Wow

[bane]

The way it seems to be lining up right now, in less than 3 years, Bane may have the chance to vote for the Rogue, a 2nd time!

I can promise you that won't happen. If the GOP is dumb enough to nominate her, they'll deserve the beatdown they'll get.

[bane]

So what? The Republicans aren't in power. The Dems control everything. "The Republicans oppose me" isn't a valid excuse. It will be after another year maybe, but right now, you've got to dig deeper for valid excuses.

I don't think Mr Obama needs to make any excuses in his 11th month in office.

His steady hand & demeanor has helped pull us back from the brink of Depression & financial collapse...a meltdown that occurred under the previous administration's watch.

I would counter that I believe the same would have happened regardless of who won the presidency.

To date, we have not suffered a horrendous attack on our homeland anything like what occurred under the Bush/ Cheney administration, 8 months after they took over..

True, but I can't see that Obama or his admin has done any more to prevent it than Bush did to cause it. I'm going with luck on that one.

He has redirected our war efforts, concentrating on Al Qaeda & the Taliban in Afghanistan & Pakistan, exactly as he insisted we should, years ago back when he was a lonely voice opposing the Bush administration's unilateral march to war with Iraq.

I applaud what he's done with Afghanistan. He's doing the right thing there. I don't believe he is doing the right thing with Iraq, any more than Bush was. Someone remind me, why are we still there?

He's reached out to other nations with a more cooperative attitude, as opposed to a superior "God's On Our Side" mentality.

He has, and I like that about him.

He's trying to make health care fairer & more inclusive for all Americans.

He's trying to pass a health care bill, any health care bill, regardless of whether it's the right one or not. I agree that something needs to be done , but just because you're opposed to a bad bill doesn't mean that you're opposed to fixing the problem.

We'll have plenty of time before the next election to see if his approach is more successful than the previous 8 years of Bush/Cheney steering the ship.

In case some of you already forgot...Mr Bush was in command when we landed on the rocks, a catastrophic event from which we're still trying to recover.

And Mr Bush & his supporters denied & ridiculed anyone who suggested we were headed for trouble, right up until days before the last election.

Anybody wanna toast the "Record Breaking Economy"?

Bush / Cheney was a disaster. You'll get no argument from me there. Of course, that should make it very easy for Obama to have a spectacularly successful term. The bar isn't set that high. He hasn't delivered much yet as far as I can tell. He's no Bill Clinton.

[pooldude]

He's no Bill Clinton.

Hopefully, Mr Obama is leaving @ least some of the honors to Tiger Woods.

[Ugmo]

His steady hand & demeanor has helped pull us back from the brink of Depression & financial collapse...a meltdown that occurred under the previous administration's watch.

I would counter that I believe the same would have happened regardless of who won the presidency.

If the haphazard and chaotic way in which McCain ran his campaign is any indication, the same sure would not have happened regardless of who won the presidency. Sarah Palin anyone? You want a guy who makes gut decisions like that in charge of averting total economic meltdown? Not me.

[pooldude]

Like I'm even going to bother addressing your moronic statements about terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
Let's not forget who was in office for the Big One, okay?

The truth is the United States had a terrorist attack on it's soil just recently at Ft. Hood while Obama was in office just as Bush had a second terrorist attack on his watch at the LAX airports El-Al counter. Both administrations tried to downplay them. It's worked.

I fail to see the comparison in gravity between the World Trade Center Towers & the Pentagon being successfully attacked by multiple hijacked aircraft, vs one crazed lone gunman running a muck before being taken down.

[bane]

His steady hand & demeanor has helped pull us back from the brink of Depression & financial collapse...a meltdown that occurred under the previous administration's watch.

I would counter that I believe the same would have happened regardless of who won the presidency.

If the haphazard and chaotic way in which McCain ran his campaign is any indication, the same sure would not have happened regardless of who won the presidency. Sarah Palin anyone? You want a guy who makes gut decisions like that in charge of averting total economic meltdown? Not me.

His campaign was just that, a campaign, albeit a bad one. He's got 3 decades worth of solid senate record that tells me he'd be more than up to the job.

[bane]

The way it seems to be lining up right now, in less than 3 years, Bane may have the chance to vote for the Rogue, a 2nd time!

I can promise you that won't happen. If the GOP is dumb enough to nominate her, they'll deserve the beatdown they'll get.

The GOP may have no choice if she receives enough delgates in the primaries considering her popularity within the base of the Republican party. I doubt she'll run, but will make it interesting if she does.

Again, if they nominate her, they deserve the beatdown they'll get. If they want to survive as a viable party they need to get off the Jesus crispy train and nominate solid fiscal conservatives. Palin would be a very, very bad idea.

[BigDrewHalenite]

Nice. A post full of talking points, criticizing talking points.

As if this latest conservative fuckhead knows half as much about anything as P-Dude.

Thanks for refuting all my statements.

Shut the fuck up, noob. Welcome to Metal Sludge.

