Posted on 12/19/2008 5:54:43 PM PST by EveningStar
FREEP THIS POLL ***PING!*** FRmail me if you want to be added or removed from the Fearless Poll-Freeping Freepers Ping list. And be sure to ping me to any polls that need Freepin', if I miss them. (looks like a medium volume list) (gordongekko909, founder of the pinglist, stays on the list until his ghost signs up for the list)
Regime? I thought he was only President elect so far.
I'm prepared to discuss it. What 0bama pronouncement gives you confidence that he will fix the economy?
Here’s a real, scientific poll on the issue from Fox News with a random sample, et cetera:
FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. Dec. 9-10, 2008. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“Overall, how would you rate the quality of the people President-elect Obama has selected to be in his cabinet: excellent, good, fair, or poor?”
Excellent: 24%
Good: 41%
Fair: 20%
Poor: 8%
Unsure: 7%
24 41 20 8 7
“What are your expectations for Barack Obama’s presidency? Do you think he will be one of the country’s greatest presidents, a good president, an average president, a below average president, or one of the country’s worst presidents?”
One of the Greatest: 19%
Good: 43%
Average: 23%
Below Average: 5%
One of the Worst: 6%
Unsure: 4%
BTW, I didn’t accuse you of supporting Democrats, Clintonistas or Terrorists, so what was it you got excited about?
Bush did a very bad job on spending, immigration, and Iraq.
But Obama is very quickly going to make me feel deep nostalgia for the relative sanity of George W Bush.
As far as Obama goes, we'll see. At this juncture I am not seeing all of the fears I had being validated. We'll see when he is actually in office.
As far as Bush's record goes, other than the WOT I sincerely cannot think of anything that was improved over the past 8 years but I see a lot of damage and incompetence over that same time-frame. Even the success of the WOT is a little suspect as I'm inclined to think it has more to do with the (Thankfully) incompetence of the Terrorists as much as efficiency and effectiveness on the part of our Agencies.
That's it? You said you saw from 0bama's pronouncements that it appeared he had thought through the financial crisis. Then you implied that you were ready to discuss it with disgust for those who only flamed you. Now it's "we'll see?"
No wonder no one took you seriously. First you play the victim card then you duck the issue you brought up.
He couldn’t be precisely what he looks to be because that would make us look pretty stupid, and he would have to have balls of titanium to try to pull something like that off. So we must discount everything in his past as a predictor for the future, because that is just too damned scary for us to believe. So Obama is just a dreamer, out of touch with the real world. That is what they want to believe, but is it credible, or just wishful thinking?
Dreams from My Father…
The world was violent, I was learning, unpredictable and often cruel. My grandparents knew nothing about such a world, I decided; there was no point in disturbing them with questions they couldn't answer. Sometimes, when my mother came home from work, I would tell her the things I had seen or heard, and she would stroke my forehead, listening intently, trying her best to explain what she could. I always appreciated the attention -- her voice, the touch of her hand, defined all that was secure. But her knowledge of floods and exorcisms and cockfights left much to be desired. Everything was as new to her as it was to me, and I would leave such conversations felling that my questions had only given her unnecessary cause for concern.
So it was to Lolo that I turned for guidance and instruction. He didn't talk much, but he was easy to be with. With his family and friends he introduced me as his son, but he never pressed things beyond matter-of-fact advice or pretended that our relationship was more than it was. I appreciated this distance; it implied a manly trust. And his knowledge of the world seemed inexhaustible. Not just how to change a flat tire or open in chess. He knew more elusive things, ways of managing the emotion I felt, ways to explain fate's constant mysteries.
"Have you ever seen a man killed?" I asked him.
He glanced down, surprised by the question.
"Have you?" I asked again.
"Yes," he said.
"Was it bloody?"
"Yes"
I thought for a moment. "Why was the man killed? The one you saw?"
"Because he was weak."
"That's all?"
Lolo shrugged..."That's usually enough. Men take advantage of weakness in other men. They're just like countries in that way. The strong man takes the weak man's land. He makes the weak man work in his fields. If the weak man's woman is pretty, the strong man will take her." He paused to take another sip of water, then asked: "Which would you rather be?"
