US Politics

just wanted to respond to the asking whether I vote or not.

Of course I vote, I always vote on local levels, electing county council officials and voting on budgetary decisions in my district and county.

oh wait, you mean the farce election in which 10% of your views actually get represented at best?

  On 2/20/2010 at 12:09 AM, karmakramer said:

And right now he can't do anything cause the GOP is blocking everything. Like with most things popular, watmm is never satisfied. I wish I could type more but on my phone

This is true in regard to healthcare reform. Very few Republicans have actually proposed alternatives, and the amount of lies the GOP leaders have spread or let fly is absurd. But yeah...you have an idea how I stand otherwise.

  On 2/20/2010 at 2:53 AM, joshuatxuk said:

  On 2/20/2010 at 12:09 AM, karmakramer said:

And right now he can't do anything cause the GOP is blocking everything. Like with most things popular, watmm is never satisfied. I wish I could type more but on my phone

 

This is true in regard to healthcare reform. Very few Republicans have actually proposed alternatives, and the amount of lies the GOP leaders have spread or let fly is absurd. But yeah...you have an idea how I stand otherwise.

This is true for everything and anything Obama puts his name on. EVEN things the GOP agreed with months before. Congress is completely at a stand still.

We are up to 20 senators who want recon, so that is very promising though. But if there has been any failure on the Democratic side it has been in the Senate, which actually has more to do with "blue dog" democrats like Evan Bayh, who recently announced he is stepping down to join the private sector, cause "washington is broken" and the dems don't want to compromise, which is fucking laughable, considering it has only been the dems who have made compromises, while the republcians keep asking for things and even when they get included continue to vote "no"... their goal is to basically make washington seem like a broken mess, cause they know that their party at the moment is certainly in one.

  On 2/20/2010 at 1:05 AM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/20/2010 at 12:05 AM, karmakramer said:

Anyone saying Obama is Bush is completely irrational imo. Like I said his administration has done more good in a month than the GOP did in 8 years. And the bailouts were necessary although could have used more regulation. But the world would be looking at a global depression right now had they not done that

 

 

ill up your irrational comment, with a 'you must be living in a parallel dimension' comment if you really believe even remotely what you've bolded above. Why dont you actually directly address my point ? if its as irrational as you say surely it's not that hard to knock down my points about Obama adopting assassination programs of american citizens, indefinite detention, increasing our mercenary forces overseas by 50%, continuing to erode away the constitution, supporting the patriot act. It's as if every time i say these things you either don't care about them or ignore them. I mean come on, actually try to differentiate these foreign policy and 'war on terror' positions from Bush's.

 

  On 2/20/2010 at 12:09 AM, karmakramer said:

And right now he can't do anything cause the GOP is blocking everything. Like with most things popular, watmm is never satisfied. I wish I could type more but on my phone

 

 

you got your clock cleaned in the last Obama debate thread, you wouldn't finish debating me and told me i basically won and that you had conceded. do you remember that? when a president wants to do nothing he always uses the other party as an excuse for blocking him. This is as old as american politics itself, probably even proceeds that. As long as you keep thinking of things in such black and white republican VS democrat terms it's going to be very difficult for you to actually see the truly bad things this president is doing. IT will always make you reflexively be opposed to republicans and er on the side of the democratic leader.

Dude, i'm on a phone which can't even scroll, theres no way I can quote and reply to long posts. But now I am in a hotel, so let me now answer your questions.

First, I have a very good example of how Obama in one month > Bush in eight years.... Stem Cell Research.

Second, on foreign policy, I think Obama has been doing a great job. We are leaving Iraq, and we are making progress in Afghanistan (and leaving it in 2011)... to expect a President who was elected into these two wars, to just strip away all of Bush's policies overnight would be a terrible move. He tried to close Gitmo, and the GOP convinced the public and our congressmen that it was a bad idea cause we'd have terrorist walking the streets of America!

