Hate to disappoint Maher and fans, but it only gets better

Appointed a Special Envoy for Middle East peace

Order the closing of Guantanamo Bay

Prohibit use of torture

Obama Orders Secret Prisons and Detention Camps Closed

Obama Sets Bold New Principles for U.S. Energy, Climate Policies

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

Omnibus Public Lands Management Act

Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Act of 2009

Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 or FERA (PDF)

Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009

Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 (Kerry-Lugar includes funding for Obama's global poverty initiative)

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009

End of 22-Year Discriminatory Travel Ban

Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act

Stopping Conflict-related Sexual Violence Against Women and Children

The UN, Women & Girls

New policy steps towards Cuba

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia

Strategy to address the international nuclear threat

For the Media: "30+ Reasons Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize"

Russia on Nobel Peace Prize: Obama thawing 'second cold war'

World Reaction to Obama Winning the Nobel

Turkey, Armenia sign historic accord

Why the Stimulus Worked

Green jobs for real people: The story behind the recovery numbers

Obama's Plan: Financial Regulatory Reform: A New Foundation (PDF)

• Requiring Strong Supervision And Appropriate Regulation Of All Financial Firms (pdf)
  
  
• Strengthening Regulation Of Core Markets And Market Infrastructure (pdf)
  
  
• Strengthening Consumer Protection (pdf)
  
  
• Providing The Government With Tools To Effectively Manage Failing Institutions (pdf)
  
  
• Improving International Regulatory Standards And Cooperation (pdf)

House Panel Moves Derivatives Toward Obama’s Proposal

FACTBOX: Major U.S. financial regulation reform proposals

Obama says Senate bill on tax havens would stop abuses

Statement by President Barack Obama on House and Senate Introducing Legislation to Crack Down on Overseas Tax Havens

Obama to chair historic U.N. council nuclear meeting

G20 to Become Forum for Global Economic Cooperation

Next comes Obama's budget, health care reform and more.

see this list.

:)

Death Tax
Death Panel
Pull the Plug on Grannie
tea party
tea-baggers
compassionate conservatives
fiscal conservatives
where's the birth certificate
secret muslim
Kenyan
clean coal
etc etc

More than half the list is just reversing policy back to "normal" for a Democratic presidency. We need better than average at this point in our history. So it is appropriate to keep pushing and expect more.

with a few key changes.

Clinton's policies were not sustainable. We cannot continue to put a "band aid" on the deeper issues.

Again, compared to Bush Clinton's policies look angelic, but we were still in the mindset that globalization and "free market" idology would solve most every social ill, which I think we know not to be the case now.

I thin Gore understood this. But I am not sure Clinton did....

He exercised his regulatory powers heavily. But he did not call capitalism the root of all evil, either.

that isn't the CHANGE you promised, and we aren't
going to be satisfied with SMALL CHANGE, Mr President


Restore rule of law by prosecuting war criminals.

Restore fiscal responsibility and regulation in the financial sector.

Restore equity to the tax system, so tax the rich, they got all the money. duh.

Pass a robust PUBLIC option health care plan. screw the rethugs, pass medicare for all.


Thats a start Mr. President, come back for more when you got that done.

as we've seen here often, or was too lazy to even comprehend the post.

:)

Go Prosense! Go Prosense!

Did you realize that many of the things you dumped in here have already happened?

celebrate: It only gets better.

:rofl:

I'm surprised you didn't include volume and weight on every crap he's taken since being inaugurated.

You want to celebrate Obama, fine. I've done it myself on occasion. But please don't take part in this financial con job. You're just helping the robber barons to finally and completely finish fleecing the middle class.

That's one informed opinion you got there. :eyes:

w00t.

Teachers, cops, firefighters, etc...

People we probably don't need and who don't have children to feed either.

some haters never learn.

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O-Fundies!! :rofl: :thumbsup: :hi:

know how you can bear being on such a high pedestal patting yourselves on the backs and come up with such stupid name-calling all at the same time.

It was an accurate description of some of the supporters.

:rofl:

It's so much easier to pretend every critic is a hater. That way, you get to keep your presidential binky.

that you had to start a thread to rebuke Bill Fucking Maher. Are you serious? Maher is an idiot. You just gave him free advertising. gOD forbid anybody has an opinion or disagrees with your O Holy One. Sad. Maher gets paid to say shit, sometimes pro, sometime con, towards political figures. Lighten up.

