That Hopey Changey Thing
9/2/12 06:57![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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talkpolitics
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama
I recently posted regarding our current situation in America. Some saw it as pessimistic, cynical and without a bright outlook for the future. I saw it as a inventory of our sins that has lead to our current situation. These were the conditions inherited by President Obama.
Before I start, I am going to anticipate a common confutation. Bush’s administration is over and Obama has been President for the last 3 years. In the Soviet Union, they had a trend that occurred when a party leader fell from favor from the party. The leader disappeared from the public eye and was not heard from again. Apparently, G.W. Bush has had the same phenomenon with the Republican Party. Contrary to Republican expediency, erasing him from history isn’t as easy as you may think. His legacy still remains.
I knew this was going to be a tough time for us all. I posted in my own blog about this right after Obama’s election. Let’s review some of the top promises that haven’t been fulfilled to the satisfaction of Obama’s critics:
- Guantanamo Bay hasn’t been closed. This was another mess inherited from Bush. The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center was a fiasco that was assumed incorrectly to be beyond the reach of the U.S. Constitution. This is going to continue to be difficult to unravel and no one is offering solutions to this. Though we already have extracted all the information we can get from them, we don’t know how to unload the most dangerous of the prisoners while keeping them from being a further threat to our troops.
- Foreign Policy. This was an area where he received the most criticism during his 2008 campaign. Despite wins with bin Laden, Iraq and Libya; Obama has had the sense not to go all in with unwinnable situations such as the Israel/Palestinian impasse. He has shown outstanding courage with Pakistan despite it being a nuclear power.
- Obama promised change and an end to business as usual in Washington. Obama promised The Change We Need not the change that makes us feel warm and fuzzy. His attempts to reach across the aisle in Congress have been rejected by both sides of the aisle.
- TARP and the Stimulus were supposed to restart the economy. This claim was never made by either Bush or Obama. The economy went into toxic shock when credit froze at the end of 2008. TARP and the Stimulus were nothing more than life support for the economy until the private sector could recover enough to grow the economy. Unfortunately, the private sector has been DOA with nothing but excuses and no real American productivity.
- The Obama administration has been spending wildly. There have been some Obama initiatives that have had high price tags. These have not been the long term litany of unfunded programs that have been passed under the Bush administration which include the protracted military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, Medicare Part D and the $1.5 trillion budget deficit that was passed on. The Bush administration ran up the credit card. The Obama administration has been left to pay for it.
- The Obama Healthcare Law. This is a campaign promise that has actually been fulfilled and is his landmark achievement. This is something that administrations past have tried for decades and have failed. It has come under fire because it actually requires Americans to take responsibility for their own actions; an apparently great bumper sticker, but an unpopular requirement. We don’t like that it is a hybrid of workable ideas instead of a bunch of fantasy giveaways.
- The Obama administration is leading us into socialism. This is one of my favorites. Bush did the closest thing to socialism when he nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during his administration. The auto industry was subsidized by the government through purchase of GM and Chrysler shares of stock. Although unprecedented, so is the success of the recovery of the American auto industry.
- Obama is doing wealth distribution. Some say this is unfair. A child going to bed hungry because his single mother, despite her holding multiple jobs, can’t afford to feed him is unfair. Focusing on the welfare of the majority middle class at the expense of the few lavishly affluent is democracy in action. We have more guys. We win.
One of the huge demands for the election of 2008 was transparency in government. The secrecy of the Bush administration spurred this because the American people felt that we deserved the truth regarding our security and we should be able to make our own decisions.
It seems that our entire American political landscape consists of a marketing campaign created from sound bites, 140 character mass texting (or Twitter, if you prefer), vitriolic and melodramatic tabloid talk radio, equally scandalous internet memes and 24 hour cable news channels abandoning truth for ratings. We haven’t been able to hear the general public for all the noise. The Republican side is no longer about governance, but about political theater. America has not become more divided. We have just become more uncompromising.
(no subject)
Date: 12/2/12 05:21 (UTC)weak ass excuse for a weak ass economy. businesses will start investing when they have confidence in the future.
(no subject)
Date: 12/2/12 11:52 (UTC)i remember a tax reform plan that came out of the deficit commission. funny obama hasn't even pursued that.
I remember a lot of stuff that came out of the deficit commission that the Republicans won’t implement. The plan was an entirety, not something to be cherry picked at the convenience of the gutless wonders in Congress like some smorgasbord.
businesses will start investing when they have confidence in the future.
Talk about weak ass excuses. The economy will improve when the businesses that smashed the economy quit being a bunch of little girls and actually take the initiative to improve it. Until they quit sniveling and grow up, the economy is going to continue to be weak.
(no subject)
Date: 13/2/12 15:42 (UTC)so obama isn't acting on tax reform because the republicans won't implement something else? now thats some epic leadership.
