The Dismal First Month of Obama

[maximdewinter]

So far in the period of 01-20-2009 to 02-20-2009:

Obama gets railroaded by radicals in the Democratic Congress to get an insane spending bill passed. This new type of spending bill is so large it will not only beggar your children and grandchildren... but you too. He lied about the bill having no earmarks or money for special interests. But I must say he did lie very well and with a straight face, since among thousands of earmarks the final bill provides $30 million for Salt Marsh Harvest Mice in San Francisco

During the campaign Obama promised to work with Republicans and cut through partisan gridlock and then stood silently as Republicans were locked out of committee meetings for the final draft of the Stupidus Bill.

He allowed the confirmation of Timothy Geithner to proceed completely tone deaf to the political fallout of having Turbo Tax Timmy, a tax cheat, in charge of the IRS. Obama further looked like a fool when asked if he still supported Tom Daschle after Tom's tax evasion problems were revealed and he said, "Absolutely." Then almost immediately Daschle was gone.

Obama has allowed the census Bureau to be politicized by Rahm Emanuel which resulted in Commerce Sec. candidate Judd Gregg from withdrawing his candidacy. (BTW, as a reality check, what would have happened if Karl Rove had taken over the census. Do you think there would be the silence that there is now surrounding this issue?)

Our dear leader said on his website: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Only two days passed between final passage and signing. This is a LIE unless of course you consider the Salt Marsh Mice situation an emergency.

Obama signed an executive Order barring former lobbyists from joining his Administration to work at agencies they recently lobbied. Then he appointed Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn as Dep. Sec. of Defense.

This week Obama approved 18,000 new troops in Afghanistan without any stated objective. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned before: "a larger foreign footprint in Afghanistan is dangerous and perhaps counterproductive without a broader regional strategy." Now we have Pakistan cutting a deal with the Taliban to allow them autonomy in their Swat region.

Obama Says He Would Take Fight To Pakistan - washingtonpost.com

Let's hope this Obama was lying once again when he said that ,as president, he would be prepared to order U.S. troops into that country unilaterally if it failed to act on its own against Islamic extremists.


Change we can believe in:
01-20-2013

[barts]

, since among thousands of earmarks the final bill provides $30 million for Salt Marsh Harvest Mice in San Francisco

It's money for a wetlands restoration project that happens to include the range of the endangered Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse.

Wetland restoration projects require people to be employed.

Do you oppose wetland restoration, preserving habitat for endangered species, and employing people to do it?

How did you imagine the money was to be spent? Did you imagine cash being given to each and every mouse so they could make nests? Criticizing the wetland restoration project is as ridiculous as McCain criticizing the DNA research being done on grizzly bears. Cheap, cheap political points. Points made by obfuscating the facts.

[maximdewinter]

Do you oppose wetland restoration, preserving habitat for endangered species, and employing people to do it?

I am wildly for wetland restoration. I am for people being employed. I am also for motherhood. I am against checks being drawn against bankrupt accounts.

[rez]

You would come off a lot less arrogant and ignorant if you focused on one specific topic.

You made claims about....

deficit spending
earmarks
Obama promising Republicans he would listen to them
Timothy Geithner
Tom Daschle
Rahm Emanuel
and the Middle East wars.

Do you actually think anybody is going to sit at their computer and type out a response to each of your claims and expect there to be a decent conclusion from it?

Do you know how to communicate your thoughts and ideas? Do you understand that in order to come to an understanding your point needs to be clear and specific?

[Compugasm]

Do you oppose wetland restoration, preserving habitat for endangered species, and employing people to do it?

I'd like to know. Who will be employed, doing what, for how long? How much of this is salary? Okay, save the mice. I get it. But doesn't that simply mean trapping predators?

[maximdewinter]

You would come off a lot less arrogant and ignorant if you focused on one specific topic.

You made claims about....

deficit spending
earmarks
Obama promising Republicans he would listen to them
Timothy Geithner
Tom Daschle
Rahm Emanuel
and the Middle East wars.

Do you actually think anybody is going to sit at their computer and type out a response to each of your claims and expect there to be a decent conclusion from it?

Do you know how to communicate your thoughts and ideas? Do you understand that in order to come to an understanding your point needs to be clear and specific?

In the interest of improved communication why don't you tell me point by point what is unclear and what needs to be more specific? Let me help you:

For instance it is my humble and hopefully non-arrogant opinion that if you appoint someone to a government position, say the head of IRS, that that person not be a tax cheat. This would be along the reasonable guidelines that a police chief not be a felon or a commander in chief of the military not be a deserter. Is that better communication?