Having an opinion? :shrug:

Isn't that what people are called out on all the time: broadcasting their shitty opinion? You think Maher is an idiot, but you have issues with him being called out. Do yourself a favor and back out of the thread if you can't stomach criticism of Maher.

Seriously, what the hell are you arguing?

this president when someone criticizes him. The fact that so many here think disagreement=hater. The fact that an opinion no longer seems allowed on DU unless we're all in agreement.

That was my initial argument.

Seriously, that's your problem.

That and the other things I mentioned.
And, obviously, you cannot stomach criticism of the president or we wouldn't have this great thread of yours.

and you claim I have no stomach for criticism? Maybe I have no stomach for BS. You, on the other hand, appear to be twisting in agony that someone criticized Maher.

and having nothing but criticism. While claiming to be Democrats.

OFundies, etc., leave that to the freepers. It is weird to be communicating with people supposedly of the same party and have them be just as mean as freepers are.

trash him, you're some kind of noble sage.

For those paying attention.

....he's a comedian, right? As in, he says things to induce giggles and thought, not to draft policy and dictate direction?

statements after 9-11? Didn't he realize he was just a comedian and didn't have to apologize or back down?

I've seen rational people do that before. After getting new or additional information, they reevaluated the situation. Holding firm and standing your ground is a trait of the daft, not of the resolute.

What's your answer? Comedy or rational opinion?

Have you never heard opinion stated with comedic intent? Since days ancient, the court jesters were the most scathing critics of the ruler. They could afford to go FAR further than any other citizen was allowed in criticism, and the brilliant ones managed to push the envelope and toe the line without being bland or sentenced to death.

If you can't handle Maher's type of comedy, go watch Carrottop take a sledgehammer to fruit.

and not just a comedian. I agree. He can't write off his cowardice as simply "comedy."

He gave his opinions on matters after 9-11 and gutlessly backed down, then started licking right-wing ass to save his paycheck.

See, I was right after all!

hey, i for one am glad you're gonna be miserable for the next 7 years. you reap what you sow.
:hi:

It'll keep you occupied while we work for *real* change.

but hey, pat yourself on your back for the freeperish name you came up with.
:hi:

Of course, given how ... um ... excited you are about Obama, I really don't want to know what you're filling them with.

If it was something other than raw hero-worship, you'd be able to have an intelligent conversation about reality. But you all just run around screaming "haters!!!" and trying to shut down any real conversation.

Then when someone complains about that, you start yelling "haters!!!" even louder. It's pretty transparent, actually.

"Talibama" is your idea of "conversation", or "obama sucks and if you don't agree you're a cheerleader"

but hey, i'm *glad* he makes you miserable. really, really glad actually.

must be frustrating to be in that tiny, tiny minority of DUers that can't stand the president.

Idiots who post shit like "I'm thinking you would have preferred McCain" have more than earned the name. The pattern is always the same on these threads:

1. Someone posts yet another Obama fan letter
2. Someone disagrees with it
3. Someone replies with "pony", "hater", "McCain", "PUMA" or whatever other tired-ass talking point they've memorized
4. Someone calls that poster and O-bot or the like.
5. All the cheerleaders start screaming like someone took their binky.

Yes, it's mindless hero-worship. Combined with a good dose of drama-queen martyrdom.

Look at the OP. The subject line starts with an attack against "Maher and fans". That's the M.O. of the Obama crowd: continually attack and then whine when someone pushes back.

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If you'd like, I could have some actual thought come up and bite you in the ass. Do you think that would work?

but I won't hold my breath

to you, maybe. But lately everything's funny ro someone.

Restarting the securitized loan market? Leaving too-big-to-fail banks too big? Requiring a that a lender retain only 5% of a loan they initiate?

You're right. Laughing isn't the right reaction to this.

...all I see is "ignored". I had to eventually give up on that person.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the cheerleaders on this site couldn't answer a single, basic question on Obama's financial proposal. They just see that Obama's proposed something, so it MUST be good.

No thanks. I like my brains functional.

