"The last time any President did this much in office, booze was illegal....

[HipChick]

President Obama Addresses Netroots Nation 2010..

yep...Barack Obama volunteered to be the captain of the Titanic AFTER it hit the iceberg...I wasn't expecting a magic wand...didn't want a pony..yet, he is not getting the credit for what he has already accomplished..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-Uuooz-Zo

[Andy823]

1. Amen!

He has accomplished a hell of a lot, but so many are mad at him because he hasn't crated "miracles" and done everything they want him to do! 18 month is a very short time, but he has done more than any other president in that short period. He can't do it alone, congress needs to help, and voters need to get out and vote, make calls and write letters to their congress people, and keep the heat on them. If republicans do get control of one or both houses, nothing else will get done, and that for me is not an option!

Those who want change need give them time. Bush took 8 years to screw it all up, Obama has only had a around 18 months to fix it.

[MikeNY]

2. Have you considered the Bush policies can't be fixed?

If historical precedent is any indication, Obama will maintain the powers that Bush established for himself. He may not choose to use all of them, but he may not try to repeal them either. It would limit the power while he is in office. So why do it? And if Obama can't or won't (it doesn't even matter what the intent is anymore) undo the damage, its only a matter of time until an even more sinister nutcase than Bush gets the job.

[walldude]

4. Actually people are mad at things he HAS DONE.. not things they wish he would do

The list is long and you can find many posts about the things Obama HAS ACTUALLY DONE that are bad. So stop pretending that the people who are angry are just impatient. That's a crock of shit. People are angry because Obama has made some terrible decisions. Period.

[KittyWampus]

10. Maybe if those same people who are mad about things he's done EVER acknowledged all the many things

he's done to move us forward in a positive direction, their opinion would be worthwhile.

People who always complain and find fault are dead weight.

[Fumesucker]

14. And people who always cheer on anything no matter the direction it's going..

Are like helium balloons, they drift with any wind and do not control their direction at all.

[WonderGrunion]

22. A baloon analogy from a poster called "Fumesucker"?

How sensible.

[Fumesucker]

25. And pragmatic, you forgot pragmatic..

And my handle is thanks to the fact I'm sucking financial fumes and have been for years now.

[walldude]

24. Oh so now no one ever gives him a break...

You guys have an answer for everything. I compliment Obama when he deserves it. Seems like I'm spending a lot more time bitching though, and I guess that makes me "dead weight". :rofl:

[judesedit]

31. Go to factcheck.org and find the truth. Of course if you are among those who make more than $200,000

annually, the only truth you are concerned with is that you'll have to pay your fair share of taxes. You already get all of the perks in this country. Time to pay for the convenience. Don't like feeding hungry children, giving homeless shelter, helping the elderly with medical care? Too bad. Just remember...what goes around comes around, Scrooge.

[HipChick]

9. Exactly...people seem to live in a dream world..its going to take longer than 2 terms

He can't do this alone..

[whyverne]

3. The right wing thugs still run the country.

They still own Wall Street, the Supreme Court, and most of the media. I'm happy if he gets anything done at all.

It's easy to say "Stand up to the bullies". But they're not bullies, they're thugs. They destroy people. They'll kill to protect their money if they can get away with it.

I'll take anything he can get and bless him for it.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

11. The sad fact is,

and many don't realize it, is that the right wings thugs have ALWAYS run the country, have always owned Wall Street, the SC and most of the media.
Mr. Bush's legacy is so terrible that no matter what Mr. Obama does, it will a) never be enough and b) not upset the status quo.

[Ozymanithrax]

5. A lot of people on the far left did not like FDR...Huey Long being one of them.

They thought his policies were watered down because he was beholden to big banks and the rich.

What is funny is that the far right considered him a traitor to his class of big bankers and rich folk.

So, I'm not surprise that the far left doesn't like what Obama has done. They may change their mind in 50 years. We will have to wait and see.

[bluestateguy]

20. And these people too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Party_%28United_States%29

[Scurrilous]

6. K & R

:thumbsup:

[MineralMan]

7. Sadly, a message that will go unheard by some.

[Fumesucker]

8. Yep, forcing us to buy overpriced and often useless private medical insurance..

Is a real accomplishment..

And as for prohibition, Obama is all in favor of continuing that.. Most people don't know this but alcohol was "decriminalized" during Prohibition, it was not illegal to possess or consume alcohol, just to import, manufacture or sell it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Kerlikowske

Richard Gil Kerlikowske (born November 23, 1949) is the current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position generally referred to as the United States "Drug Czar". He assumed office on May 7, 2009.

(...)

In a May 22, 2009 interview on KUOW radio, he said any drug 'legalization' would be "waving the white flag" and that "legalization is off the the charts when it comes to discussion, from my viewpoint" and that "legalization vocabulary doesn't exist for me and it was made clear that it doesn't exist in President Obama's vocabulary." Specifically about marijuana, he said, "It's a dangerous drug" and about the medical use of marijuana, he said, "we will wait for evidence on whether smoked marijuana has any medicinal benefits - those aren't in."

[Karenina]

12. Do you understand the word, TRAJECTORY?

[Fumesucker]

13. Sure, and I don't like the trajectory we are still on in many respects..

A gentle nudge isn't going to change the trajectory of something with the massive inertia of the USA, it's going to take a huge effort, an effort I don't see forthcoming at the moment or really for the foreseeable future.

Funny, you use a MoPaul cartoon to make your point, I suspect he would be more with me than with you, I really used to enjoy his cartoons and I miss him.

