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Ok, while I was pretty harsh on ole Bush jr. for 7 years and still am, I can say that I have already grown tired of the Obama gushing from many left leaning pundits and Op Eds. How long until this honeymoon ends or will it?
While I'm happy to have a President who can eloquently articulate the English language and form complete sentences, and in fact, I happy to have an agile and intellectual mind running the show, there is a point where one has to reexamine their own principles and political beliefs and say... ok, that's not cool.
I believe that Chris Matthews has a man crush on Obama, as does Keith Olberman, but I can dig that, it is understandable. However, when are these people, most of whom are anti-war types, going to stand up and say that Obama's foreign policy thus far looks a lot more like more of the same? All the blather on how Bush ran our Middle East foreign policy, yet now over a month into the Obama administration, there hasn't been any serious deviation from the methodology progress during the last administration and even less resistance from the anti-war left.
In fact, there was far more anti-war sentiment 2 years ago than there is today, so why is that? Is the left now rationalizing Obama's position out of adulation? Was the left more outraged at Bush than his policies? What gives here folks?
I'll be interested to see how many responses from Obama supporters you get....
I do believe the best thing for a democracy is an unbiased press. Who else can question our politicians to make sure that they are on the 'straight and narrow'? When we lose that, we potentially lose everything.
You make the assumption that everybody who voted for Obama, was anti-war.
Some of us were just for winning the right war, which wasn't Iraq.
Seems like some housewifes in Vermont, and farmers in Iowa, had better insight & information then the United States Intelligence Community (http://www.intelligence.gov/1-members.shtml - broken link) and the White House.
I'll be interested to see how many responses from Obama supporters you get....
I do believe the best thing for a democracy is an unbiased press. Who else can question our politicians to make sure that they are on the 'straight and narrow'? When we lose that, we potentially lose everything.
Well to be honest, I didn't really expect many from the left to post here but more so instead the vengeful right.
During the dark Bush years, I noted that most harsh criticisms came not so much from the left but from places like The American Conservative mag. Agree with them or not isn't even the point but they were willing to offer criticism of those claiming to be of the same political faith.
Today, the only real harsh criticism I see comes from obviously Fox... no brainer... but also from an actual liberal media outlet called LinkTV which has shown several critical pieces on Obama's policies thus far.
I had hoped that with a changed political environment that those truly left folks would stand up and take notices of some of Obama's policies and even rail against them. However it is looking like more of the same, just a different party. This is why I cannot ever be a part of any official political party as it narrows ones positions down to defending the party line and blaming the opposition even if that means defending a principle you railed against yesterday when the other guy did it.
Well to be honest, I didn't really expect many from the left to post here but more so instead the vengeful right.
During the dark Bush years, I noted that most harsh criticisms came not so much from the left but from places like The American Conservative mag. Agree with them or not isn't even the point but they were willing to offer criticism of those claiming to be of the same political faith.
Today, the only real harsh criticism I see comes from obviously Fox... no brainer... but also from an actual liberal media outlet called LinkTV which has shown several critical pieces on Obama's policies thus far.
I had hoped that with a changed political environment that those truly left folks would stand up and take notices of some of Obama's policies and even rail against them. However it is looking like more of the same, just a different party. This is why I cannot ever be a part of any official political party as it narrows ones positions down to defending the party line and blaming the opposition even if that means defending a principle you railed against yesterday when the other guy did it.
The most freeing thing I ever did was cast off the mantle of 'party'. I wish more people would do the same. If they did, I believe we would have actual political accountability.
I think it will be a while before the enthusiasm will die down. People are so happy to be rid of Bush that they will overlook some issues - for a while. While I am very glad Bush is gone, I don't agree with the current administration on several issues, foreign policy in the middle East being one of them.
However, when I read this forum and what people post I often get the feeling that people behave as if this is a football game, not politics. Instead of admitting to the faults of their party and candidates, they seem to be in total denial.
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Why would you think that to remove 3/4 of the troops from Iraq is (1) not consistent with ending the Iraq occupation, (2) a trivial thing and can be done with little forethought?
Can you not foresee that an alacritous, complete withdrawal of US troops could initiate true civil war in Iraq and an invasion from Iran? Can the presence of US troops forestall or even prevent that eventuality? Yes, because the longer the new Iraqi nation has experience of domestic peace, economic growth, and social cohesion, the less they will be willing to throw all of that over for the alternative. But that assumes they are not quite ENTIRELY consumed by the drive toward political authoritarianism that some who practice their religion (Islam) insist upon.
There are enough economic and social dislocations taking place inside America right now due to the very widespread housing crisis, that for Obama to take "wartime" control of the economy and to radically change directions and policies IN THE FIRST 60 DAYS would be irresponsible.
While I'm happy to have a President who can eloquently articulate the English language and form complete sentences, and in fact, I happy to have an agile and intellectual mind running the show
What is the benefit of a smooth and polished talker if the policies are bad? I find it so short-sighted to judge a politician on his articulation. I wish more voters had the insight to look deeper than the surface, and the worldly wisdom to understand what truly drives opportunity in an economy.
And no one doubts that Mr Obama is smart. But he is a liberal academic, like what you'd find in the faculty lounge of UC-Berkeley; thought more in tune with France than the conservative principles that have historically made America great.
The honeymoon will end when people realize Obama was only a front man. The democratic party molded him to act, look, and sound like Kennedy because they were desperate for a win. He was, and is, a puppet.
If you notice, he has even been photographed in the identical poses as some of Kennedy's most famous pictures. They even went so far as to photograph his older daughter crawling out from the desk as John Jr. did so many years ago.
How long can he think he can use that method of emotionally charging the country to distract everybody from the fact he has no idea of what he's doing?
His ratings have slipped, and my guess is that they will continue as he will fail to produce on almost all of the promises he made while on his soapbox.
People get what they deserve in a way. They accept empty promises and have for a LONG time. When they start holding politicians responsible for their actions, then things will improve. As it is now, they have a very short memory and like candidates to tell them what they WANT to hear, not what the truth is.
I still prefer Obama over McCain - any day. But would he have been my first choice...no.
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
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