Barack Obama's Inauguration

[Quit Calling My Mama 0]

Two other random comments about this election:

 

1) The polls were pretty much dead on. Only exception was Alaska (President, Senate, & Congress all seemed to have been off there for some reason).

 

2) Obama actually won the rich vote (over $200K/yr.).

 

 

Maybe due to the election being called for Obama before voting ended in Alaska.

[Nightwing 0]

People like the idea of real fiscal conservatism.

 

EFA

 

Seriously.

 

The question of what's going to happen with the Republican Party came up in my National Security Policy class Wednesday. My take was that, while I would prefer to see the Republican Party become a socially moderate to liberal, fiscally conservative libertarian type party (since I loathe social conservatism, but am at least sympathetic to fiscal conservatism), I simply don't think that's going to happen. The party is becoming increasingly Southern and increasingly hard right. The only region of the country that McCain won was the South--Obama easily won the Northeast obviously, but also pretty handily won the West and Midwest--and the South is not the place where a libertarian message is going to be successful. Furthermore, most GOP moderates in Congress have been picked off by Democrats in the last two elections.

 

So I see the party moving further to a more Mike Huckabee-esque direction as I don't think there's much of a market for fiscal conservatism. People may like the idea of low government spending in the abstract, but when you talk about actually cutting entitlements or the military budget, the two biggest components of federal spending, you're generally not going to get very far.

The Economist agreed with your assessment when they endorsed Obama. I believe their quote (Which resonated greatly with me) was "when did the Western Individualism of Reagan's movement get replaced with Southern-fried Moralism?"

[SuperJerk 0]

Most people couldn't give two shits about economic ideology. They want someone to try something that's going to work. Fiscal conservatism didn't prevent the Great Depression, and Keynesian micro-management didn't prevent 1970s stagflation. There's no perfect economic ideology. And most people neither know nor care enough about the particulars of economic policy to be concerned with anything but the results: Are unemployment, inflation, taxes, and interest rates down? Can we borrow money when we need it? Are jobs being created? Results are what people care about, not ideology.

 

I get pissed off when people worship at the alter of Reaganomics, because it NEVER worked the way it was supposed to. People credit supply-side theory instead of deficit spending for pumping up the GNP, and it was an interest rate hike that ended stagflation. Reagan never proposed anything that would reduce the size of government, and his tax cuts lowered revenues, not increased them (which is why taxes were raised in 1983). Reagan didn't do what he said he was doing, but the results he got were enough to satisfy most people. People need to quit rewriting history, because the result is you convince ignorant or gullible people that didn't work the first time should be tried again.

[Nightwing 0]

I was mainly referring to the "Western Individualism" becoming "Southern-Fried Moralism", but I was simply trying to quote everything. I still agree with quote.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

 

From the blog of the fuck face I shared my emails from arguing with from earlier in the thread

[At Home 0]

Speaking of donations, does anyone know where extra campaign funds go to after the campaign?

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Obama is still asking for donations. He sent me an email.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Oh boy... I dunno if it was Beck or Hannity....maybe Humphries or another clown (I was half asleep) but this morning they played a clip of them saying "Obama is only President because he abused the affirmative action system, took advantage of his overworked Grandmother, and used illegal campaign funding!"

 

I wanted to kill this man.

[imajackoff? 0]

I assume it would go directly to a re-election campaign fund.

 

It will be interesting how 2012 shakes out regarding the finances of an assumed Obama re-election campaign. It will be harder to amass the huge amounts of money in a grassroots manner as the sitting president. I see lots of high dollar fund raising dinners in his future.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

Obama will do such good job at changing America in his first four years that he won't even need to campaign for re-election. Everyone will just vote for him - Even the bitter old white folk. Hell, people might even bend the rules and give him a third term.

[CBright7831 0]

I met this guy a few years back when I used to post on another forum. Here's what he has to say about the Obama victory:

 

NOTE: i've censored his name so he will not be bothered:

 

CBright101010 (2:00:11 PM): Your thoughts on President elect, Barack Obama?

[censored] (2:08:59 PM): I'm angry that a nigger is president

[censored] (2:09:06 PM): We are approaching race war

[censored] (2:09:23 PM): Now we have a nigger president with a cabinet full of Jews

[censored] (2:09:49 PM): Obama is a long legged mack daddy

CBright101010 (2:09:50 PM): What did you think when the news station announced Obama as President. What were you thinking?

