Winning The Future!

[maxx]

The Answer: Get Big Money out of our elections.

[Mikeg]

"Winning the Future by Vindicating Dubya's Policies"

The on-the-job training of President Obama continues, as evidenced by the Executive Order he signed on Monday that dictates indefinite detention of the detainees at Gitmo and the resumption of military trials for them. The EO effectively nullifies his "Close Gitmo" campaign pledge and his Jan. 2009 Executive Order that required the closing of Gitmo within one year.

That sound you hear is another few points dropping off of Obama's job approval rating as his disillusioned base on the left and even more of his dwindling independent supporters realize that Obama is neither a leader nor a quick study when it comes to combating terrorism.

[more here]

[TKshreve]

"Winning the Future by Vindicating Dubya's Policies"

That sound you hear is another few points dropping off of Obama's job approval rating as his disillusioned base on the left and even more of his dwindling independent supporters realize that Obama is neither a leader nor a quick study when it comes to combating terrorism.

[more here]

To say he did not close Gitmo, after pledging to do so in his presidential platform is a fact. Saying he is not a leader, nor a quick study is an opinion. If you could separate those two, It would be appreciated.

[Mikeg]

To say he did not close Gitmo, after pledging to do so in his presidential platform is a fact. Saying he is not a leader, nor a quick study is an opinion. If you could separate those two, It would be appreciated.

You're having trouble comprehending my commentary on the news so therefore you want me to revise it? That's rich!

Instead, why don't you try offering some evidence of Obama's leadership skills. Don't just limit yourself to trying to find something in his record on combating terrorism - excuse me - "man caused disasters", it's OK to look for an example in his deft handling of the current negotiations with Congress over the 2011 Budget Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown on March 18th. Oh wait, he delegated that to his VP, didn't he? Anybody know if Biden is back yet from his trip to Moldova? WTF is Moldova, BTW? ["Biden trip dims hopes for quick budget deal"]

[maxx]

Lest we forget:

775 detainees have been brought to Guantanamo. Of these, many have been released without charge. The United States government continues to classify many of these released detainees as "enemy combatants".
As of February 2011, 172 detainees remain at Guantanamo.[7]

As of December 2008, around 50-60 detainees have been cleared for release, but have not actually been released due to difficulties in repatriating them.[8] The unrepatriated include ethnic Uyghurs who were training to fight for independence from the Chinese government in Xinjiang province, and who are now wanted by the Chinese authorities.[8][wiki]


So 178 still remain of the 775 W's admin. admitted to detaining. And wasn't the bounty something like 10k a head? I'd say that was just one more lousy investment of W's admin.

[1KielsonDrive]

Our government operated for decades by the two parties reaching compromises. Now Republicans in Congress treat compromise as a breach of morality. As Mitch O'Connell said, their one main goal is not improving the lot of the average citizen but getting back the presidency in the next election.

And the demicans one main goal is what?

[1KielsonDrive]

It used to be said that the largest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the rich, corrupt and organized crime [[fine distinctions, there) in the history of mankind, was right at the fall of the Soviet Union. Can't hold a candle to the Bush Administration and the early NO!bama administration.

[Mikeg]

"Winning the Future with a Disgruntled Cabinet"

Those who might have been reluctant to vote for Presidential Candidate Barack Obama because of his thin resume were assured by the candidate himself that he had plenty of executive experience, even more than his opponent's VP pick:

“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wasilla, has I think 50 employees. We've got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month."

Anderson Cooper and his media buddies gave Obama a big pass on that empty boast, even though they knew it was his campaign manager who was doing all of that work for him.

Now, more than two years into his presidency, the media is finally beginning to shed a little more light on Obama's demonstrated executive leadership capabilities, and it ain't a pretty picture.

First were the NY Magazine's revelations this past January about Obama's management style:

• according to the author, John Heileman, "Among the hallmarks of his political career has been constancy: a tight and basically static cadre of close advisers and a stubborn resistance to calls for midcourse corrections", and that he has finally realized that he needs "To break out of the suffocating cocoon in which he and his team had swaddled themselves."
• according to a former White House strategist, “What you had was really three or four people running the entire government.... I thought they put a pretty good Cabinet together, but most of those guys might as well be in the witness-protection program.”
• according to one of the most respected Democratic bigwigs in Washington, “I happen to know most of the Cabinet pretty well, and I get together with them individually for lunch.... I’ve had half a dozen Cabinet members say that in the first two years, they never had one call—not one call—from the president.”

