Nov-05-2009Obama's Election Glow Fades as Recession, War Drag On
(topic overview)
CONTENTS:- Bina Mangattukattil 33, with husband Osama Siddiqui, North Side, domestic violence counselor When the jumbo screens in Grant Park flashed news that Obama had been elected president, Mangattukattil jumped off the ground and let out a scream. (More...)
- The U.S. is drowning in debt, with government debt slated to double to 100 per cent of GDP over the next five years. (More...)
- "Given the severity of the job losses that took place at the beginning of the year and the need for us to make up a whole lot of job loss, is going to require, I think, some bold, innovative action on our part and on Congress's part and on the private sector's part" to boost employment, the president said. (More...)
- I can remember the electricity in the air, the anticipation of history in the making, the chants of "OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!", the tears that streamed down many people's faces, the roar when the new president elect and his wife and children walked out onto a brightly lit stage. (More...)
- Now here we are, a year later. (More...)
- A resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Norm Ornstein, says the President has endured a tumultuous year. (More...)
- The time to get to work on jobs was months ago. (More...)
- The government reported that the economy grew 3.5 percent from July through September, the first growth recorded in more than a year. (More...)
- Did anyone see the new sci-fi show last night on TV called "V"? Very interesting, V stands for visitors. (More...)
- The problem may be one of immaturity and inexperience. (More...)
- I'm no political expert, but the consensus in DC, left and right, is that the longer it takes, the less likely the bill is to pass at all. (More...)
SOURCESFIND OUT MORE ON THIS SUBJECTBina Mangattukattil 33, with husband Osama Siddiqui, North Side, domestic violence counselor When the jumbo screens in Grant Park flashed news that Obama had been elected president, Mangattukattil jumped off the ground and let out a scream. Convinced that Obama would correct the country's course, she had canvassed for him during the election and was thrilled to see her candidate win. As she took in the diversity of the crowd, it struck her as living proof of Obama's message of inclusiveness and change. One year later: Mangattukattil feels just as positive about Obama, but the hostile ideological divisions among Americans have eroded her optimism and sense of unity. She feels like shouts of joy in Grant Park gave way to political screaming across the country that stymied reform of health care,
Immigration and the economy. "I really hoped that our nation as a whole would be united, but there still seems to be this big divide between liberals and conservatives that makes me very sad," she said.
[1] MADISON, Wis. (Reuters) - A year after his historic election, President Barack Obama sought to remind Americans on Wednesday the biggest problems he is grappling with -- from the economy to the war in Afghanistan -- are the legacy of his predecessor, George W. Bush. With his approval ratings down from once-lofty levels and Tuesday's Democratic election losses raising questions about his political clout, Obama held no special ceremony to mark the anniversary of his election as America's first black president. He instead traveled to Wisconsin to appear before a friendly audience in a school gymnasium and promote education as a pillar of his economic recovery efforts. Obama was elected on a promise of sweeping change after eight years under Bush, but many Americans are increasingly expressing impatience that his pledge has yet to bear fruit. He used the preamble of his speech to insist his administration had indeed had important successes and also to remind Americans of the litany of daunting challenges he inherited when he took office in January. "One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see," Obama said. He said his administration was also confronted with a "financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into a Great Depression, the worst that we've seen in generations."
[2] WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans still feel their country is faring badly one year after President Barack Obama's White House win, but their ranks have been dwindling steadily since the financial crisis broke last year, a CNN poll has found. Sixty-three percent of 1,018 adults surveyed in the poll released late Tuesday said things in the United States were going pretty badly to very badly, against 37 percent who thought they were going fairly well to very well. Both opinions had been changing gradually since mid-2008, when the financial crisis began. In a November 6-9 poll last year, the number of Americans who thought their country was faring very badly peaked at 83 percent, while those who thought things were going well bottomed out at 16 percent. That survey was conducted just days after Obama won the presidential elections on November 4, 2008. The latest poll coincided with a Commerce Department announcement last week that the U.S. economy had rebounded from recession in the third quarter, posting its strongest economic growth in two years. Obama claimed the upswing was a result of the 787-billion-dollar stimulus package passed by Congress shortly after he took office in January.
[3] Washington (CNN) -- One year after he won a historical presidential election, a slight majority of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama's doing in the White House. Fifty-four percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday approve of how Obama is handling his duties as president, with 45 percent saying they disapprove. "Obama's approval rating of 54 percent is nearly identical to the 53 percent of the vote he won a year ago," notes CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "And in nearly every demographic category, the percent that approve of Obama today is within two to three points of the percent who voted for him in 2008. It's a different story when we turn to ideology. His approval rating among liberals is 7 points higher than the number of liberals who voted for him. Among conservatives, the number who like Obama today is down 10 points compared to his share of the vote among that group in 2008."
[4] The U.S. President is almost near the bottom of the list of elected presidents since World War II, ranked on the basis of their approval ratings one year after their initial election, a poll by U.S. agency Gallup has said. "Americans are much less positive than they were a year ago that President Barack Obama will be able to accomplish a number of challenges facing his administration. Far fewer Americans believe he will be able to heal political divisions and control federal spending," the poll said. "Two-thirds of Americans now say the country is more deeply divided on major issues facing the country than it has been in the past several years, an increase of 11 points from the record-low reading on this last November," it said. Gallup said given Obama's decline in overall job approval, it may not be surprising to find that Americans have become "at least somewhat less optimistic" about Obama's ability to accomplish these goals. "The drop since last November in the percentage, saying Obama would be able to accomplish them, ranges from 5 percentage points for "keeping the U.S. safe from terrorism" to a 26-point drop on "healing political divisions in this country," it said.
[5] A year after he was elected as the U.S. President, American citizens are less sure about Barack Obama, with the leader getting only 53 per cent job approval rating, says a latest opinion poll.
[5] This time last year, Barack Obama was about to be elected the first African-American President of the United States, in an event that was hailed as reshaping his country. A huge majority of the population seemed to be ready for his change agenda. "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," Mr Obama said. The U.S. President has since discovered some of the promises he made during his campaign have been tough to keep and his popularity rating has fallen from its stratospheric highs to a more politically realistic level.
[6] A year ago, almost to the minute, I was here in New York, watching television reports of the aftermath of the election of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States of America. I recall the sight of a lachrymose woman from the Midwest, standing outside her run-down house as the sun rose, giving thanks for her deliverance: not from George W Bush, but from the threat of foreclosure. I have no idea whether this poor woman kept the roof over her head; all I know is, if she did, it would have been no thanks to Mr Obama. On the anniversary of his election, he is busy with unpleasant confrontations with reality.
[7] In the wake of Tuesday's elections, in which GOP candidates won the governor's races in two states Obama claimed last year -- New Jersey and Virginia -- Republicans warn that voters are bristling at Obama's policies. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that while voters went to the polls in both states concerned about the economy, they were working through "very local issues that didn't involve the president."
[8] The survey suggests that the president's approval rating remains over 50 percent even though most Americans disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy, health care, Afghanistan, Iraq, unemployment, illegal immigration and the federal budget deficit. "By retaining a reservoir of goodwill left over from his election to the White House a year ago. Six in 10 say Obama inspires confidence in them; six in 10 also call him a strong leader who is honest and trustworthy. Sixty-three percent say he is not a typical politician.
[4] The status quo isn't good enough. I don't believe Tuesday's election was a referendum on
President Obama, but it sure was a warning sign that he has to do more then show up in New Jersey and say "I need Gov.
Corzine to help me in Washington." The voters of New Jersey decided they needed the governor over the last four years to do what he promised to do when they elected him. In spite of spending millions more than his opponent, Corzine couldn't convince voters he was going to be a better governor the second time around. Maybe that's the warning President Obama needs to take away from this election. He needs to focus on getting this economy moving and creating jobs.
[9] A year later, change again drove voters on an Election Day -- with much different results. The same dynamics that powered President Obama to victory -- frustration with the status quo, economic anxieties, hope that new leadership can bring answers -- now stand as the biggest threats to
the Democrats' governing agenda.
[10] Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Ben Nelson of Oklahoma, Blanche Lincoln-Chaffe of Arkansas, Independent and former Democrat and Al Gore 2000 election running mate, Joe Lieberman are just some of the Bluedogs that act like conservative Republicans among Democrats. This family feud among Democrats have created stagnation, gridlock and, sometimes, deadlock in Washington, and spilling over into mainland America that now has the growing impression that Democrats can't do much with their sizeable majorities in both chambers of Congress. And, now, it seems the chickens of Democratic obstructionism are coming home to roost early with heavy losses in the Virginia gubernatorial race where Republican Bob McDonnell has defeated Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, and as I'm writing this commentary, MSNBC has projected Republican Chris Christie the winner in the New Jersey governorship race. This is a stunning defeat for Democrats, who barely a year ago swept victories in the presidential election and others across the nation. Exit polls suggest Obama was not a huge factor in these local election; the economy was. It doesn't matter. It's a warning to the incumbent Democratic administration to end the family feud and do something before next year mid-term congressional election--next November--or else, risk losing the Congress.
[7] There is no way to spin it. This is a huge defeat for Democrats; especially in heavily Democratic Blue State of New Jersey where no Republican has won a statewide office since 1997. Joe Cozine--a former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs--who raked outrageous fortunes and became a mutlimillionaire, and now spending an estimated $400 million to finance all his campaigns has fallen in hard times when ties to Wall Street, no matter how remote, is a political baggage. Along with a bad economy, they doomed Cozine's chance of re-election. Even, the most surprising development is that former Democrat, turned Republican and now Independent Mayor of New York City, muiltimillioniare Michael Bloomberg--owner of Bloomberg News--who takes only $1 a year from his about $195,000 mayoral salary--giving back the rest to the city--is now running neck and neck with his African-American poorly financed challenger in an election many thought Bloomberg will win handily. Bloomberg, also, like Cozine, has spent nearly $400 million financing his mayoral campaigns. This would have impressed New York City voters. Because he's working for them free of charge, and seemed to run an ethical administration in hard times.
[7] As you might expect, Gibbs said Republican wins in the Virginia and New Jersey governor's elections turned on "local issues." He stressed that Democrats won special congressional elections in New York and California, giving Obama two more votes in the U.S. House for legislation on health care, global warming, and jobs.
[11] The president sent more than 20,000 more troops to Afghanistan and is considering sending more. He has ordered the Guantanamo Bay prison closed, though he's likely to miss his self-imposed January deadline. On the domestic side, two issues have dominated the first 10 months of the
Obama era -- health care and the economy -- and the president can claim progress on both. The economy was stoked by a nearly $800 billion stimulus bill, which he promised "will likely save or create 3 to 4 million jobs; 90 percent of these jobs will be created in the private sector."
[12] Obama has the soul of an ideologue. He wants to be a transformational president -- unconfined by the limitations of conventional politics and determined to put a lasting mark on his era. In his first year, he has presided over more new domestic spending than Bill Clinton, the last Democratic president, did in eight years. The "big bang" agenda he laid out earlier this year on health care, energy and financial regulation unmistakably signaled his ambition to vastly expand the role of government in American life.
[13] Obama turns out not to be a Bill Clinton-style centrist or a Paul Wellstone-style liberal. His plans for
health care and his trillion-plus dollars in new spending have earned the
ire of Rush Limbaugh for being too grandiose and
of Arianna Huffington for not being grandiose enough. Obama is the president as grand improvisationalist: a leader of epic ambitions who -- when faced with a difficult choice -- almost always pursues his aims with a pedestrian strategy and style. This may be a shrewd approach to governing. It manages almost by definition to defy and disappoint the huge -- and wildly divergent -- expectations Obama encouraged supporters to harbor for his presidency.
[13] As president, Obama has had bruising political fights over economic stimulus and health care reform. He has been the target of angry personal attacks from conservatives, in a deeply polarized political environment that hardly represents the kind of change Obama promised. Mounting job losses remain his biggest domestic challenge.
[14] Basically, after hope and change (which was very November 2008), there really isn't a big Obama name to run on. This doesn't mean there WILL NOT be a big Obama name to run on in 2010. It all depends on what he does. He won't be the do-nothing SNL president if he passes health care, let alone all that other stuff. If the economy improves a bit and he passes legislation, there will be an Obama wave. If it doesn't and he doesn't, there won't.
[15] Like many people who desperately want to see the country take a more progressive course, I quibble and quarrel with some of President Obama's actions. I wish he'd been tougher on Wall Street, quicker to close Guantnamo, more willing to investigate Bush-era excesses, bolder in seeking truly universal health care. I wish he could summon more of the rhetorical magic that spoke so compellingly to the better angels of our nature. He's a president, not a Hollywood action hero.
[16] He's revealed himself to be a Marxist. That hateful reverend of his, the one who's Institution Obama sat in for 20 years, where the Obamas got married, that hateful reverend is on video from Sept. 17, 2009 praising Marxism. I know, I knnow, Obama never heard of any of those hateful things. We who knew better than to vote for the Marxist-in-Chief knew it before the election when he told an innocent American that spreading the wealth is good for everybody. WE THE PEOPLE don't like Marxist ideology (excluding the wacked out liberals and left-wing zealots who care only for themselves) and we are going to toss out the rest of the Marxists who someone were voted in to make unconstitutional laws to fulfill their twisted agendas.
