Support NeoGAF

[The Chosen One]

publicans' united opposition[/URL]

In short, Team Obama actually thought that Obama's popularity and charisma would be enough to convince Republicans to work with them for the good of the country, as though the previous Congress alone hadn't proven conclusively that the GOP's main goal is to obstruct and destroy the Democratic agenda no matter what. My biggest concern about Obama during the campaign was that he actually believed his own post-partisan rhetoric, and that's sadly been borne out.

Agreed. Though I think Obama would have been able to "force" bi-partisanship eventually if his job approval and popularity stayed above 65-70 percent. Remember in the early spring when his numbers were still high, Republicans very rarely attacked Obama directly. They mostly just criticized Congressional Dems and Pelosi. It wasn't until mid-summer when his popularity and job approval took a hit that Republicans began to attack Obama directly. Once independents started to move away or at least lose some confidence in Obama is when Republicans began open warfare.

This is when the WH should have changed tactics but they kept acting like Obama still had approval numbers in the 70s.

Finally I agree that Obama thus far is a bit of an empty vessel. He has a few broad outlines and then let's others work out and fight the specifics of his agenda. But I'm hoping it's just first year jitters where's being bit overly cautious and naive and certain respects. Once he hits the 2nd/3rd year of his term and recognizes and understands all the bullsh*t, hopefully he'll begin to hit his stride. Many presidents fumble a bit in their first year. It's not really surprising, nothing really prepares you for being the leader of the free world.

 

[RustyNails]

Agreed. Though I think Obama would have been able to "force" bi-partisanship eventually if his job approval and popularity stayed above 65-70 percent. Remember in the early spring when his numbers were still high, Republicans very rarely attacked Obama directly. They mostly just criticized Congressional Dems and Pelosi. It wasn't until mid-summer when his popularity and job approval took a hit that Republicans began to attack Obama directly. Once independents started to move away or at least lose some confidence in Obama is when Republicans began open warfare.

If I remember correctly, Obama was attacked by the nutty right even before taking office. The birthers only shut up after the court threw out Orly Taitz' case, but they do still exist. The loonies on Foxnews started blasting Obama just weeks into presidency and they haven't let up to this day. I think the Republicans have been attacking Obama ever since he stepped into the primaries 2 years ago. Just 3 months into his presidency, he faced a red alert phonecall decision involving an American citizen being held hostage by 3 Somali pirates. The republican chatterbox goes in full force attacking Obama for weighing his decision and when the 3 pirates drop dead and the American is saved, they all go back into woods.

So, yeah. Republicans for some reason really don't like Barack Obama.

 

[The Chosen One]

So, yeah. Republicans for some reason really don't like Barack Obama.

The extreme right hated Obama pretty much since he first got on the national stage. But I'm saying elected Republicans were measured in their public criticism of Obama until his approval numbers went down.

 

[PantherLotus]

PoliGAF:

Fill out the following as best as you can. You have until tomorrow morning (6-8 hours) to contribute to the next OP.

State of the Union, Domestic Policy:
[ ] Accomplished:
[ ] In the Works:
[ ] Likely Shelved:

State of the Union, Economic Policy:
[ ] Accomplished:
[ ] In the Works:
[ ] Likely Shelved:

State of the Union, Foreign Policy:
[ ] Accomplished:
[ ] In the Works:
[ ] Likely Shelved:

Other Stuff We Should Know:
[ ] Disappointment
[ ] Disillusion
[ ] Stuff that just ain't gonna happen
[ ] Other Prescient Articles PoliGAF should Read


We're going live tomorrow, an hour or two after I get to work. Links loved but not needed, facts a must. Any particularly salient quotes, articles, or descriptions of Obama's first year are highly appreciated and you will be given credit for finding them.

 

[Gruco]

PL, sent you a PM which I hope at least has some useful links. It's kind of a mess and I never got it as organized as I wanted, but hopefully useful. Not going to have time beyond that until the new thread is up.

 

[SimpleDesign]

Ed Schultz To Robert Gibbs: You're 'Full Of Sh*t'

"I told him he was full of sh*t is what I told him. I mean I did." Schultz told an audience in Minnesota over the weekend. "And then he gave me the Dick Cheney f-bomb the same way Senator Leahy got it on the Senate floor."