Earlier this week the Washington Post pulled back the curtain a little more on how poorly Obama has led and utilized his Cabinet during the first two years of his term. Staff writer Anne Kornblut quotes new White House Chief of Staff William Daley as saying of his boss, "One of the first things he said to me was, 'I want to see these people more often."

So, how has our Chief Executive decided to make the dealings between himself, his Cabinet and his numerous White House "czars" more functional?

Wait for it..........

Ta-da!

Obama has created the position of "Cabinet Communications Director" and named media adviser Tom Gavin to fill the job. The goal, according to his official statement, is "to better coordinate with and utilize members of the Cabinet" and is a "high priority."

Solving a leadership problem by naming a coordinator? Perhaps you have to be a former community organizer to see how that is going to make a damn bit of difference. To my way of thinking, when the President views this as just being a "high priority" communications problem that can be solved by adding another "czar", it's clear that he's in over his head.

[ghettopalmetto]

Yawn. You could have posted this at any point in the past ten years. Why now?

And since you hate government so much, aren't you glad that the current Executive Branch is running so inefficiently? I mean, just think--they've only accomplished more in 2 years than Bush Jr. did in 8. Makes you wonder when they're going to get off their fat, lazy asses already, don't it?

I wouldn't know first-hand, but I'm pretty sure ANYONE who assumes that office is going to be in over his head, no matter who he is.

[maxx]

And the demicans one main goal is what?

Two main goals were improving the economy and the health care system.

[Mikeg]

Yawn. You could have posted this at any point in the past ten years......

What planet do you live on? I seem to remember plenty of headlines in the press whenever there was discontent among Dubya's Cabinet members. I do not remember Dubya populating his White House with 41 "czars" who operate behind the scenes as an additional layer of the Executive Branch beyond the "Advise and Consent" of the Senate.

[ghettopalmetto]

What planet do you live on? I seem to remember plenty of headlines in the press whenever there was discontent among Dubya's Cabinet members. I do not remember Dubya populating his White House with 41 "czars" who operate behind the scenes as an additional layer of the Executive Branch beyond the "Advise and Consent" of the Senate.

Yeah. Suddenly you're a government watchdog. For all of what, nearly 26 months now?

Wake me when you have something interesting to say.

[Whitehouse]

I thought this was a Charlie Sheen thread....

[Mikeg]

"Winning the Future by Using the Presidential Bully Pulpit!"

President Obama apparently heard the the left's wailing and gnashing of teeth [[ref. "Mr. President: Use the damn bully pulpit!") following the passage of the final elements of Wisconsin Gov. Walker's "budget repair bill". He immediately responded by holding a conference on the subject with 150 people at the White House, following it up with some strong words of his own:

“With big ears and the name that I have, I wasn’t immune, I didn’t emerge unscathed.”

Oops, wrong definition of "bully" - but maybe this explains a lot about this President's leadership style.

[maxx]

Obama has bent over backwards to work with the uncompromising Republicans so much so that he has been criticized by many liberals and yet he is still not kowtowing enough and you call him a bully? What planet do you live on?

TKShreve:
The Dems never had a real working majority since the blue dogs were Dems in name only. Their campaigns were funded by the same people that elected Republicans.

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2...n-from-debate/

[Mikeg]

Obama has bent over backwards to work with the uncompromising Republicans so much so that he has been criticized by many liberals and yet he is still not kowtowing enough and you call him a bully? What planet do you live on?

I didn't call him a bully - by his own admission, Obama was a wimp!

Image having been emotionally scarred by taunts of "elephant ears" and "Barry Soetoro". Poor baby........

Now as an adult who has been elected to the highest office in the land, he is apparently unwilling - or unable - to use the President's splendid "bully pulpit" except to excoriate schoolyard bullies. All he has said about the Wisconsin budget legislation was that it "seems like more of an assault on unions". The best he could muster about a dictator and terrorist was to berate him for having "lost the legitimacy to lead" the people of Libya.

[maxx]

I didn't call him a bully - by his own admission, Obama was a wimp!

I was responding to this statement.

Oops, wrong definition of "bully" - but maybe this explains a lot about this President's leadership style.

And I'd like to see the citation where Obama calls himself a wimp.

Now as an adult who has been elected to the highest office in the land, he is apparently unwilling - or unable - to use the President's splendid "bully pulpit" except to excoriate schoolyard bullies. All he has said about the Wisconsin budget legislation was that it "seems like more of an assault on unions". The best he could muster about a dictator and terrorist was to berate him for having "lost the legitimacy to lead" the people of Libya.