[13] "People were expecting a romanticized version of the Kennedy Administration." One of those growing impatient with Obama is immigration reform activist Herbert Moreno, who runs education and literacy programs in Chicago's Hispanic community. Moreno worked for Obama's election; now he wants action. "A lot of people are disappointed, especially because we heard those promises," said Moreno, a 50 year old naturalized American from El Salvador. "We had high hopes for real reform and we're beginning to feel let down by the no action by this administration towards immigration reform." The new president has been warmly received overseas, and even unexpectedly won the
Nobel peace prize for his "efforts to strengthen international diplomacy." Obama couldn't snare the Olympic prize for his home town. His efforts to break the Middle East peace process deadlock
have floundered ; and his pledge to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay within a year now seems likely to be broken. The biggest challenge in Obama's Year Two--and perhaps the rest of his time in office--remains Afghanistan.
[14] Washington's partisan rancour seems worse than ever. Opinion polls show that Obama is the least popular president at this point in his term since Gerald Ford before the US's ignominious exit from Saigon. Despite all these negatives, history may well end up being much kinder to the first year of Obama that will be marked tomorrow by the anniversary of his historic election. Obama inherited a mess and he has fought his way doggedly through it, always taking the disciplined long view even when this has played poorly in the 24/7 news cycle.
[17] The glow of election nights, even one as historic as Barack Obama's, inevitably fade, and everyone knew the high spirits of the inauguration would fall prey to the rigors of the recession, two wars and bailouts -- costing popularity points along the way. A year after Obama's election, the president has lost a bit of his shine in the eyes of the public. He's still relatively popular but surveys suggest public confidence in Obama's ability to carry out his ambitious plans has eroded.
[8] On Nov. 4, 2008, Barack Obama won the presidential election, capping his historic bid to become the 44th president. A look at where he stands, nearly one year out: Stimulus: In February, weeks after taking office, Obama signed into law a $787 billion stimulus bill meant to ease the effects of the recession, create and save jobs, and invest in infrastructure projects.
[18] In the face of increasing heat from Congress for decisive moves to create jobs, President Barack Obama on Monday pushed his economic advisers to come up with job-generating ideas that can be hustled up to Capitol Hill. With unemployment rising and expected to be in double digits as lawmakers run for reelection next year, Obama conveyed a sense of urgency as he met with business executives, labor officials and economists who sit on his economic advisory board.
[19] Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday said his administration has been successful in '''pulling the economy back from brink''' but sounded a cautious tone on unemployment, saying he expects job losses to continue for some more time.
[20] "What surprises me most is the loss of Barack Obama as movement leader," Malika Saada Saar, a human rights organizer,
said on POLITICO’s Arena forum. As Obama's campaign reached its climax, in Saar's memory, it conjured up echoes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now that he has entered office, she finds that spirit missing: "During this time of economic decline, two raging wars and an uncertain future for so many Americans, we need a movement-leader president who can call forward our courage and relentlessly move us toward making the difficult policy changes that we need."
[13] Very interestingly enough, the editors left that article long enough in the front page of the Sunday Telegraph, as an editorial preference for me to write a rebuttal late in the evening for me and early in the morning in Great Britain. The point I made was, for readers, much as President Barack Obama is in deep trouble in popularity and policy, they should see the presentation for what it is: A propagandist partisan policy paper produced on behalf of a Republican- supporting think tank, solely designed to tarnish Obama legacy. Democrats, of course, have their own think tank like Campaign for American Future, headed by Clinton administration former chief of staff. The point I'm trying to make is that, when these kinds of presentations appear in the Telegraph, readers not familiar with the perennial nasty, polarized, hyperpartisan nature of American politics which seems now to penetrate the British, political landscape, would digest the whole content as relative truth.
[7] From which I mote that progressives took the worst body blow--though if conservatives continue perkily believing that intraparty warfare is the surest route to success. well, welcome to Barack Obama's second term. The more I mull the "this wasn't a referendum on Obama" message, the more I wonder why Democrats are celebrating this. It's kind of a problem that this election wasn't a referendum on Obama, or more importantly, on Bush. Obama's coattails are supposed to give them the spine they need to enact sweeping change. The bad news of last night wasn't that they lost the New Jersey governorship. It's that the era of running against George Bush, or for Barack Obama, is over. They just lost the two best campaign planks they've had in decades.
[15] Over the course of the show the climate went from bad to worse. Monologue Aired Tuesday night on "The Jay Leno Show": Do you believe it's been a year since Barack Obama was elected president? Amazing, huh? Well, actually, there's been some changes. His new slogan is now, "Yes, we can, but don't hold your breath."
[21] Aired Tuesday night on NBC : A year ago today, Barack Obama was elected president. It's been a year, can you believe that? Yeah.
[21] It was a night to remember: In Chicago's Grant Park one year ago, I watched as a giant surging crowd celebrated Barack Obama's election as the 44th president of the United States.
[14] The gathering of nearly 250,000 in Grant Park on election night last year was hailed as a historic moment for Chicago, and not just because Barack Obama, the first African-American president, gave his acceptance speech there.
[1] "The good news for Barack Obama is that people like him," said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, adding that his brand has not been "overly tarnished or diminished" in the year since his election.
[8] Any excuse, we must suppose, will do. For his part, Mr Obama is engaging in acts of deference to the Democratic majority in Congress - as a Chicago machine politician probably has to, for genetic reasons - that are exceeded only by his acts of deference to the unions, who have never had it so good, and who were the reason for his absurd decision to put tariffs on tyres imported from China. By the time you read this you will know whether the Democrats have lost a series of key elections held yesterday, including the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey. If they do, it will reinforce the point that Mr Obama won last November because he was not the heir of George Bush, and for no other reason. The President starts to risk comparisons not just with Jimmy Carter, but with Lyndon Johnson, felled by a combination of a foreign war and welfare reform, and even, with his list of enemies, Richard Nixon.
[7] Filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams started shooting film in 2006 with an Illinois Senator who had made a popular speech at a convention. As it progresses into the primaries, the filmmakers got a probably unmatched amount of time with Obama's family'''particularly daughters Sasha and Malia, who have since been in the press only sparingly'''and with his campaign operation, which provides the film's real meat and emotional impact. Spending late nights with exhausted volunteers who gave themselves to the campaign'''and watching them as they gradually discover they actually have a chance to win'''the film puts a human face on an often-maligned job. I watched By the People at a screening over the summer, and while I was impressed with the access and sometimes moved, I was also'''and I say this as somebody''
who voted for Obama '''a little unnerved by the general feeling of self-congratulation in the film. (The title is one hint.) As the film moves into the general election, the candidate and the mechanics of his campaign move into the distance (a result, probably, of the access drying up in the national stage of the campaign), and the film starts to take a hagiographic tone, as if honoring its viewers one last time for electing Obama President.
[22] "While Obama talks almost daily about green jobs and green technology, one panel member argued that such a transition may not benefit the United States unless policies spur American companies to become stronger competitors in the area." Is it possible for this guy put his ideology aside for five seconds to consider taking a common-sense approach to tackling critical problems for the good of his country, rather than the relentless pursuit of his own personal dreams and goals!?!?! It's not that I think his ideas are all bad, but his priorities are totally screwed up. I'm not a wing-nut anything, but the man has surrounded himself with people who share his progressive goals and dismisses all dissent even if it is the eptimone of common sense. I was opposed to some of his policies, but thought he was capable to being a good President; now, I'm increasingly frightened by him, as well as profoundly disappointed that he just another pol.
[19] More than half have a positive view on Obama on only three of the 14 issues noted in the survey. Obama does get a 62 percent approval rating on the environment and -- despite recent vaccine shortages - 57 percent approve of how he has handled the government response to the H1N1 flu. A bare majority -- 51 percent -- approve of how Obama is handling foreign policy overall even though he gets some of his lowest scores on Iraq and Afghanistan. Three days after winning the election, then president-elect Obama said he would succeed "if we put aside partisanship and politics and work together as one nation. That's what I intend to do." Do Americans think the president will unite the country? The poll indicates Americans are divided, with 51 percent saying Obama will unite the country and 48 percent feeling he will not succeed in ending partisanship. Another factor that may be boosting Obama's overall rating is the inevitable comparison with the man he replaced in the Oval Office.
[4] It's been a year since I was completely obsessed with the American general election. A year ago tomorrow Americans voted Obama to be their next president.
[23] Yeah. In one short year, Obama's slogan has gone from, "Yes, we can," to "Wow, this is freakin' hard." Reporters are saying President Obama has been skipping meals lately, and now photographs show he has lost a lot of weight. Folks, if this is true, then maybe Obama really has lost touch with the American people. Former President Bush is in Japan, and he was met with protesters carrying signs that said, "Arrest Bush" and "Bush is a war criminal."
[21] Why focus on just the economy? Yes it is bad and will take a while to turn around. (IMHO the real blow to the recovery will happen next year when Obama allows the Bush tax cuts to expire.) RobM mentions a dozen or so other campaign pledges that President Obama has not lived up to that in their totality explain the loss of faith in "Hope and Change."
[15] CHICAGO, IL--More than 400 progressives came together in downtown Chicago Tuesday to celebrate the first anniversary of President Obama's historic election. "We stand together today, on this anniversary of the election of change to celebrate his agenda," said Chicago progressive leader Jane Ramsey to the cheering crowd. Since Obama's inauguration, critics have questioned Obama's ability as the so-called agent of change, saying things are moving slowly under his administration. The economy, healthcare reform, two wars, immigration reform and a more energized opposition seems to be dragging his political agenda down.
[24] Bought honey made in Peru. President Obama and the Congress both Republican and Democrat alike don't get it. Most of the World subsidizes its economy. Germany is a heavily unionized country and they have a healthier economy than we do here in America.
[19] In real life, the well intentioned and naive character gets the blame and the nasty people get away with murder. The economy doesn't do well? They will blame Obama. Conflicts are not solved and America is forced to beat retreat? They will blame Obama. There will be those who will certainly say: He had an African American President, and you know what? Sounds familiar? Those who know will say: he didn't stand a chance because everything was arranged before he arrived.
[7] On the eve of that historic election, there seemed to be so much popular goodwill towards America's first black president but it has not taken long for that to evaporate. "There was an enormous amount of goodwill and a sense of almost self congratulation in America that we could have done this dramatic thing and elected an African-American president," Mr Ornstein said. "Obama won with what by our normal standards would be close to a landslide and certainly in electoral votes and he got almost 53 per cent of the popular votes. "But the fact is that early goodwill which was built on moving to a 17 per cent approval, which meant 17 was people who had not voted for him but were really eager to give him a chance, began to move down towards its natural dorm and at this point Obama's approval, which took a steep decline because he had been so high, is back where you might expect it to be, which is around 53 per cent or so - the people who supported him in the first place." Mr Obama's political honeymoon may be over but some of his historic reforms are still tantalisingly within reach.
[6] Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He was White House political director for President Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He watched his beloved Chicago Bulls instead. At least in the NBA, his hometown basketball team won -- by two points over the Bucks. If he'd watched the election returns, he would have seen that his team got clobbered. He also would have realized a lot of angry voters are out there who aren't very satisfied with the direction of the country.
[9] What could the White House possibly have meant when it said that on Election Night, President Obama wasn't watching the returns? No matter how you interpret that it doesn't look good.
[25] You don't! Of the three White House web sites that have existed, that being President Clinton and President Bush (43), President Obama's White House web site is the least transparent and least user friendly.
[26] While a week can be a lifetime in politics, 52 weeks, it turns out, don't guarantee transformation when it comes to policy, strategy or performance. Obama and his team are well aware of the areas in which they have fallen short of their campaign goals, especially those related to amending how Washington does business, and the White House is working hard to fulfill the President's promises. Then, is Obama's mixed scorecard on how he has changed the ways of the George W. Bush era. The bottom line: Yes, he can - some of the time, on some things.
[27] Obama the candidate promised openness and a new way of doing business. One particular foe was lobbyists whose power he vowed to reduce. Obama the president follows Obama the candidate's advice and releases the White House visitor's log to underscore his administration's new "openness."
[28] Obama's story has been lost, because the man now in the White House has lost touch with the brand that the people elected. Obama the candidate had a story to tell America that said that we were different, a nation founded in freedom and wedded to opportunity, a nation that was facing challenges that weren't systemic -- they were temporary and they could be fixed, just like others we had faced and fixed so many times in the past.
[28] Barack Obama has not transitioned into the White House. Even his staunchest supporters don't really feel like the man in the oval office is the change they have been waiting for.
[28] '''We have pulled the economy back from the brink,''' Obama said during a meeting of the President'''s Economic Recovery Advisory Board at the White House.
[20] The connection between jobs and votes is not lost on the administration. When the White House was debating whether to prop up Chrysler this spring, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel could recite which congressional districts had large Chrysler plants. Monday, Obama again stressed that he won't rest until economic growth is accompanied by job growth. "This is my administration's overriding focus," he said during a meeting with his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
[29] Speaking Monday at the White House, Obama said: "We anticipate that we're going to continue to see some job losses in the weeks and months to come." Afghanistan : Obama has not settled on a strategy for conducting the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan. He is weighing options, including significantly raising troop levels and targeting terrorists who pose a direct threat to U.S. interests.
[18] Obama also agreed to make public the names of visitors to the White House, a level of openness that good government groups said far exceeded that of past presidents.
