The Obama Inauguration
What are your thoughts on this historic occasion for the United States? Currently the United States is in the worst recession since the Great Depression. The government is using the philosophy of John Maynard Keynes to deficit spend its way into a recovery. Over 45 million Americans are without healthcare - and when they need to go to the doctor the government has to pay for it through medicare, medicaid, or tax write offs from hospital profits. The Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and Securities and Exchange Commission have not enforced protections for Americans as evidenced in the importation of toxic toys and food products into U.S. markets, lower air and water quality standards, and allowing Ponsi schemes like that of Bernard Madoff to bilk $50 billion from investors. Social Security will not be solvent by the time most of us need to use it. Around the world we are still involved in two wars, and our credibility is shaky due to new policies like extraordinary rendition and preemption.
Do you think Obama will be able to address all of these problems? What should be his priority? Are we expecting too much from our President? Predict where the United States will be in four years.
posted by bcoffman | 10:41 AM
16 Comments:
In all aspects and after seeing his first two months in office, I believe Mr. Obama will be a one term president. In his first two months he has already racked about a 1.2 trillion dollar debt. That's more than all the presidents in history combined. Worst of all, for a man who campaigned on the policies of "no earmarks", there were over 8500 earmarks in the first operating budget. Mr. Obama is leading america to the verge of total economic colapse, and we're the ones that are paying for it. Mr. Obama promised us the world, and now he's taking it away.
Throughout all of Obama's campaigning, tons of republicans had doubts in what Obama will really do for his country, his credibility, and if he's even legally a natural born citizen. Though I'm not much of a told you so type of person, it's quite needed in this situation. Our country has been one of the greatest for years so having a president that will uphold that is important. Obama seems to be doing the complete opposite. His health care plans are absolutely ridiculous and haven’t been proven to be sufficient and won't be sufficient in the best economic country. He has caused more deficit than what we have gained since world war two. He has chosen people who don't pay their taxes to help him run the country. He has disgraced England, one of closest allies by giving them returning very expensive gifts they gave the country and presented them CD's to have. He's okay with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi having a private jet paid by tax payers. The Speaker of the House has never had a private jet. The only thing Obama is doing is destroying this country. He chose to take on all these responsibilities and has greatly failed. I'm a McCain and Palin fan, but I'd rather make history with having Hilary Clinton as president. Obama will go down in history as the worst president ever, and it's only been a couple of months.
Throughout all of Obama's campaigning, tons of republicans had doubts in what Obama will really do for his country, his credibility, and if he's even legally a natural born citizen. Though I'm not much of a told you so type of person, it's quite needed in this situation. Our country has been one of the greatest for years so having a president that will uphold that is important. Obama seems to be doing the complete opposite. His health care plans are absolutely ridiculous and haven’t been proven to be sufficient and won't be sufficient in the best economic country. He has caused more deficit than what we have gained since world war two. He has chosen people who don't pay their taxes to help him run the country. He has disgraced England, one of closest allies by giving them returning very expensive gifts they gave the country and presented them CD's to have. He's okay with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi having a private jet paid by tax payers. The Speaker of the House has never had a private jet. The only thing Obama is doing is destroying this country. He chose to take on all these responsibilities and has greatly failed. I'm a McCain and Palin fan, but I'd rather make history with having Hilary Clinton as president. Obama will go down in history as the worst president ever, and it's only been a couple of months.
Now I agree with most of you, when you say Obama bit off quite a bit when he made campaign promises...but that does not mean he's bit off more than he can chew. Obama has done more in his first TWO MONTHS than F.D.R. was able to do in his first 100 days.
In response to Rachel's comment about Obama's choice in staff, we need to look at the facts.
FACT #1 Obama admits that he has made a few mistakes in the choice of his staff and has corrected most of his errors.
FACT #2 This is a lot more than any other politican is willing to admit. If a politican is willing to say "I screwed up," then we know that he is atleast trying to be honest.
In response to Ian's comment:
-Obama is not leading us into economic collapse because economic collapse is almost impossible after the reforms that were put in place to solve the Great Depression.
-Obama didn't promise us the world, he promised us change, and I think he's given us just that.