He would have looked rather clueless to excoriate GOvernors who are stopping collective bargaining for public sector workers when the federal gov. doesn't allow it. But then cluelessness seems to be the Republicans stock and trade.And again, what should he have said about Gadafi? Do you want us to declare war on him? Invade Libya and ask questions later? Do you know the meaning of the term demagogue? Maybe you only listen to demagogues.

[Mikeg]

"Winning the Future by Staying Above the Fray!"

The Associated Press takes on the President and slaps him around with kid gloves in this article written by Jim Kuhnhenn, headlined

"On high-profile issues, Obama keeps a low profile"

WASHINGTON [[AP) -- Call it an above-the-fray strategy.
On hot issues that Democrats and Republicans have found cause to fret about - from spending reductions to state labor disputes - President Barack Obama is keeping a low profile......

......White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer..... said Obama has enough issues on his agenda and said the White House doesn't believe the public wants the president weighing in on an array of subjects...... [read the rest]

Mr. Pfeiffer is right about that - the public is tired of President Obama interjecting himself into local issues, like the Ground Zero Mosque in NYC and the Cambridge Police Department's handling of the Gates affair.

On the other hand, it's just another example of media bias when the AP defends the President against bi-partisan allegations of ineffectual leadership on important federal issues by characterizing it as an "above the fray strategy".

[1KielsonDrive]

Yawn. You could have posted this at any point in the past ten years. Why now?

And since you hate government so much, aren't you glad that the current Executive Branch is running so inefficiently? I mean, just think--they've only accomplished more in 2 years than Bush Jr. did in 8. Makes you wonder when they're going to get off their fat, lazy asses already, don't it?

I wouldn't know first-hand, but I'm pretty sure ANYONE who assumes that office is going to be in over his head, no matter who he is.

Not something I'd brag about much less make a selling point. Anyone compared to Bush would be a good choice. Even McCain/Palin would've been a relief.

[1KielsonDrive]

Two main goals were improving the economy and the health care system.

Two strikes! Fastballs right down the middle. Didn't even swing. Caught watching as they flew by.

[maxx]

Which means what? The economic situation of 2008 hasn/t improved? Our healthcare system which was also in freefall hasn't been improved at all?

[1KielsonDrive]

Which means what? The economic situation of 2008 hasn/t improved? Our healthcare system which was also in freefall hasn't been improved at all?

Improved very little. Our healthcare system was never in a free fall, it was in a rapid rise in costs and a rapid decline in availability and affordability. It still is. Healthcare and insurance companies were making money hand over fist. They still are. Show me some improvement in Healthcare. I know you're a devout demican and you'll likely never give up that there's something inherently better about demicans than republicrats. Sorry, I disagree. As much as we might agree otherwise, Demicans are losers. Almost as much as republicrats. NO!bama is a loser! 'Winning The Future?' No, 'Winning Our Balls Back'.

[Mikeg]

......The economic situation of 2008 hasn/t improved?

Well, the unemployment numbers did seem to start showing some improvement once President Obama signed into law the extension of the Bush tax cuts!

[maxx]

Improved very little. Our healthcare system was never in a free fall, it was in a rapid rise in costs and a rapid decline in availability and affordability. It still is. Healthcare and insurance companies were making money hand over fist. They still are. Show me some improvement in Healthcare. I know you're a devout demican and you'll likely never give up that there's something inherently better about demicans than republicrats. Sorry, I disagree. As much as we might agree otherwise, Demicans are losers. Almost as much as republicrats. NO!bama is a loser! 'Winning The Future?' No, 'Winning Our Balls Back'.

Improvements to health care: Companies' profits are limited. No pre-existing conditions , extension of children's coverage under parents' policies to age 26, insurance exchanges to be set up. THose are just off the top of my heard.

You don't have to be a devout anything to see that there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans. Just the fact that a Democratic president attempted to fix the healthcare system is a big
difference. Since you obviously won't be happy until the perfect candidate comes along, I imagine that you don't vote. And how childish to call people losers. Obama is the President of the U.S., so he hardly qualifies as a loser in anybodies book.

[maxx]

Well, the unemployment numbers did seem to start showing some improvement once President Obama signed into law the extension of the Bush tax cuts!

And your point is that the rich are going to rush out now and create jobs for us all now that they have still more tax cuts.?That goes under the Republican lies thread.