Timothy Geithner could be brought before a court for several instances of tax evasion and could be charged with tax fraud. If Tom Daschle stepped down because of tax problems why is Geithner not stepping down? The problem of Tim Geithner is ongoing and will continue. Keeping him on causes a few problems. You want a for instance in the interests of better communication? Suppose this April 15th (that's tax day in the USA in case you don't know) 10,000 taxpayers try to use tha same excuse for not paying taxes, ie. they were confused by Turbo Tax a computer program in case you don't know (never a valid excuse before the IRS before), and despite quarterly statements by their employer, an independent government contractor, which informed them that they must set aside and mail in a percentage of the their checks to the IRS they did not comply with that law? What are we supposed to do with those 10,000 people who claim they were confused? I hope you see the ethical problem here. I don't think I can be any more specific.

If you want more specifics about any of the other points bring them up one at a time.

[Nono]

max, your country is emerging near-ruined from eight years of marauding mismanagement by a clueless clod who was interested only in stuffing his cronies' pockets.

We didn't hear much of a critical murmur from you about it.

Now you've zipped, as rez points out, through a vast range of topics on full-throttle rant.

OK, you've got a chip on your shoulder -- we all have private issues, don't we?
But your blind determination to dis Obama in every conceivable way just ain't credible.

[maximdewinter]

max, your country is emerging near-ruined from eight years of marauding mismanagement by a clueless clod who was interested only in stuffing his cronies' pockets.

We didn't hear much of a critical murmur from you about it.

Now you've zipped, as rez points out, through a vast range of topics on full-throttle rant.

OK, you've got a chip on your shoulder -- we all have private issues, don't we?
But your blind determination to dis Obama in every conceivable way just ain't credible.

I'm glad to see you are working though your therapy too. But the Bush Derangement Syndrome is peeking through again so maybe you could work on that again in this weeks' session. It would have been hard for me to criticize Bush in this forum for the past eight years since I have been here for less than a year. I could do several hours of criticism on George Bush but that would be stale, since he is no longer the president. Also I don't think you would like my criticism because most of it has to do with Bush bringing us closer to socialism....your "ism" fave.

Is "dissing" the new term for "telling the truth." Was anything not true in the OP? Would you like to talk about it?

[RVonse]

Is "dissing" the new term for "telling the truth." Was anything not true in the OP? Would you like to talk about it?

The only thing I would tell you is the same thing I said in another thread of yours. And that is that Obama is acting like a newbie because he is a newbie. I would not expect perfection especially at first until he gets a little more experience. He does appear to have enough intelligence so unless he is even more corrupt than the gangsters we just had, he should be an improvement to this nations future.

[rez]

For instance it is my humble and hopefully non-arrogant opinion that if you appoint someone to a government position, say the head of IRS, that that person not be a tax cheat.

Usually on Volconvo people support their claims with what they read. If you want to come here and start making claims without showing us why you are making these claims then you are going to have an even tougher time trying to make a point.

So please, show me what you read to come to this conclusion. Because if you have read it and believed it then I should too, right?

I hope you see the ethical problem here. I don't think I can be any more specific.

You are simply ranting about 1 of the 8 topics you brought up in one post. You aren't Rush Limbaugh here, so please supply the information you read that lead you to these conclusions. It is really that simple.

If you want more specifics about any of the other points bring them up one at a time.

Wouldn't that make this ethical problem more complicated and twisted? Wouldn't that cause me and you to stop paying attention to these other ethical problems that you raised?

[maximdewinter]

The only thing I would tell you is the same thing I said in another thread of yours. And that is that Obama is acting like a newbie because he is a newbie. I would not expect perfection especially at first until he gets a little more experience. He does appear to have enough intelligence so unless he is even more corrupt than the gangsters we just had, he should be an improvement to this nations future.

Perfection? Who asked for perfection? I was just doing a recap of Obama's first month. After the Obama election everyone said, "Let's wait and see." "Lets see what he does." And so I did.

Now he has been in for one month. Now we can see what his first month was like and we can discuss. This isn't about George Bush, it's not about Cheney or Bill Clinton. . George Bush didn't botch the Geithner nomination.... Obama did that all by his lonesome. Either you agree or don't agree that it was botched. This is the Obama Administration now folks, I would have preferred to say "Hey, this Obama guy actually kept his campaign promise to make Washington more bipartisan." But I can't because the Republicans WERE locked out of the final draft of the Bill. Should I not point out that Obama broke his promise to get the lobbyists out of Washington either? When do you think it would be a good time to point all this out?

[Laurahill]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/us...dget.html?_r=1

WASHINGTON — After a string of costly bailout and stimulus measures, President Obama will set a goal this week to cut the annual deficit at least in half by the end of his term, administration officials said. The reduction would come in large part through Iraq troop withdrawals and higher taxes on the wealthy.

Mr. Obama’s budget outline, which he will release on Thursday, will also confirm his intention to deliver this year on ambitious campaign promises on health care and energy policy.

The president inherited a deficit for 2009 of about $1.2 trillion, which will rise to more than $1.5 trillion, given initial spending from his recently enacted stimulus package. His budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will include a 10-year projection showing the annual deficit declining to $533 billion in the 2013 fiscal year, the last year of his term, officials said.

A not so dismal start to a presidency if you ask me. Better he create such high goals so as to serve as the base for judgement.