board77

Sheesh, the guy is not even in office yet and people are predicting all sorts of stuff.

He was elected because people in this country wanted a change, and, gosh darn it, can ANYONE here deny that we need one?

Give the guy a month or two in office at least before everyone starts getting all over him.

Freddy, sorry to derail your thread, I am looking forward to Obama while I know you are not. But, seriously, I can NOT understand how ANYONE supported Bush. I have police and military associations within my own very close family, and I still fail to see the relevance of a man who wanted to suspend freedom and civil rights over a possible terrorist threat. Someone who was so blindsided about American capitalism that the whole system went amock with greed. You may be okay with this legacy, I am NOT.

Yes, the media are on this, so step back a bit and see it for what it is worth, gushing headliner positioning, nothing more. What Obama will say, what Michelle will wear, what sort of dog they choose.

n the long run, I think Obama will be a very good president, at least he seems to listen ad has no weird agenda to stick towards, compared with Bush who clearly wanted to emulate and upstage dad. (FWIIW, I think Bush Sr. was a far more credible person than his son turned out to be. Do not even get me started on Cheney, the worst sort of what American capitalism has produced.

Obama for me at least is like a breath of fresh air into a government that reeked of closedmindedness and fear of anyone looking too closely at them. Good riddance after bad garbage, and they left us with tons of it.

Can Obama clean it all up? Probably not, but at least I am willing to give him a fair shot at it. What a job that must look like right now.

And that's pretty much all I really have to say, except for that I'm not really going to have time to watch it tomorrow as Tuesday and Thursdays I'm in class from 9-2 straight through.

I have to say that I agree with that completely, Dawnn.

And I'm not predicting anything beyond the unavoidable truth that he will face public hate and public love at any given point in time. It's the nature of being in charge.

(Okay, yes, I'm singing "Viva La Vida." )


Lali

[off-topic]

Hey Watcher!!! How ya been?

[/off-topic]





[on-topic]

Drums... drums in the deep...

They are coming...

[/on-topic]

The Watcher wrote:

Sheesh, the guy is not even in office yet and people are predicting all sorts of stuff.

Indeed, they like to predict he will be wildly successful, and solve all the world's problems.

Quote:

He was elected because people in this country wanted a change, and, gosh darn it, can ANYONE here deny that we need one?

Every time I see someone say this, I feel the need to point out... "change" is not of any value in and of itself. "Change" can only be good or bad based on what is being changed from, and what is being changed to. To deny change is needed is to invite death, as all life is change, based on the world around us. I daresay Bush's plans for his presidency changed quite dramatically on September 11th.

Quote:

Give the guy a month or two in office at least before everyone starts getting all over him.

Why? He's stated quite clearly his intentions throughout his campaign. Granted, he's changing his intentions from what he has said in many ways, but he has also reiterated and even strengthened some (tax cuts for people that don't pay income tax, civil armies, etc.). There is no reason not to argue with stuff you disagree with just because he's just officially started. Sorry to rain on anyone's parade, but he's already started.

Quote:

Freddy, sorry to derail your thread, I am looking forward to Obama while I know you are not. But, seriously, I can NOT understand how ANYONE supported Bush. I have police and military associations within my own very close family, and I still fail to see the relevance of a man who wanted to suspend freedom and civil rights over a possible terrorist threat. Someone who was so blindsided about American capitalism that the whole system went amock with greed. You may be okay with this legacy, I am NOT.

I don't know how anyone supported Bush either, at least, if they paid any attention to how much he spent on government programs the democrats wanted. Essentially, he tried to please everyone, and pleased no one. As for suspending freedom and civil rights, that's a gross exaggeration, and a failure to deal with the reality of terrorism. Capitalism IS about greed. As the immortal Gordon Gecko stated so simply, greed is good. But, saying that capitalism is responsible for the financial meltdown is actually completely the opposite of what actually happened. The financial meltdown happened due to the greed of liberal democrats buying poor people's votes by getting them houses they couldn't afford, and getting themselves rich at the same time (Just take a closer look at any of Obama's financial advisors, and their relationship to freddie and fannie). Granted, Bush didn't do a thing to stop it, probably out of a desire to help people, as he has in Africa, as well as here. Of course, it's hard to find media reports on any of that.

Quote:

Yes, the media are on this, so step back a bit and see it for what it is worth, gushing headliner positioning, nothing more. What Obama will say, what Michelle will wear, what sort of dog they choose.

n the long run, I think Obama will be a very good president, at least he seems to listen ad has no weird agenda to stick towards, compared with Bush who clearly wanted to emulate and upstage dad. (FWIIW, I think Bush Sr. was a far more credible person than his son turned out to be. Do not even get me started on Cheney, the worst sort of what American capitalism has produced.

How was Cheney bad exactly? And what did it have to do with Capitalism?

