dagblog - Comments for "It's Our Anniversary, Barack's and Mine. I Hope it's not our Last"

AT, I think one of Obama's

Ramona — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:36:32 +0000

AT, I think one of Obama's main problems is that he honestly believes he's president of these entire United States. That includes everybody, not just his base. He sees the middle of the road as his only choice, which may be why he gets himself into so much trouble. You can't be all things to all people and keep any of them happy.

He seems to understand the fix we're in only periodically, which isn't good enough when you're in the midst of a disaster. I'm hoping he gets it during his second term and works harder at fixing our real woes. Of course, I'm hoping he gets a second term.

Aww, thanks, Doc. That means

Ramona — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:59:33 +0000

In reply to Happy anniversary, Ramona!

Aww, thanks, Doc. That means a lot.

Happy anniversary, Ramona!

Doctor Cleveland — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:28:41 +0000

In reply to It's Our Anniversary, Barack's and Mine. I Hope it's not our Last

Happy anniversary, Ramona! Two good things happened for me that day ... I just only knew about one of them. But I'm very glad you blog.

Good points, Trope.

Michael Maiello — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:08:09 +0000

In reply to I think much of what has

Good points, Trope.

I think much of what has

Elusive Trope — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:52:37 +0000

In reply to Thank you, Destor. As I've

I think much of what has caused those on the Left to feel less than pleased with Obama and his choices over his first term was that he was a'courtin' the moderates, especially the independent moderates.

I would also caution anyone from getting too excited about a I-don't-have-to-worry-about-getting-elected Obama tacking to a more intense lefty, progress agenda. Aside from the fact that he is an incrementalist at heart, as head of the Democratic Party, his actions and decisions reflect upon all those Democrats who are concerned about getting elected.

This is not to say he won't embrace a more liberal agenda in his second term and take a more progressive tone in his speeches.

I also maintain some hope

Michael Maiello — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:44:53 +0000

In reply to Thank you, Destor. As I've

I also maintain some hope that if we bring him the right Congress, that he might push the proverbial envelope a bit in term two. He's got my vote at this point. Not my money. That goes to my son's college fund. But he's got my vote.

Thank you, Destor. As I've

Ramona — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:24:57 +0000

In reply to Happy Anniversary,

Thank you, Destor. As I've said, I'm not always happy with Obama and his choices. And sometimes I'm just baffled. But he's the choice and I'm going with it.

I do think our frustration and our anger is finally getting through to him. What it took was numbers he couldn't ignore. When you have millions of voices singing the same righteous songs he's forced to put his Smart Hat on and pay attention.

Plus, the election is just months away. Now's the time to come a'courtin'.

Oxy, I've heard a few other

Ramona — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:19:47 +0000

In reply to Very nice, Ramona. It has

Oxy, I've heard a few other people say the hatred for Obama seems to be waning -- or at least it's not on the front burner. It could be because there's so much fodder nowadays with the GOP candidates, but I had to laugh when even Romney couldn't avoid saying something good about Obama's termwhen he was talking to Laura Ingraham

INGRAHAM: Isn't that a hard argument to make if you're saying -- Okay, he inherited this recession, and he took a bunch of steps to try to turn the economy around, and now we're seeing some more jobs, but vote against him anyway?

Isn't that a hard argument to make? Is that a stark enough contrast?

ROMNEY: Have you got a better one, Laura? [laughter] It just happens to be the truth.... at some point it's going to get better, but I don't think President Obama's helping it.

Happy Anniversary,

Michael Maiello — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:37:32 +0000

In reply to It's Our Anniversary, Barack's and Mine. I Hope it's not our Last

Happy Anniversary, Ramona.

For all of my many problems with the President, I continue to support him. Part of it is for a reason you mentioned -- that the Republicans are suggesting clowns and liars as alternatives. I feel bad for well-meaning conservatives in this country. Their party has failed to recruit them a real candidate. I want to beat them, of course, but I feel they deserve to have us beat their best.

The other thing, three years on, that you have to consider, is that the U.S. is not in a Depression. I believe that Obama and Tim Geithner could have made choices that would have brought the U.S. (and the world) back to growth a lot faster. I believe that faster U.S. growth would have alleviated the ongoing Euro Zone crisis (none of the countries that are in trouble with debt now were in trouble before the Great Recession). But... we are not in a Depression, which was a very real possibility and the inevitable result of the conservative impulse to simply "let the economy fix itself."

Of course, this is just the way conservatives talk, it's not how they govern. George W. Bush, who is glaringly never mentioned in this campaign, sat in the White House without even having to worry about getting re-elected and he engineered the largest government economic intervention in history. When push comes to shove and the shove is over a cliff, conservatives always go to the liberal playbook. They just claim it's conservative when they're doing it.

Again, happy anniversary!

Very nice, Ramona. It has

Oxy Mora — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:40:20 +0000

In reply to It's Our Anniversary, Barack's and Mine. I Hope it's not our Last

Very nice, Ramona. It has been a roller coaster ride. But like you, I think the tide is turning.

Heard a story about an office meeting today of the owners of a small business. One guy is an Obama hater, the others moderate Republicans, maybe a Democrat or two in the group. Someone said they couldn't stand Gingrich and it went on from there. But, it was much more subdued than before, with the hater being ignored. I took that as a good sign. The head guy actually said Obama had been good for their industry and that's what should be counted.