Is it possible they're all malfunctioning?

It's much better use of time than engagin in a bitter-induced tantrum.

You either a) haven't read it, b) didn't understand it, or c) are somehow invested in helping Obama con the general public.

Which is it?

And you still don't understand them?

Oh, the fact that you find them offensive is irrelevant.

And what are the implications for this if it passes?

:rofl:

I think we have our answer. Hence my "mindless cut-and-paste" comment.

laughing at you.


:rofl:

It's much more fun to just fawn over politicians, isn't it? None of that nasty "thinking" involved...

It's much more fun to watch heads exploding, especially those with multiple brains.

:rofl:

I only put the worst of the rabid-no-sense-of-reality-Obama-haters on my ignore list. That means, unfortunately, that this person has no intention of listening to you. Thats a shame because you have a lot of good stuff to say.

It only took one post for him to ignore me, so I'd say his tolerance for dissent is pretty low. It also makes his self-proclaimed deep knowledge of my Obama hatred disingenuous at best.

:rofl:

But I bet I make him peek every time. :D

doing any legwork, you're just interested in bashing. :boring:

:popcorn:

could it be that the vast majority of posters here actually like and support our President?

that must make the naysayers feel like whining even more.
what a destructive cycle they are trapped in.
once you have invested so much of yourself into detracting from something, it is damn near impossible to regain objectivity.

good luck coping with the string of Obama successes to come, Haters.

board, Dr..we appreciate all the positive President Obama support.

Ok sure, being simply offensive or rude like someone was earlier in this thread isn't helping anyone.

Still, being critical like Maher serves a purpose. Maher's point all this time has been "not good enough" and "I demand more". That's incentive for further changes and improvement, and it is healthy dissent.

The only thing you should hate more than irrational critics of your government are the people who say things are good. Because the moment the government thinks you're satisfied, it starts to serve itself rather than you. This issue is bigger than Obama, bigger than his cabinet, bigger than the Dems or Republicans. It's the political reality of fighting for the next election.

Those in power always lower the bar and talk of compromise, blowing microscopic changes into huge stories (like single payer has evaporated into a lame disfigured excuse for a solution). That's why the public should be productively critical, raising the bar whenever possible.


There, I said it. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, please don't gag those voices.

"...the moment the government thinks you're satisfied, it starts to serve itself rather than you."

That could also be applied to political parties!

I say it all the time.... loud doesn't necessarily mean numerous. ;)

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You do know people can actually read posts here without joining, right? With all the hate going on here since the primaries, it's no wonder someone would actually wait to make sure they're at a Democratic forum before joining. You're making a bad assumption.

I have no issues with a list of accomplishments but some of that list is a bit fudged. No one is arguing that the president hasn't said he'd close Guantanamo but as long as Congress has to fund said closing it's not going ot happen. So you may as well leave that off the list.

As to torture, it has always been illegal, that President Obama has said we won't do it anymore is merely following the law. While it's lovely, it really shouldn't be considered one in a list of accomplishments.

I shan't go into the issues with the financial sector. Keeping too big to fail banks too big and worse helping them to become even bigger is not a good idea.

The idea that because someone is critical of Obama means they're some kind of hater is a simplistic and asinine one and clearly not evidence of someone who is interested in intelligent debate.

It's easy to criticize those who are of the opposite party. But if you don't have the stones to criticize someone in the same party you might as well be a cheer-leading freeper with unfortunately, the same amount of intellectual integrity. Personally, I don't find that remotely interesting.

I'm going to give it a little more time, though.

you're doing, you'll keep getting what you've got certainly applies. Trying to return the financial industry and the economy to where it was previously without major reformation guarantees epic failure in the very near future.

But I'll wait until at least next Spring before I get really feisty about it.

list that shows President Obama has been rather busy working with others to make our country a better place to live.

criticism BUSH-haters? You and the frantic RW folks during 2002 seemingly have that "adoration factor" in common. :shrug:

The problem is not limited to one side. Its the way people talk, think, and frame in this country.
Crazy.

What hate really is.

Again, lots of naysayers posting, but the recs show how many support your post and our president.

eom

Don't you know that reality and purity can't walk together?

And I'm guessing the un-rec rationale is "But he hasn't done the BIG stuff yet!" Ridic.

