watching Bush make an idiot of himself for eight years. I voted for Obama and so far am not pleased. This AIG lynch mob – which the president encouraged – is going to get someone killed. Geithner’s denial that he knew anything about the bonuses has to be a lie; if it’s not, Geithner’s not competent to balance my checkbook, let alone run Treasury. Geithner can’t get anyone to work for him, but Obama has the time to choose basketball teams, appear on Leno and drink beer at a sporting event. He’s the leader of an economy in crisis. Act like it. Stop talking and deliver. I’m not comforted by your “acceptance” of responsibility. If you accepted responsibility, you’d understand the AIG bonus situation better than you seem to and you would have gotten out in front of this political firestorm.
And what about barring trucks from Mexico? A big favor for the teamsters. Way to go Mr. President. Let’s get some serious trade wars going at a time when both economies are on the brink. Thanks a lot. Score another “win” for the unions.
Oh, and this “us/them” rhetoric that paints “executives” as different from everyone else and in need of “punishing” is going to stifle and discourage businesses that provide the jobs and money that can bring our economy back. He just gushed over small business owners. Doesn’t he realize that the heads of those small businesses are “executives”. Didn’t he just finish encouraging small business to grow to provide more jobs? What happens when they get too “big”? Do they suddenly become greedy “them.” Obama sounds like 23-year-old naive grad student, not the leader of the United States.
So your standard is that only starting wars in Iraq is bad and Obama should not be held under any kind of scrutiny because he didn’t start a war in Iraq.
You think he deliberately started a war even knowing Iraq had no WMD, or he was just plain stupid and too reliant on Don Rumsfeld and faulty intelligence? I’m more of the second opinion but I guess the “Bush Lied, People Died” crowd will have their moment in the sun,no matter how foolish it may seem to more rational people.
go tell that wounded warrior thats missing a body part, or eyesight thats its a “false” war. Go tell that to the families that lost a loved one. It may be a “false” war to you, but it is very real to others. No false bullets or bombs over there!
I listened to a pretty good report on the bonus deal today on NPR, and was fairly impressed by Liddy, the new CEO of AIG. The reasons for the bonuses is being completely, utterly miscast by both the media and the politicians (on both sides…both Republicans and Democrats are acting like total schmucks over this). In essence, these are retention bonuses to keep those people on the job who are busy working themselves out of a job, by dismantling the division of AIG that was involved in credit default swaps. These aren’t performance bonuses for those who created this mess…its to keep folks working who would otherwise quit because their division is going away. Instead of just owning up to the bonuses as facts of life, the administration is instead choosing this moment to stoke populist fervor to gain some tawdry political “points.”
At the healthclub last week, I was watching CNN (to be fair and balanced) and watched as the 3 panelists gave the President: B-, D, and C for his 1st 100 days in Office. They pointed out his communication is lacking (sending more troops to Afgan without a clear plan), opposing earmarks during the campaign (but signing off on the bill that day) and for the gap in public opinion between Obama’s popularity (very high) and his policies (moderate). The gap indicates that there is a risk his approval rating will drop when the policies do not produce results, esp in the short term.
While I’m sure a few with comment on the first two, I think the third is most appropriate. President Obama was able to gain a considerable amount of support in a short amount of time…which indicates that it might take a short amount of time to lose it (as in your case).
I know how you feel. I wasn’t impressed by either party’s set of candidates, but voted what I considered to be the least harmful. I’m pretty irked by the populist fervor- it can be good in limited doses- lets people know the governemnt is on their side- but this has a “storm the Bastille” sort of vibe. Congress is sounding like it’s set to go in and target individuals to take money from- that is a criminal act, unless the money was criminally acquired in the 1st place. It was ill-gotten, but legal; those schmucks in the Senate knew about the bonuses and let it be written into the takeover.
Bullshit all around.
Had the election gone the other way, I’m pretty sure everything would have been equally as screwed up, just in different ways.
Our society is going down the drain, and it pisses me off.
You’re killing optimism! Everything will be great if we are just positive.
I’m positive this is a big fucking mess. How’s that?
I’m not worried. I can fight, know a decent bit of medicine now, and can figure out crops and hunting. Lunchbox’s Freehold is a viable idea, if the place goes Mad Max on us.