[censored] (2:10:01 PM): I was thinking the US is finished

[censored] (2:10:13 PM): the US has been dying ever since we fought Hitler

[censored] (2:10:23 PM): it sped up the process in the 60s with the civil rights movement

[censored] (2:10:32 PM): now Obama as president is officially the end of the US

[censored] (2:10:37 PM): I refuse to wave the US flag anymore

CBright101010 (2:12:06 PM): What do you think will happen now?

[censored] (2:12:28 PM): He will imprison white racists

[censored] (2:12:41 PM): He will open up the flood gates to the third world more than ever before

[censored] (2:13:59 PM): I hate Obama and all of his followers

[censored] (2:14:13 PM): yeah, it's horrible

[censored] (2:14:29 PM): he made that speech in Germany where he said he would work to tear down all barriers

[censored] (2:14:37 PM): which basically means unlimited immigration to the US

[censored] (2:15:01 PM): we'll be swamped even more now with niggers, mexicans, and east indians to bring us down to the third world level

[censored] (2:16:51 PM): the US has gone insane

[censored] (2:17:01 PM): look at all the whites who voted for a black racist

CBright101010 (2:17:12 PM): Over 50%

[censored] (2:17:17 PM): yeah

[censored] (2:17:24 PM): the white race is the worst race except for all the others

[censored] (2:17:38 PM): what does that say about the other races when dumb white people like that have been running hte world

CBright101010 (2:18:55 PM): 65,340,608 (52.6%) voted for Obama against McCain's 57,358,053 (46.1%).

[censored] (2:19:03 PM): pathetic

[censored] (2:19:12 PM): not that McCain is the great white hope, he's far from it, but at least he's white

[censored] (2:19:24 PM): I gotta go

[censored] (2:19:27 PM): I'll be back later

[censored] (2:19:31 PM): I'm not feeling good after talking about this

CBright101010 (2:19:35 PM): later

[censored] signed off at 2:19:33 PM.

[snuffbox 0]

Your friend is a handful of myrrh away from being a Wise Man.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

[censored] (2:09:23 PM): Now we have a nigger president with a cabinet full of Jews

 

But I thought the jews and niggers hated each other? I guess they can put their differences aside to oppress the WASP...

 

[censored] (2:10:13 PM): the US has been dying ever since we fought Hitler

 

Godwin's law strikes early.

 

[censored] (2:17:24 PM): the white race is the worst race except for all the others

 

This one is my favorite. Maybe this guy can dye his skin blue or something?

[CBright7831 0]

He's entertaining to talk too.

[Guest Vitamin X]

[censored] (2:09:49 PM): Obama is a long legged mack daddy

 

I think we just figured out who your friend is. Does he also not believe that Obama is NOT A BLACK MAN?

[SuperJerk 0]

Or that he's not even from the 'hood?

 

 

 

 

That reminds me...has anyone heard anything from Chris Rock or Chuck D since the election?

[imajackoff? 0]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122611134918910647.html

 

A pretty good WSJ article with some insight from Rahm Emanuel on how the Obama Administration will operate.

 

This may soothe some worries that a liberal majority in Congress will hi-jack Obama's authority for their own agenda:

 

"Let me say this as to my colleagues," he began. "Although committed to their philosophy, they are incredibly pragmatic. They have lived through an experience in the minority. And they know how they got to be in the minority. And they know one very important political principle. They know that if President-elect Obama succeeds, all of us succeed. And if he doesn't succeed, his failures won't be limited to him."

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

Asked what Barack Obama was elected to do, and what legislation he's likely to find on his Oval Office desk soonest, Mr. Emanuel didn't hesitate. "Bucket one would have children's health care, Schip," he said.

Sweet, a Grand Prize Game metaphor. They'll win me over after all. If he refers to three of his colleagues as "Hardrock, Coco, and Joe," I'll be filled with endless joy.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Well we all know who Coco and Joe could be. Who gets to play Hardrock in the Obama Administration?

[SuperJerk 0]

Source: Obama wants Valerie Jarrett to replace him in Senate

 

A prominent Democratic source close to Barack Obama confirmed Sunday that Valerie Jarrett is Obama’s choice to replace him in the Senate.

 

Jarrett is a Chicago lawyer and one of Obama’s closest advisers. She is also one of the leaders of Obama’s transition team.