,

You hardly hear this in the news.

accomplished. I stand by Obama no matter my thinking on this subject, it's just that we are all a little impatient. We waited through 8 of the longest years, the darkest years...it wasn't just Obama who inherited George Bush's purposely orchestrated calamity, it has been all of us. We are weary and we are chomping at the bit.

We want less moderation and more progressive action, yes we are happy about all you have listed, and yes it's going to take time....our expectations are huge, time is not on our side, we were thrown into the abyss, we want our hero and he's got to be an action figure NOW.

That may be just a little much to ask for, but that's what we want, what we need. Having said that, I don't listen to others bad mouth without speaking up, but here, here is where we can be progressive enough to criticize and scrutinize and make demands on our own. Un-huh, that's right, that's why I love being a kick ass liberal/progressive. There's no other way to go. It's the right thing to do. So, here's to kicking ass and taking names later.

A little kick & R :kick:

battle royale going on with the pro's and con's above. I mainly voted on the issues of getting out of Iraq, closing Gitmo, climate change laws, and above all, a good solid, comprehensive health reform bill with a public option (prefably single payer). I naively believed that having a Democratic President and majority Democratic Congress would align all the planets and give us a Progressive Eden. Instead, we wind up with Holy Joe, Reid, and the Blue Dogs. So, yeah. Optimism crashes and burns again.

Reid is slowly seeing the light, and Holy Joe and the deoxygenated dogs are gon be in deep trouble come re-election time. They will only be able to obstruct for so long.

Welcome to DU, Rozlee, and keep shining your light and optimism, and your voice. I smile when any new, young member comes along, you are so much more than you know...welcome....you've made all the right choices so far, don't stop now. Keep your optimism, there's nothing to fear when you speak from your heart.

For others of us, it was the last 30, since Reagan was elected. If you weren't solidly middle class during the Clinton years, you noticed a lot of what everyone else woke up to during the Bush years.

How has it been "better" for him?

:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6915491

blackened our reputation overseas. But, I'd better not say too much or Spoony will call me Lamb Chop.

can't someone on his team pull this together and ship it to cnn, msnbc, nytimes,et al??

bravo to you and to him

we have some very good reporters around here!

thought that there is an amazing amount of knowledge and synergy. If it could be harnessed
somehow - we could be a force. But, because people frequent at various times and most all
group projects have fizzled - it hasn't happened. I wish it could. I wish every single
person who frequented here would be dedicated enough to follow a lead. Like if everyone here
made 1 phone call to 1 senator's office in a single day...

The Fall of The Republic: The Presidency of Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU

This is why either Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul will run in '12. Obama's economic actions will end up bankrupting the United States unless he realizes that continuation of Bush's Iraq and Afganistan policies will prevent the funding of the healthcare and economic stimulus packages he's rolled out already. The Wall Streeters and the elitists have received all they've wanted.

Can We End the American Empire Before It Ends Us?
http://www.alternet.org/story/51975/

Apparently Obama's listening to Zbigniew Brzezinski too much to consider listening to Chalmers Johnson.

Obama nibbles and here is a list of them above. The broken promises and things undone - meh

Super Intelligent and Well Spoken can not negate the Pensive Corporatist within our President. To say that I'm disappointed is an understatement.

He was elected with ten times what Bush called a "mandate" and delivered shit on a stick. Look at how wonderfully "reaching across the isle" has worked! I sure am glad Barack and teh "Dems" always consider the feelings of the "other side of the isle" just like they did during the Cheny administration. And how 'bout those cabinet appointments? Kinda like the Cheney administration and EPA appointments etc.

Lowered expectations and dreamy fan boys and girls will help push Liberals out of the way so we can get some of that chump "change".

Suck it! You're happy, I'm not. I want and expect better. I hope you can "reach across the isle" between piss warm "Democrats" and fully functioning Liberals and Progressives. If not?

ARE YOU NOT A FAN BOY OR GIRL? JOIN US:
http://TheFrankFactor.com
http://radio.thefrankfactor.com

It's easy to snipe when you have no intention whatsoever of actually doing anything.

