Obama: 'We've restored America's standing' , page 2

reply to post by neformore

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To be honest, Nef, I don't particularly care how the rest of the world views him.

I'm beginning to think he may be the worst President we've ever had...and this is only 10 plus months in...and considering the competition for worst ever, that's a hell of an accomplishment.

All I'm asking from him is some decision making. No "We're looking at every option" or whatever the catch phrase of the day is. Make the damned decision. Right or wrong. Wrong can be corrected, while right is applauded. Vacillation just earns contempt. Well guess what?

One Jimmy Carter in my lifetime is sufficient.

reply to post by seagull

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Patience is a virtue

Sometimes, when things are really mixed up, and messed up, the best thing to do is take a long view of it..

This guy has taken over office at a time when the world was on its knees financially, and the stark truth of it is that the US's reputation worldwide was hurt badly by Bush. The guy inherited two battlefronts with no apparent exit strategies, and the overarching seeds of paranoic mistrust and hatred of the islamic world fostered by the events of 9/11 that subsequently had many thousands of gallons of Iraqi oil poured on the fire.

Its not a pretty picture. People may have deluded themselves into thinking the answers were numerous and simple. In actual fact they are limited and very very difficult.

No nation stands alone anymore. For effective foreign policy, trade and military policies Allies are needed. Rebuilding a damaged reputation is a damned hard thing to do, especially in light of a resurgent Russia and an aggressive commu-capitalistic Chinese government, an EU that is starting to take the notion of being a superpower seriously and the slow acceleration of the Indian juggernaut. The spheres of influence and balance of power has shifted slightly, and I know thats uncomfortable for Americans to believe but its true. Thats why the need to rebuild rep was and still is important, because the BIG decisions can't be made alone any more. They rely on the world seeing things in a certain way.

I can't say if the guy will be a good or bad president. What I can say is that so far he hasn't invaded anyone, or drastically upset anyone (except impatient Americans possibly!) at the moment.

Time is whats needed. His second year is when he needs to start shaking the tree and picking up a gear. We should be judging him this time next year really

reply to post by neformore

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Patience is, indeed, a virtue. But it's hard to stay patient when the President who came into office riding a tidal wave of "change" has done little to nothing to foment that "change". Either here or abroad.

God knows I want the man to succeed. Why would I want him to fail? But do something. I don't really think that's too much to ask. I'm tired of hearing the tired old chestnut "we're looking at the problem". Translated to mean "We don't have a clue, but we're faking it to look like we do." That may, or may not, be the case, but that's certainly the impression he's giving to many. Including his supporters in Congress, who have to start thinking about saving their jobs next fall.

Say what you like about Mr. Bush, but vacillating he wasn't. Wrong? Several times. Right? Also, several times. He did, however, make the decisions he thought were necessary. The same can not be said for Mr. Obama.

This is, of course, my completely humble opinion...and can be revised as warranted.

reply to post by seagull

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Translated to mean "We don't have a clue, but we're faking it to look like we do." That may, or may not, be the case, but that's certainly the impression he's giving to many. Including his supporters in Congress, who have to start thinking about saving their jobs next fall.

We didn't elect an experienced man, a man with legislative background and originality. We elected a man that looked good and spoke elegantly. He continues to look good and speak constantly and leave the legislation to Pelosi and others in Washington. It's a huge risk but that's what Obama does best!

To tell the truth, I never expected much from him anyway, except that he'd at least act like a rational adult most of the time, which is a not insignificant improvement over his predecessor.

So I have no doubt we're a bit more popular these days. But it's more of an effect of not being Bush than anything else, an expression of hope and wishful thinking.

Not much of an interview, in my opinion: journalism has sunk to the most abysmal lows I've ever seen. No reporter has asked a tough, relevant question in so long I can't remember it. No followup questions, no challenges to the most breathtakingly obvious contradictions and fabrications; not that there was anything glaring in that, it was too light and fluffy, pretty, reassuring words, but fluff. And to be honest and pragmatic, a lot of times that's what's needed. But depth and action are ultimately necessary.

I noticed the subject of jobs and banking reforms were glossed without any depth whatsoever. No challenge to why we are still allowing foriegn tech workers, nurses, and other professionals to flood our labor market (H1B and similar programs) when so many citizens are unemployed in those fields. It beggars belief that no employable citizens can be found to fill those positions.

www.visabureau.com...

www.information-management.com...

One of the most common errors of interpreting what a politician is talking about is the false assumption of common definitions. For instance, Obama stated that they've increased funding for "small business". As a reporter, I would have immediately asked him to define what he meant by "small". I think most people would be shocked to find how big you can be and still qualify as a small business. Most of what you and I might think of as a small business is more often actually a "micro" business, one that doesn't qualify for much aid because they are too small.

www.sba.gov...

it's the utter lack of enforcement of anything like the rule of law in the financial sectors that disturbs me more than anything. If they wanted to, they could declare that what happened was a "suspected terrorist attack" upon our financial sector and use the Patriot Act to look at the Fed's books and track the hedge funds. Or they could apply simple fraud laws. AIG committed fraud, pure and simple: they sold people a non-existent product, insurance they knew they couldn't back up. One wonders how, if Timothy Geithner is the brightest of the bright, so banking savvy and all, the taxpayer got screwed on every deal he struck? Until some real action is taken to control the banksters we will have extremely seriously deteriorating conditions in our economy. The real economy, not the fantasyland gambling pit the stock market has become.

But ten months is not much time for anything to be obvious yet. We will still likely fall off a cliff soon in my opinion, but I'll allow he's bought a little time at least. But it takes a lot more time to change course from eight years of willful incompetence. I personally doubt that he has enough, not with the best of intentions and skill; things are too far gone for anyone to correct in time without some very major changes.

But he needs to fulfill his rhetoric and actually, truly change something quick, or he'll lose goodwill fast. The people's temper is very fragile, I think, and hard to tell which way they'll go if they lose what little faith they have left in the political process.

[edit on 18-11-2009 by apacheman]

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