought tooth and nail for something as simple as a judicial appointment. If the President has been ineffective, part of it is having to try to change things with both hands tied behind his back. More filibusters in the current Senate session than any other time in history? How does that grab you?
Obama has been vilified from the moment he announced his candidacy. Comparing that to the way Bush has been disrespected (which wasn't right either) is an incredibly invalid comparison to anyone who knows anything about Presidential politics.
You forget it was Bush II and the GOP that appointed blacks to the highest positions ever in the history of this nation. Bush appointed Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to the Secretary of State and both were outstanding in their work.
The economy will be the downfall of Obama because he can't get over the liberal view that government spending is the key to the economy. Even Greenspan recently testified that the stimulus did not wok and it actually hurt the nation. And yet Obama is still asking for more stimulus. He need to listen to the GOP House members that are wanting a reduction in spending to lower the record deficit and provide some stability where consumers feel comfortable spending again and businesses can begin to invest again.
But that is Obama's problem and he will not solve it by capitulation with the House.So expect Obama to be a one term POTUS as the voters bring in a GOP senate and POTUS in 2012. An d his legacy will be remembered by 4 years of a sick economy..
Alan Greenspan
Former Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan . Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said tax cuts put in place by former U.S. President George W. Bush should be allowed to expire and the U.S. should return to tax rates that were in effect under former President Bill Clinton to help address the budget deficit.
We should “allow the Bush tax cuts to expire,” Greenspan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today, calling the economic crisis “imminent and dire.” We should “put the rates back to where they were during the Clinton administration,” he said.
Greenspan said it will be hard to rein in the budget deficit because data show that if a disproportionate amount of the change come from tax increases “it won’t work,” while the impact of cutting back on spending is “almost insignificant.”
“This issue requires a major cut in entitlement spending in order to resolve,” said Greenspan, who served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. “It’s the issue that’s got to be confronted. We’ve got to deal with it realistically; I hope sooner rather than later.”
Condoleeza Rice was an abject failure. She fundamentally misjudged the threats to this country--from the mid-east to Korea to Katrina.
The only thing she ever did was support any load of tripe out of any Bush's (I or II) mouth. That is how she got and maintained her job.
Colin Powell was in a unique position in this country's history. Too bad his legacy will be permanently scared by his lying to the UN at the request of his boss.
The fact is, there are myriad reasons people don't like Obama - and yes, race inevitably has to be one... I think anyone who argues otherwise lives in some kind of fantasy land where racism simply doesn't exist anymore.
But we can't say that everyone who opposed Obama is coming from a racist point of view -- and I don't think your article suggests that. Some people just don't like liberals or liberal policies (even if Obama is somewhat conservative as far as Democrats go... anything short of Dick Cheney is considered "liberal" by Republican Standards).
The strange thing to me is how hard it is to even discuss "race" in this day and age. It obviously gets people so riled up, they lose all rationality when discussing it (this happens on both sides BTW). And probably the weirdest thing to me is this notion that merely mentioning race as a motivation behind claims that Obama is unchristian, or unAmerican, or secretly born in Kenya... is considered by those accused, to be "racist" itself.