Quote:

Obama for me at least is like a breath of fresh air into a government that reeked of closedmindedness and fear of anyone looking too closely at them. Good riddance after bad garbage, and they left us with tons of it.

Can Obama clean it all up? Probably not, but at least I am willing to give him a fair shot at it. What a job that must look like right now.

Well, Obama doesn't have to fear anyone looking too closely at him, as he has the media surrounding him with a protective cloud of misinformation that is nearly impossible to penetrate. I find that far more disturbing than anything about Bush.

Feredir wrote:

As far as an orator, sorry he's not all that. Get him away from a teleprompter and there are too many uhhhs and ummms to cast him as a great orator. He's no Reagan but he does speak better than Pres. Bush.

I agree with that. I'd give his non-scripted speaking skills a B-. But his written-speech giving skills are A+ and then some. If you average it out he likely deserves an A- or so.

I ain't a Demeecrat (or a Republican) so I'm gonna inevitably disagree with lots of specific decisions he makes but I highly respect the man and so far I am encouraged and hopeful that he will very earnestly try to meet the very high expectations set upon him. I don't think he'll be able to Save the World, but I do have hope he'll make a positive impact on our government. And hope is a good thing.

And it's great as usual to have hal unsourced paranoia back in action!

January 20, 2009.

President Barack Obama.

Get used to it.

Marco wrote:

[off-topic]

Hey Watcher!!! How ya been?

[/off-topic]





[on-topic]

Drums... drums in the deep...

They are coming...

[/on-topic]

Polo

L' Osservatrice

Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot.

Sigh, I so tried not to make this as political as others have taken it. I wanted to see what the world news was doing, nothing more. I don't debate politics on here as very few believe what I do and it usually turns ugly and mean and people end at the bike racks, etc etc.

Yes, it will be President Obama. I lived through Clinton and I will live through this as well. I am not depressed and I am not even really the least bit upset about it. Why? Because there is nothing I can do about it and I hope he does well. My resolution is to worry less about what I have no control over, it's just wasted time and energy.

If anyone would like to post what is being said on the news in their country I would appreciate it.


freddy

I shall watch it in the UK on BBC TV. If the damfool commentators speak over his speech I'll be close to throwing a brick through the screen. If they go on for the millionth time about a first black President I might be tempted to heft it anyway. By now I have actually noticed. It is more to the point that it is a decisive, articulate, intelligent, humane and magnanimous man who will be stepping into the most powerful elected post in the Free World. That will make a refreshing change.

yovargas wrote:

And it's great as usual to have hal unsourced paranoia back in action!

Don’t talk to it, Merry. Don’t encourage it. Srsly.

to be fair, my original post WAS sourced.

ToshoftheWuffingas wrote:

I shall watch it in the UK on BBC TV.

Do you have cable? If so, I'd switch over to CNN international for it. I did that for the election as I found the BBC coverage to be quite lacking.

Quote:

I did that for the election as I found the BBC coverage to be quite lacking.

I think the technical term is shit.

Eruname
how will you spend the day tomorrow?

Tosh, you can watch it online at CNN.com, I think...

Stay in bed for most of it as I'm still sick, get to the TV at 4pm, turn on CNN international and watch the inaguration.

I'm going to an inauguration party in London! There are numerous parties and celebrations and not just for ex-pats like me (although we are also numerous.)

The reaction over here to Obama's election was one of palpable relief and now there is a flickering optimism. Nobody thinks Obama will "fix everything" and nobody thinks he's superman. He will likely make tons of mistakes and tons of bad decisions. But the general coverage in the media is one of hope and looking forwards.

One interesting thing is that people here don't quite understand the huge bro-ha-ha about Obama being the first black president. While racism certainly exists here, it doesn't have quite the same ugly history as it does in the US. So when the media covers that aspect of it, they do so from the outside looking in.

I myself am also cautiously optimistic about Obama's presidency. I don't envy the man; he has a long road ahead of him - but he may just have the necessary stamina, wit and wisdom to walk it.

jewelsong wrote:

I'm going to an inauguration party in London! There are numerous parties and celebrations and not just for ex-pats like me (although we are also numerous.)

The reaction over here to Obama's election was one of palpable relief and now there is a flickering optimism. Nobody thinks Obama will "fix everything" and nobody thinks he's superman. He will likely make tons of mistakes and tons of bad decisions. But the general coverage in the media is one of hope and looking forwards.

One interesting thing is that people here don't quite understand the huge bro-ha-ha about Obama being the first black president. While racism certainly exists here, it doesn't have quite the same ugly history as it does in the US. So when the media covers that aspect of it, they do so from the outside looking in.

I myself am also cautiously optimistic about Obama's presidency. I don't envy the man; he has a long road ahead of him - but he may just have the necessary stamina, wit and wisdom to walk it.

Well the history of racism in the US is pretty much the same as elsewhere in the world, so yeah, not quite the ugly history that has been mythologically perpetuated in the US. One would expect people in the US to understand this, but they do not want to.