[18] Even though the election is long over, Obama the candidate is still hanging around. His promise and influence might be waning fast, but we find traces of him all over the White House. More important, many voters are still assuming that he is bound to show up sooner or later and take full command.
[28] One year after Barack Obama won the election, millions of voters are still waiting for the candidate they voted for and believed in, to show up and get to work.
[28] It's been a year since a healthy majority of American voters elected Barack Obama to change the world. Which is precisely what he's doing.
[16] It's been a year since Barack Obama stood on a stage in Chicago's Grant Park on a balmy November night and made Americans feel, for a little while at least, that their world wasn't coming down around their ears. Cocking his head the way he does, radiating maturity and common sense, he talked about remaking the nation "block by block, brick by brick, callused hand by callused hand." It was a brief speech by Obama standards but laden with the dreamy, tranquilizing platitudes Americans wanted so badly, at least back then.
[30] A year after electing Barack Obama president, and five years after his star turn at the Democratic National Convention, we are still trying to figure him out. We could, of course, write that first sentence another way: Only a year after electing Barack Obama president, and we are already trying to figure him out. Rather than it being kind of late to attempt a rigorous analysis of President Obama'''s psyche, his political philosophy and his managerial style, perhaps it'''s a little too soon.
[31] When Barack Obama was elected president a year ago this week, the country was already mired in a long recession. Even his top economic advisers didn't know how bad things were going to get.
[29] "I think people still feel like we're the great city that produced Barack Obama." Michael Stewart 33, West Side, director of a nonprofit that works to eliminate homelessness among children worldwide Obama's campaign stirred little emotion in Stewart. Having moved to Evanston from Jamaica as a child, he grew up overwhelmed by the vast racial and economic disparities in the United States. He was pessimistic about racial progress in America and didn't think a single individual, such as Obama, could transform the country.
[1] On the streets of Washington there are mixed views from people like Roberta Meighan and Curtis McNish as to whether Barack Obama has met expectations. "I think he's been doing a great job considering what he was left with, the legacy that was given to him, I think he's doing a great job," Roberta Meighan said. "I think he's doing the best that he can at this point considering the environment he has to work with and the enormous challenges," Curtis Mcnish said.
[6] Obama the candidate had a unifying vision that was ultimately pro-American. He won the support of many conservatives because he insisted on the importance of the free market and the strength of rugged American individualism. He was the kind of man who appreciated people like Warren Buffet and entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs.
[28] Forward Motion is embodied by energizing slogans like "Yes, We Can." Obama the candidate made people forget that passing legislation is hard work and that ideological differences are real, because he promised to bring us all to some place much better than the present. Obama the president has lost his forward motion. Instead of telling Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank to either join his change wagon or get lost, he puts the Democratic establishment in charge and decides to play follower instead of leader.
[28] Where Obama the candidate was bold, fresh and new; Obama the president seems like a big helping of big-government Democratic leftovers served cold. This is a dish virtually none of the electorate wants to eat and no one voted for.
[28] The list of differences goes on and on, but you get the picture. The real question is does Barack Obama want to be a one-term president? If the answer is no, then we will have to see more of Obama the candidate and see him fast. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman observed recently that Obama has lost his "narrative."
[28] MOST headlines these days are bad news for Barack Obama. After Hillary Clintons arrival in Pakistan was met with a bomb blast killing a hundred people, her next stop in the Middle East only poured more cold water on the peace process. No sooner had Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai agreed to a runoff to settle his dubious re-election than his main opponent withdrew to destabilise the process still further.
[17] Sarah Palin and John McCain find themseves on opposite sides. Florida Governor Chris running for the U.S. Senate is, also, targeted, because he's a moderate. Worse: He endorsed President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic-stimulus package. This is the state of contemporary American politics. There is family feud in both parties--both ideological and policy-oriented.
[7] In the year since he
was elected president, Barack Obama has revealed himself as one of the boldest leaders to occupy the Oval Office in the modern era.
[13] One election day ago, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, and TV is marking the anniversary with two earnest documentaries'''and an alien invasion.
[22] HBO's By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, airing tonight, is better made and more engrossing, mainly because it had extensive access to an actual political campaign.
[22] Again, ties to Wall Street and outrageous fortunes seem to aggravate many voters reeling from recession. As I started editing this commentary, and almost ready to submit it, same MSNBC projected a narrow victory for Bloomberg. Obama may be on probation, because, he was elected with people's money and grassroots mobilization and campaign organization--few of whom turned turned out to vote for Democrats in current local-state elections in various part of the country. This is a wake-up call for him and Democrats. Republicans should relish their victories tonight. They must be bracing for civil war of their own, between right-wing extremists who now dominate the party and moderates calling for Big Tent more accommodationist policies of Reagan era that even enticed Reagan Democrats.
[7] "Independent-minded voters in purple and blue states sent a clear message today," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who chairs the GOP's Senate campaign committee. "(They) voted for reining in government spending, restoring fiscal responsibility and re-establishing checks and balances in their states." Whatever Obama watched on television, he found time to telephone the two Democrats who lost their gubernatorial races, Creigh Deeds in Virginia and incumbent Jon Corzine in New Jersey. Obama campaigned for both.
[11] Today President Obama got the message from the voters of New Jersey: it is now longer a safe state for the Democrats.
[7] Two broad indicators -- President Obama's public approval ratings and the nation's unemployment levels -- may hint at voters' mind-set. Jobs -- or the lack of them -- have become the key political yardstick for the president and his party.
[29] Very high budget deficits are likely to be predicted, along with stubbornly high unemployment and less-than-vigorous growth. Those numbers are likely to change the debate in Congress about what is achievable policy-wise, and it won't be to health care reform's advantage. "They won't repeat the mistake of 1994, not with their margins in both houses." Well, that depends on where they think the most political danger comes from. Does it come from not passing a health reform bill, or from passing one that they fear will be politically unpopular among centrists? In 1994, the Democrats went ahead with a budget reconciliation bill that raised taxes, trusting a popular President to help make the case to the voters.
[15] Children's health care: Obama signed a State Children's Health Insurance Program bill in February. In doing so, he continued coverage for 7 million children in lower-income families and extended it to an additional 4 million. Changing U.S. image abroad: Beginning with his election, Obama sought to boost America's reputation overseas. Foreign leaders who objected to what they saw as Bush-era swagger and unilateralism welcomed Obama's emphasis on partnership and cooperation. His efforts were rewarded last month with a Nobel Peace Prize. Appointing a Supreme Court justice: With the retirement of Justice David Souter, Obama got his first chance to name a Supreme Court justice. He chose Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge who grew up in a Bronx housing project and excelled at Princeton University and then Yale Law School.
[18] Health care: Obama is waging an epic fight to pass a bill that would revamp the health care system and extend coverage to most of the 46 million people now uninsured. Legislative proposals have faced numerous snags as they move through Congress.
[18] The best political decision now, however, was to abandon that for a more docile public option. Once that failed to garner the groundswell of support his advisers thought it would, he appeared altogether indifferent to it. If he were really a radical, he'''d be rallying us around universal health care right now, not some watered-down 1990-page bureaucratic hodge podge that is neither revolutionary nor practical. His impassioned pledges to end '''Don'''t Ask, Don'''t Tell,''' close Gitmo, bring troops home, end military tribunals, and myriad other promises, suddenly seem less like the stuff of real political conviction, and more like political headaches that require a clever exit strategy. His reaction to any kind of opposition ''' from the right, from the citizenry, from Fox News ''' is equally telling. If Obama'''s agenda were based on conviction instead of political expedience and an unquenchable thirst for popularity, criticism would bounce right off him. Instead he seems frighteningly flappable. That'''s because leadership without convictions is leadership of empty rhetoric.
[31] Proposals moving through Congress would empower federal officials to seize and dismantle large firms whose failure would pose a risk to the economy, as well as to create a new agency that would protect consumers in the financial marketplace. Ethics and transparency: Though government watchdog groups tout the strides he has made, Obama has not delivered on specific promises to reveal the workings of government. As a candidate he said he would hold health care meetings in full view of C-SPAN cameras.
[18] In just about every specific policy category, Obama's approval rating has declined significantly since the last time pollsters checked. On the economy, it's down to 46%, compared with 54% in September. On health care, it's 42%, down from 51% in September. On the federal budget deficit, it's 39%, versus 46% in September (although up from 36% in August). On Afghanistan, it's 42% versus 49% in August. The percentage saying his policies are too liberal (42%) is also up slightly, although 44% still say his policies are just about right.
[32] '''We got good news last week showing that for the first time in over a year the economy was actually growing once again. We have seen some (economic) indicators that manufacturing is beginning to pick up,''' he said. '''That'''s all good news and we are pleased that the actions that we took swiftly through the Recovery Act helped to stem what could have been a disastrous situation for the economy and we are starting to see stabilisation and, indeed, some improvement,''' Obama said.
[20] The time has come for Obama to put a stake in the ground on an open global economy. The past year has been full of headline-grabbing crises for Obama, many that were not of his making. All things considered, he has coped well with them in a quiet manner belying his global rock star status. In the coming year, Obama will have to deal with a bed he has now made.
[17] What I am reading is the Obama supporters can not defend Obama they can only blame Bush. When does Obama become responsible for his administration and his policies? When does he have to account for the double in unemployment since he has been in office? The demonetization of the true employers capitalism and small business? When does he have to account for doubling the deficit in one year - what took Bush 8 years and a very large chunk came from the bailouts? When did American become the land of Blame it all on Bush? It is the only battle cry the liberals seem to know, or blame it all on Fox - blame it on anyone but not the POTUS, He is not responsible for what happens under his watch and as a result of his pen. He is exempt. That being said I suppose we can blame Bill Clinton for everything Bush had to deal with from 9/11 on down! News flash little Dems/liberals blaming Bush is old and tired and diminishes your credibility along with Obama's.
[7] The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper here of serious money, has just savaged the Bill as perhaps the worst inflicted on the American people since the era of Roosevelt. Its projected cost - $1.055 trillion over 10 years - is regarded as madness when America has a level of debt so astronomical that it (just) exceeds, per capita, that of Britain; and few outside a hard core of Obama devotees see it delivering what is needed, where it is needed.
[7] The joy and unity of the diverse crowd in Grant Park awakened in Stewart a newfound patriotism and hope for race relations. One year later: Stewart feels like his doubts about Obama were confirmed, especially by what he perceived as the bailout of the banks. He remains tremendously excited about the American people and race relations. "It's all about the coalition of the willing," he said. "I've come to appreciate people as individuals, not by their race.
[1] Oprah Winfrey, down on the grass in the special VIP section, hugged somebody and wept. Jesse Jackson (who once declared that he'd like to castrate Obama for, in his view, speaking down to black people) finished his rounds of all the reporters on the riser, me included, made his way to the first pool camera he could find down on the grass and wept right in front of it, thus ensuring an image that would play for days to come on cable TV. Up on stage, the president-elect poured it on, talking about how Americans were, as ever, willing to "put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day." Abruptly, he walked off stage. It was as if he'd suddenly realized he didn't have to say all this stuff anymore.
[30] Is Simon Heffer by any chance an old white man desperately clinging on to conservative ideals when the world around him are changing. As for Rush Limbaugh, the less said about him the better. It is guys like Limbaugh, Hannity and others on Fox who turn people who are naturally a little conservative away as they spew hate night after night, almost to a point where it is racist (towards Obama, at least).
[7] Worst of all are the people still in power: Pelosi, Frank, Scumer, Dodd, Reid et al. Obama is probably trying to make DC work better but the destruction allowed over the previous eight years is not immediately surmountable in large part because the Congressional Democrats acted in concert with Dubya and refuse to come clean about the level of dishonesty and damage that has now been built into the system. BTW the auto companies are playing their games again with bogus misleading news and fake feel-good. It's all so darned dishonest.
[7] Isn't it lovely to be right? All those people who said a year ago that Obama was the wrong man for the job because he was out of his depth. Have they been proved right simply because he has achieved doodly squat so far? I think so.
[7] Obama is a man of words and not of substance. He has little understanding of economics and nor have most of his key economics team. They are spend spend artists who believe that the U.S. has a God given right to succeed and will do so no matter what. Unfortunately for them the world has changed. The wrong man at the wrong time.I think Obama means well, but he is simply not up to this highly demanding job.
[7] '''But I want to emphasise I am confident that having moved the economy on the right track, that if we apply some good common sense and reinvigorate that sector of our economy that'''s based on innovation and dynamism and entrepreneurship, that there'''s no reason why we'''re not going to be able to not only create jobs, but the kind of sustainable economic growth that everybody is looking for,''' Obama said.
[20] Gibbs said Obama didn't need any election to discern the primary issues for voters: jobs and the economy.
[11] By the time Obama was sworn in two months later, the economy had shed an additional million-plus jobs.
[29] As James Thurber, a presidential historian at American University here in Washington, put it: "If he was king ''' and we had a revolution against the king, so we don't like that idea ''' if he was king, he could get those things through." Thurber says Obama has made some changes, mostly by edict: He cites 29 in total, notably the reversal of the Bush-era ban on funding stem cell research, and a re-outlawing of torture, a practice the Bush administration embraced. Obama also continued the bank rescues begun by his predecessor, which seemed to stabilize the U.S. economy back in the spring. As for the big promises, says Thurber: "This is a representative democracy with lots of different interests that disagree with him. That's what he's experiencing." Of course, Obama, a former professor of constitutional law, knew all about the division of power when he was making all those promises.