Third, in regards to liberty and civil rights, I haven't seen any policies under Obama that erode them. I haven't read anything about Obama condoning torture or water-boarding. Cheney was on his ass all of last year saying Obama "was destroying the policies that kept America safe..." , so to me it seems like Obama is shifting away from the Bush era of dealing with domestic terrorism.

Finally, I need to stop seeing things in black in white? Wtf, you're the one thats saying Obama's reasoning for having a tough time getting congress to pass things, is an EXCUSE! What an absurd conclusion. Did you know that every single Obama nominee for upper or lower level management in his administration has been blocked for months now. MONTHS. He can't even fucking hire people right now. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED EVER IN THE HISTORY OF OUR GOVERNMENT.

So please, before you criticize me and my arguments on being black and white, perhaps you should open up a fucking newspaper.

Also, I conceded to that other thread, cause I did agree with your overall argument. I however find it difficult to make foreign policy decisions when we don't really have any intelligence in front of us. We don't really understand whats happening over there on a day to day basis. I really can't say where I stand, but from my observation of Obama so far, his line of thought seems completely logical and factual. So I have a hard time believing he would be any different when dealing with foreign policy issues. Most of the time I hear only positive things said about Obama in the press when it comes to foreign policy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100219/pl_nm/us_usa_healthcare1

Obama to spell out new healthcare plan

Reuters

President Barack Obama speaks to Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas, AP – President Barack Obama speaks to Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas, Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. (AP …

By Donna Smith Donna Smith – 1 hr 6 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is expected to publish his healthcare plan as early as Sunday or Monday, combining features of the two Democratic bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, congressional aides and healthcare advocates said on Friday.

The administration's bill will aim to jump-start the stalled healthcare overhaul and comes just days ahead of a planned televised White House summit with congressional Republicans, who are calling on Democrats to scrap the bills and start over with a far less sweeping proposal.

Democrats are struggling to push healthcare legislation over the finish line in the face of sagging public support and solid Republican opposition bolstered by recent election victories in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey.

The legislation the White House will post on its website is expected to reflect common ground negotiated over the past several weeks by House and Senate Democratic leaders.

Those agreements are likely to be combined as a privileged budget reconciliation bill, which only needs a simple 51-vote majority to pass the 100-member Senate instead of the 60-vote supermajority that has become routine in the Senate and gives Republicans power to block the healthcare bill.

"I believe that's the path we are going to take," a senior congressional Democratic aide said.

But it is not clear, even to congressional Democrats, what the White House will include in its legislation and whether Obama will try to add proposals aimed at attracting at least some Republican support.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have not signed off on any final agreement, several Democratic aides have said.

"We are still waiting for the president to present to Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi his plan," a Democratic leadership aide told Reuters.

Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama's closest advisers, said the president would post his draft healthcare bill on the Internet in "the next couple of days."

"The president is going to craft what he thinks is a good bill. It's not going to be a perfect bill but it's going to be a good bill," she said at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

FACE-OFF WITH REPUBLICANS

A move to use the budget reconciliation process would fuel Republican opposition even as Obama has called for more bipartisanship in the process.

"If the president is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan fashion, he must take the reconciliation process -- which will be used to jam through legislation that a majority of Americans do not want -- off the table," said Representative Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican.

The Obama face-off with Republicans will give Democrats an opportunity to try to sell their plan to the public and explain why a sweeping, comprehensive proposal is needed instead of the go slow, step-by-step approach advocated by Republicans.

At a campaign event on Friday for Reid in Nevada, Obama blasted Republicans for opposing his healthcare overhaul. "The Republicans say that they've got a better way of doing it. So, I want them to put it on the table," he said.

"We're going to move forward the Democratic proposal -- we hope the Republicans have one too," Obama said. "And we'll sit down and let's hammer it out. We'll go section by section. America can't solve our economic problems unless we tackle some of these structural problems."

Healthcare advocacy groups are looking to the White House proposal and next Thursday's summit to shore up public support, and Democratic votes, in the push to get comprehensive legislation to Obama this year.

