Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A quick assessment of Obama thus far

A few thoughts about how things are going so far:

1.) No foreign terrorist attacks yet on U.S. soil. Apparently they're not aware that even our President objectively supports their cause.

2.) I like having someone in charge who can speak in front of real people, instead of a hand-picked audience or a press pool whose questions are pre-approved.

3.) Birthers! You guys rock, keep the craziness coming.

4.) I am not surprised that politics continues to be messy.

5.) No effective Republican opposition in sight. Aside from the newsiness of the "protests" bought and paid for by various PACS (I'll definitely be attending my congressman's Health Care roundtable to show my support), there is no coherent message (unless "no" is a message) worth caring about.

6.) While I'm still wary of the stimulus package (a good bout of real reform would have been nice, Wall Street got off way too easy), I think most of its provisions will have a positive (or, at worst a neutral) impact on the economy. Way better than Bush's refusal to even acknowledge that we had a problem.

7.) I am quite pleased with how Obama has handled things internationally. While most domestic opposition has focused on the Health Care debate and the next Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, quietly in the background the Administration's been making all the right noises (even going so far as to actually apply pressure to Israel, instead of caving to every whim of Zionist craziness).

8.) We haven't bombed anyone who we weren't already bombing. IMHO that's great news; we were headed towards a possibly disastrous confrontation with Iran and who knows whom else.

9.) He's been extremely busy. No weekends at the ranch (Bush took more days off than any other President in history).

10.) I'm still very happy that I voted for him. He is, in retrospect, far better than either a.) any of the Republican candidates, or b.) any of his challengers in the Primaries (and I was a fairly dedicated Edwards man then). I don't expect perfection out of politicians, I'm just glad that this one functions mostly correctly.

9 comments:

Josh said...

1-Why would any foreign terrorist attack us? We are currently tearing our own nation apart.

2-You're kidding, right? If he speaks of his own volition, he pops out more "Newtisms" than Newt himself. I don't care how much of a liberal sheep you are, you have to admit that the speech writers deserve all of the credit for his good public speeches, because he makes an ass out of himself if he doesn't read his screen. He is an egomaniac with a big king complex, and when he speaks his mind we get to see the true Barry-O!

3-I don't know what that means.

4-Me either.

5-You all call me the conspiracy buff! The "riotous mobs" are speaking for the majority. America is already sick of having crap stuffed down it's throat. You want to talk about "bought and paid for?" How about asking ourselves how a politician from the most crooked political city in the country got elected to the White House just because he was "cool?"

6-Wary? It was a load of bull. In just six months we are further in debt than years of war managed to put us in. You are dreaming! The stimulus has done nothing! The economy, as predicted, will steady itself in spite of the government!

7-Again, you're joking right? He has no foreign policy, except to stick his lips so far between the cheeks of the M.E. that he can't even see side to side - another reason that we haven't seen any recent terror attacks on US soil.

8-I say let's go really old school, conquistador style, and destroy everyone to take over their country! (please note that I'm not serious)

9-Six months of deliberations on puppy choice will keep a guy busy!

10-I'm still very happy that I voted against him, and none of this idiocracy is my fault!!!!!

Andrew said...

Josh, you are a rare breed if you've never heard of the "Birthers". In fact I think that's worth praise (not the faint kind) since a large chunk of Republicans believe either Obama wasn't born in the U.S. or have questions about his legitimacy as President (not disagreements about policy, but questions about whether he's legally our President). It's a strange mix of racism and just plain wackiness straight out of the Clinton years. And no surprise, we're seeing all the same sorts of shenanigans, but this time they go to 11. With the rails slicked by funny money from the Health Insurance industry, I expect we might even hit 12.

Josh said...

Wow, how stupid of me! Why wouldn't I know a random, condescending liberal term for folks that want to know that their leader is legit? Come on, man. Is that the only part of what I had to say that you can pick apart. Jake, please weigh in here. At least you'll have a good sense argument.

Just to set the record straight. Doubting this President's legitimacy is not racist. It is, in fact, just a desire to know the truth. If he has a real, legal birth certificate, he should produce it to more than factcheck.org, and disprove the entire conspiracy.

Jacob S. said...

Remember the Summer of Blah? The constant stupid stories that are as uninspiring for the nation as they are childish and mindless? That's the birthers. His original birth certificate has been provided (who cares who put it out in public?). The medical records from the hospital where he was born have been provided. Why is this still an issue? Why was there never a demand for the birth certificates of Pres. Bush, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, Carter, and all the rest?

Is it racism? Probably for some it is. Is it xenophobia? Probably for a lot it is. Is it a cheap political ploy to distract the nation from the fact that Obama is getting things done that most Americans want done, like action on health care, global warming, the economy, and Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan? Probably for everyone else it is.

What a stupid story taking up too much of our time at this critical point in our history.

Andrew said...

'What a stupid story taking up too much of our time at this critical point in our history.'

Amen, I don't have time or patience for people who don't accept such fundamental aspects of reality.

Josh, I won't engage you on your points because you, like myself, have an opinion and opinions can't be debunked. For instance, on point 2 I very strongly disagree, but I doubt there's anything in the world that I could show you to dissuade you from your opinion of Obama's speaking skills. The guy could be a natural Shakespeare but some people would still consider him an awful speaker (or duplicitous) just because he's a Democrat.

So I'll share some more of my opinion. Having a good script or not is only a small part of what makes someone a good speaker. We've all had the experience of listening to someone read a talk in sacrament meeting, and some people are better at it than others. One of the things that makes the "I Had A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King so great is it was delivered by Martin Luther King. Nobody else could have delivered that speech in the same way or with the same level of feeling.

peter said...

I had to look up birthers on wikipedia, too. Guess we aren't so few and far between.

Kristy

Josh said...

"What a stupid story taking up too much of our time at this critical point in our history."

You've never spoken truer words. His past is all behind us now. Not enough was brought up before he was elected, so why dwell on it now?

Andrew, the man is not a poor speaker. He is an idiot, and that has nothing to do with his being a Democrat - actually his political leaning is more than likely a symptom of his stupidity. However, he knows how to deliver a speech written by much more intelligent people, and he knows how to get the maximum effect out of it, plus look cool doing it. If he sticks to the speech he is supposed to deliver, he comes off as a top notch orator.

I guess there is nothing else to say. Call it my opinion, if you want. Fact is, he reads more speeches than any other president, including dumb ol' dubya!

Josh said...

Andrew, if you happen to look this far back, I have a great example of your President's oratory skills...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XTi-WdOu2s

I say again, the man is an IDIOT without his teleprompter. His speech writers, though, are brilliant!

Jacob S. said...

I saw that and cringed. Then the Daily Show ripped him for it. But idiot? The man has a totally impressive resume in every aspect. He is very, very smart. 99% of people speak better with a written speech than off the cuff, so I'm not sure that's a sign of idiocy. But he also has some very impressive question and answer sessions where he answers questions clearly and concisely. His problem a lot of the time, like that of most professors, is that he tends to talk too much instead of being concise. In any case, I'd rather have a president that that explains the details and shows a deep understanding of issues than one who can rip off a real sweet one-liner that plays to the 24 hour news channel crowd.