hope everyone votes

[Turtle]

Roadpig, come on, now. Granted, he's not as bad as many here like to make him out to be, not even close, but even Obama himself has admitted to being a Socialist. His cornerstone of wealth distribution is also the cornerstone, actually the very foundation, of Socialism. He's not a Marxist, to be sure, but he is a Socislist. Bill and Hilary are Socialists, and Obama is to the left of even them.

But, Obama is at least smart enough to pick Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff. Emanuel is known as a political assassin in that he will pretty much destroy someone who gets in his way, but he's also far more centrist than Obama is, and knows that if Obama gets too far to the left it will be bad for Democrats, so he is likely to keep Obama in check. He's also deeply Jewish and has shown very strong support for Israel, something that should make the more wacko conspiracy theorists happy indeed, but will certainly give the Islamists who think Obama is pro-Muslim pause. He's a money man, legendary for his fundrasing. He was also fundamental in getting NAFTA passed. House and other Republicans respect him a gread deal because he has shown a penchant for working with both Democrats and Republicans to move towards the middle. He should be able to keep the likes of the more liberal democrats from knee-jerk overreacting and thinking they can enact all sorts of wild feel-good legislation.

Publically, Republicans won't like the selection of Emanual, but privately they're probably relieved. Like I've said many times, there's only just so much damage one president can do (can you imagine, for example, if Bush had iron-fist control over Congress for 8 years, too?). How much damage depends on who he has surrounding him. So it behooves us all to pay close attention to who becomes his advisors and members of his Cabinet.

I do think it's funny that Barack Hussein Obama would pick Rahm Israel Emanual for his Chief of Staff. There's a lot of people who are just gonna explode trying to twist that one.

 

[Turtle]

I'm not interested in the rest of the world's stage. We are not them.

Oh, but we are. That's one of the biggest mistakes that Americans make.

Everything we do here affects the entire world. And how the world treats us affects how effective we are at things both domestically and internationally. The world looks to America for many things, not the least of which is leadership. How well our leaders lead, has a direct bearing on how well America can lead the world, and on what kind of cooperation we can expect.

The world hates George Bush, and by extension, us. They see him, and us, as a reckless cowboy bully, and to a very large degree they're right. "I'm America and you'll do what I say, and you'll like it!" is the view of us by the world. We dismiss world views as irrelevant, either because they are irrelevant, or because we didn't think of them first. You still have to let people think they matter, even if they don't, even if their thoughts and ideas are wrong or damaging. Even the people who don't matter know that themselves, but they at least want to be heard. Bush wouldn't even hear them out.

The world (except for that goofball Medvedev in Russia) had deep sigh of relief when Obama was elected, because they see the light and the end of the Cowboy Bush tunnel. They don't expect America to become Europe, all they expect is for America to get back to being America.

"And so it came to pass. The election of Barack Obama to the highest post in the biggest and most powerful economy of the world would forever be etched into the annals of history - not only in America, but also throughout the entire planet."
"It is just fitting that the current history-making global economic and financial disaster that seemingly has withered all hope be met with another momentous event that promises to restore the ours and the worlds' faith - in America, its politicians, and its people."

"Humpty Dumpty has fallen off his wall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men have been trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. At least now they can do so with renewed hope."


That's a quote from The New Zealand Herald

 

[RLENT]

Re: I hope everyone votes

Had the media been fair and balanced with Bush his approval number would be at least double.

Yeah ..... I think you really are swimming in it Leo ........

Bush has screwed the pooch four ways to Sunday ...... his approval numbers are reflective of that ..... has little to nothing to do with the media ...... has to do with what he has done (and to a great extent, what he failed to do ......)

 

[LDB]

Re: I hope everyone votes

I'm not swimming in anything and I've been critical of Bush many times. That doesn't change the fact that the media has misrepresented things to make Bush look bad whenever the opportunity presented itself. My statement is not made of a koolaid induced stupor of adoration and exaltation like so many exhibit toward Obama. It's made from a standing back with a clear view appraisal of the situation.

 

[ATeam]

A whole bunch of Republicans with a closer and clearer view than you also evaluated George W. Bush. I'm talking about those that ran for state and federal public office in 2008. These are politically sophistocated people with the ability to judge one politician's performance and worth to another.

One of the remarkable things about the 2008 elections was that not a single Republican candidate for public office wanted President Bush anywhere near them on the campaign trail. Not one! Even McCain distanced himself from Bush after earlier appearances of the two together.