[30] Now begins the drip drip of negative articles by froth at the mouth Conservatives against Obama. Why?Because he wants to introduce a health system that is enjoyed by all major countries in the world and that the U.S. economy is struggling under the mismanagement of free marketeer,market forces rule,lax regulation of Heffers fellow bedfellow George Bush.
[7] 
The U.S. is drowning in debt, with government debt slated to double to 100 per cent of GDP over the next five years. Higher taxes, less spending, higher interest rates, higher inflation, a sinking greenback - these are Obama's invidious choices. Candidate Obama said he believed in fair trade, not free trade. President Obama joined his G20 colleagues in solemnly forsaking protectionism. The Obama administration has not moved on any of the free trade deals on its docket, including the Doha Round, while succumbing to domestic pressure to get tough on trade with China.
[17] Monologue Aired Tuesday night on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon": In his first year in office, President Obama has traveled to 16 foreign countries, more than any other president in history. Bush only traveled to 11, but most of those were just different parts from the "it's a small world" ride.
[21] President Obama's approval rating of 54 percent is nearly identical to the 53 percent of the vote he won a year ago.
[4] President Obama's message to the Nobel Committee, October 2009: Taken verbatim from the official record(1) "Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for honoring me with this esteemed Nobel Peace Prize!" (Applause and cheering) "As you know, I am a strong advocate for world peace and harmony. (More applause and cheering) "Now. let's send some more troops into Afghanistan! 50,000 to 100,000 more American soldiers. We must bomb the Taliban into submission! America can, and will, bomb them back into the caves from whence they came. If they don't like it, we'll use the nukes! Although being a man of peace, I hate nuclear weapons. I won't hesitate to use them.
[7] Empty rhetoric cannot. Why all the radical friends and the radical proposals and the radical rhetoric if he'''s not himself a radical? Because his lack of conviction and his inability to forge his own philosophical and theological identity, have made him incredibly susceptible to external influence and pressure. He is easily led. He is, as such, the perfect prospect for someone like Bill Ayers or Reverend Wright, whose radical agendas require vulnerable recruits who are malleable and willing. I don'''t know if President Obama is a man of conviction, if he is a man of faith, or if he is the intellectual giant the left really wants him to be. He very well may be all of those things.
[31] President Obama still goes to work every day, many people believed that he would be denied that privilige. Why blame the President, he is only the leader of a team and like the rest of the World there are not many real talented people going into politics, he has to select the best from a pile of rubbish. I would pay President Obama's air fare to come and head up the UK instead of this useless Brown and his sycophantic International Socialist friends.
[7] Monologue Aired Tuesday night on "Jimmy Kimmel Live": A lot of people have been noticing that president Obama is getting very skinny. Have you noticed this? And he is thin. If it wasn't for his ears he'd weigh less than 100 pounds.
[21] A year after President Obama's election, the president has lost a bit of his shine in the eyes of the public. He's still relatively popular but surveys suggest public confidence in Obama's ability to carry out his ambitious plans has eroded.
[8] President Obama has only been in office for about nine months. His supporters here say he still has more than 3 years to fulfill most if not all of his campaign promises. Supporters also say they are going to stand behind their elected president every step of the way.
[24] President Obama could not possibly have solved the following in one year and you know it: RDG: True and again fair point. 1.
[7] "This is our moment," President-Elect Barack Obama told electrified crowds in Chicago's Grant Park, and around the globe, a year ago. His 2,050-word speech took care to point out that stark realities were colliding with the night's giddy celebrations, and he reminded of "the challenges that tomorrow will bring''two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century." On what was the 287th day of his young presidency, those challenges were indeed his reality, not mere rhetoric, and commanded his attention in back-to-back meetings that began with a daily briefing from the CIA. After that off-limits session, Obama allowed Chicago Tribune photographer Nancy Stone to record most of his work day.
[26] We may not get there in one year or even in one term," Barack Obama told the crowd in Grant Park. He still needs time to turn a myriad of campaign promises into policy.
[12] In that same year, Obama also has revealed himself to be an innately self-protective, constantly calibrating and, in some surprising ways, supremely conventional politician. Who is
Barack Obama ? The drama of this presidency -- in sharp relief with Wednesday's one-year anniversary of his 2008 triumph -- revolves around how Obama navigates his own contradictions.
[13] One year ago, Barack Obama was elected on a message most succinctly defined by a single word:
change.
[27] You had to laugh at the slogan Change You Can Believe In. What the hell does that mean? Anybody elected on that ticket was not going to be an intellectual heavyweight were they? Obama is media friendly, but that is unfortunately not the key attribute a president facing todays problems needs. Is he much more? Probably not, though it is unfair to say he will fail after just one year, and he has of course inherited lots of problems. He probably needs another year before a more realistic judgement can be made.
[7] How anyone can think Obama a great man is completely beyond me. He's a pawn, put in place by the bankers of America with which to do his bidding. It's all a charade I'm afraid. Time for a change they said - a black president (although he's mixed race) instead of a white one. That's the only difference Cllr Ken Tiwari. I'm sure the Black Panthers, supremacists and the racist Black rappers/hip hop artists are overjoyed he's the president.
[7] Simon Heffer-write about USA-president dear Barak Obama- He says:-First anniversary&there's is nothing to celebrate? But I say,there's a lot to-celebrate-Simon old boy! For your information-and-other- haters of this Great-man:- the 44th president of USA-he did united his Country, by bringing his main challenger-in to-his Government-Hillary Clinton, and he is tackling Health-Care! I think Barak Obama is working- very hard,according to my relations in America.
[7] I think the approval ratings of Corzine need to be remembered. He was at 38% when Obama was inaugurated, and 39% on election day this year. That is hard hole to climb out of. Hell, I am from Illinois and Blago, had better numbers then that for his re-election (granted the country was not in the midst of a epic recession) and managed somehow to win.
[15] Truth be told, Mr Heffer, you were against Mr Obama's election from the very outset - and your numerous objections are well recorded on these pages. It's no surprise to me that you're blaming him, effectively, for inheriting the current unemployment situation in his country less than a year ago from your ideological soulmate, Mr Bush.
[7] "Compared to Obama, Bush does fairly well among southerners and rural voters. Even in those categories, a majority still says Obama has done a better job than Bush," says Holland.
[4] "Congress is going to be looking to act," Obama told the committee during an hourlong meeting in the Roosevelt Room. "To the extent that we have very clear, crisp recommendations that we can present before them and do so soon, the better off we're going to be." While the administration has fended off talk of a second stimulus bill, Obama made clear he's concerned that the stimulus legislation passed in February won't do enough to turn the jobs picture around.
[19] Panel members told Obama that the administration should look to three areas to spur job growth: exports, infrastructure and energy-efficiency technologies. While Obama talks almost daily about green jobs and green technology, one panel member argued that such a transition may not benefit the United States unless policies spur American companies to become stronger competitors in the area.
[19] Unemployment keeps rising, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, efforts to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have hit a brick wall. The vice-president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Darrell West, says Mr Obama has delivered on several aspects of his change agenda. "He certainly has improved the economy. The United States officially is out of recession and just report 3.5 per cent GDP growth in the last quarter so that is something all Americans look forward to," he said.
[6] Obama the president certainly doesn't seem to believe that it is the small business owner who is the backbone of the economy. He also doesn't seem to recognize that the American dream has a lot to do with the freedom to risk it all in the marketplace.
[28] Obama the president doesn't seem to care about capitalism or small businesses at all. His vision of a renewed American marketplace seems to have a lot to do with the government running and regulating everything.
[28] In one sense I get it: the movie was made in the spirit of Nov. 5, 2008, the generalized, post=election good feeling and best wishes for the Obamas, plus happiness that'''politics aside'''a country with a history of race troubles had elected an African American president.
[22] Igonikon Jack makes a good point highlighting the American character assassinations that are delivered to an unsuspecting public as the new glossy reality. the battle of the think-tanks. verbal firepower. trash and tarnish. repeat a lie long enough and its the truth. what many Americans may fail to realise is that OBAMA is admired in Europe for his courage to confront WALL STREET BANKSTERS although the QE tactics have not yet produced any JOBS. American BUSH-WARS are forgotten. very convenient for the REPUBLICANS. We get the leaders we deserve. maybe America doesnt deserve a good leader who can actually reason.
[7] When America is confronted by a resurgent, bellicose Russia, an emerging Chinese superpower and assorted murderous Islamo-fascists, now would not seem to be the best time to have your foreign policy run by a cringing apologist for past U.S. "misdemeanours". Having trashed his own country's reputation, the new foreign policy course on which Obama has so boldly embarked seems to consist of little more than attempting to bring eternal peace and everlasting justice to the world with the sheer force of his messianic personality.
[7] The new law is a laudable accomplishment for President Obama, but more significantly, for women who merely seek a level playing field in the workplace. At a time when women are STILL paid only 70 cents for every $1 that a man is paid, the act can be seen as a glimmer of hope for equality from both the Whitehouse and Congress.
[18] The GOP racks up major wins in Virginia and New Jersey. President Obama is navigating his own contradictions.
[13] President Obama and Congress still don't get it. Republicans are brain dead because they still think that "free markets" exists.
[19] Mr West says change has been harder to bring about that what Mr Obama anticipated. "People saw the President having big democratic majorities in the House and Senate and just assumed it would be easy to pass his agenda and that simply has not been the case," he said.
[6] Struggling to get a climate change which passed the House through the Senate. Struggling to get another package of financial regulations in place," he said. "I think Obama is likely to get at least two of the three of these within the next six months or three months even.
[6] Even the Dem that won the NY 23 House race, polling less that the RINO and the real Republican combined, campaigned AGAINST Obamacare. Obama is a lame duck, one year in to his Presidency. He can't get anything passed now and after 2010 he'll have even fewer Dems in Congress.
[7] Cook likens next year's election to another recession year: 1982, when President Reagan's Republican Party lost 26 seats in the House. A loss of that magnitude next year wouldn't be enough to cost Democrats their majority.
[29] Or perhaps
that new HBO documentary on his 2008 president campaign. We do know what he did not watch: election returns. "He never watched them when he was running," spokesman Robert Gibbs said, offering the White House analysis on last night's races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York.
[11] Conversion disorder is a terrible thing which Americans are currently learning to their cost. Nothing new under the sun is something else they're learning as Mr.Obama has proven to be not the Messiah but somewhat ordinary, at best. I just cannot in any way shape or form see McCain in this position had he been elected, and wish we could go back in time and rectify that fatal mistake he made that may have cost him the White House, Mrs. Palin. Ah, well, perhaps the U.S. and the world needed to make this mistake of personality rather than issue based politics so as not to do it again.
[7] Simon, your article shows just how deluded you and the Obama hate camp are. If you hadn't noticed, the U.S. was well on it's way down a path of distruction before Obama came into power but still, Americans and others are daft enough to blame Obama for the mess America is in.
[7] The opinion poll has found that in spite of the decline, more than half of Americans remain confident that Obama will be able to achieve four important goals -- increase respect for the U.S. abroad; keep the country safe from terrorism; bring U.S. troops home from Iraq in a way that is not harmful to the U.S. itself and reduce unemployment.
[5] Less than half of the respondents were confident that Obama will be able to achieve success on four other goals -- bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan in a way that is not harmful to the U.S., improve the healthcare system; control federal spending and heal political divisions in the country.
[5] I think Obama's calculus is more about healthcare. He wants to get it passed before either pissing off his base by doing what McChrystal wants or pissing off moderates by ceding half the country to the Taliban (or pissing off everyone by doing something in between). Obama has his political advisers in on the military planning, which Bush tended to avoid.
[15] "I think a lot of people at that time bought enough, at that time. I don't think it has got anything to do with his popularity or anything," she said. "People walk past and they still like him. it is just that maybe everybody got a piece of what they needed then." Ms Kagwa says she supports Mr Obama. "I think he is doing good.
[6] Igonikon Jack on November 04, 2009 at 07:13 AM So what you are saying is the pig ignorant voters ( I cannot believe any intelligent person would waste his time voting-in the crooks and charalatans which you have an even worse variety of there) think Obama caused the Global Financial Meltdown and that U.S. politicians couldn't give a fig about people, just their own interests ! Join the club! And that my friend, is why 'Democracy' SUCKS. It is the biggest con since the invention of the female orgasm.
[7] I think economic policy matters quite a lot. I also think it takes years to play out and for its effects to be fully felt. To put it another way, there is no known method for putting in a strong electoral performance when you take over an economy that A) has been in recession for 13 months; B) when this recession has another half year to go, and, C) when this recession ends a mere four or five months prior to the election. Four or five months simply isn't enough time for voters to start feeling better about their economic prospects.
[15] I don't necessarily disagree with this. I don't think many voters possess much in the way of economic literacy, and I think they therefore are apt to substantially underestimate the amount of time necessary to turn around a battleship the size of the U.S. economy.
[15] "Given the severity of the job losses that took place at the beginning of the year and the need for us to make up a whole lot of job loss, is going to require, I think, some bold, innovative action on our part and on Congress's part and on the private sector's part" to boost employment, the president said. "This is my administration's overriding focus. We will not rest until we are succeeding in generating the jobs that this economy needs."
[19] The president has been alternately criticized for not doing enough to create jobs and for spending too much money. Congressional Republicans voted almost unanimously against the stimulus package, and they're quick to pounce each time new job losses are reported.
