Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:29 am Post subject: Obama, the record so far
Quote:
I received a note from a listener complaining about Obama’s leadership and stating that the president has simply “wasted 365 days.” Many on the liberal left agree. Major initiatives proposed in his campaign have not been realized. The senate has proved obdurate. The public option is essentially off the table. The banks are getting away with billions. Had Obama waited longer and spent more time in the senate, said my correspondent, he would have had more dogs to call home when he became president.
All that is true and all of it is depressing.
But when we get discouraged we might remember this: This president is not fraudulent, explaining war for oil as if it were war for democracy. This vice president is not promoting the idea of the commander in chief above the law. This chairman of the Federal Reserve is not any longer lauding the free market as if were the writ of God. This president is not strutting around aircraft carriers earning the ridicule of nations.
And seriously, on the positive side, has he really “wasted 365 days?”
He has vigorously engaged the US in the climate change negotiations, urging action at Copenhagen instead of opposing it, forcing Brazil, China and India to come to the table as well.
His EPA has faced up to the science and declared carbon dioxide emissions a threat to public health. For the first time the United States will seriously regulate one of the major causes of global warming.
He has set a timetable for beginning withdrawal from Afghanistan. He did it in such a way that it numbed the hawks into silence and yet there it lies: a challenge to the military and the CIA to produce or get out.
He has brought to the brink of passage a health care bill that will extend coverage to 30 million and that by itself would have been the major accomplishment of any administration, not just George W. Bush, or Bill Clinton, but also of LBJ or FDR. That bill will also do away with the cost-saving provision of “pre-existing conditions” and force insurers to find some other way to save other than by denying coverage. If the new bill closes the prescription drug doughnut hole, that too, will be a major achievement. Not one of his predecessors has been able to do the same.
He has placed a feisty, no-nonsense woman justice on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is not Earl Warren, but she is not Roberts or Alito, either, and she has her feet firmly in the real world and not the ideological world that declares self interest to be moral bedrock.
He has imposed new rules for lobbying by people who leave government and signaled a willingness to put public campaign financing on the table.
He has made manufacturing for energy conservation a major national priority and pushed that development as a way to stimulate American exports.
He got the stimulus package passed and put an estimated 2 million people back to work and there are more jobs in the pipeline.
He is pushing to close Guantanamo and it is definitely not his fault that no provincial governor will allow the prisoners in.
His attorney general has begun to restore integrity to the Department of Justice. There is, I believe, more to do. But we are not getting craven rationalizations for violating international law and ignoring domestic statutes. We are not claiming that the king or the president is above the law and turning back the clock on 700 years of legal history. We have been spared the embarrassment of Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Meirs.
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1648 Location: Michigan
Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 06:02 am Post subject:
"Obama advisers set to recommend military tribunals for alleged 9/11 plotters
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who says he was the primary planner of 9/11, was set for federal trial. (Muslim.net Via Associated Press)
By Anne E. Kornblut and Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 5, 2010
President Obama's advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City. "
OK, I will bite. Why is "saved" such a difficult concept? I save things (not enough money, unfortunately) so I understand "saving" things. If jobs would have been lost/abolished (teacher lay-offs, police/fire lay-offs, etc. etc.,) without the funds supplied by the stimulus package...well, the jobs were saved. What's your problem?
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1648 Location: Michigan
Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 02:30 am Post subject:
How many? Saved for how long - time sensitive funds? How proven - the White House that uses self reporting in phantom congressional districts? A concept for use never before in a recession. We also have the assertion by the president that if the funds were expended the unemployment would positivity not go above 8%.
Want some more recent on US job waste and shipping the jobs over seas using stimulus funds:
A war is emerging between Congress and the White House over high-profile stimulus programs that lawmakers claim aren't serving the American people.
The American Wind Energy Association came out with a report last week that showed a drop in wind manufacturing jobs in the U.S. for last year.came out with a report last week that showed a drop in wind manufacturing jobs in the United States for last year. But during that time, enough wind farms have been built to power 2.4 million homes and create lots of new, green jobs.
Senate Democrats lashed out at the Obama administration on Wednesday, saying its stimulus wind energy program creates jobs overseas instead of in the U.S., and they're calling for the administration to put a stop to it.
"Today, we are demanding the Obama administration suspend this program immediately," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Sorry, but I'm not impressed. Jobs were clearly saved; how many, and precisely where, is something that will take auditors to figure out and "verify." But given the alternative (no stimulus funding)...well, there was no alternative. Some reporting mistakes--and perhaps exaggerations, for that matter--from state/local officials is hardly reason to get excited.