Obama's first job out of college was with Business International Corp, you know, the CIA front company. Unless and until he has his John Perkins moment either Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul will out-poll him in 2012. Want to put some money on it...?

BTW, read the links and watch the movie. There's TRUTH in them that you need to be made aware of. Obama needs to become an FDR, not a Herbert Hoover. Unless he does you're going to see "Obamavilles" in DC during the '12 election, and you know what, his economic policies along with the Geithner/Summers/Bernanke stooges can't be blamed on Bush. THAT'S what hurts the most.

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K&R

You deserve it. :kick: :patriot:

Pay attention to the court cases his Justice Department has been continuing from the Bush administration, what arguments his administration has made about them, and where these actions actually put him on the issue of unlimited executive power and a rather weak Bill of Rights. I have a hard time seeing the glass as even half-full. Hell, if he doesn't take a hard stand against those, we might as well not even have a glass.

up and his focus is laser sharp.

I don't watch TV, but I've seen him on youtube, and he's usually quite insightful.
I'm sure his criticism of Obama is at least partly deserved. Big deal. Nice thing about Obama, is that it wont bother him. :)
Rec'd anyway. :)

When you're at the worst, at the bottom looking up, it can only get better. Nowhere to go but UP.

For the first time in as long as I can remember, you are correct. It can ONLY get better, because it can't get any worse.

Yeah congress and the prez have been kicking ass and taking names!
add these to the victory list:
suck on these you haters! yeah!! yeeha!!

1) The derivatives market is still open. The bubble was reinflated. A unique chance to reform the system and put back the protections the republicans ripped out has been passed over. Nothing was changed.
2) The bush war crimes will not be pursued. Off the table, for some strange reason. Murder of prisoners, viscious imprisonment of innocents, rape of women, rape of children, all the blackest things you can think of-- wont even be looked into.
3) Theres no effort to reform the congress under the new dem majority. its still run by lobbyists for lobbyists. If only we had the majority.. oh...right.
4) The bailout passed with lack of protections very purposely enshrined in it. We cant ask, and no one has to say where the money went. no accountability was a keystone of the whole project. nicely done.
5) We are expanding our "war" in afghanistan.
6) We are expending funding of the military.
7) We are still in iraq, there has been no speedup or even change of the iraq plan since he came into office.
8) We still have prisoners in gitmo.
9) Dont ask dont tell will be "pushed for". awesome. nice work. Isnt he the f'in commander in chief? who is he going to press for change? himself? Is he going to do sock puppets with his hand for this asking? Is he saving it for when his polls go down and he needs an infusion of goodwill?
10) Right to assemble is still curtailed. want a protest? you will get forced into a protest zone. same as during the bush years. Sure you can protest, in a closed area where no one can see or hear you.
11) Habeus corpus not restored.
12) Fisa violations expanded. secrecy is still king. No one even cares anymore.
13) Health care companies met and bargained with Obama. He didnt tell them what to do, he met with them and they bartered for our money and our wellbeing, as if they had that right. We weren't invited. Still aren't, even though what we want is crystal clear. The polls are concusive.
14) Weak health care is being enacted.
15) Obama has pledged not to do health care that raises the deficit one cent, but massive bailout, incentive programs, and expansions of wars can run up the deficit as much as they like. Awesome!
I guess ill call that paying attention to the deficit, so +1
16) Israelis still beating the crap out of Palestinians. Obama objects, strongly, but thats as far as it goes. We still defend their crimes in the UN, and shield them from any responsibility.
17) the Republicans could have been crushed utterly, for at least a generation. They have been permitted to survive. Now they have their footing as the complainer party, which is their best stance. Its about the only thing they are good at. The only thing. And they are being permitted to do it. We had them beaten and flat on the ground, so we helped them up and handed them a knife.
18) no climate bills yet. no cap and trade. no expanded mandate on alternate energy sources.
19) support for the rigged election in Pakistan. awesome. This is definently the democracy everyone's been dying to bring to the area. mission accomplished.
20) the dollar is quickly becoming unprotected by any trust in our financial/legal structures. We are becoming an international financial joke, and the world is shifting their reserve currencies away from the dollar because of it. when a few countries finish that process, it WILL decimate our currency. This WILL affect the real value of any money you have managed to save.
21) Leadership of powerful committees in congress: Lieberman. Baucus, Landrieu, Barney Frank. whats not to like?
22) torturers in the military and how the policy came about and was disseminated will not be reviewed. the idiots from gitmo who got jailed as "bad apples" will just stay there. It doesnt matter that it was widespread, ordered from above, and systematic. Lets not dwell too much on the past shall we? F all those people we treated badly. They will get over it. And we can still wave our flag and claim our high virtues.
23) the myth of the success of the "surge" goes unchallenged. the real progress came when we pulled back to our bases, not when we surged. No one cares though. We just gave that to the repubs. Why not I guess.



