I think I will vote for Palpatine when he runs in 2012. I don’t even know what party he’s with, but everything he says just… sounds good…
Nobody gives a shit what Harry Reid thinks. The notion that this is going to be the thing that sinks Obama is just desperate, wishful thinking on your part.
I’m not sure about that, and he’s been in office for two years now - that would be absurdly long. It’s true that the press rushed to say “the honeymoon is over!” every 10 minutes from before he took office. He took office in the middle of two wars and a bad economy. It’s not a surprise if people weren’t that patient. Obama himself has said he and his advisers knew he’d have a couple of months before people started assigning him more blame for the economy his poll numbers started falling.
It’s not a surprise that Congressional Democrats would complain about this. A bunch of Congressional Republicans didn’t like it either, but they felt they had to go along with it.
DJIA: Jan 20, 2009 = 7,948
DJIA: Jan 20, 2011 = 11,822
+49%
NASDAQ: Jan 20, 2009 = 1,441
NASDAQ: Jan 20, 2011 = 2,740
+91%
Median Housing Prices: Dec, 2008 = $229,600
Median Housing Price: Dec, 2010 = $241,500
+5%
Before anyone says, “no fair, you used January 2009 for the other metrics and December 2008 for housing prices”, the January 2009 median was even lower: $208,600.
Well, let’s just say it makes me more moderate than you, mr Barackington DC
One last thought -
while many on this board may be so far left as to call Obama conservative, or moderate, or at least not liberal, whatever. It may or may not interest you to know that the guy who knows him probably better than anyone in the world, even his wife, calls him a liber… um, I mean progressive.
If you want to pit me, please go ahead. I think most posters around here recognize that I identify as a liberal, yet have no problem whatsoever criticizing “my” side.
So what?
How does his wife calling him a progressive make his actual policies any less center-right?
OK, really last thought…
Gangster, while your numbers are interesting, I really hope you don’t judge the health of fiscal America on a few market numbers. You do understand that I’m mainly referring to the federal budget, the the crushing deficit, and the even more depressing national debt. Sure, you get that. You’re a smart cookie.
Now, the economic indicators you’ve cited do bear some relevance, because they theoretically could portend of future GDP growth (especially equities, as they are forward looking and pre-baked), providing some help in growing out of the hole. But way way WAAAAYYYYYY more relevant is the future federal budget picture, primarily the entitlements growing out of control.
Now, does Obama get all the blame? No, the Democratically controlled congress from Jan 2007 until this month gets a lot. The GOP who lost their way during the W years and went on a spending spree (and a tax cut jag) also kicked into the problem. They were both trying to give the American public their proverbial free lunch, so they could get re-elected.
But saying that Obama isn’t to blame pretty much denies a lot of reality. Not a new thing for many of the posters here, but there you have it. And not just because it has happened on his watch, although his administration’s contributions are real troubling, especially the fiscal nightmare of Obamacare.
Obama inherited this shit from the Republicans. All he’s done is stop the slide and start the turnaround.
When you say stuff like “the fiscal nightmare of Obamacare” you can’t be taken seriously.
Gosh, Smashy, why not start your own msgboard? Then all the Dopers who are sick of the radical/liberal bias here could shelter under your protection! You’ll need a server, of course, to deal with the massive response. Have you got one of those GameBoy gadgets, it could probably be converted. Then you could moderate like a motherfuck!
You assigned Obama primary responsibility by saying he “drove us off the cliff.” It’s undeniable that the deficit has gone up significantly under Obama’s administration. People differ on the effects, but that doesn’t equate to Obama driving the car off the cliff. Nor does Gangster Octopus’ post deny that Obama deserves any blame. I agree that the turnaround in the stock market doesn’t say much about the state of the economy at this point but if you’re going to imply it was Obama’s fault (and then back up to say he had help) it’s fair to point out the economy is not worse now than it was two years ago.
Life is too short to pit anyone. I leave that to Lobo and the other children here. As I’ve said many times in this thread, it’s a free country, and I respect all points of view. Except when people deny reality because it aligns with their point they are trying to make or their agenda… then I call them out on their intellectual dishonesty.
But you called me out as having some whackjob political orientation (or in your words, a mostly-incoherent political philosophy… despite the fact that I’m far more in line with America’s political positioning that you, given that more than 2x as many people call themselves conservative as they do liberal).
You really don’t think that Gangster, by posting those figures, was implying that the economic outlook of the Federal Government was improved under Obama? Really? As a direct response to my comment? :rolleyes:
Maybe I read between the lines too much then. If so, my apologies to Gangster.
Edit to add: I don’t think I was backing up at all. I still believe that the administration’s policies are the factor most responsible for our coming fiscal trainwreck. But he had help.
Do I have to point out the irony here? You can’t insult other posters in this forum, so don’t do this again. Insults belong in the BBQ Pit.
You are right, Mr Rove. Because you use fact and data to support your posts. All I ever do is change the subject.
Hey, I didn’t use his whole name 
OK though, point taken. In fact, I hope he starts another pit about me. The first one went so poorly, it ended up on failblog.
So if only 20% of voters are liberal, how did a liberal like Obama manage to get elected president? Or is it more reasonable to conclude that he is, in fact, a moderate who appealed to moderates, and the liberals went along to prevent someone even more conservative than Obama from getting elected?