[29] The gloves are not just off; the knuckledusters are on. To use another old cliché, Mr Obama looks like a man who has made the mistake of believing his own publicity. His adherents in the media are now so defensive that they have started complaining about the rules - implying that the exercise of free speech by the likes of Mr Limbaugh verges on the traitorous, and is preventing the President from doing his job properly.
[7] Obama is not change, other than in terms of a step-change in presentation in already over-hyped presidential election market. This is a job bought by campaign spend.
[7] "We've come so far, but we've got so far to go." Supporters say they came to urge the president to continue addressing his unfinished campaign promises. "We are here to remind him that a promise is promise and that we have long memories, and we have supported him a hundred percent," said Grace Villamora of the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigration Rights. As a symbolic action, supporters signed a larger-than-life letter addressed to the president to reaffirm their support and remind Obama of the issues that require his immediate action.
[24] Many of President Barack Obama's campaign promises remain unfulfilled, and the national unemployment rate is approaching 10 per cent.
[14] John D. McKinnon reports on presidential popularity. President Barack Obama's overall approval rating has stabilized in the latest CNN/Opinion Research poll ' at 54%, it's still roughly where it's been since late summer.
[32] That Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize came as a shock to most people, especially his critics.
[27] Obama the candidate was a man who effectively united millions of people from different political camps and won with the promise of a new kind of politics. This man is still a winner.
[28] Obama the candidate told us a story that connected all the points in our great national story -- not points in a long, dull legislative checklist with a socialist twist. Candidate Obama told us that he would listen to Republicans and involve them in the way forward. He knew we were a center-right nation that wanted to stay in the middle because we believe that capitalism works and big government doesn't. This simply isn't 1932 and we don't need another FDR. In 1932, our nation was center-left and people were in much more desperate straits than they are now.
[28] What the dilemma illustrates is that governing is not so easy as it might once have seemed; that you cannot please all of the people all of the time, so there is little point trying; and that the expertise of the Obama campaign in managing image is useless when managing a country. Tony Blair, had they asked, could have told him that.
[7] Obama also has the soul of an operative. He and his West Wing team -- dominated at the top by people whose expertise is in the world of campaigns and Washington maneuvers -- have proved to be far more familiar political types than they admit to themselves or than was forecast by his insurgent campaign and the expansive, at times almost messianic, rhetoric that powered it.
[13] Obama the candidate was an impressive figure. He possessed powerful charm, eloquence and, for many people, a Teflon image. When painted into a corner, this is the man who could find a doorway to the future and walk right out. He did this with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and at many other pivotal moments in his campaign.
[28] Yeah right. RDG: Again it is not that it is easy it is that the then candidate Obama made claims and speeches that indicated that his belief was that if the U.S. were just 'nice' then the world would come around somewhat. That was my impression watching this man many months ago wondering incredulously how a Tony Blair clone with a huskier skin tone had managed to fool so many people again. 3.
[7] I can remember the electricity in the air, the anticipation of history in the making, the chants of "OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!", the tears that streamed down many people's faces, the roar when the new president elect and his wife and children walked out onto a brightly lit stage. "This is our moment. This week I returned to Chicago, to stand in the empty, windswept space of Grant Park.
[14] The new president is quickly learning he has to watch everything he says, no matter where he is. Obama's "Special Olympics" gaffe wasn't his first - and definitely won't be his last.
[27] Fifty-seven percent say Obama has been a better president than
George W. Bush ; only a third say Bush's track record was better.
[4] The public is split down the middle on Obama's record to date. The same survey found 49 percent believe Obama has accomplished a good or great deal, while 50 percent say he's accomplished little or nothing. "Detailed evaluations of him are going down and going down precipitously on key measures that are critically important to a president," Schoen said. The president's general popularity is still resistant to the doubts about his performance. Gallup shows his approval rating remains at 53 percent.
[8] After one year of no drama Obama, the answer is a quiet yes - though without any of the delirious triumphalism of last year's Obamamania. Looking ahead to next year, the challenges Obama will face will be of his own making. He will no longer be able to hide behind the notion that he is making the best of the bad lot he inherited. In many ways, this might prove a tougher hurdle for the President to clear.
[17] The little Democrats want stuff for free no matter. They are parasites and brats kind of like helpless 8 year olds and Obama speaks to them that way.
[7] Obama's public approval ratings dropped sharply for months until inching upward just recently. "There was a lot of expectations and it's probably hard to meet all of them," shrugged Obama supporter George Takhtayshe. Barbara King defended Obama saying, "He's done all he can, from the way it started, what he had to go pick up." Tracy Theodopoulos complained, "It seems like some of the campaign promises haven't been met, and I'm a little disappointed."
[14] I reckon Obama has been used by the American establishment that flooded his electoral campaign with money to make sure that he could become President. Why? Hillary Clinton made the argument that she could be the first Female President of the United States. Those who supported Obama said that he could be the first African American President of the United States.
[7] President Obama and his "experts" are giving Americans the same old same old.
[19] Obama silently saluted as flag-draped coffins were carried in procession - a president bearing witness to the return of American soldiers killed in a long war in a land far away.
[14] Obama will very likely end the year by signing a new healthcare act that will constitute the biggest expansion to American healthcare coverage since the 1960s.
[17] Ethics and transparency: Obama set up new rules to slow the revolving door between government service and lobbying firms. He signed an executive order barring lobbyists who join the administration from working on an issue for which they had lobbied in the past two years.
[18] Then there's health care reform. I've been impatient with Obama's strategy of letting Congress take the lead on writing legislation, but he's brought us to the brink of truly meaningful reform much faster than anyone could have imagined a year ago.
[16] I'm amazed by those that infer that Obama should have taken on more. He assumed control of TARP, bought General Motors, raised the $700B stimulus in 3 days, passed a $700B budget, took on health care and kicked off the discussion on cap and trade. and then there are two wars and the probes by the DOJ. While the far left of the Democratic Party grouse that they wanted more, the conservatives are on fire thinking he's a madman that is on the verge of destroying the country. Obama is not the unifier he billed himself at all, and his programs are far from moderate.
[13] It's about time - I hope the administration realizes that this country needs real jobs, not taxpayer money being thrown at the problem. I guess if the easy fix of using others money (stimulus bill) doesn't work, it's time to do some real work on jobs. This should have been the top, top priority of this administration. If the government had spent all the time, energy and $$that they have spent on health care reform, everyone would have a job.
[19] The president's agenda is now backed up behind a stalled
health care bill, even as the calendar prepares to flip into a congressional election year.
[10] What ever happened to Afghanistan, the 'good war', the public option that was 'too extreme'; what about 'no new taxes' and a health bill negotiations you could 'watch on CSPAN'. If the recent elections tell us anything, this president may need to do some real callibration if he intends to survive the upcoming midterms.
[13] After big names like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and others endorsed Hoffman, Scozzafava dropped out of the election. She went on to back Democrat candidate Bill Owens, who won -- the first time a Republican has not held this seat since 1872. This was a unique situation and too much was made of the ideological split.
[9] Gibbs preferred to talk about the special congressional race in Upstate New York, where Democrat Bill Owens won a race in which the GOP nominee dropped out under pressure from the Conservative Party candidate and his backers.
[11] I still think any rational analysis by Democrats -- and not conservative concern trolls -- strongly argues in favor of making sure a bill gets to Obama's desk. Modest though it may be, the proposed expansion of social insurance is a potential game-changer, and both parties know it, and are acting (and will continue to act) with this knowledge in mind.
[15] John Kass, an old acquaintance of Obama and a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, says Obama was dealing "hopium," and that the chattering classes and opinion leaders bought it by the kilo. As it turns out, Obama not just failed to win over Republicans, he hasn't even been able to corral the so-called "blue-dog" conservatives in his own party. Once they sensed that all the euphoria of the presidential win was wearing off, some Democrats turned their attention to getting re-elected themselves, in the process defying him, especially on economic issues.
[30] With some reason. Obama, in fact, has continued the wild spending his Republican predecessor began in order to try to keep the economy from tipping into the abyss, or melting down, or imploding, to use the doomsday parlance of a year ago.
[30] As far as I can see, Obama has done an excellent job thus far. If he hadn't bailed out the banks and other companies there would have been total chaos (especially the banks because money needs to circulate through the economy) as some of them would have gone under and there would have been loss of God knows how many jobs.
[7] Or. will Obama just hire people in the gov't that don't actually create anything, don't produce a consumable product, and are just a continued strain on the economy. Don't hold your breath that Obama will ever figure out that Employees NEED Employers other than him.
[19] Since Mr Obama was elected the U.S. economy has climbed out of recession and he has won the Nobel peace prize.
[6] The bigger problem is the lack of a robust, effective foreign policy. This is urgent and will not go away simply by being nice to everyone. It is time to stop campaigning and start governing. If Mr Obama cannot bring himself to do that then he will have been a failure whatever the economy does.
[7] Read up on the bills passed and who created them! Oh there is so much you don't understand! Space and time (or energy) don't permit further comment on your extemporaneous writings. Regarding your challenge,I cannot speak for Mr. Heffer, but I would imagine that being the obviously intelligent and well educated man that he is, he would not institute any of the numerous socialist/marxist policies that Obama is persuing, of which there are too many to mention here (I also don't have the energy to explain basic and simple economic truths).
[7] Well good luck with that one. I have to confess I have always been so appalled by Obama's hubris that I am taking a certain sadistic delight in seeing his Presidency unravel so quickly. That much was predictable, but I still never cease to be amazed that so many supposedly intelligent people were ever taken in by all that narcissistic "we are the change" claptrap in the first place.
[7] People like Obama. Why not, he is good looking, personable, and a good speaker. They hate his policies.
[33] You know exactly what all of us who dislike Obamas political views are really thinking. We don't like him becuase he isn't white! Chris, some news for you.
[7] Georgie boy did everything economically for the U.S. that Simon Heffer wants for us in the UK. And before we forget, the worlds worst recession was caused in the U.S.,no matter how many times planks like Simon Heffer blame Brown. Another reason the vitriol and bile will grow and grow against Obama,especially in the U.S.,is that he is not white no matter how often his detractors deny this.
[7] For starters, electing a big government socialist like Obama at a time when the U.S. is crippled by grotesque levels of public debt is a bit like asking an arsonist to take charge of efforts to extinguish the Great Fire of London.
[7] I checked the production notes to make sure Glenn Beck was not credited as the screenwriter, and that the aliens are not secretly from Kenya. I'm not sure if V intends these parallels to be a running theme of the series, or if they were just played up in the pilot to get attention from writeups like this one. (Also, some of them may ring familiar because certain of Obama's critics have been throwing around the same kind of'' fascism comparisons that were in the original V.) Either way'''again, speaking as an Obama voter'''I have a hard time getting particularly worked up over the B-movie politics of V. They're not always entirely coherent, either.
[22] I don't see why everyone is giving Obama such a hard time. He has to reverse eight years of destructive Bush/Republican policies.
[7] One year later: The LGBT community has suffered some major defeats, and Woodward is disappointed that Obama has not done more to advance the cause. He feels the momentum from Obama's election and the Grant Park celebration when he sees increasingly diverse crowds at gay rights rallies.
[1] The whole thing about Obama walking on water and curing the sick was a distortion played by a desperate losing party. They needed something to counteract their guy being associated with the past eight years of incompentency. Anyone who seriously looked at Sen. Obama, and who voted for him, knew him as a centrist with some liberal leanings. After the far Right and far wrong government we had previously, he got saddled with so much expectation and hope that it became ridiculous and fodder for alien allegories.
[22] The Obama magic was showing up in the most unusual places. Obama is to the right of the Conservatives, but the left was hoping to hitch their wagon to the movement. It hasn't worked particularly well for anyone, and didn't last night.
[15] Obama supporters on election night, Nov. 4, 2008, at Grant Field in Chicago. It wouldn't be a problem, he assured everybody, because he, Obama, the great mediator, would bring together the right and left in some sort of modern-day healing circle and the old deadlocks would crumble.
[30] The first in line at Grant Park, Krieglstein had arrived the night before Election Day and camped out. From his front-row seat, he marveled at the respectful behavior of the growing crowd. It was as if people were ambassadors for Obama.
[1] He''did it''with 53 percent of the vote. Today, on the first Tuesday of November 2009 as voters go to the polls for a handful of off-year elections, his approval rating is in pretty much the same spot: 54 percent, according to a CNN poll. "In nearly every demographic category, the percent that approve of Obama today is within two to three points of the percent who voted for him in 2008," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
[33] An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken Oct. 22-25 showed impressions of Obama as honest and straightforward fell from 41 percent to 33 percent. His rating as a firm and decisive leader also fell from 37 percent to 27 percent. "His ratings on leadership, decisiveness, getting things done are declining and declining markedly," said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen, who worked in the Clinton White House.
[8] Obama is all about cosmopolitan deliberation. When Obama won the White House, expectations for his presidency were sky high. The reality he faced was daunting.
[17] I turned around, joined Telegraph View in the editorial opinion, and even Simon Heffer to challenge the award, claiming there are other more deserving winners. Even, Obama holds the same view in his informal acceptance remarks in front of the White House. This subtly indicates that what I do in my commentaries is pursue the truth and objective facts of old-fashioned journalism; instead of advocating a one-sided viewpoint.
