Obama's First Year

I have spend & lot of time working in & with USA. And long ago I came to the opinion that US politics are the proverbial bag of worms in a rats nest next to a snake pit & best avoided - especially Brits talking with US citizens.

The answer is very complex & there is no one answer & it depends on your own viewpoints & politics.
But as an outsider looking in, I see it this way, and some of this will read real bad to some points of view.

I am not convinced Obama won the election, more that the Republicans offered only weak fragmented candidates that gave it to him. The old man with limited oratory skills & the inexperienced air-brain Mom. Plus George W & his polices were well past sell by dates & even Republicans were tired & not adverse to a change.

Democrats in power are going to have a harder time than Republicans - Republicans in opposition are more united behind one voice. In both opposition & power the have a stronger & more fixed positions, they value self sufficiency & independence, do not see a need to spread wealth/aid/taxes to those that do not help themselves.
Democrats generally are more fragmented, have too many diverse liberal focused agendas & seem to be giving away too much sometimes even to the lower levels of wage earners. This makes them vulnerable to the floating voter who normally gives them just one shot.

Obama does seem to be in a mess with the health debate, but I think most people do not know how it will work. Even Democrats don't know for sure if can it work and at the same time not affect the so well established private health industry. I think he might have been better off waiting until he had a more detailed & advanced stage of planning ready before going to public debate.

He was shown up for what he is & what he was allowed to do at Copenhagen.

His rhetoric over the banking industry could be playing to the popular vote, but I do believe he is genuine in his wish to get this problem sorted - problem is he is messing with my stock prices, so that means US citizens are hurting & that will loose all your friends Mr Obama.

Is he a bag of wind, well I guess time & history will tell.
If he fixes the Israeli problem, which probably means screwing the Jewish lobby & alienating his major fund raisers & house support, thereby fixing the anti-US focus of the Arab world & the trade problems that brings with it to say nothing of the terrorist movements based in that part of the world.
If he gets success in Afghanistan (fat chance) quickly(even fatter chance)
If he turns round the economy & keeps the banks & Wall St on side
Then he will be a hero, but he's only got just over 2 years (effectively) to get this done.

But if Palin is the next president - God Bless SAVE America (and the rest of the world)

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps

Obama was elected mainly by promising change.

Simple question ... has he actually changed anything and if not will he be able to do so.

The Republicans have taken a safe Democrat seat and now his medical bill is looking difficult to move on and his oppenents seem to be outflanking him.

He even failed to charm any change on the environment at Copenhagen, so just what has he achieved.

I was convinced he was a bag of wind and so far I still remain convinced.

I suspect Palin is loving every minute of this.

Regards

Mick

On many past occasions, when other British subjects have voiced similar opinions, you've admonished them that it's an American matter, and therefore none of their concern.

Why the turnaround? Bored? Are there no political problems over there for you to solve?

No

Only when its an American problem such as Orleans etc.

Regards

Mick

And this isn't an "American problem"?

Anyway, pontificate away - Obama himself is no doubt even now feverishly refreshing his browser on this very site, waiting for you to solve it all for him. I expect your simple and elegant solution to involve at least a modicum of shotgunning cats. Carry on, pip pip, eh what.

I am not passing a solution, just confirming he is a bag of wind.

Irony abounds.

Ok

Its a dead duck with you

Bye

quote:

bag of worms in a rats nest next to a snake pit & best avoided

See wot I mean Mick

Yes but he is a hick from oregan

Zero-to-ad hominem in five posts... a new record?

The fact that he was voted in so strongly has to be a positive thing. He offered hope that the USA could be better, could be good as opposed to evil.

He has begun to repair the Bush damaged international relationships but has received no credit for that. People are expecting him to fix the very hard things he's chosen to address.

Fix healthcare ! That's an easy one !!

Close Gitmo ! Piece of piss !!

Reign in Wall Street ! Another walk in the park.

There are a lot of vested interests in the US, so one man can only do so much. As JFK said, ask not what the nation can do for you, but what you can do for the nation.

If Obama can even start to make this change in the people of the US then he's performed a miracle.

There is too much misinformation out there for him to fix health care, close Gitmo and fix Wall Street. Fox News will see to that ...

shoot6x7

Reading some of the news articles, it seems that middle America dosen't want health care reform. Too much government etc.

So are the American people having a rethink or not?

He did in all fairness fall flat on his face in Copenhagen.

Regards

Mick

You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, and the changes Obama's committed to make, albeit ultimately good and necessary, will invariably cause much gnashing of teeth when the folks who elected him realise that although they wanted change, they only really wanted stuff that wouldn't impact on them.

One thing's for sure, he's got a real uphill struggle on his hands but IMO he's determined enough to plough through. He's still got a lot of public support, just not so much amongst the influential and the media.