8) Regardless of what side of the spectrum you are on, the country is in deep doo doo. The democrats are lying our their butt hole about it, and the republications and other politicians are doing nothing about it but trying to make political gain out of it. So sad.
Actually, the country is recovering quite well from the most recent Republican administration. Job losses are declining, taxes have been cut for the middle class, and my friends in retail tell me that sales are up, suggesting a return to spending disposable income. We're finally winning Bush's wars, nobody has blown up a world trade center in the last year, and so on.
To be sure, Fox says we're going down, but they lie about everything, so no news there. _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
403[at]traverlaw.com
Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 964 Location: Federal Hill, Baltimore, MD
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 01:27 pm Post subject:
One thing has some people frustrated out the gazoo, and it's not immediately fixable. Indeed, it's highly contrarian. And that's the Federal budget situation and the blooming Federal debt. Thanks to the Bush inspired recession (coupled with his 8 years of utterly irresponsible spending and taxing policies), the only way for Obama (or anyone else in his position) to get the economy growing again is to spend like ... well, like Bush. The growing debt scares some folks silly, but there simply isn't anything to be done about it until the economy starts growing again. Hopefully (but only hopefully), the "Debt Commission" (or whatever it's called) will point out some reasonable ways to rectify the deficit spending problem in the long run.
This is a fairly common situation, although the numbers are larger this time. The typical approach of a Republican administration is to cut taxes recklessly and spend recklessly. E.g. Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, George Bush II.
A prosperous Democratic (liberal, socialist, etc.) government is then voted in to clean up the mess. President Clinton is a good example. With targed tax increases, spending restraints, and economic growth, he cleaned up the prior Republican mess and left the following Republican Administration with a budget surplus. Of course, the Republicans pissed it away, as usual. See http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/during_the_clinton_administration_was_the_federal.html
Predicting the future is always risky business. However, history has shown that Democrats are getting very good at cleaning up the messes left by Republicans. I suspect that despite Republican shameless puffery, aggravated mopery, and befuddled foot dragging, by the end of the second Obama administration we will be running a budget surplus, rather than a deficit. Indeed, the Democrats may achieve this sooner. Sadly, Democrats cannot restore the lives lost in unnecessary Republican wars. That kind of cleanup is impossible. However, Democrats can restore VA hospitals and other Veteran services to functional pre-Republican levels, which Democrats are working on diligently. By ending unnecessary military spending and only giving the Pentagon what it asks for and needs, Democrats will also cut military spending and restore the military to its fully-functioning pre-Republican status.
When reading today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel I noted this article, which suggests that things are beginning to turn around faster than expected, the repairs are working:
Quote:
At least one leading indicator in metro Milwaukee, which hemorrhaged jobs in the last two years, suggests that employers are prepared to begin hiring.
Job prospects in the four-county area that encompasses Milwaukee and Waukesha ranked 13th out of 201 metropolitan areas, according to a quarterly survey of employer expectations compiled by Manpower Inc., the global staffing services company. The Milwaukee-Waukesha area was in a group with four other metropolitan areas that compiled the fifth-highest score in the survey.
Employers surveyed in the region expect "to hire at a solid pace during the second quarter," according to the survey, which reports its findings for the nation as a whole as well as U.S. metro areas and 36 nations around the world.
If the findings didn't come from a credible source - Milwaukee-based Manpower has compiled the index since 1962 - the prediction might be met with as much disbelief as skepticism in southeastern Wisconsin.
Metro Milwaukee posted the third-deepest percentage loss in jobs last year among the nation's biggest metro areas. According to a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the four-county metro area lost 5.7% of its employment base in 2009. Of the 38 metro areas with at least 750,000 jobs, the only regions to fall further were Las Vegas and Detroit.
Companies ready to do some hiring - JSOnline http://www.jsonline.com/business/87074062.html last visited (Tue Mar 09 2010 09:29:40 GMT-0600 (CST)) _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
403[at]traverlaw.com
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1648 Location: Michigan
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 05:36 pm Post subject:
My democratic congress man who is in a "at risk" district in a election is trying a turn about and sent me this email.
--------------------------
Dear Friend,
Please take a moment to read our latest email update about what I’m working on to help create jobs and turn Michigan’s economy around. If you would like to receive more updates like this in the future, you can sign up by clicking here.
Why I voted NO on raising the debt ceiling
To get our economy back on track, Washington needs to get serious about controlling the skyrocketing federal deficit. That's why I've voted AGAINST raising the national debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion earlier this month. It's time for Congress to make tough choices about the budget and focus on what matters most – helping businesses create jobs.
To read more about this vote and another fiscally responsible bill that would require Congress to pay-as-you-go, click here.
New credit card law will protect consumers, hold card companies accountable
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