[7] A list of some 45 artworks chosen by the Obamas for the family quarters of the White House and the West and East Wings was made public in early October.
[27] One thing the new administration clearly did not anticipate was that Republicans in Congress would be so consistently and unanimously obstructionist or that Democrats would have to be introduced to the alien concept of party discipline. It took the White House too long to realize that bipartisanship is a tango and that there's no point in dancing alone.
[16] The polls don't show any big jump in support for Republicans. Last month, White House economist Larry Summers argued in a letter to Boehner that Republican missteps in the last administration are what put the United States in this deep economic hole.
[29] The administration bailed out the auto industry and we actually heard the president of the United States reassure Americans that General Motors warranties would be honored. These and other actions convinced the financial markets that the White House would do anything to avoid a complete meltdown.
[16] Americans really were happy that night. A middle-aged CBC colleague of mine reporting in front of the White House was mobbed and pawed and kissed by celebrating college students, something he'd probably given up on ever experiencing again.
[30] Corporate America has one value and that is the bottom line. If you have a family, house mortgage, kids to put in college, then find a job somewhere else other than with Mr. Freemarket INC. He sells American jobs to the lowest bidder in Asia. Walmart, according to statistics, has 80% of its products made in a foreign country.
[19] How can you ever win with some Americans, you try to come up with policies to help with job creation and even before they are out you are criticize Mr. President, if sit back and let the free market do it'''s think Mr. President you would be criticized for not doing anything. If you don'''t believe me Mr. President you Just watch the post that would be written on this story. The same people who think it is your responsibility to create jobs also think that you are a Socialist.
[19] Ron Paul has been trying to warn the American people what is going to happen to the dollar for years. Apart from the vibrant Liberty movement, most Americans have dismissed him as a crank, a nut job. They are going to pay a terrible price for not listening to him.
[7] If you go into a job, in the worst of times, on hype, on promises, and where nobody really lucked behind the long shadow of your campaign for the substance, the experience, the viable policies - this is where you will be a year later. In Britain a lot of people took almost a decade to spot the con our side of the Pond - give America her due, she's waking up a lot faster.
[7] I wanted Hoffman to win but the Dem was my second choice (before Scozzy dropped.) If you nominate social conservatives who run on a neutral jobs/lower taxes platform (ala McDonnell), you get the best of both worlds. Conservatives are happy to have one of their own and opposition talking about 20 year old theses look ridiculous when you are talking about what people care about. If you nominate a more liberal candidate, he needs to throw bones to the right and the left can use those to attack him as they are actually occurring during the campaign.
[15] Bottom line: a year later, millions of voters are still waiting for candidate Obama to show up and get to work. If he doesn't do so soon (and the experience of being in office doesn't help do the trick), my prediction is that even his core supporters will defect.
[28] Thanks to Obama there will be no peace in the Middle East,he renaged on his promise that Israel must stop building on Palistinian land before talks could begin,did you see the meeting with fat ass Clinton and Netanyahu?,It was stage managed,I thought"Boo Boo" looked relaxed,too relaxed,then Clinton started the BS about how Israel had done wonderful things to get the peace process going,the Jews control Obama and America,its as simple as that.Israels plan is to keep building on stolen land,then,if they can stall talks for years and years,they can turn round and say"Look,we have been on this land forever,it is ours",its an old trick they hope will work.The only way out of this is for Iran to drop a bomb on Israel,problem solved.
[7] Great article. Obama's suit is way to big for him. America lost it's head last year but things are starting to clear up.
[7] Britain also suffered the same humiliation although the taxpayer remains hopelessly ignorant of the consequences. Where Prez Obama stirred a hornets nest was demanding ISREAL stop building illegal settlements and confiscating property of Arabs in EAST JERUSALEM. America needs accessible healthcare but that corporate lobby is willing to discredit the President to get its way.
[7] CNN reported that the president's top adviser, David Axelrod, said that Mr. Obama was "more likely to watch Tuesday night's Chicago Bulls game than any political coverage."
[25] When it comes to policy, Obama is more willing than any Democratic president since Lyndon B. Johnson to propose expansive goals -- but is insistent always on preserving flexibility in the name of realism or political self-protection.
[13] Take a look through the marketing lens and you'll see that there are really two brands that make up today's Brand Obama: Obama the candidate and Obama the president.
[28] Obama the president is an increasingly embattled figure. He's a man whose charm, eloquence and even Teflon image are becoming liabilities -''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' the over-used tools of a man now putting out fires instead of lighting the bright beacons of change.
[28] President Obama, please do the world a favor and resign!! As in, TODAY. This afternoon! Write your letter of resignation and email it to Joe Biden. He's always wanted to be President anyway.
[7] "Unemployment is still as high. That is a problem and Congress is still working on President Obama's top domestic agenda which is healthcare."
[6] What I want to know, is whether or not Obama is a Muslim. That seems to be what the internet rumour mills are saying. If that is so, then it trumps being a black president for its unexpectedness.
[7] One year later, Krieglstein still feels a strong sense of connection to Obama. When he gets stressed out about work and other pressures, he'll draw inspiration from how calmly Obama seems to juggle his even more important responsibilities. Obama's supporters don't seem as civil as they were that night.
[1] If you can't, then do shut up. RDG: It isn't fair to say you are not allowed an opinion of someone elses record unless you could do better. I agree that constructive arguments are best but surely this is simply an observation piece that highlights that 1 year on and things that were 'promised' have not been delivered. The major thing being Obama campaigned as a centerist and seems to me to be extremely left wing in his policy decisions.
[7] Economists expect trillion-dollar-plus deficits for years to come. Just last month, one of Obama's economic advisers, Christina Romer, told the nation that the fantastically expensive stimulus program has pretty much had its effect. It probably won't result in much growth next year, she predicted.
[30] Economic unease -- again, a key factor in Obama's victory -- was foremost on voters' minds, according to exit polls in New Jersey and Virginia.
[10] Financial regulation: Obama has vowed to develop a new regulatory regime that will forestall the kind of economic chaos touched off by the collapse of huge financial firms.
[18] I was in America when the story broke about the song sung in a New Jersey school("Mm, mmm, mn! Barack Hussein Obama).
[7] About a month ago, there was an article from a staff of America- based, conservative Heritage Foundation and Telegraph columnist published here on online Daily Telegraph trashing Barack Obama. And, in short, it went as far as ridiculing him in a way I feel that portrayed him as a foreign-policy nonentity with a short-lived and tarnished legacy.
[7] Let me first assuage the fears of many of my conservative friends and colleagues: Barack Obama is not a left-wing radical. He is not a socialist, a communist or a Marxist, and he'''s not a black liberation theologist.
[31] Abraham Lincoln could run this country in 2009 better than Barack Obama is running it in 2009.
[7] It is this very question that started the labeling of those who question Barack Obama and his non-record as a racist, hater, bigot. Who is Barack Obama? What does he bring to the table besides an eloquent speech reading tongue.
[13] Now here we are, a year later. All those millions of humid, enthusiastic Obamaniacs have calmed down ''' "gone to sleep," in the words of Pew pollster Andrew Kohut ''' and everybody knows that nothing much has transformed at all. It's become almost clich'' to rattle off all the things Obama and the Democrats have not done.
[30] One year after Obama's resounding victory, the soaring rhetoric of campaigning has given way to the trench warfare of governing in a polarized country.
[10] Until Obama stepped on stage, Krieglstein had never felt so connected to the president and the country.
[1] Obama had brought together people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. As she looked out at the sea of smiling faces, Keegan proclaimed it the beginning of racial healing in the country. Chicago, with its history of severe segregation, was born anew.
[1] I don't blame Obama, I blame Bush. At least with the tire tariffs he stood up for American workers and the American people.
[7] Obama was a perfect fit. Bush believed Iraq was the right war while Obama's meteoric ascent was based on his pristine anti-Iraq credentials. Bush demanded to know whether you were with or against him; Obama is always looking for points of connection with even his most bitter opponents.
[17] It is about time that the Obama bubble was pricked. I felt frankly nauseated by so much hype surrounding him, particularly because his politically correct genetic inheritance obscured the fact that the man simply lacked substance. You can hardly imagine better proof of that than the fact that he demeaned and debased himself by picking up childish rows with the media. If nothing else, it shows how much he lacks in self-confidence. We are left wondering what would be his reaction if he were so universally reviled and castigated worldwide as Bush was.
[7] About reelection time, Bush was polling slightly higher than Obama is polling now.
[32] Obama spent a lot of time in each state and his guys lost with knockout punches. What Americans don't want is what he is trying to force down our throats.
[33] Here comes the man whose father was Moslem, born in Hawaii, who lived in Asia and who was educated at the best American Universities. What a propaganda coup! They chose him as the face of a redeemed United States of America. What the Establishment didn't say is that Obama is the face and they continue pulling the strings. Where did I hear the story before? Hollywood produced plenty of movies in which the well intentioned and often naive main character is used by those trying to promote their vested interests.
[7] Obama the candidate carried himself with a Reagan-like belief in America's virtues and its exceptionalism. We assumed he would carry this belief with him into office just like Ronald Reagan had.
[28] I was deeply suspicious of Obama's intentions and motives when, during the pre-election period, he - like Tony Blair in 1997 - insisted upon talking about "Change" without actually spelling out exactly to what change he was referring. Then, in at least two speeches after his election (one was his acceptance speech, the other followed a little later) he made significant reference to his and his followers "Common Purpose".
[7] To many, Obama's political shrewdness and course reversals look like outright distortions, all the more so when revisiting the election tapes. It's a soundbite nightmare that will surely haunt him when the next elections come round.
[13] Nonsense. They don't dare tempt fate by dragging the debate late into 2010 -- that's true. They're certainly aware that they're better off having Obama sign a bill early in 2010 than none at all. I'm guessing a bill gets signed by January or so, but I'd say they have until as late as April or May if need be. Again, the political calculus strongly favor their getting a bill passed over none at all.
[15] It doesn't. They have less than six weeks to get a final bill approved and on Obama's desk, or it doesn't get done. They cannot drag this debate into 2010, for the political reasons you mentioned. Will they get it done? I don't know.
[15] I'm no political expert, but the consensus in DC, left and right, is that the longer it takes, the less likely the bill is to pass at all. That's why Democrats were so eager to jam it through, and why Republicans have been trying to delay as long as possible.
[15] Right-wing extremists forced out a Republican nominee in a New York Congressional-seat race which the party has held for about a century, because the nominee Dede Scozzafava is deemed not conservative enough--for endorsing abortion, gay rights and other liberal causes. She dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democratic nominee, Bill Owens in the race against Republican Conservative draftee Doug Hoffman.
[7] Today, the president plans to phone Tuesday night's winners, including governors-elect Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Chris Christie of New Jersey -- and new Democratic congressman Bill Owens of New York.
[11] Two things the president opposed in the campaign, mandatory insurance and fines for people who don't have it, are likely to end up in the bill. If 10 months is too short a time to keep promises, it's been plenty of time to break them, starting with transparency. Promised negotiations televised on C-SPAN didn't happen nor did the promise of posting bills on the Web before he signed them.
[12] Ordinary? I feel like all those that voted for this lying community organizer junior senator turned miserably failing president owe us true red blooded americans an apology, and last nights voting statistics also state that at least a quarter of the people that voted for him feel let down, "Oh he lied
[13] The Ranting Nat is well self-described. If Ranting Nat is interested in some objective discussion of what the American Republican party is actually about, and what George Bush for one actually did as president, he can find some rather surprising discussion of the evidence in today's article by Jonah Goldberg in National Review Online, entitled 'True Conservatives Just Want A Turn'.
[7] I'm still overjoyed that we don't have such a dimwitted goon as Bush at the helm of the world's most powerful nation. Heffer should be ashamed of himself for such a ridiculously one-sided piece and the Republican nutjobs should just keep quiet about Obama's performance and give him a chance to get on with undoing the damage wrought by the Chimpmeister, Cheney, Rummie and other idiots.
[7] I am not particularly an Obama supporter but to condemn the man after 12 months in office when he inherited the biggest global financial crisis in a generation is quite ridiculous. What does Mr. Heffer believe that he should have achieved by now? A complete reversal of the financial cisis and world peace seems to be the criteria. I doubt very much that even this would be enough for Heffer and co. All the totally negative comments are from those who have been waiting to knock Obama off his perch from day one. He was voted in largely because the Republicans in the form of McCain/Palin did not offer a strong alternative.
[7] Yes - he is rather a disappointment - seems he has either been got at \ too stupid to know he's been got at \ or is afraid of standing up for his platform promises - gun shy ? Generally, though, it seems that america is greatly lacking in talent and ability - it's not just Obama - the republicans couldn't come up with viable alternatives.
[7] Bearing in mind that Obama inherited a system virtually broke beyond repair from the DT's beloved Republicans, Obama's remedies and philosophies are yet still more right wing than Cameroon's proferred policies and world view.
[7] Obama campaigned as a moderate/pragmatic liberal right up until the day he took office. Now we know that he has a radical ideological far left wing agenda. He's engaged in more corrupt spending and debt than in the history of the world paying off every special interest that supported him. The result is 9.8% UNEMPLOYMENT on its way to 15% UNEMPLOYMENT. And there is no end in sight! Yesterday the voters that could speak said enough! Enough to the corrupt spending and debt, Enough to double digit UNEMPLOYMENT, Enough of the radical agends! The only question is whether Obama, Pelosi, and Reid will listen.