Well, having lived here in the US for 10 years now I can tell you that he can't win, no matter what he does. I believe he has the best interests of the country at heart, but he is scuppered by the Republicans and even members of his own party. I have no time for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Additionally, I believe it might have been best not to try to fix so much so soon. Try to tackle the economy first, then healthcare reform.

At the end of the day, the average person here, myself included, is mainly worried about jobs and the economy, and the spiraling deficit amount. Those are the things that do not endear Mr Obama to the voters right now. I don't yet have a say here, as I am not yet a citizen, but a permanent resident, but if I could vote I would be an Independent. There is so much about either party that I cannot stand.

Also, he tends to come across as emotionless. I am assured that he is not like that in person, but he is an intellectual and comes across that way. A lot of people can't identify with that. All of this is not a criticism of the man, I do like him and I believe he means well. He has a lot of good ideas, but unfortunately persuading Congress is another story.

Colin

Is not a part of the problem down to the expectations of the voters?

Society these days, and I think this affects the US even more than the rest of the world, wants everything done now.

Obama and his administration can't solve all the problems with a wave of his wand like a real life Harry Potter and people appear to forget this fact.

As for Palin, Michael I could take, but she scares the life out of me. (And probably all the wildlife in Alaska too...)

steve

Steve

I think the problem is that Obama was very good at convincing Americans that he would bring about change, he was so good it seemed that change would be inevitable.

Unfortunately it is not easy and the high expectations that he generated are failing to materialise.

I can sympathise with the struggle on medical reform, but his performance at Copenhagen where he was dealing with toughened world leaders was inadequate.

Regards

Mick

Steve,

I agree with you, people want things done immediately, if not sooner. That is certainly part of the problem. I can foresee that they will vote him out at the next election and vote the Republicans back in, then the Republicans will complain that they inherited a huge mess, and so the story repeats itself.

Colin

The Parliamentary system with a Prime Minister, and Cabinet of MPs as executive works better - if only marginally.

ATB from George

The Parliamentary system with a Prime Minister + Cabinet would work better if they actually did work together as an executive. Problem as I see it, the presidential aspirations of Blair are carried over & the present occupant of number 10 has no idea what a president is supposed to do - with a Cabinet. But maybe I am just p####d of with what we have as our countries so called leaders, & I mean present & aspirational leaders also.
Maybe Obama isn't so bad after all, at least he looks like president.

The first year has been an unmitigated disaster on all fronts. Lets face it the Republicans were so weak it didn't take much. Obama promised change and transparency and all we've seen is partisan ploitics of the worst kind. He has rushed through bill after bill with the least amount of consideration because he had the super majority vote and figured he could ram through anything he wanted and that he didn't have to listen to the Republicans or the American people.

The vote in Mass. was a complete repudiation of his politics, policies and agenda.

We've spent trillions and no jobs have been created. Biggest joke is the "jobs created or saved." All that was actually necessary was to give tax credits to employers to keep the jobs,benefits, etc... and the huge amount of unemployment/medicaid spending would not have been needed and would have cost less than 1/4 of what they've already spent. By true estimates each job actually created has cost about $250,000.

Healthcare reform is needed: malpractice reform, eliminate denial of pre-existing conditions, allow for increased competition by removing barriers to inter-state insurance policies which will increase competition and reduce premiums, remove age limits under which an individual can be covered under their parent's policy. This is the reform that is needed. The Senate/House bills are nothing more than give backs to the insurance/pharm industires and if passed will eventually cost millions of jobs, reduce quality of care, deny care, and ultimately eliminate the middle class in the US.

PS: I don't believe in what the Republicans are peddling either. Let's face it, Obama now needs them and who knows which vote can be purchased for the right price to give back that 60 seat majority.

BO is suffering from the short term memory of all electorates. They forget who was in charge when all the mess started and expect the incumbent to way a magic wand. Lord Snooty will find the same problem when he is in charge in a couple of months.
When we were in the States over Christmas it was interesting that the Republican press were thanking BO for reuniting the party and giving Palin "credibility"!!! Please God they can find another candidate in the next three years.
J

SOTU tonight. Same shit, different pile?

It's not over until...

...she sings...

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:

Democrats in power are going to have a harder time than Republicans - Republicans in opposition are more united behind one voice. In both opposition & power the have a stronger & more fixed positions, they value self sufficiency & independence, do not see a need to spread wealth/aid/taxes to those that do not help themselves.

I agree with most of your assessment with the exception of your characterization of the GOP. The days have long passed since the GOP was fiscally conservative/self sufficient. Since and including Reagan each successive GOP president has grown the deficit (significantly)all the while lowering taxes on capital wealth and corporations. The middle class standard of living has consistently deteriorated under GOP presidents. The GOP of today is largely a result of marketing and they have a constituency eager to lap up the platitudes.

Obama is the first democrat for whom I've voted for president. He's disappointed me on some issues, especially health care, but I didn't hold any misconceptions about the dire state of the union when he took office so I think he's done okay so far. But there's plenty of room for improvement and he still has 3 years to do so.