Yeah I dunno how congress and the president do it. Some of the biggest challenges of our age and they have this list of achievements, in just under a year. And the stuff they haven't solved they have sure made clear progress on.
Its inspiring. they've shown an entire generation of young people what politics is about.

Don't forget that one! There are lots of things he has not done yet, and their existence cancels out anything and everything he has done.

Where is our flying donkey!?!?

but the things I listed werent in that league.
theres little defense for some of the things that have gone on.

asking Congress and Obama to do these things and being disappointed when they arent done isnt an unreasonable or childish thing.

Equating these items in the list with flying donkies is. If you've got nothing to add, maybe you can find somewhere else to troll.

It's that there will ALWAYS be something undone. ALWAYS.

good job!

in one go.

Be proud.

an Obama supporter.

It is amazing to me how some supposedly "smart" people tend to create icons to adore. Obama showed his true colors with the telecom immunity deal. Now he gives OUR money to wallstreet, bankers and the insurance companies while americans die and pumping $$$ into illegal wars in the ME. Also, he refuses to put any pressure on the prosecution of the past admin's crimes against humanity and employs the same lackeys/corporate criminals for HIS admin. Furthermore, he pushes on the patriot act, renditions and secret prisons in places where torture may be performed, throwing away OUR $$$ at mercenaries everywhere and god knows what else. You do know it is OUR collective blood, sweat, tears and money they are stealing, right? Truly amazing.

...Maher, is this you?

Whats the matter, more bad news coming so you need to try and convince everyone that more 3D chess is necessary.

How about the prosecution of the torturers, the lawmakers that removed Haebius Corpus, and the continutiation of Propaganda and checklists instead of real action on human right, ending of wars, and universal healthcare.

It's like you guys would like to think that this ridiculous checklist has any weight in comparison with those items.

Prosense, you make me want to puke my guts out.

Peer pressure.



:-)

people who would like to try to convince us nothing has been done-in 9 months. Take that!

about our favorite politicians.

Oh, and if you say anything critical of Barack, that means you'll be unhappy unless his presidency is a total disaster.

This is what "serious people" are actually supposed to believe these days.

...who would go through the trouble of finding all these links just to criticize a comedian? So, I figured it must be someone else. Guess not.

the last 8 years of a steady black hole.

Thanks for posting a great list worthy of mention in just 11 months!

K&R

middle class folks. They also do not expose or prosecute the crimes of the past, nor do they put in place elements to make sure those crimes are not repeated by future individuals, parties, or corporations.


Nice list, wide but oh so shallow.

It's the US of A. You can't blow the whole thing up and start over! Obama's administration has to keep the ship from sinking before they can rebuild it. Rolling back a TON of Bush policies is a good place to start; unless you really think the Bush policies were better than the Clinton policies. He's got to get us back to a functional baseline before he can change things.

"But Obama promised he would CHAAANNNNGGGE things!"

He will. But you can't build a house without making sure the foundation is solid. In this case he isn't building the house, but he IS looking at a gut-rehab. Still has to solidify the foundation first, otherwise the next GOP blowhard is going to huff and puff and blow it all down again.

People have the wrong idea about how this stuff works; maybe because of the magical properties of the Clenis, people think Obama can just wave HIS dick at a problem and fix it. Sorry, doesn't work like that.

or to shine a little light, but no, they are still fighting the transparency they swore they'd bring.

How hard would it have been to put both transparency and requirements into the second round of TARP? Not just capping compensation but also assuring that small businesses got the credit they needed?

Though perhaps the tactical correct choice (we won't know for a while) is to let Congress due their things, and not speak out about the health insurance bill, but perhaps not. Perhaps letting Rahm Emanuel and a host of big bankers involved in his administration is a good thing, perhaps not.

I'm sorry, he's not there yet, and to date he is a disappointment. Not planning on giving up on him. But no rose colored glasses either.

hooray!

I am giving a rec because the (non juvenile) back and forth opinion above is a fascinating read.
BTW-Why is Bill Mahrer and what he says dismissed just because he is a comedian?!? So is Jon Stewart and he speaks the truth just like BM.
I am BITTERLY dissapointed in the President too (for many of the reasons listed above)but I am still fairly convinced he will do the right things in the next 7 years.

:hi:

regarding facts about the President.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/is-this-as-good-as-it-get_b_343144.html

"Yeah, I'm disappointed, too. I thought we were sweeping into power; I thought change meant Change. I believed all that talk about another First 100 Days, a la Roosevelt. Well, that didn't happen. The question is, is this as good as it gets from Obama, or is he pacing himself? He may have a four and eight-year plan and they included a first year of just gettin' to know you and not gonna rock the boat too much. Well, Mission Accomplished on that.

It's still too early to lose hope in a guy as smart and talented as Barack Obama. But I would counsel him to remember: If you're going undercover to infiltrate how Washington works, so you become one of them for a while, to gain their confidence, well, it can be just like all those movies where a cop goes deep, deep, DEEP undercover with drug people and -- fuck, he's a drug addict, too!

Logic tells me that really smart guys like Obama and Rahm Emanuel know better what they're doing than I do. They certainly know things I don't know. I think we have the same general goals and beliefs. And this is what they do for a living -- I wouldn't even try it. But I will never stop having this doubt: that maybe if they had really charged in there riding the forceful energy of the historic election, and acted like it was an emergency moment -- which it was -- they could have gotten some big victories right up front, and there really could have been an historic "first hundred days" for this administration and the country. Instead of what happened, which is the Obamas got a dog. It could have worked -- the country had given its endorsement to "...and now for something completely different." There might have been a way to knock the Republicans back on their heels right away, with the argument that "The American people demanded we make these changes, and you are unpatriotic to stand in their way."

Is This as Good as It Gets From Obama?

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/is-this-as-good-as-it-get_b_343144.html&cp

It really is an 'emergency moment'...but you wouldn't know that from what Obama's been doing (mostly just for the bankers). His healthcare reform consists of placating one Republican from Maine (Olympia Snowe). Derivatives reform consists of WHAT ? Nothing, Summers/Geithner/Bernanke ran Brooksley Born out of town along with any real reform movement.

Don't break your arms patting yourself on the backs for the phoney "changes" that are being touted here, you still won't have healthcare coverage for it even if Obama passes what's being put out there today in the House and Senate.

stupid whining ass for 8 years.

you are awesome.

Keep forging ahead, dems. This is our agenda.

An Excerpt from:

Very Bad News: Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base Will Be Obama's Guantanamo

By Stephen Foley, Independent UK. Posted February 22, 2009.

===============
One of the detainees who passed through the Afghan prison was Binyam Mohamed, the British resident who is expected to return to the UK this week after his release from Guantanamo Bay. Mr. Mohamed's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, head of a legal charity called Reprieve, called President Obama's strategy "the Bagram bait and switch," where the administration was trumpeting the closure of a camp housing 242 prisoners, while scaling up the Bagram base to house 1,100 more.
===============

The full article here: http://www.alternet.org/world/128273/very_bad_news:_afghanistan%27s_bagram_air_base_will_be_obama%27s_guantanamo

Dammit, but this man is a fraud.

:puke:

:scared:

Coulter is on the list, as is Arianna Huffington.
http://www.whosdatedwho.com/celebrities/people/dating/bill-maher.htm

Bill Maher Takes On Obama: "This Isn't What I Voted For" (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/14/bill-maher-takes-on-obama_n_215338.html

If the economy continues to tank Obama will have the country limping into the '12 election and the GOP will be crying 'Obamavilles' in D.C.

You can just see a 1932-style Bonus Army March on Washington...and Obama will probably roust the marchers like Hoover did.