[7] The media narrative, the right wing narrative are just noise. It didn't bring Hoffman a seat, nor did the Obama narrative bring a Democratic governor in either New Jersey or Virginia.
[15] "'Well, why haven't you solved world hunger yet?'" Obama
said in New Orleans the other day, mimicking the cries of critics. "'Why -- it's been nine months.
[13] Mr Obama seems also to have made another bad mistake. Apparently shocked by the virulence of Fox News Channel's attacks on him, he has declared war on the network.
[7] LOL. Ah, that just made my day. Seriously though, 'cousin Obama' can't seem to catch a break these days. Maybe it's time for a family intervention.
[22] As the election anniversary approached, Obama several times in public remarks acknowledged the sense of letdown and pleaded for patience.
[13] I predict, within a week, we will be hearing about Afghanistan. Now that the U.S. elections are over, Obama has what he needs to make his decision.
[15] Simon clearly does not understand the U.S. system of government. Clement Attlee had a majority in the house of commons and a strong system of discipline behind him when he gave britain the NHS. to do a similar thing in the U.S. is not possible. Then he had to deal with the closest thing to the Great Depression that the U.S. and the world has experienced. He inherited a huge economic hole that deepened considerably just in the months between his election and his assuming the office of President in late January.
[7] Anyway, my theory on American elections is pretty much one of economic determinism. Jesus Christ himself couldn't have powered the Democrats to victory in New Jersey and Virginia given the state of the economy, and he wouldn't power them to victory in 2010 if the economy hasn't noticeably improved.
[15] Bailouts and stimulus spending may have stopped the economy from collapsing, but voters remain unconvinced -- if not downright angry -- about the nation's economic prospects. Those factors complicate the president's attempts to enact his ambitious agenda, which -- like most government initiatives -- require money to work.
[10] Policy arguments like the one between Boehner and Summers may not matter much by the time voters go to the polls a year from now.
[29] Compounding problems on the president's lengthy to-do list is that 2010 is an election year, generally an inefficient time for lawmaking.
[12] I remember a lot of progressive glee at the prospect of a Kerry victory over George W. Bush in 2004; I thought to myself at the time "not so fast, guys. It's almost impossible to take down an incumbent president several years into an expansion."
[15] I am amazed how quickly everyone seems to have forgotten the Bush farce. It took the U.S. 220 years to run up a debt of5 Trillion Bush doubled that in 8 years? Good effort. The U.S. already has a socialist health system.You don't see 000's of non insured dead people on the streets? They are treated free. Those insured pay through high premiums.
[7] I made my comments in relation to the UK Tory party. For any foam flecked, intellectually challenged, ultra right wing yank crazees, my point is that it is no good DT columnists complaining that the president is not sufficiently right wing, when the British Tory party which these scribes want to win next year, is less right wing than the Democrats; yet it seems many posters and the columnist himself, want the Tory party to become an organisation of the truly, slavering right, which would make them unelectable in the eyes of most fair-minded Brits.
[7] A Washington Post/ABC News poll taken Oct. 15-18 also showed confidence that the president will make the right decisions for the country declined from 61 percent to 49 percent.
[8] The Wall Street Journal poll found 54 percent consider Obama to be easy-going and likable -- exactly the number who said so in January.
[8] The poll found that a majority of Americans have a positive view of Obama on only three of 14 issues: the environment, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic and overall foreign policy.'' Six in 10 say Obama inspires confidence in them and describe him as a strong, honest, trustworthy leader.'' Overall, he gets the thumbs up on 11 out of 12 personal characteristics.''
[33] The Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site Politifact.com tracks more than 500 Obama campaign promises. The majority of them are rated "no action." Obama has three years and two months to take action on them.
[12] Let's see, a domestic violence counselor, a fundraiser for gay interests, a consultant (looks to be education consulting from his LinkedIn profile), a student magazine publisher, and a non-profit director. What is the common thread? Ah, yes, each is very much dependent on government funding for their interests. What do you think anyone in the real private sector would say about Obama one year later? I don't know any serious person who is in favor of his policies.
[1] Crushing debt, rather than the realization of fond hopes, may be Obama's legacy. That "arc of history" he referred to so poetically that lovely warm night a year ago remains resolutely unbent, despite all the earnest hands that were laid upon it.
[30] A quick survey of the print and web punditospheres reveals Democrats chin-pulling about the mixed message of last night's events, or wanly saying that this wasn't a referendum on Obama.
[15] Then Obama gets the poisoned chalice of Presidency. When he fails to repair the irreparable damage done to this country by the current administration, we'll blame it all on him and the Democrats.
[7] More than half give
Obama a thumbs-up on 11 of the 12 personal characteristics tested," adds Holland. Only 45 percent say he has a clear plan for solving the country's problems -- the only item on which a majority has a negative view of him. It's a different story when it comes to issues.
[4] Voters are sick of Obama and liberal overreach, and will choose the GOP next November come what may." If that were true -- and you're a Democratic congressperson -- why not just go for the history books? I mean, if it's inevitable you're going to lose your job.
[15] Obama was the preacher and the voters bought his sermon. Now we're just waiting to see if he comes from the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker School of Evangelism. conning people out of their money for donations and never practicing what they preach.
[13] Parasite Obama is a filthy little socialist maggot that thinks it owns other people's lives and property.
[7] Unsurprisingly, a piece of highly distorted partisan hackery. I think Niall Ferguson gave one of the better, more honest rightist accounts of Obama's situation when he talked of the success of the economic management of the recession being highly fortunate, and that Obama has not had particularly tough decisions yet.
[7] I don't think Obama knows the right answer on Afghanistan; I'm not sure anybody does. Obama's months in office have been so action-packed that it's easy to forget some of the historic steps he has taken: Nominating Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
[16] Obama decided early on that that doing too much was better than doing too little in response to the global financial crisis. Twelve months later, this was the right call.
[17] Mr Obama might have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but the less said about that the better. The award was apparently decided in February, days after he entered the Oval Office. He gave up his missile defence system in eastern Europe: we all imagined the Russians would give something in return, but we are still waiting. He went to Copenhagen to try to secure the 2016 Olympics for Chicago, and failed. While this did little more than provide amusement to many, it damaged him in America, and outraged his true believers: perhaps the emperor had a small wardrobe after all. Now he is immersed in a deliberative exercise about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. As is the lot of politicians, he will be damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
[7] Obama is considering sending 40,000 more into Afghanistan. He has made good on his commitment to be nicer to the rest of the world, for which he promptly won a Nobel Peace Prize. As for most of the other promises? He counsels patience these days, rather than hope.
[30] Obama will go to the summit in good position to chart a path to a global climate change deal.
[17] Obama may not have promised change would be easy. He did convey what now looks like a too-glib impression that he could unite opposites and reconcile contradictions by the power of personality -- hard to do when his own personality has competing strands.
[13] Obama is sitting silent in the middle, knowing full well that the policy drift cannot continue for long. Obama said the GFC was too good a crisis to waste, piling an ambitious and expensive reform agenda on top of his mega GFC-fighting package.
[17] Well its pretty obvious that Obama was hysterically over-hyped, mainly because he is black, though this term really does not seem to fit with his actual skin colour.
[7] For all the difficulties of America's imperial burden, it is the domestic, and particularly the economic, front that Mr Obama and his colleagues are finding hardest to defend.
[7] If you do run and then fail to deliver on your campaign pledges then you are either a fool (who believed your own hype), incompetant or a liar. It was Obama who seemed to be suggesting things would be so much better under his leadership.
[7] Last year the in the Ontario NDP provincial leadership campaign, the woman who won (I think) ran on hope and change.
[15] There is no wave to ride anymore. I don't think the Republicans have a wave, and this showed that the Democrats have none either. Next year an angry and uncertain electorate will take their frustrations out on the incumbent.
[15] The Clinton adminstration repealed a law (Glass-Steagal) that meant banks no longer had to seperate retail banking from investment banking operations. GW Bush supported the policy of increasing minority home owenership so he was culpable there however to their credit three times the Bush administration approached congress to have an investigation into Fannie and Freddie and it didn't make it past comittee becuase they had no Democrat support. I'm not protecting the Republicans here because they did a very poor job however the Democratic social engineering and blockage of scrutiny were equally if not more culpable. The bankers are just bankers and lined their pockets. 2. The Middle East: I'm sure that Toby Harnden would just waltz in in his Lear Jet and say: 'I say chaps, stop all this nonsense and learn to live together' and, hey presto, everything solved.
[7] The resounding Republican victories in the governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia should send a warning to Democrats everywhere that your job isn't safe just because you're an incumbent.
[9] Saw a liberal commentator infer there was "chaos" in the Republican Party. because in New York State's 23rd Congressional District (somewhere up near the Canadian border) a Democrat won a seat to the House of Representatives.
[7] Mr. Heffer has some nerve. The banking crisis was caused entirely by bankers and the Republican Party? So Dodd, Frank and the entire Democratic Party weren't there saying that the banks needed to find a way to lend more to low-income people so that they could share in the American dream? The Democratic Congress didn't fully enable Fannie and Freddie to guarantee all of these non-underwritten loans with the full power of the U.S. government? Democrat Corzine and his cronies at Goldman Sachs didn't create the entire securitization process to market these time-bombs to an unsuspecting public then work with their rating agency buddies to give them the ole AAA stamp of approval? They did on all counts.
[7] Here was a man, whose very appearance screamed change, talking about how "young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native-American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled" had come together and shown that America is not a country of two polarities ''' left and right ''' but rather a truly United States.
[30] Democrats smell big trouble among the American electorate. Republicans' problem is that it's predominantly white and right-wing, tries very hard to expand into non-white constituencies with little progress in recruitment and enrollment.
[7] Democrats' problem is family feud. They elected Republicanized Democrats known as Bluedogs. Now, Democrats have huge problems getting them on board on health care and other big-ticket legislations, because Bluedogs represent Red State, conservative, Republican consituencies carried by John McCain by wide margins. Whatever decision they make, they will factor conservative, Republican, constituency instincts--even though they are Democrats.
[7] Update : Senior Congressional Democrats told ABC News today that there would likely be no health care bill in 2009.
[15] In 1994, the Democrats went ahead with a budget reconciliation bill that raised taxes, trusting a popular President to help make the case to the voters.
[15] In Tuesday's two-state governor races, independent voters who were critical to the president's winning coalition in 2008 favored Republican candidates by a 2-1 margin.
[10] The extremely important independent voters are not to be taken for granted. They will swing back and forth between the two parties, depending on who the candidates are and what issues are bothering them. According to CNN exit polls, 30 percent of Virginia voters identify themselves as independents, and 65 percent of those people voted for the Republican winner, Robert McDonnell.
[9] The poll has a margin of error of four percentage points. One key to the president's continued popularity is the personal confidence he inspires in people. Over half ' 57% ' agree that he's been a better president than George W. Bush so far.
[32] By 24 percentage points, the poll said Americans consider Joe Biden to be a better vice president than''Dick Cheney.''
[33] The survey also suggests that by 24 points, Americans think that Joe Biden is a better vice president than
Dick Cheney.
[4] A resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Norm Ornstein, says the President has endured a tumultuous year. "He's struggling to get his signature priority of health reform through.
[6] American workers have been sold out by Congress and CEO's over the years. It is not protectionism Mr. PResident, it is about survival.
[19] I haven'''t seen proof of any of it yet, and neither have you, because there hasn'''t been any. The only thing we do know for sure, one year after anointing this relative unknown the forty-fourth president of the United States, is that he'''s a politician, pure and simple. Calling him a radical gives him way too much credit.
[31] Virginia was a given at least a week ago. New Jersey could have gone either way, and with enormous money and support from the President and DNC, they lost badly. NY23 was a weird situation, and if it shows anything at all, is the floor for the RNC. They spent $900,000 on a candidate that backed out and supported the opposition, and still got 5% of the vote.
[15] Perhaps most importantly of all, Pakistan President Asif Zardari is taking the fight to Taliban and al-Qa'ida extremists the way the U.S. has long wanted it to.
[17] The time to get to work on jobs was months ago. Only now after the failed stimulus and continuing unemployment this adminstration decides it needs to do something? Jobs should have been this presidents priority from day one, or is he just slow out of the gate.
[19] "Most people don't know what GDP is," says Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report. "But they know what the unemployment rate is." The unemployment rate is expected not only to top 10 percent this year, but also to remain high through next year's midterm elections. "It's an ugly situation to be in, and we're going to have about a year and a half of unemployment at a really high level," Cook says.
[29] It doesn't matter what the 'narrative' is. All that matters is what moderate Democrats in both houses up for election next year saw.
[15] If the Republicans could have sped up the midterms to yesterday, we'd very likely be looking at a flipping of the House -- or at least very deep losses (IIRC Ronald Reagan lost nearly 30 seats in 1982). I doubt with eighteen months or so of GDP expansion under their belts and the passage of national healthcare, Democrats will fare as badly as Reagan did back then next November.
[15] The Democrats absolutely need a major legislative victory with which to face the electorate next November, given the strong likelihood of lingering economic weakness. They won't repeat the mistake of 1994, not with their margins in both houses.
[15] Not surprising, see point 2. NY-23 -- are the votes of a few dozen upstaters really that meaningful? The angle I like in this is the comparison to Lieberman -- Democrats dispatched him in the primary, but then he won the general and has been screwing us ever since.