 

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chief of staff, said Sunday that he had not seen the report from Chicago’s WLS-TV that named Jarrett as Obama’s top pick, but he praised her as a “valuable ally.”

 

“People should know that Valerie Jarrett is — and people do know — she is a very dear friend of the president-elect and a valuable ally of his, not only prior to running for president, in his Senate life, and just personally for Michelle and Barack,” Emanuel said on ABC’s “This Week.”

 

The Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, will make the final decision on who will be Obama’s successor.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/...-him-in-senate/

 

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

So Rove is Bush's brain, but Jarrett is only half of Obama's? Women don't get full proxy-brain status?

 

If she's such a close friend and personal ally, isn't she better suited to sticking with him in Washington? I would think that's where he would need her most. Besides, maybe Blagojevich doesn't want to install Obama's cronies in all the vacant elected positions. Surely he has cronies of his own to install.

 

I know I hated Texas being the epicenter of American politics, but I don't know if I like it being Chicago, either. Careful what you wish for indeed.

[At Home 0]

I know I hated Texas being the epicenter of American politics, but I don't know if I like it being Chicago, either. Careful what you wish for indeed.

 

It was almost Juneau.

[Nightwing 0]

I don't know if that speaks worse of Bush, or better of Rove. The statement I suppose could be taken a variety of different ways.

 

But why put her in the Senate? I'd wager she'll be Obama's direct-line into the Senate, as a way to keep a handle on Reid. I can certainly understand why he might want to have at least one person who he can trust to represent his interests in the Senate. I don't have much of an opinion on it, just as I don't have much of an opinion on Palin becoming Senator of Alaska (Which, in all honesty, might open her eyes to the world below the Sub-Arctic Circle).

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

I don't want Sarah Palin to go to the Senate. I don't want her to try to become more worldly and experienced. I just want her to go away forever.

[SuperJerk 0]

President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

 

John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.

 

"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said. "I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."

 

Podesta also said Obama is working to build a diverse Cabinet. That includes reaching out to Republicans and independents — part of the broad coalition that supported Obama during the race against Republican John McCain. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been mentioned as a possible holdover.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081110/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama

 

Senator Obama voted to confirm Gates as Sec. of Defense, and Gates is extremely qualified. In addtion to his leadership of the CIA, he served on the Iraq Study Group (a.k.a. the Baker-Hamilton Commision), has a Ph.D. in Russian/Soviet history, and has-of course- spent the last 2 years as Sec. of Defense.

 

The executive order thing is to be expected. Pres. Bush had no problem using executive orders to enact several controversial polices regarding abortion, stem cell research, and oil drilling.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

The FIRST thing I said to my best friend as we watched election night (and he voted for Nader for the 3rd time) was that I COULD NOT wait to have a President who understood that not supporting stem cell research made us backwards and retarded. It's 2008, not 1920. It's time we had someone with some forward thinking.

 

Being behind ENGLAND with all of our money and resources was a goddamned embarrasment.

 

...

 

Or as the Bush republicans would call it...Thursday.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I've decided to rant a little. A good friend of mine, who is ultra-republican, spent a good portion of last night bitching about the election and the horrible times that we are about to face as a result...and what made it intesting is that he didn't have ONE bad word to say about the last 8 years. Not one. Now he bitched about Clinton policies, and Obama things that haven't happened yet...but he seems to think that the last 8 years have been just fine.

 

So...for no ones benefit but my own mindset...

 

You know what the biggest problem with the Bush administration was?

 

It wasn't the policies that lead us to the brink of econominc depression...

 

It wasn't a war built on a lie that cost thousand's of lives...

 

It was his complete and utter inabilty for forward thinking. Now, everyday we hear about "alternative energy" like we just fucking invented the idea. Where was this concept in government the last 8 years? Nowhere near Bush and Cheney...who are oil men...

 

And the Stem Cell research thing drives me nuts.

 

Let's not experiment to cure FUCKING EVERYTHING...why? Who knows.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Well, I think stem cell research is fine, I just don't see why the government has to give money to an already wealthy medical industry to fund it...

[EricMM 0]

Now, everyday we hear about "alternative energy" like we just fucking invented the idea. Where was this concept in government the last 8 years?

Don't get me started.

 

It was in America until Reagan eliminated any support and all the companies moved to Germany (wind) or Japan (solar)...

 

Now we're 20 (!!!) years behind.

[snuffbox 0]

Stem cells have feelings too.