# The world's (semi-) greatest question **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340 "2012-09-21T00:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/1 "2012-09-21T00:10:06Z")
I didn’t see a thread about this, but [Obama said Washington can only be changed from the outside, not the inside](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvPQTVc80OA&feature=player_embedded). But this poses a question. If Obama says Washington can’t be changed from the inside and it can only be changed from the outside, and Obama campaigned on change, then does this mean that by his own standards he should be outside of Washington so he can enact the change he said he would? If so, then I welcome you all in voting Romney for president. I get what I want (Obama out of Washington), and you guys get the change you want (change). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/2 "2012-09-21T00:27:20Z")
Yeah, but the rest of Washington will still be Republican-controlled. I prefer to believe that he meant people should vote the rascals out, since he can’t fire them. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/3 "2012-09-21T00:36:44Z")
Damn, you got us. Guess I’ll be voting for Romney. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/4 "2012-09-21T00:44:07Z")
Yep, your airtight logic has defeated me. I have no choice but to vote for Romney. In fact, you don’t even need to show up at the polls on Nov. 6, that’s how confident you can be that me and everone else who reads this thread will vote for the Fighting Mormon. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/5 "2012-09-21T00:46:57Z")
What about Virgil Goode? [http://www.goodeforpresident2012.com/](http://www.goodeforpresident2012.com/) ? or Gary Johnson? [http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/](http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/) ? Both are FAR MORE LIKELY to fix Washington. Neither of them need to check their overseas investment portfolio before making foreign policy decisions and neither one depends on magic undies to keep their faith in tact. Romney’s on his way to being a God of his own planet anyway, so what does he need with running the US. ---
**Author:** ![rooostra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@rooostra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rooostra)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/6 "2012-09-21T00:49:09Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > I didn’t see a thread about this, but [Obama said Washington can only be changed from the outside, not the inside](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvPQTVc80OA&feature=player_embedded). > > But this poses a question. If Obama says Washington can’t be changed from the inside and it can only be changed from the outside, and Obama campaigned on change, then does this mean that by his own standards he should be outside of Washington so he can enact the change he said he would? > > If so, then I welcome you all in voting Romney for president. I get what I want (Obama out of Washington), and you guys get the change you want (change). You set up a catch 22. If you can only change Washington from the inside, but becoming President makes you an insider, then change never occurs. Maybe Obama is still in the process of the change he campaigned on. Maybe your outsider status lasts for eight years. Either way, this seems like a rather facile argument. As an aside, Romney 2007: “I don’t think you change Washington from the inside. I think you change it from the outside.”. Guess if he wins, he can only be a one-termer. > **[Meet the Press: Inside Takes on the Latest Stories with Kristen Welker](https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press)** > > Follow Kristen Welker as she uncovers breaking news events with the experts on NBCNews.com. Find coverage on the latest in politics, news, business, and more. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/7 "2012-09-21T00:54:25Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Yep, your airtight logic has defeated me. I have no choice but to vote for Romney. In fact, you don’t even need to show up at the polls on Nov. 6, that’s how confident you can be that me and everone else who reads this thread will vote for the Fighting Mormon. Cheers. My logic is unassailable. I dare you to try. > [@rooostra](#): > > You set up a catch 22. If you can only change Washington from the inside, but becoming President makes you an insider, then change never occurs. I think you misread something. > [@](#): > > Maybe Obama is still in the process of the change he campaigned on. Maybe your outsider status lasts for eight years. But if change can only be enacted from the outside, then he’s incapable of doing anything while on the inside, as change is not possible from the inside, only the outside. > [@](#): > > As an aside, Romney 2007: “I don’t think you change Washington from the inside. I think you change it from the outside.”. > > Guess if he wins, he can only be a one-termer. If he wins and he fails, then he should be a one-termer too. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/8 "2012-09-21T01:13:45Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > My logic is unassailable. I dare you to try. Your logic isn’t unassailable, it’s not much of anything at all. Voters will change Washington by electing people who aren’t morons to go there. If conservatives, like yourself, would elect non-morons into positions of power, Washington would change. _My logic is unassailable_, heh, you keep trying, I’ll give you that. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/9 "2012-09-21T01:20:42Z")
Obama never intended to change anything other than Republican policies to Democratic policies. All that stuff about changing politics as usual or how Washington works was a way to fool people into thinking he was different. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/10 "2012-09-21T01:23:29Z")
Well, what if he put the skin side inside and the fur side outside? ---
**Author:** ![Reverend\_Meade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Reverend\_Meade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverend_Meade)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/11 "2012-09-21T01:30:03Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > My logic is unassailable. I dare you to try. If Washington can only be changed from the outside, and Obama campained on change, then he will obviously be changing things beside Washington. Boom, logic assailed while accepting your initial premise as valid. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/12 "2012-09-21T01:32:31Z")
I’m shocked, _shocked_ that the OP’s point is not just something he thought up all by himself, but is rather the Republican Talking Point Of The Day. As such, it has [already been refuted elsewhere on the Internet](http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/09/20/obama_another_stupid_gaffe_controversy_about_who_can_change_washington_.html). > [@President Obama](#): > > You can’t change Washington from the inside. You can only change it from the outside > > That’s how I got elected. That’s how the big accomplishments, like health care, got done – was because we mobilized the American people to speak out. Oh…Oh my God! An elected politician saying that somehow, getting things done in Washington depends on the _American people_ getting mobilized and speaking out! Why, that’s socialism! Or _Nazism_! Or possibly Islam. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/13 "2012-09-21T01:34:38Z")
The barber shaves whoever shaves not himself; but who shaves the barber? > [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > My logic is unassailable. I dare you to try. Can you answer a sincere question for me, please? Was yours intended as light tongue-in-cheek humor? Or do you see useful insight or challenge in the question? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/14 "2012-09-21T01:39:07Z")
Is this what we’re trying now? I thought we were going with the debt number thing. Or was it the redistribution thing? There was something else too, wasn’t there? Well, let’s see if this one sticks! Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/15 "2012-09-21T01:47:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Well, what if he put the skin side inside and the fur side outside? And I thought Congress smelled bad on the outside. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/16 "2012-09-21T01:47:44Z")
I just googled “47%” under the news tab. Got 10,900 news articles. Sorted by most recent. Many of them were posted 6 minutes, 11 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes ago. Doesn’t this just burn some people? That darn Mainstream media. Keep trying to find the latest Obama “gaffe”. Especially one that does not depend on clipping off his clarifying comments that he makes seconds later. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/17 "2012-09-21T01:48:22Z")
Is the OP and **pkbites** in some sort of competition over who can start the lamest thread? If so, I’d like to say that you’re both winners in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/18 "2012-09-21T01:56:52Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Why, that’s socialism! Or _Nazism_! Or possibly Islam. If you think they’re not all the same thing, you’ve obviously fallen behind on your Republican Talking Points Of The Day. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/19 "2012-09-21T02:23:12Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > …Romney’s on his way to being a God of his own planet anyway, so what does he need with running the US. Practice. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340/20 "2012-09-21T03:02:49Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > My logic is unassailable. I dare you to try. That’s what I said. Is English a second language for you, by any chance? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-semi-greatest-question/635340.md?page=2)