Rachel, Ian, I am agreeing with you guys. Obama is hurting the United States right now. He is NOT working for the people he is working against us. Obama has started, worked on and even passed more policies in his first two months that any other president. Obama is looking at the present and not the future. Every adult I know says that children and young adults are the future of the US but future is not looking to good because we will be saddled with a huge debt that Obama and other memeber of the government will make by spending on things that are not needs but wants. Honestly who needs a private jet, it is the speaker of the house! It seems like right now the government is showing the good ol' boys system of taking care of your friends and not the other people around you. Obama must put all of America's needs in front of the wants of his political buddies.
One of the most famous speechs in American history is one given by Abraham Lincoln. The speech is the Gettysburg Address. In the speech Lincoln at one point emphasizes what government is, "of the people, by the people and for the people". Obama should look at this section because there is complete truth in what Lincoln said. The goernment of the United States is of the people and by the people because Americans set it up. The government is most definately for the people because its supposed to be there for us, helping us along the way in times of trouble.
Obmama is not there for us. In the long run no matter what he does now, most likely wont matter later on.
Wow. Don’t you think it’s a little too early to completely judge? I mean if you had only gone to kindergarten for two months before deciding that you’d rather use your Crayolas in the confines of your own home you would probably only have the brain capacity of a child. First of all, let’s get this “natural born citizen” thing out of the way. Obama is an American and during the campaign republicans were trying to find some mud to sling at Obama, and they nit-picked everything. Obama promised change, and change is coming. America was a great country. In the past decade America has become a scuffmark on the world. Did nobody else hear what people said about our “Great Nation”? Under Bush the gung-ho attitude we adopted offended many in the world, and I can’t really blame them. The shoot first ask questions later tactic usually doesn’t work and now we are stuck in an almost no win situation in the Middle East. This great nation’s economy has been stinking up the universe and now, more than ever, change is needed. Today Obama met with the business leaders in a conference that I watched. He discussed how, soon, the U.S. will be making money with new policies implemented and healthcare reforms. Obama plans to have healthcare companies bidding to provide Medicare, which will make it cheaper for everyone. Also, Obama is willing to speak with leaders of the Middle East, something that Bush couldn’t do because he is really good at not talking well. Not only that, but he was too wrapped up in our war. Our president is planning to pass bills on climate control, oil independency, and many other hot topics, all of which will affect the next four years. It’s true Obama could fail, in that case are we any worse off than we were with Bush? No matter how the cookie crumbles, it crumbles all the same. The next four years are Obama’s to return America to its former glory and dust off its shoulders.
“…we must build this recovery on a foundation that lasts – on a 21st century infrastructure and a green economy with lower health care costs that creates millions of new jobs and new industries; on schools that prepare our children to compete and thrive; on businesses that are free to invest in the next big idea or breakthrough discovery.”
~Obama at the Business Roundtable conference
Personally, I think Obama will not be president next term. In his first months as president, he has made many reforms but all of them have just put us farther into debt. His changes are worsening our economy and he has made a fool of himself in many instances, like when giving the Prime Minister DVD's in exchange for a historical ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet. He is giving America a bad name, and in four years, US citizens will realize it and elect a better canidate who will actually make better changes for America.
I do not think anyone could solve all of these problems without using long term plans. I have not seen very many long term ideas put into action by President Obama thus far. I am very bitter towards politics in general and tend to be neutral in the matters of them. I do think that over the past 15+ years we Americans have been in a naive stupor regarding our stability. Now that we are admitting that the United States may just have a few problems, the problems will get taken care of quickly and effectively because that's just who we are. We may not be back to the glory that we once were by the end of Obama's presidency, but I do not think that we will be in any worse position than we are now.
Just as Ricky stated, I try to remain neutral among political affairs. Though, I cannot help but gather from all these comments that everyone was expecting superman to be running the country. Indeed we need to climb out of the recession and carry our country back to the economic forefront, but we cannot expect so much from one man. No man is perfect and it is true to say that Obama may have included too many promises within his inauguration campaign. That is not to say that he is not the right man for the job. I believe that this man will drastically help this country, and his ways of doing so are just. We cannot expect something, on such grand a scale as this, to change overnight. As Americans, that is just a selfish presumption, as well as unfeasible request to achieve.