[wylde342]

So what? The Republicans aren't in power. The Dems control everything. "The Republicans oppose me" isn't a valid excuse. It will be after another year maybe, but right now, you've got to dig deeper for valid excuses.

I don't think Mr Obama needs to make any excuses in his 11th month in office.

His steady hand & demeanor has helped pull us back from the brink of Depression & financial collapse...a meltdown that occurred under the previous administration's watch.

To date, we have not suffered a horrendous attack on our homeland anything like what occurred under the Bush/ Cheney administration, 8 months after they took over..

He has redirected our war efforts, concentrating on Al Qaeda & the Taliban in Afghanistan & Pakistan, exactly as he insisted we should, years ago back when he was a lonely voice opposing the Bush administration's unilateral march to war with Iraq.

He's reached out to other nations with a more cooperative attitude, as opposed to a superior "God's On Our Side" mentality.

He's trying to make health care fairer & more inclusive for all Americans.

We'll have plenty of time before the next election to see if his approach is more successful than the previous 8 years of Bush/Cheney steering the ship.

In case some of you already forgot...Mr Bush was in command when we landed on the rocks, a catastrophic event from which we're still trying to recover.

And Mr Bush & his supporters denied & ridiculed anyone who suggested we were headed for trouble, right up until days before the last election.

Anybody wanna toast the "Record Breaking Economy"?

I was against Obama from the get go and voted McCain/****. I fundamentally disagree with his stances on everything. And no Levi, it's not because I believe in God and think "Fags should die" or anything like that. I just don't agree with the far left on anything. I also don't agree with a lot of the rights and have become interested in upholding the Constitution.

I think there were a lot of people who voted Obama based on everything he was championing, but an even bigger selection voted against McCain b/c of Palin and the right. Of the people I know who are in the middle or at least say they are, only one of them has said "I would vote for him again." Most people, unlike what you write Pooldude, do not want the Government option, didn't want TARP, didn't want the bailouts, and don't want his agenda. This is why his approval is now sub 50% and it's not going to go back up no matter what.

The BEST thing about Obama's presidency is he got a lot of people interested in politics. With less "Tell me what to do and I'll do it" people walking around, as a nation we're better off. Informed people no matter what their side simply make more through decisions.

Obviously my non statistical surveys are based on midwestern middle class people so they are no surprise. I'm sure if I asked the same questions in Mass or California, I'd get the exact opposite responses.

Regardless of ANY of it - I want him to succeed in getting our nation back on track. Whether its the way I'd like it done or not, getting the bad numbers down and good numbers up are what I'm looking for.

[CliffByford]

Though Obama's track record on domestic affairs is, from a centre-left point of view, disappointing to say the least I think my American brethren on Sludge should be proud of your president as an international figurehead.

Whilst Bush 'n' Blair were very much buddies, the rest of Europe barely hid their collective disdain for the man. Seeing how nakedly dismissive many French politicians were of him was a shock in terms of diplomatic language, but there you have it. Now, when Obama comes to Europe, our leaders are literally queueing up for an audience. He inspires confidence in others, and gives the impression of being a thoughtful consensus builder, something that I agree with.

I am afraid that Obama will ultimately fall short of his heady promises made during his campaign. Your Constitution, once a torch of radicalism, is now both a source of pride and a millstone around the neck of any reformer. Coupled with an intransigent Washington political machine and a naivety towards lobbyists, Obama is never going to win.

That said, is he a better president to the alternative, McCain? Impossible to say, but my opinion is yes - as an international statesman, Obama has restored dignity and gravitas to the role of the president. McCain's weakness was evident the moment he was positioned into accepting that rank idiot Palin as his running mate. If Palin ever makes Republican candidate, she will be slaughtered.

Hope you enjoyed this overseas perspective of Obama's presidency thus far.

[bane]

The early returns say that Obama IS Carter. I seem to recall saying that about 16 months ago. Funny how that works.

The early returns say he is like Reagan. He cut taxes, increased spending, ran up a huge deficit but faced declining approval ratings due to a bad economy. The only thing he has in common with Carter is a declining approval rating and being a democrat.

He's increased spending, and run up the deficit for sure, but where exactly has Obama "cut taxes"? I guess you could call tax breaks on things like golf carts a tax cut, but that's a bit of a stretch don't you think?

[bane]

No it isn't. They're incentive based tax breaks, not tax cuts. You're misrepresenting what it is. A tax cut is a tax cut. Telling someone they can save money on their taxes if they buy this, or do that, is not a tax cut.

[Thebottomline]

The early returns say that Obama IS Carter. I seem to recall saying that about 16 months ago. Funny how that works.

From five years ago.

I'm hearing more and more people saying that Obama is another Carter. Weird back then I wasn't so much of an Obama supporter but now I am. It seems like anything good that Obama tried to do the republicans blocked. I've seen Obama reach out more to the repubs than the repubs reaching out to Obama. The repubs then turn around and say that Obama won't work with them. Why can't the average American see this? The results of tonights election sucks. I think it will bite America in the ass, just my opinion.

Btw, McCain is still alive.