[15] Constituent reaction was supposed to kill ObamaCare over the summer recess, too. The basic proof of the pudding as to why your (and all similar) anti-ObamaCare analysis is pure BS comes from following it through to its logical solution. If ObamaCare is such a disaster waiting to happen, the Republicans should be doing everything in their power to make sure just enough of their caucus combine with liberal congresscritters to A) Make sure it passes, and B) They (the GOP) escape blame. Because surely that would usher in a tsunami of GOP-dominance next November, right? Anyway, it sure doesn't sound like that's what they or you are trying to do. I strongly suspect professional politicians such as incumbent Democrats can see through the concern trolling, too.
[15] With objective polling language like that, the Dems might as well just concede right now and hand the Congress over to the Republicans.
[15] Republicans like it low. I'd be willing to bet turnout is nearly always much lower in these odd year Virginia contests than it is in presidential races.
[15] Virginia went to the Republicans for the first time in 12 years by 18%(!) and New Jersey to the Republicans after 8 years by 4%.
[7] Last week, the Commerce Department reported that the economy had begun growing again for the first time in more than a year.
[29] Because in my view it tends to be by far the biggest predicative factor when it comes to political outcomes. It's risible to posit that next year's midterms will turn on the rapidity with which Gitmo is closed, or the particulars of GM's policies vis a vis the UAW. Carville was right: It is the economy, stupid.
[15] The Tory party is held out as the great saviour of the UK economy by much of the UK media; yet regardless of one's political stance, logic would dictate that the Tory party should become at least as right wing as the Democrats before allowing DT posters to contemptuously dismiss the current leadership in the USA as dangerously left wing.
[7] Helen Nisbet at 11:58 PM asks, 'Missing George W. yet?' My answer: YES! P. S. Interesting what some posters consider 'far right': self-defence, a robust economy, freedom of speech (i.e. political speech, even if porn purveyors try to abuse that right). The Leftist desire to link these goods with fire and murder in the streets just doesn't wash, I'm afraid.
[7] Republicans also plan to stress the economy as the political world moves forward.
[11] And, as I have written in relation to our benighted economy, the growth that might ease the problem will only be depressed by higher taxes. The stimulus package of $787 billion has paid few dividends ("He didn't even read the Bill, he just signed it," a Republican told me): as at home, serious cuts in spending are not on the agenda.
[7] The economy gets better, the world loves us again, and we still want to kick out the Democrat and bring back the Republican? I knew we were stupid, I just didn't realise how much so.
[7] Older voters voted. Voters are pretty darn smart, and those who participate take their politics very seriously. Candidates matter and so do the campaigns they run. Republicans had better candidates, ran better campaigns and talked to voters about what was bothering them. The lesson to both sides: Don't get overconfident.
[9] The lesson from the close loss in the congressional race in New York's 23rd District is that the party's conservative voters and mainstream
Republicans have to work together to win.
[9] Two new Republican governors in liberal states. Conservative Mayor Bloomberg of NYC retained his office in an unprecedented THIRD term, against an African-American Democrat challenger.
[7] Still too close to call, but advantage: Democrats. This will be a huge upset if Democrats win the seat. This is what I'll call the John Bercow Syndrome. You remember Conservatives opposing one of their own in the Commons Speaker's race? The same ideological struggle is playing in Republican America in many key races.
[7] The lesson for Republicans is to not nominate freakin left-center to left-left candidates in conservative districts. I accept that you need a big tent and more left leaning Rs in left leaning districts is fine, but Scozzofova was a slap in the face to conservatives. (As she finally proved beyond all doubt by supporting the Democrat.)
[15] Pyrrhic victory. Another pyrrhic victory, but shorter term (2 years not 6) and at least it will be a Democrat who screws Republicans. Anyone who says this is the start of some sort of huge thing in any direction is totally bullshitting (or just projecting her hopes).
[15] The Congress just moved a bit to the left, with Pelosi picking up another vote for national healthcare. I also think Democrats have been given a warning that they must not let next year's media narrative be dominated by talk of failure and incompetence, which makes it imperative that they face next year's midterms with the solid achievement of national healthcare under their belts.
[15] You leave out "Indecisive". A year into his presidency and his only Afghanistan policy is to blame Bush! Come to think of it, that's his only policy on just about everything.
[7] This is all simple to me. It's been 10 months since Bush left office, a year since the election and 14 months since the economic collapse.
[15] Dear Simon, How right you are! Nothing much done in the year past. This in turn reminds me of a previous unremarkable first year in power by a G.W. Bush.
[7] Well, the mess was created by Bush, and the mess is so great it will take years to recover from.
[7] MJ: You are a complete idiot to say Bush was the worst president ever. You have not lived through every presidency, and therefore it is irrational to make such a statement. I wasn't happy with his presidency either, but, nobody alive today can say he was the worst ever, because nobody (alive or dead) have lived through all of them to make a statement like that.
[32] America's image had been tarnished by a patronizing President George Bush Jr. with a disastrous foreign policy.
[7] You're quite the author yourself, writing "The Audacity of Hope", etc. Hey, Michelle could even write a cookbook or two! And Sasha and Malia can re-write "My Pet Goat". You are not steering America away from the iceberg, you are intentionally crashing this Ship of State right into it! With all due respect, Mr, President, Sir, You are a pathetic failure.
[7] You can't really put "politics aside" when discussing the election of a President. Seeing the film this summer'''after the realities of governing a country full of contention had settled in'''the film already seemed anachronistic.
[22] The crown jewel of the president's promises,
health care reform, is a work in progress.
[12] Nothing more, nothing less. We can also look at the shift in his policy positions over the past few years. He was once quoted as saying that he supported a single-payer health care system.
[31] The government reported that the economy grew 3.5 percent from July through September, the first growth recorded in more than a year. [18] Now we're out a blown trillion buck, have no economy worth a hoot, no jobs and STILL have 30 million people uninsured.
[19] Of course, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is leaking so much money that could have helped the economy - wars started by Bush for the sake of 3,000 New Yorkers who died in the Twin Towers (some reports suggest as many as a million Iraqis have been wiped out.
[7] All I see is the same-old, same-old particularly with the U.S. Congress: corrupt, massive deception masked as social responsibility, self-serving, destructive of the middle class, refusing to tackle tough issues in a constructive and honest manner. and still in the pockets of the special interest groups, Wall Street, the banks and insurance companies and pretending to address important issues like healthcare, Iraq, Afganistan, the economy and unemployment while refusing to tackled tough core issues such as tort litigation (healthcare), the military (horrendous cash spillage and no accountability for contractors like Blackwater) and education (weak approach toward upgrading mediocre and poor systems.
[7] Lots of (inane, but that's neither here nor there) talk of deathcare panels, socialism, out-of-control borrowing, passport issues, and so on and so forth. This has been widely reported by the national media. Again, I make no claim that every voter is strongly influenced by this narrative, nor that even for those who are, it's the single most important influence -- I think that prize goes to the economy.
[15] Republican voters who were left for dead just a year ago are intense and are back in the game.
[9] In New Jersey, 28 percent of the voters are independent, and 60 percent of that vote went to the winner, Republican
Chris Christie.
[9] Did anyone see the new sci-fi show last night on TV called "V"? Very interesting, V stands for visitors. Anyway, these beautiful people came on a spaceship and talked about hope and peace and change.
[7] Showtime's Poliwood, directed by Barry Levinson, which aired last night, possibly deserves credit for passionately trying to make the thankless argument that Hollywood celebrities do so have the right to inject themselves into politics. The film, which largely tracked celebrity efforts in the 2008 election, had a reasonable enough premise: that celebs interested in politics are no more or less automatically vapid than plenty of others who get to stick their oars in (donors, other politicians, many pundits), but ultimately a film defending the fairly privileged from the oppressive experience of people saying snarky things about them has to be exceptional to be compelling, and Poliwood wasn't.
[22] With that in mind, the most significant image of Obama--one year on-- may not be from that raucous election night rally in Chicago, but from a somber ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, last month.
[14] Washington (CNN) -- On that unusually balmy Chicago night a year ago, the candidate who campaigned on what he called the "fierce urgency of now" became the president-elect who needed time.
[12] One year later: Keegan remains hopeful that race relations are improving in Chicago and nationally. She volunteers in Englewood and notes how welcome she feels as a white woman in an overwhelmingly black neighborhood. For the first time, she saw African-American children trick-or-treating in her overwhelmingly white neighborhood on Halloween. For her, those are indications racial healing is under way.
[1] A place where racial divisions and political cynicism gave way to newfound unity, harmony and, yes, hope. One year later, five participants discuss whether they have experienced any lasting transformations.
[1] The problem may be one of immaturity and inexperience. If so, he had better learn fast. At this rate, next year's congressional elections start to look more than challenging for him.
[7] The deficit for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30 was $1.4 trillion, which means the U.S. government borrowed more that year than Canada's entire economic output.
[30] The U.S. has the chance to make a no nonsense health system i.e. no free nose jobs and free tatoo removal. He should ignore the climate change nonsense of which I have heard loads on the BBC this a.m.
[7] Unless America's job market shows a big improvement in the next 12 months, a lot of Democratic lawmakers could be looking for new jobs themselves.
[29] Why not, economic history and theory teaches us that raises marginal tax rates, regulations, and increasing government entitlements are all negative for growth, prosperity, and jobs. The bottomline is this, the republicans should go after his policies but not the man.
[33] Both Republicans and Democrats don't want elections to be about issues, why? Cuz they have the same stance on all of them.
[33] "Congress is looking to act". These are the people Republican and Democrat alike who helped create the problem.
[19] "If that pattern holds up, then the fact that people don't really like Republicans and that Republicans don't have a whole lot to say is irrelevant. People are going to be voting against Democrats," he says.
[29] More than once V makes a point which is delivered thus by one of the lead characters, a Catholic priest: "Gratitude can morph into worship. Or worse: devotion." Like the ticking-bomb ultraviolence of 24, the paranoia of V is probably, more than anything, a convention of the genre: in this case, the aliens-among-us thriller. If I'm going to get wild-ass conspiracies in the form of entertainment, better I get them from a primetime show about hot aliens than from cable news.
[22] Launched an export development drive of American industrial goods spending 10 billion on promotion and 777 billion on startup and remobilization loans to new and going American manufacturing concerns. 5.
[7] The remaining independants are leaning towards conservative, as the latest gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia clearly show.
[7] "Historically, midterm elections are about the party in power, not the party that's out of office," Cook says. "And it's generally a time when people vent spleens."
[29] I'm no political expert, but the consensus in DC, left and right, is that the longer it takes, the less likely the bill is to pass at all. Sure, this is undoubtedly true -- events, dear boy, and all that. I just think it's been obvious since at least August (when Baucus announced the SFC markup would have to wait until after vacation -- and this, too, was greeted as the end of the world) that no bill was likely to clear Congress before very late in 2009 at the earliest.
[15] In fact i think a scaled down bill with modest expansion of Medicaid, a fix for MD payments in Medicare and small subsidies is beginning to look like the most likely outcome.
[15] SOURCES1.
Witnesses to historic moment for Chicago reflect one year later -- chicagotribune.com2.
One year on, Obama cites struggle with Bush legacy | World | Reuters3.
AFP: Fewer Americans feel nation is doing badly: poll4.
CNN Poll: 54 percent approve of Obama - CNN.com5.
Americans less sure about Obama a year later: Poll6.
Obama struggling in post-honeymoon phase - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)7.
It's Barack Obama's first anniversary - but there's precious little to celebrate - Telegraph8.
Obama's Election Glow Fades as Recession, War Drag On - FOXNews.com9.
Vote shows Obama team must listen up - CNN.com10.
President Obama: Stalled Agenda, Skeptical Public Spell 'Change' - ABC News11.
Obama: No election watching for him - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency12.
Months into Obama's presidency, promise of 'change' is a slow go - CNN.com13.
'Change has come' . or has it? - John F. Harris - POLITICO.com14.
Big challenges in Obamas year two | Al Jazeera Blogs15.
Punditwatch: Who Got Hurt More Last Night? - Megan McArdle16.
Eugene Robinson: Obama's strong record of hope, change | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Opinion: Viewpoints17.
Obama can now tackle his own agenda | The Australian18.
1 year after Obama's victory -- chicagotribune.com19.
Obama: Time to get to work on jobs - Josh Gerstein - POLITICO.com20.
Job losses to continue for some more time: Obama - International News - livemint.com21.
'When He Saw the Signs' - Laugh Lines Blog - NYTimes.com22.
TV Marks Obama Anniversary with Documentaries, Aliens - Tuned In - TIME.com23.
Obama. One year since the US presidential election. | Minor Matters24.
Progressives celebrate one year after Obamas election | ABS-CBN News Online Beta25.
OBAMA ONE YEAR LATER: Tuned Out On Election Night? - FOXNews.com26.
Behind the scenes with Obama - chicagotribune.com27.
A Mixed Scorecard - Obama's One-Year Anniversary - TIME28.
Will Obama Ever Become President? - FOXNews.com29.
Fate Of Democrats' Majority Rests On Job Growth : NPR30.
CBC News - World - Is there any hope left?31.
Barack Obama -- Empty Vessel - FOXNews.com32.
Public Opinion on Key Obama Policies Sinks - Washington Wire - WSJ33.
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