[Karenina]

15. Sounds like you're tellin' me...

"Who are they gonna believe, me or you?" Heard it before and know that as long as I engage on this board, I'll hear that white male challenge again and again and again. OF COURSE HE WOULD SUPPORT YOU!

But I'M the one who proffers his artistic take, may anyone seeing it take of it what they will.

[Fumesucker]

16. I wasn't talking about race or sex..

But rather about political perspective.

[Karenina]

17. Which is, of course, completely devoid of those influences...

the default template.

[Fumesucker]

18. Eh, I'm a purist who wants his pony..

Hardly a stereotypical white male who tend more to sensible pragmatic centrism if not outright right wing teabagging lunacy.

[phleshdef]

23. My private medical insurance is not useless.

I understand many arguments against private insurance and totally wish we could have a public plan. But pretending like health insurance is "useless" has got to be one of the stupidest, non-starter arguments out there. Its may be overpriced. There may be drawbacks that a public option could circumvent. But its by no means "useless". Pure idiocy.

[Fumesucker]

27. It's useless if you cannot afford the copay and the deductible..

There are a lot of people who are in that situation these days, have the insurance, can't afford to use it.

Note that I said "often useless" not "always useless".

[phleshdef]

28. And there are also a LOT of people that have had their lives saved by a good insurance plan.

And if the end result is government provides a comprehensive path of regulation to get everyone on a plan that does just that, I will take that over what the current situation and recent past situation has been. There are a lot of pieces of the healthcare bill, that when put together, seems like it could do just that.

I'm in no way defending the fact that we allow a private delivery system to dominate the financing side of how we pay for our health care. I think its an important enough need that the government should find a way to offer it as a public service paid by tax dollars. But the political climate isn't allowing for that. We should still fight for it. In the meantime, the latest bill did in fact place the federal government's foot squarely through the door of imposing significant amounts of more regulatory power on the health insurance industry and has set up a situation where assuring health insurance coverage is going to ultimately fall into the hands of the government anyway. When our government tells people they have to get something, int the long run, it ultimately sets government up with the responsiblity of ensuring everyone can get that very thing they are demanding they have. I think that fact alone is one that often goes unrealized when people consider the real future implications of Health Care Reform and how it will likely end up working in practice.

[Fumesucker]

29. So, what happens when the Republicans get back in power?

Private mandated insurance will stay, regulation and subsidies will be eliminated.

We will end up with the worst of both worlds.

I've been around long enough now to take the long view, the Republicans *always* get back in power and _always_ screw things up for the little guy.

[phleshdef]

30. What if Republicans get rid of social security, medicare and medicaid and start 3 more wars?

Thats exactly the path that such logic will lead you down. If Republicans get back in power, we have a lot more problems than worrying about how they might rape the health care reform plan. You don't pass new legislations based on how one party might get power back and screw things up.

And honestly, if Republicans DID do what you just said, it might be the best thing to ever happen to this country. The resulting outcry would be so huge that if they didn't undo the mandates as well, they would be thrown back out of power for generations to come. Republicans tend to be more subtle in their middle class screwing methods than THAT.

[Fumesucker]

33. What, did you not live through the last ten years?

Republicans are anything but subtle, it's just that their propaganda arm, the Mighty Wurlitzer, lets them get away with a lot of things that they otherwise wouldn't.

ETA: And if anyone gets blamed for the private mandated insurance it will be the Democrats, they are the ones that pushed the health insurance "reform" through the Congress and Obama signed it.

[phleshdef]

34. If they did what you suggested with healthcare, the negative impact to every American...

...would be so blatant that they wouldn't get very far with it. And thats why I'm not concerned about the hypothetical situation that you put out there.

[Fumesucker]

35. As I said, the Democrats will get the blame for mandated insurance..

And the Republicans will scream that they fought it tooth and nail, and for once they will be telling the truth.

ETA: There's plenty of people right here on DU that are disgusted by mandated insurance and blame the Democrats for it, the general population will hate it with a white hot passion when the Repubs cut the subsidies and the oversight, something they are utterly famous for doing.

Then the M$M will make sure that the Democrats get blamed for the entire mess.

[Orsino]

19. Yes. He's done a lot.

It's not enough--enough would be humanly impossible, and IMO he hasn't aimed high enough--but I hope I never stop giving him credit for having herded the flaming cats through the gasoline fields (perhaps) better than anyone else could have.

He is still failing, but mostly because every other president before him has added to the enormous failpile he's saddled with.

[Fumesucker]

26. Are you implying that Obama is the bestest president evah?

Those are some big shoes to fill..

[Orsino]

36. Yeah. It's early yet, but he might be.

Tragically, even the Bestest Evah may not be good enough to save the Republic.

[WonderGrunion]

21. It's called Triage

You assess the wounds and address them by severity and ability to repair them. Some wounds don't get addressed immediately. Some don't get addressed at all. You try to save as many patients as possible in the time available.

[judesedit]

32. Obama could walk on water and it wouldn't be enough for greedy, racist bigots

It's going to take more than 2 years to fix what 8 years of royal fuck-ups did to this country. Get the GOP dirt bags and "red dogs" OUT of Congress ASAP!

[lib2DaBone]

37. But how can you fix what is wrong when you continually pander to the right-wing?

30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.. Timmy Geithner and Ben Bernake... a useless Health Care Bill and a useless Financial Reform Bill?

How can things change when you are continually aiding and abetting the other side?

BTW.. don't worry about Booze.. Sharron Angle wants to bring back prohibition to Las Vegas.