"As soon as the president and (congressional Democratic) leadership are totally together on substance and a strategy, I think the votes will be there," said Ron Pollack, who heads the Families USA healthcare advocacy group.

The administration, congressional Democrats and advocacy groups have been turning up the rhetorical heat on health insurers that have in recent weeks announced huge premium increases against the backdrop of sizable profits and growing numbers of uninsured people.

"The premium increases are a powerful reminder that the healthcare problems are not going away," said David Kendall, a senior health policy advisor at centrist think tank Third Way.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington and Jim Finkle in Cambridge, Massachusetts)

(Reporting by Donna Smith; editing by Todd Eastham)

--

Really good news for health care

  On 2/20/2010 at 3:38 AM, karmakramer said:

my observation of Obama so far, his line of thought seems completely logical and factual...... Most of the time I hear only positive things said about Obama in the press when it comes to foreign policy.

if you expect the media's perception of the president to be indicative of something important or if you let your political paradigm be defined by the trivial miniscule fighting of the republican and democratic party why even start a politics thread at all? if you want to keep this on such a narrow plane it seems almost pointless

  On 2/20/2010 at 9:22 AM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/20/2010 at 3:38 AM, karmakramer said:

my observation of Obama so far, his line of thought seems completely logical and factual...... Most of the time I hear only positive things said about Obama in the press when it comes to foreign policy.

 

if you expect the media's perception of the president to be indicative of something important or if you let your political paradigm be defined by the trivial miniscule fighting of the republican and democratic party why even start a politics thread at all? if you want to keep this on such a narrow plane it seems almost pointless

So where do you get your news?

I watch Charlie Rose, should I not watch Charlie Rose?

:::THE CHECKLIST REVISITED:::

Balance of Power | Constitutional Issues | Undoing Bush

[X] Reversal of Bush's Preemption of States Doctrine

[X] Reenergize Freedom of Information Act | New Era of Transparency

[X] Reverse ban of foreign aid to countries with Abortions (The Mexico City Policy)

[X] Ease the requirements for filing employment discrimination lawsuits | Lilly Ledbetter Act

[X] Selected Supreme Court replacement Sonia Sotomayor

Economy | Jobs

[X] Lower Class Tax Cuts/Upper Class Tax Hikes (repealing the Bush Tax cuts for the rich)

[X] Help American Auto Industry Survive Depression

[X] Credit card reform gets passed, signed into law

[X] Signed additional mortgage fraud protections into law

[X] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus package)

Environment | New Energy

[X] New mileage and emissions standards set, with industry, labor, environmental and state approval

[ ] Regulate Power Plants, Factories, Oil Refineries to curb greenhouse gasses

[ ] 1 Million Plug-In Hybrids vehicles by 2015.

[ ] Green Energy Bill

Health Care

[X] Reauthorize State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

[X] Reverse Bush policy that prevents federal tax dollars from use in embryonic stem cell research

[X] Health Care Overhaul & Insurance Reform

Defense | Foreign Relations | Diplomacy | Iraq/Afghanistan

[X] Weapons procurement gets overhaul

[X] Make diplomatic efforts at engaging Islamic Middle Eastern Countries in dialogue

[X] Scrap plans for Missile Defense Sites in Eastern Europe

[X] Win Nobel Peace Prize in first year of Presidency

[X] War in Iraq: Planned Withdrawal Deadline

[X] War in Afghanistan Resolution: Planned Withdrawal Deadline

[ ] Close Guatanamo Bay

[ ] Torture Commision - Full Disclosure and Accounting

Education

[ ] Education Reform

[X] Student Loan Reform

Immigration Reform

[ ] Reform Immigration Laws

Social Causes | Civil Rights

[X] Lifts Travel Ban for HIV-Positive

[X] Signs expanded Hate Crime Bill - Includes Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Protection

[ ] Repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell

--

Anyone who says Obama hasn't done anything, isn't reading the news imo