> What does seem clear is that Obama has done a poor job of creating and communicating an overall vision --- even within his own party.
That might be because he has no vision. He got elected on oratory skills and was given the benefit of the doubt on his ability to navigate a difficult Washington governing environment.
Sometimes when ownership hires a fresh young face as coach for a professional sports team, he does a bad job in new duties - no harm, no foul- just get rid of him and move on.
President Clinton was at the White House yesterday giving a press conference with President Obama off to the side. Then President Obama said that he had to leave to see his wife and President Clinton gave a real press conference. No notes that I saw, no teleprompter, no anger, no accusations but he just laid it out as it was and did his best to convince Congressional Democrats that it was the best way to go.
I hope it's a bluff. As someone who is very center of the road, I'm disgusted by both parties right now. Compromise is never going to produce perfect legislation making everyone happy.
What does seem clear is that Obama has done a poor job of creating and communicating an overall vision --- even within his own party. If the plan is to capitulate on estate tax and high-income taxes now and then tackle tax reform in a major overhaul down the road ---- shouldn't that have been conveyed in meetings and discussions beforehand so we don't have shocked reactions and temper tantrums?
That is what ticks me off about the Ds right now. Why didn't they do the tax issue back in Sept? We all know why, because they were afraid that it would jeopardize them politically for re-election.
The R's are no better because they are holding up the repeal of DADT until they get the tax bill passed.
Obama doesn't get a pass from me because he could nip that in the bud, by an EO. Yet, he isn't going to put his political career in jeopardy!
UGGH!
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Raising a teenager is like nailing Jello to a tree
It was a good move, polliticaly, by the Democrats. Besides, even on substance they do not agree with extending the tax cuts to above $250,000. They should at least get the opportunity to act like they simply forgot when they had the chance to do it before the election. It's called hedging your bets, I guess.
Anything that stops Pres. Obama's liberal agenda is fine with me. If getting something done means throwing away a trillion dollars borrowed from future generations and giving people free health insurance when everyone else has to pay for it themselves, then I oppose getting something done.
What people don't realize is that the government cannot pass a law that fixes the economy, it can only set the circumstances in which the economy heals itself. If Pres. Obama wants to get reelected, he needs to stop screwing with the economy and gridlock will help him do that. If he wants to fix the economy, he will focus on cutting social spending and raising taxes to get control of the deficit because the increasing deficit is what is jeopardizing long term economic security.
I just think he finally read the statistics that says 20% liberal, 40% moderate, 40% conservative and remembered he wants to be reelected more than anything, certainly more than staying friends with some leftists.
2012 - President Obama is campaigning in a double-dip recession and blames the Congressional Democrats for killing the nascent recovery. Possibly it was a facetious, but with a little more positioning on his part, he'll be able to convincingly make the claim.
For example: if, sometime in the near future, he puts a stop to the dynamic regulation of off-shore drilling.
Actually, longprime, I say "yes" to all of those, and a few artists and some writers and a couple of philosophers, and most of all, the real issue, is that we have made it possible for politics to be a "career."
Career politicians have no life other than to figure out how to amass power withing the world where they live. Eliminate the pension and lifetime healthcare and let them figure out how to live in the world the rest of us live in for a while. JMO
ETA: The real "issue" is not between the wealthy and the not wealthy. At this point, the political class is the dangerous class....The priveledged class.
-- Edited by poetgrl on Thursday 9th of December 2010 05:21:57 PM
On a decontamination mission to the planet Ariannus, the USS Enterprise encounters a shuttlecraft reported as stolen from Starbase 4. The vessel's life support systems are failing and the pilot may be suffocating in the lack of atmosphere. Captain Kirk orders that the shuttlecraft be brought aboard.
When the pilot emerges and subsequently collapses, he displays a unique appearance; black on the left side of his face and white on the other.
Brought to sickbay, the pilot is revived by Dr. McCoy and identifies himself as Lokai from the planet Cheron. Although grateful for the rescue, he is combative when questioned about the theft of the shuttlecraft. Concluding that Lokai's coloration is a mutation of some kind, Kirk plans to return Lokai to Starbase 4 to face theft charges once the Arrianus mission is completed.
En route, however, sensors pick up a highly sophisticated (and invisible) vessel on an apparent collision course with the Enterprise. At the last moment before impact, the ship appears to disintegrate, but deposits its pilot on the bridge; Commissioner Bele – is similar in appearance to Lokai but his black and white skin colors are reversed.
Bele identifies himself as an official from the Commission on Political Traitors from Cheron, who has come to apprehend Lokai.
When Bele is brought to sickbay to see Lokai, we learn that Bele has been pursuing Lokai for a long time; 50,000 Earth years as it turns out. Bele charges that Lokai led a revolt of people who are black on the left side against the ruling order, which is black on the right side. Lokai counters that the black/right (white/left) order enslaved the white/right (black/left) people of Cheron and continues to oppress them. Bele demands that Kirk surrender Lokai, while Lokai claims political asylum with the Federation. Kirk ends the bickering and submits a report to Starfleet Command, looking for a solution.
Bele is not satisfied with the situation and commandeers the Enterprise by using his mental powers to drive the ship to Cheron. Kirk is forced to activate the self-destruct sequence in order to force Bele to relinquish control of the ship.
Having failed through confrontation, both Bele and Lokai attempt to enlist the sympathies of the crew while en route to Ariannus.
Starfleet's answer is at last received. Since Cheron has no diplomatic treaties with the Federation, Starfleet cannot hand over Lokai without due process. Once the decontamination mission is complete, however, Bele sabotages the self-destruct program and regains control of the ship, headed for Cheron once more.
Upon arrival at Cheron, however, sensors reveal massive destruction of all major cities and huge piles of unburied corpses - the entire population of Cheron has mutually annihilated itself in civil war. Consumed with mutual insane hatred and blaming each other for the holocaust, Bele and Lokai fight, despite Kirk's offer for them to live with the Federation. The pair then chase each other through the ship, each eventually finding the transporter room and returning to the planet's surface to continue their fight... the last two sapient lifeforms on a dead world.
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Families are already losing their unemployment benefits.
In four weeks, paychecks will shrink. Before then, people will be dumping their stocks and other assets to capture the lower tax rates on capital gains. The Fed will have to implement QE3 which sends tons of money to those with stocks and the bankers enriching shareholders hoping for some trickle-down to the average person. Is that likely?
2012 - President Obama is campaigning in a double-dip recession and blames the Congressional Democrats for killing the nascent recovery.
Actually they accomplish nothing because they spend all their time trying to make the opposition look worse then they do. If they can make the other side heinous enough their own short-comings and warts won't look so bad. It's the "We suck less!" boondoggle.
-- Edited by pmrlcomm on Thursday 9th of December 2010 02:18:18 PM
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Don't make someone in your life a priority when they've made you an option!
This is why NOTHING will ever get done. Say what you will, but both sides are hell-bent on achieving zip, zero, nada, for the American people, all in the name of rabid, ideological partisanship.
takes to screw it to the so called wealthy 