I think some people need to pay attention to the actual question. "Do you think Obama will be able to address all of these problems? What should be his priority? Are we expecting too much from our President?"
I think that there is no way Obama can fix the problems caused by the previous administration over the past eight years. If Obama can fix half of the problems caused by the previous administration in two terms i think that would be a miracle in itself. I think Obama's top priority should be first and foremost fixing the economy. He also needs to pay attention to the countries Human rights policies and fix the mistakes of extraordinary rendition used in the past administration. I think that people are crazy if they expect Obama to fix all of our countries problems and the problems we face worldwide. I think in the next four years the US won't be the superpower it once was but I do believe he will help bring our economy out of the recession and he will solve miscommunications the US has with other countries especially in the MIddle East.
When Obama was first elected to be in office, people were just coming off of a 'bad' president and were looking for a hero to swoop in and save America like in the cartoons. Obama told everyone what they wanted to hear and everyone believed him. Now that it's been a while, people don't think he's filling the shoes he claimed he could. What people are not acknowledging is that after the Bush administration, there were so many 'problems' that needed to be fixed and Obama being only one man, isn't capable of fixing them in the 5 months he's been in office. Has anyone heard the saying things must get worse before they can get better? By the end of the term, I think Obama will have accomplished a lot but maybe not everything. He may go about a 'round a bout way of getting things done, but in the end, the alternative ideas that you and I both have all accomplish virtually the same thing. The side affects come naturally with the size of the task that Obama is taking upon himself. At least someone stepped up to the plate.
First of all, I think that Obama has been elected into office for a reason. He was meant to be there, and I believe that he will do the best he possibly can. Even if it just means one term, I believe that things will be accomplished and dealt with. Although, to get this country out of the debt and succession it has dug itself into, more money must be spent. I can see how some people might think that Obama is just giving our country more debt and that the citizens still have to pay it off, but how else is America going to get back on its own feet again? This country is naive when it comes to solving problems such as the one we hold today. Obama is going to do the best he can with what he was given. Being present when Obama took office, I truly believe that he is fully capable of taking on the crisis that our country has fallen into. His inagural speech was stunning, and just being there with hundreds of thousands of millions of people gathered in Washington D.C. was inspiring. I really don't think that anyone should get worked up about the succession, there is Someone greater looking over us, there's no need to fret.
I thought the Obama Inauguration seemed kind of overly celebrated. Now that hes in office i haven't felt or seen any change like he promised. i just think Obama will be just another president.
In my personal opinion I have not been impressed with Obama within the last sixth months he has been president. I believe many Americans are expecting most of our problems to turn around or vanish now that he is president. He pressed “change” so much during his campaign people can only expect it. The fact is change takes time and if change happens to quickly people tend to panic. Not to mention our economy at this time is in slump, its basic knowledge not to increase spending by twenty percent. (The Heritage Foundation Leadership for America) He is pushing his health care plan which seems to only help the lower middle class. In these hard economical times we cannot focus on only an individual group but our country as a whole. If President Obama continues to spend our money this carelessly I am terrified to see were this country will be financially and were I’ll be when I need to retire.
Alex Bisges
I beileve that Obama will be able to address all the problems the US is facing today but I dont think their is any chance that he can do it in one term. If Obama is re-elected after his first term I think he could do it. Obamas priority should be with healthcare reform because alot of older folks who dont have very much money and no heathcare they have to choose between food and their meds. Also, everytime these people have to go to the doctor tax payers end up paying for it so Obama needs to find away to even things out. I do believe that we are asking a bit much out of Obama in one term cause we are so behind in everything and in debt that their is no way that anyone could fix all of it in 4 years. But maybe in 8. In 4 years our country will be better but it will certainly take a while to get out of the mess we are in today.
Most of us are aware that America is struggling and that we are currently in a significant amount of debt. On the other hand many Americans expect for President Obama to be able to fix our current problems. However, I do not believe that he will be able to solve most of our current problems during his first term. Therefore, agree that our President will not be able to fulfill all of the promises that he made throughout his campaign. In for him to accomplish what he promised, I think that it will be several years process.
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