I didn't answer, and Lolo squinted up at the sky. "Better to be strong," he said finally, rising to his feet. "If you can't be strong, be clever and make peace with someone who's strong. But always better to be strong yourself. Always."
So lets review.
"The world was violent, I was learning, unpredictable and often cruel. My grandparents knew nothing about such a world..."
"Men take advantage of weakness in other men."
This is not someone who has any illusions about the world. Are conservatives naïve, or just plain stupid? THIS is the guy you expect me to believe is naïve about reality? They killed half a million people in Indonesia in those years. They have beggars, poverty, and brutality none of us would believe.
Power: The word fixed in my mother's mind like a curse. In America, it had generally remained hidden from view until you dug beneath the surface of things; until you visited an Indian reservation or spoke to a black person whose trust you had earned. But here power was undisguised, indiscriminate, naked always fresh in the memory. Power had taken Lolo and yanked him back into line just when he thought he'd escaped, making him feel its weight, letting him know that his life wasn't his own. That's how things were; you couldn't change it, you could just live by the rules, so simple once you learned them. And so, Lolo had made his peace with power, learned the wisdom of forgetting; just as his brother-in-law had done, making millions as a high official in the national oil company; just as another brother had tried to do, only he had miscalculated and was now reduced to stealing pieces of silverware whenever he came for a visit, selling them later for loose cigarettes.
She remembered what Lolo had told her once when her constant questioning had finally touched a nerve. "Guilt is a luxury only foreigners can afford," he had said. "Like saying whatever pops into your head." She didn't know what it was like to lose everything, to wake up and feel her belly eating itself. She didn't know how crowded and treacherous the path to security could be. Without absolute concentration, one could easily slip, tumble backward.
He was right, of course. She was a foreigner, middle-class and white and protected by her heredity whether she wanted protection or not. She could always leave if things got too messy. that possibility negated anything she might say to Lolo; it was the unbreachable barrier between them.
And we have the tactics he learned...
It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved - such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time.
Obama knows EXACTLY what he is doing and the only Putz in the room are the fools who think he is some dreamy eyed leftist.
So who is the realist and who the is the dreamer here?
If you like what Bush did, fine. If you don't trust Obama that's fine as well.
Finally, I'm not a victim and never posed as one.
Why do you look for an argument? No need to reply.
I didn’t say anything about Bush. Who’s looking for an argument. You made the statement about liking 0bama’s pronouncements on fiscal policy. You said you were looking for discussion. Now you don’t want to get into it. Obviously your complaints were a ruse and you have no intention of backing up your statement at all. Talk about closed off and boring!
And the defense of Bush is always that the other guy is worse. Same as it was with McCain. The other guy being worse doesn't make "my" guy any better, which is all you're pointing out.
While I don't like Obama’s background, his cronies and, particularly, his wife, I'm pleasantly surprised that, at least so far, my misgivings are not being realized. That's why I say “We'll see”.
Unfortunately it is a fact (At least to me) that almost anyone could do a better job on governance than Bush and his team have done. A real disappointment and I was a strong supporter who has become totally disillusioned by what has transpired.
This will probably get me another invite to “Return to DU” from one of the many people here who simply will not admit that this Emperor has no clothes - And has been in this condition for too long. The latest election results would certainly appear to reinforce this opinion.
Regards.
The Obama Regime So Far: Better or Worse Than You Expected?
Better 34% 2,259
Worse 11% 742
I’m not sure, but definitely much more entertaining! 54% 3,564
6,565 votes total
Obama’s election is as positive for the United States as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the attack on 9/11. All three have the same positive effects for America.
So, innocent people have to DIE before things get better?
No arguement from me, folks.
From the moment I watched lawyers override the orders of combat commanders in the field, and the near-absent efforts on the border, I knew we weren’t serious about the GWOT.
I remember the days of the Hollow Army: units exist only on paper, no money for training, and the Sheep could care less about their troops - which they do anyway today.
And the thing is, they’re talking about the regime of The One (piss be upon him) and he hasn’t even DONE anything yet!
Would that include Robert Mugabe, and the leaders of the other African states? How about Gordon Brown and the other European socialists? Maybe Hugo Chavez and the new Latin American Marxists? Would ALL of these folks have done better than Bush? Never been much of a Bush fan, but your rhetoric is ridiculously over the top!
He is more socialist than I thought.
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