So pathetic was the Bush/Cheney performance in public office that when Cheney endorsed McCain late in the race, McCain's OPPONENT quickly put together and ran TV ads showing the speech.

 

[Turtle]

Re: I hope everyone votes

I gotta agree with RLENT on this one. Yeah, the media has given Bush a raw deal at times, but by and large he deserved it. He was hands-off after 911 far longer than he should have been. It was after 911 when he had the support of the world, and Republican control of Congress, and he failed, utterly, to accomplish much of anything at all. Stand back and access it, it's pathetic what all he failed to do. If the media had treated him like a little darling, yeah, maybe his approval would be a couple of points higher, but that's about it.

Those people who give Bush a high approval rating are no different than those stupid voters you talk about. They are that twenty-five percent or so who will believe in and adore him, and who reject all criticism with a mixture of disbelief and fierce contempt, and that's the only place he gets his approval ratings from. His approval rating at the monment? Golly, twenty-four percent. He once had the highest approval rating of any president (near 90% in the days and weeks following 911, with a sustained 71%).

How can anyone take an objective view, heck, even a Kool Aid-induced subjective view, at his presidency and give him high marks? After 911, he could have become a great leader and great president, but on 911 he couldn't even decide whether ot not to stay in Florida or return to Washington. Sheesh. His eventual leadership in the weeks after 911 was steadfast and resolute, but he used up the good will of most of the world by pushing his doctrine of pre-emption. He invaded Iraq on lies, and has presided over a war that has lasted longer than our participation in World War II, and with far less to show for it. And there's still no resolution in sight. He leaves the country with more than $9 trillion in debt, largely because of the war in Iraq, which he staunchly defends against any and all criticism.

He came up with the brilliant No Child Left Behind Act, but it has amounted to an unfunded mandate on the states and embattled thousands in angry confrontation by making teachers teach only what children need to pass tests and forcing cutbacks in such subjects as art and music.

He demanded that Social Security be privatized, but when the country protested, he gave up trying to keep entitlements from eventual meltdown.

He espoused eloquently the philosophy of "compassionate conservatism" but then abandoned it, leaving a few pathetic "faith-based initiatives" and a larger gap between rich and poor.

Not a thing has been done to help the rapidly growing number of people with no health insurance, but he flat-out vetoed a plan to expand children's access to health care.

He vowed to cut out 151 popular programs to save $18 billion. Wow, that much, George? We're looking at upwards of 3/4 of a TRILLION dollars on Iraq and Afghanistan. $18 billion? Yeah, that'll work.

In what I can only describe as laughably infuriating, just a few months ago, as if he had just thought of it, he declared war on earmarks, as if anyone in Congress is gonna pay him any attention at this point.

With the nation fighting to stave off recession as food and energy prices soar and home foreclosures mount, he didn't have his own stimulus plan, didn't lead, but instead followed and endorsed a too-little-too-late plan devised in the House to give taxpayers rebate checks and incentives to businesses. Whoop-tee-doo. He vowed to veto one-time checks for seniors dependent on Social Security or extension of unemployment assistance for the jobless, apparently because high prices for food and energy didn't affect them.

And then comes the financial crisis, which, apparently, just up and blind-sided his entire administration. Are you kiddin' me? A twenty-four percent approval rating is a gift, pure charity, and the media has got nothing to do with it.

I will say one thing, though, George W Bush is the best president we've had since Bil Clinton left office.

 

[kangar0085]

I don't believe Bill Clinton is a socialist, as much as I can't stand the man but I do believe that his wife is. Now I am happy that bubba won't be running around the white house once again, that being said It will be very difficult for me to get behind this new president. I hope that he isn't as weak as he has shown himself to be and that he isn't as far to the left as his history tells us. It's a dangerous world out there and after 911 they were out to get us in droves and I believe firmly that Mr. Bush dealt with it in a way that Reagan would have. A number of things are being overlooked when it comes to the Bush administration. The tax cuts re energized the economy after a very severe recesssion that was topped off with terrorist attacks that sent the markets to hell. The terrorism that jumped thousands of percent after 911 is now on the fall with a transformed Iraq...now I know leftists will get absolutely enraged at that statement but we have been safe since 911. I am very concerned about Obama's views when it comes to pretty much everything but I'm sure I wil leventually warm up to the guy. I will never warm up to his wife though even though I am VERY attracted to her.