Saturday, November 15, 2008

Putting the Bad News Behind Us

Unfortunately, America now has the most unqualified president in the nation's history.

Our nation was in much better shape until January 2007, when Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Now that they've taken the White House as well, I fully anticipate that the Democrats will escalate the journey down the path they've led us on for the past two years.

I only hope I'm wrong.

I've said in the past that I've lived through the three worst presidents in history. The statement will be just as true in 2012--but the next four years will determine whether the names have changed.

11 comments:

Lanny said...

You know, I think I'm most puzzled trying to reconcile the low approval rating of congress before the election with the fact the most incumbents were voted to another term. What is up with THAT?

Art said...

Democrats have had a non-filibuster proof majority in Congress since January 1, 2007. That's under two years, and they've only been in session roughly around 200 days. Do you really think they've had time to write, vote on, pass, and see the fruits of legislation in that amount of time that would bring us where we are? They say the wheels of government move slow, but it sounds like they must move on lightning rails.

Let's also not forget the President's veto power, which he's used six times since 2004, and he only used once 2000-2004.

Sorry, I'm not buying that Democrats caused all of this in just 200 days.

cliff said...

So show me all the Democratic attempts to solve any of these problems. Show me how they attempted to pull in the reins on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, only to have it vetoed. Show me how they took decisive action to improve domestic energy production, only to have their efforts thwarted. Show me how they did anything to require tighter limits on loan qualifications to stop irresponsible buyers from moving into houses they couldn't afford, only to be stymied by the Republicans.

In short, show me how they actually accomplished any of the major things they promised in 2006?

None of their promises were fulfilled... and I doubt if any will be.

Art said...

One thing I like about this blog is that I get quick responses instead of waiting for days or being ignored. :)

I really don't know what they've been up to up there, and if anything Nancy Pelosi seems like a co-conspirator rather than a reformer. I suspect it may be as the great George Carlin said, "The politicians are there to make you think you have a choice. You don't. You have owners...The only real choices in this country are paper or plastic, window or aisle, smoking or non-smoking."

If Obama can create even a 2% improvement I'll consider it a success.

cliff said...

And by the way, have you noticed how much confidence the nation has in Barack Obama and the Democrats to solve this problem? Between July 1st (before this financial crisis really began to develop) and November 4th (the last full market day before Obama was anointed by the media to take power and rule, as his staffer phrased is soon after), the market fell by 15%.

Between November 4th and today, the inspirational awareness that Obama will lead us has led to a market drop of 16.9% of its 11/4 value.

Yeah, these Democrats are just doing great so far, aren't they?

And today, they managed to jerk defeat from the jaws of victory as their House and Senate leadership refused to allow a vote on a bipartisan plan to offer assistance to the automobile industry, showing that partisanship will lead them to throw their own union constituency under the bus...

Art said...

Obama is already to blame and he hasn't even taken the oath of office?

Maybe they postponed the vote because the auto industry hasn't presented a plan, not even a solid figure, on what they think they need to get out of the jam. If the Democrats had allowed the vote today it would've been, "Oh, there they go! Those Socialist, tax-and-spend Democrats!" Maybe they're trying to take a responsible approach considering the trillion dollar deficit we have thanks to...

Art said...

Me again. One "good" thing to come out this week is that Al Queda is calling Obama a house negro. Can we now officially accept that he isn't a Al Queda plant?

cliff said...

Ah, but if they'd gone with the compromise plan, most of the money would have come as an advance on funding already approved for future development, which would have made it much more of a win-win.

So I must have missed the part where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and all those financial institutions developed their own long-term plan for success...

Market confidence is very much tagged to what's happening now--and there's no doubt that the election has contributed to the 17% post-election slump.

I don't know of anyone who called Obama an Al Qaeda plant. Al Qaeda has never been a socialist organization, as far as I know.

Art said...

Uh-oh! Dow jumps 500 points on news of new Treasury secretary! Please, Obama, stop it! You're embarrassing the current President!

It sounds like Obama thinks there are jobs to be created in fixing the mess Bush has made. Some of this will be in the form of government contracts issued to private businesses. Who says the two can't work together?

Sounds sensible. We should all hope this works.

cliff said...

You're still referring to that financial mess that didn't exist at all until the Dems took control of the House and the Senate?

I hope you're right and we see some improvement. The fact that the market went up once Obama decided to go for a veteran who's been an active part of the Bush administration is a good sign...

Tredekka said...

Cliff, you might want to reconsider branding Obama as a socialist. Turns out that real socialists dislike him as much as you do...

This is an excerpt from the World Socialist Website:

"Obama will pursue economic policies determined by the same class interests upheld by his Republican predecessor. The primary concern will be the defense of the financial system—i.e., the accumulated wealth of the financial aristocracy, embodied in the giant banks, hedge funds and other huge financial institutions, whose parasitic and speculative operations precipitated the current crisis."

The full article is here:

http://wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/obma-n24.shtml

One of my favorite fantasy writers posts links to the world socialist web, and I think their articles are often hilarious in their sheer bluntness. I can honestly say I've never read anything positive about Obama there. They view him as a strictly status quo politician.