(no subject)
21/8/10 15:12![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
gunslnger.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsObama's war on lobbyists was just a lot of hot air
Let's see. He hasn't turned back the Patriot Act, instead he's expanded it a little bit more (only so much he can do without more legislation). He hasn't actually freed anyone from Guantanamo or shut it down. He failed to allow public comments on bills for 5 days before signing them. And he hasn't done anything about lobbyists; in fact he's hired a bunch of them even after saying explicitly that he he wouldn't. So, what big thing has he promised and actually delivered on? More and more people seem to be saying that he's just like Bush, and that would be another thing he said he wasn't going to be.
"In the last six years," candidate Obama declared back in 2007, "our leaders have thrown open the door of Congress and the White House to an army of Washington lobbyists who have turned government into a game only they can play." In the past 18 months, that hasn't changed.
Let's see. He hasn't turned back the Patriot Act, instead he's expanded it a little bit more (only so much he can do without more legislation). He hasn't actually freed anyone from Guantanamo or shut it down. He failed to allow public comments on bills for 5 days before signing them. And he hasn't done anything about lobbyists; in fact he's hired a bunch of them even after saying explicitly that he he wouldn't. So, what big thing has he promised and actually delivered on? More and more people seem to be saying that he's just like Bush, and that would be another thing he said he wasn't going to be.
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(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:20 (UTC)Look at his cabinet. It's been full with Wall Street big fish from day one. You know, those same fish who were responsible for the crash.
By the way the Sun is also gonna set at 18:52 tonight.
(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:22 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:22 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:23 (UTC)And that's the whole point.
(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:31 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:48 (UTC)That of course is why he'll never be elected.
**Note I have at no point claimed that his being different would be in good or beneficial ways, it is just clear that he is not your typical politician and really would be different.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:40 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 02:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 23:03 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 02:28 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:30 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:47 (UTC)Obama ran on a platform of being a Washington outsider who would clean up the system and make it more accessible to the people.
Which he has done if by people you mean Wall Street, Health Industry, and Big Labor lobbyists.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 03:58 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 23:02 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:51 (UTC)Bush got elected on a promise to cut spending. He didn't.
I wouldn't trust any of those fuckers. A huge grain of salt when talking about all of them. And I do mean ALL of them.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 03:27 (UTC)He REDUCED lobbyist influence, but he HAS to use someone who was there before if he's going to be effective. That's just reality in any organization...
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:31 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:44 (UTC)Obama *himself* explained this very point... or did you conveniently forget that??
And do you ***REALLY*** want brand new inexperienced people coming in during a financial melt-down, 2 wars, terrorist threats, and a highly polarized country??
Well...*YOU* probably would, but most of us who want effective government realize that someone who has been there before has to stay behind....
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 20:03 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:30 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 23:04 (UTC)Only if fools like you make it happen.
Date: 22/8/10 17:14 (UTC)So shut up and do it already.
(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:36 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 22:37 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 23:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 21/8/10 23:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:15 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:23 (UTC)If you're going on the say-so of this jingoist rag's editorial page, it's not surprising that you don't know who Vint Cerf is and why his opinions are important no matter who is paying him. Apparently the Washington Examiner is the same sort of fishwrap as its San Francisco counterpart.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 03:29 (UTC)Not exactly a time for a learning curve for total newbies...
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:10 (UTC)And you're being disingenuous about this, and I think you know it.
I do know who Vint Cerf is. Whether his opinion is important or not isn't relevant to whether Obama is hiring a lobbyist or not.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:20 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:35 (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf
That should be what they are referring to. Also, the article did not say that he was a lobbyist, it stated that he was not a registered lobbyist and describes himself as an evangelist. It said that he acts like a lobbyist, hence the description "nonlobbyist lobbyist". It's not a difficult concept.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 05:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/8/10 03:12 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/8/10 19:29 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:17 (UTC)Stimulus wasn't a campaign promise, it was an assumption. It was going to happen no matter who was president, even Ron Paul, since Congress likely would have overridden a veto.
(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 00:52 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/8/10 12:57 (UTC)