:yourock:

Why We Need Even More Stimulus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/how-and-why-obama-imusti_b_347095.html

Top Bailout Recipients Spent $71 Million On Lobbying In Year Since Bailout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/top-bailout-recipients-sp_n_346877.html

Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-one-year-later-the_b_343209.html

"...as Plouffe puts it, from Obama's conviction that "the country needed deep, fundamental change; Washington wasn't thinking long-term... the special interests and lobbyists had too much power, and the American people needed to once again trust and engage in their democracy."


Yes, and Obama's administration doesn't seem to be providing that deep, fundumental change. And it's painfully obvious today. The economic mistakes Robert Reich mentions and the timidity that Arianna Huffington talks about will come back to haunt Dems in '12 unless Obama has his 'John Perkins moment'. Obama's first job out of college was at Business International Corp, a CIA front company.

"The first 100 days (now as I write the first 200 days and counting) of the Obama administration are a failure. At least that’s so when they are measured against the only other first 100 days anyone really cares about, namely Franklin Roosevelt’s."

Steve Fraser on the Crisis of Capitalism
Posted on Nov 6, 2009
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20091105_steve_fraser_on_the_crisis_of_capitalism/

If only more people actually studied history... instead of just getting the bullet-point, brochure-style version.

"On every major issue from health insurance to financial regulation, from energy policy to foreign policy, from economic recovery to labor law reform, the new regime and its sizable majority in Congress equivocate, seek allies on the right where there are none, and convey a sense of paralysis."


...Unless Obama wakes up and starts acting like FDR the crisis only gets worse.

Yeah... those DLCers & Blue Dogs really help us tip the scales!

Did you see that Weiner pulled his amendment? Didn't want the embarrassment. Good call. Sad, but that's the congress the electorate votes for. They love them some non-soshulest warmongers, by God!

"Every day the media puts on display the official schizophrenia about the current crisis. On the one hand, recovery beckons; it’s about to start, it’s already started, the crisis is over. People in charge—Bernanke, Geithner, Obama himself—are quoted to this effect. Evidence accumulates mainly in the financial sector, where big banks have so much cash on hand that some have paid back the government its bailout money and others are begging to do so. Profits in the FIRE sector are back, lavish bonuses are back: Can a third gilded age be far behind?

But then there’s the other kind of story, the one about the spreading misery of joblessness, foreclosures, homelessness, wage cuts, furloughs, brute amputations of social services, repossessions, bankruptcies, defaults—the dispossession of a dream. A tale of two cities indeed!

It ought to be seen as appalling, arrogant, callous, myopic, credulous and maybe most of all morally embarrassing to talk with a straight face about recovery amid all this."

Oh well... one sees only what one chooses too, right? Surely we can both agree on that. :hi:

"It is a telling commentary on this great transformation of the past 75 years that Obama’s first 100 days did not feature at its core an industrial recovery act as FDR’s did. Instead, most attention is directed at restoring the well-being of the FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate) sector whose health is everybody else’s disease."

First, we have a vastly different economy than the one that existed in 1930-1931. Its components are not the same, the services sector accounts for 67% of the money generated by the economy and 3/4ths of the jobs in the economy. In 1930, manufacturing was a huge percentage of the economy.

Second, if we actually look at the stimulus, its hard to make the argument that the money was directed at the "FIRE" sector. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009#Provisions_of_the_Act

Yes, there was $12 Billion spent on "Housing", but spending on "Housing" is not the same as spending it to "restore the well being of the Real Estate sector"

Housing
Total: $12.7 billion

$4 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for repairing and modernizing public housing, including increasing the energy efficiency of units.
$2.25 billion in tax credits for financing low-income housing construction
$2 billion for Section 8 housing rental assistance
$2 billion to help communities purchase and repair foreclosed housing
$1.5 billion for rental assistance and housing relocation
$510 million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing
$200 million for helping rural Americans buy homes
$130 million for rural community facilities
$100 million to help remove lead paint from public housing

Finally, saying the "Finance, insurance and Real Estate" sectors health is "everybody else's disease" is simply not true. If it were true, that would mean any time that those sectors were doing well, the rest of us would be doing badly. I think most expansions have seen those sectors doing well at the same time most if not all sectors were doing well. I think this is just an author who has thrown unproven assertions out there.