The economy will improve when the businesses that smashed the economy quit being a bunch of little girls and actually take the initiative to improve it.
this sounds to me like you are being the little girl. and what businesses smashed the economy exactly?
(no subject)
Date: 14/2/12 05:20 (UTC)the sad thing is that obama could find common ground with republicans if he was honest about actually reforming the tax code, as opposed to campaigning for his reelection.
With Republicans refusing to allow any additional revenue at all
what? (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/house-republicans-back-higher-tax-revenue-in-supercommittee-plan.html).
The whole financial sector
so after losing their asses and having to be bailed out, you want the financial sector to just start throwing money around again, because you're calling them little girls?
now thats pretty damn funny.
(no subject)
Date: 14/2/12 16:04 (UTC)the sad thing is that obama could find common ground with republicans if he was honest about actually reforming the tax code, as opposed to campaigning for his reelection.
What is your obsession with reforming the tax code when the Republicans said it wouldn’t be allowed to generate any revenue? That is nothing but a clusterfuck with no results. Obama had a plan that would have reduced the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years. It was sabotaged by the Republicans
what? (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/house-republicans-back-higher-tax-revenue-in-supercommittee-plan.html).
Passing around love notes to your colleagues to throw grandma off a cliff so that billionaires could continue to feast on the bones of the middle class didn’t seem to work, did it? There’s a difference, like I said, between political wank and actual governance.
Oh, BTW
so after losing their asses and having to be bailed out, you want the financial sector to just start throwing money around again, because you're calling them little girls?
Oh, really. I have more than a little trouble sympathizing (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1214665.html) with them.
now thats pretty damn funny.
It’s amazing the retarded shit some people will laugh at.
(no subject)
Date: 15/2/12 02:22 (UTC)because tax reform is an area where both parties have agreement. you must have missed the link with 40 republicans willing to raise revenues.
It was sabotaged by the Republicans
it was sabotaged by the democrats.
Passing around love notes to your colleagues to throw grandma off a cliff so that billionaires could continue to feast on the bones of the middle class didn’t seem to work, did it?
meaningless partisan trash. i can see you've started to come unraveled.
I have more than a little trouble sympathizing with them
why would they need your sympathy. im just finding irony in your suggesting they need to spend more money when they just got their asses handed to them for running out of it.
(no subject)
Date: 15/2/12 03:42 (UTC)because tax reform is an area where both parties have agreement. you must have missed the link with 40 republicans willing to raise revenues.
Both parties are miles apart on how to do tax reform. Just going into a room and shouting “tax reform” and hoping for the best isn’t going to do anything. Both sides are dug in on this.
Those 40 Republicans were not raising revenues. They were talking about transferring the medical liabilities due to Medicare recipients from the government to the Medicare recipients. This is nothing more than a veiled Medicare benefit cut.
Passing around love notes to your colleagues to throw grandma off a cliff so that billionaires could continue to feast on the bones of the middle class didn’t seem to work, did it?
meaningless partisan trash. i can see you've started to come unraveled.
No. This is actually the gist of the argument. This is the part where you just stick your fingers in your ears and go “La La La La”, because you don’t want to accept this. If you can’t see this as the truth, you are just drowning in the Republican koolaid, and there is no point to further discussion.
why would they need your sympathy. im just finding irony in your suggesting they need to spend more money when they just got their asses handed to them for running out of it.
And this is where you obviously didn’t follow the link I provided. Banks are flush with money, but are too risk averse to lend it They seriously need to get over themselves and get back to business.
(frozen) (no subject)
Date: 15/2/12 04:54 (UTC)which is why im glad the fiscal commission already laid the groundwork for them. the fact that obama has completely ignored their work is a demonstration of failed leadership and cowardice.
Those 40 Republicans were not raising revenues
“All options for mandatory and discretionary spending and revenues must be on the table,” the letter said. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/house-republicans-back-higher-tax-revenue-in-supercommittee-plan.html)
i think your reading comprehension skills need some work.
No. This is actually the gist of the argument.
no, this is what we call demagoguery. a strategy employed by people who have to appeal to emotions rather than logic.
but are too risk averse to lend it
and herein lies the irony of your incessant whining.
(frozen) (no subject)
Date: 15/2/12 11:20 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 14/2/12 03:53 (UTC)so obama isn't acting on tax reform because the republicans won't implement something else? now thats some epic leadership.
Wow. Do you even have a clue as to how our government works? Last I checked, we had a democracy, not a dictatorship. Despite your political wank, I’m dealing in reality. You obviously don’t know the difference between leadership and totalitarianism. Nothing can happen without the cooperation of Congress. With Republicans refusing to allow any additional revenue at all, any tax overhaul isn’t going to fix anything.
this sounds to me like you are being the little girl. and what businesses smashed the economy exactly?
The whole financial sector abused the economy. Government is doing its job. Its business that has its little girly thumbs up their asses.
Oh. BTW: