No, I'm not saying that there is some huge conspiracy out there to enslave us or anything remotely close to that. What I'm saying is that there are a series of events that combined to create a disaster. It is the proverbial perfect storm. For example, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank got legislation passed that was going to allow all Americans to own a home, regardless of their income or financial history. Boom, tons of people were now getting mortgages that could not get them in the past. So far, there is no disaster, only good intentions. Then the housing market tanks and these people who never should have gotten a mortgage in the first place default on their mortgages. Add in AIG which guaranteed those mortages along with Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. Now those financial giants couldn't make good on their guarantees so we have a financial crisis also. Add to this the growing demise of manufacturing in the US. The unemployment adds to the housing crisis which adds to the financial crisis, and on and on. I really don't think anyone was trying to create the problem, but the combination of all the events made things go out of control. When Wal Mart decides to add to their bottom line by purchasing goods in China they aren't doing so to intentionally submarine the US economy, but they are doing so to maximize their own bottom line without taking into consideration the consequences of their actions. Globalization was supposed to give the whole world a better standard of living. Instead it appears to be on the road to reducing our own standard of living to that of much of the Third World.
Why wouldnt you support him? Do you like being treated fairly? Do you like change with honest reform? Do you care about affordable health care? Consider the country is just about at its worst, finacially, ecnomoically, socially, and the country is at war. All inherited from a republican who didnt know anything about politics. Whose daddy, always pulled his fat out of the fire, who was a drunk, and who graduated at almost the bottom of his law school. Do you appriecated a president who see's things not as a moniority? That sees the glass both half full and half empty? That tries to champion the regular guy, even when collegues disrespect him in an open forum, i.e (state of the union address). That has to deal with top level genrals that dont think to keep personal thoughts to themselves; about the only boss they have! Lastly he is the leader of the free world. The president of the United States, the Comander and chief, and if nothing at all you should like him for that
There is some real irony in the post when you denegrate Bush but tell us that we should like Obama because he is the President of the United States. Sorry, but a bad President is a bad President no matter what party he is from. I see Obama as a President who sees the glass as neither half full or half empty, but rather as bottomless. The only way anyone can understand and appreciate that someone has to pay the bills is if they have ever had that responsibility by running a company or at least running something. Obama has never had that responsibility and it shows with his spending. His health care has been debated heavily in this forum and elsewhere and the consensus is pretty overwhelming that Obamacare is a disaster that will make health care unobtainable for most of America. Add to the health care debate the fact that most of the cost of this mess is put off until Obama is out of office is even more incredible. I'm sorry you are offended by what we think of Obama, but even your own post goes along with what my first contention was in this thread. The only argument someone can give me about why they like Obama is that he is smart and he's not Bush. So far no one has been able to present anything other than that.
rdubnpk That explanation would be fine except there were people on Wall Street ( those who were eventually bailed out) making hedge bets that the derivatives would fail, which they did, bringing the entire financial system down with them. In other words, they were aware that the house of cards was about to fall, bet that it would do so, made money on the fall, and then were bailed out after they failed. Pretty good deal if you can get away with it.
Only history will tell whether anyone did a good job. Every leader is complained about while they're in office. Bush and Obama are no exception. It won't be for another 40 or 50 years (or longer) that we will know what effect they had on our countries.
That's the kind of work we'd all like, isn't it? Screw up, make money, then claim losses and get government bail out funds. There were a lot of people who got bailed out that should actually be in jail. Too bad they didn't end up there instead of getting fat bonuses for their misdeeds.
Saying that Obama is good because he isn't Bush is tempting until you consider that Palin isn't Bush either....lol. Oh, please...don't anyone say that Palin would be a good alternative...lol. I think it is realistic to bear in mind that these disasters Obama is faced with today were created in the Bush administration. Some even before. We live in an instant world. Most people think these problems are created instantly and solutions should have an instant effect, as well. It doesn't work that way. It's interesting to look at fact check websites. Obama has a pretty good record, so far, of fulfilling campaign promises. And that is all during dealing with the massive challenges he has inherited. I would like to see him take a stronger stance. Consensus amongst political rivals is a nice dream but not very realistic. The health care "solution" is a mess because they tried to incorporate Republican demands to get it passed. Also fundamentalist Democrat's, concerned about state funded abortions. The only way it works is through universal health care. Personally I think it's nuts to view health care as a profit industry. No-one would suggest privatizing the military, for instance, who are also charged with maintaining our well being.
Oh how true that is Ian. Two Presidents that were hated during my lifetime were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Both were extremely effective and history will probably look fairly kindly at both. Both of those men create a good example of another point that was brought up earlier about people not knowing much about a candidate before they vote. Johnson had the reputation of being very concerned about civil rights and was considered to be a champion of civil rights. Ironically the most civil rights legislation that was ever passed was done under Richard Nixon not under Johnson. Yet most people would think that just the opposite was true.
Brewster, we're going to have to get you to stop reading Obama's press releases and check out the record. Obama promised to get the lobbyists out of Washington. What did he do, but make them his cabinet members. He was going to clean up Washington. I guess his idea of cleaning up Washington was taking all the tax cheats and lobbying wrongdoers and make them his cabinet members. To blame everything on Bush is unrealistic. Obama has two years behind him now and things are worse than when he went in. Unemployment is soaring, home sales are stagnant, and the economy is still in a bind. He brags about saving the US auto industry when the only company that is doing really well is Ford, the one company who refused his bailout. Our deficits are sky high and rising with no end in sight. He was so worried about socializing health care he didn't care a whit about the rest of the country. He wants to show how successful the war in Iraq became when the success was with the troop surge under Bush. I can only imagine what this guy would have done had 9/11 happened on his watch. As for not understanding how health care can be for profit is a comment that I don't understand at all. I have several doctors as clients who are Canadian but came here. Why? Because they couldn't make a decent living under the Canadian socialized system. Health care has to be profit motivated to actually provide the services. We've debated the health care issue heavily here and most Americans remain opposed to the mess that the "Messiah" has created. He failed on this as he has in almost everything he has done because he has no real world experience. His health care plans are a disaster and will eventually deprive all Americans of any quality care. All we can do is continue to pay for the failures of our worst president ever! Beware because it will even effect you in Canada as things get worse.