Schultz continued: "I told Robert Gibbs, I said 'And I'm sorry you're swearing at me, but I'm just trying to help you out. I'm telling you you're losing your base. Do you understand that you're losing your base?'"

The MSNBC host sparred with Gibbs on his cable news program last week, and has repeatedly accused the Obama administration of giving up too much ground to moderate and conservative Democrats as well as Republicans on health care reform.

"We have to get these people who have infiltrated the Democratic progressive movement, and get them the hell out," Schultz said.

I can't blame him, I say the same thing every time I see Gibbs talking on TV.

 

[The Chosen One]

Ed Schultz To Robert Gibbs: You're 'Full Of Sh*t'

I can't blame him, I say the same thing every time I see Gibbs talking on TV.

Ed Schultz is usually a blowhard but I have to agree that when Robert Gibbs was on his show last week, Gibbs was in full spin and denial mode. I don't think Gibbs won anyone over because he just sounded so fake and detached from reality. He really sounded like a lackey from the previous administration. Though only thing he would admit to was being caught off guard with the MA election and not being able to properly "sell" the American people all the wondrous things in the health bill. Yeah both are true, but it's also true Obama's base is becoming disenchanted.

I thought it was put nicely when someone said the "Obama Movement" is at risk of becoming the "Obama Moment".

 

[SimpleDesign]

SEC mulled national security status for AIG details

U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.

"Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves."

 

[mAcOdIn]

SEC mulled national security status for AIG details

"Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves."

Ehh. I'll be honest, I don't like the way our financial system works, but the second we decided we wanted to lesson the risk of a Depression and save that very system it actually does seem like that was a good idea. As infuriating as it may be, perception is extremely important in the financial market and trying to save it by pumping capitol into it while at the very same time basically pointing out what banks are not stable seems like a pretty risky move.

And I was never mad myself that some foreign banks were getting American money, I mean I am mad it came to that, but I view the whole collapse as one that was primarily our fault, we were the country whose lax laws and regulation allowed such snake oil to be sold and as such I think we had a higher responsibility to respond than the other nations, we're all interconnected and having large foreign banks also at risk of failure is a worse scenario then where we were at at the time and I'm not a fan of cherry picking which transactions to honor and which not to honor based purely on the country of the recipient out of some national protectionism.

That said, I do question the extremely favorable deals that the banks received under the conditions, it's quite clear who's best interests were actually preserved in my opinion and it wasn't the peoples.

 

[Tamanon]

Ed Schultz To Robert Gibbs: You're 'Full Of Sh*t'

I can't blame him, I say the same thing every time I see Gibbs talking on TV.

But the polling shows that they weren't losing the base.

Plus it's funny when someone says "You're full of shit" and then "I'm sorry that you're swearing at me"

 

[The Chosen One]

But the polling shows that they weren't losing the base.

Plus it's funny when someone says "You're full of shit" and then "I'm sorry that you're swearing at me"

The base hasn't left Obama. It's just the enthusiasm is way down.

 

[empty vessel]

But the polling shows that they weren't losing the base.

What polling?

 

[Tamanon]

What polling?

There was the one from last week in this thread where it had 18% disapproval amongst Democrats.

 

[ToxicAdam]

What polling?

He's probably refering to the gallup polls that show Obama losing support from the independents.


LA Times Op-Ed

 

[SimpleDesign]

Geithner Warns That Markets Could Dive If Bernanke Is Not Reconfirmed

Geithner suggested that the market would see a failed Bernanke confirmation as "very troubling," but claimed that he was "very confident" Bernanke would receive enough Senate votes to win a second term.

"The markets would view this as very troubling thing for the economy as the whole," Geithner said. "I don't think they should be uncertain. I think they can be confident because we're very confident."

Predicting that the U.S. economy will begin to show positive job growth by this Spring, Geithner added that Bernanke has done a "remarkable job of guiding this economy through the recession."

The Treasury Secretary also expressed some sympathy for the millions of Americans still struggling to find work, or otherwise impacted by the financial crisis. The country is "in a moment where people are incredibly angry and frustrated by the damage this crisis caused...You see that across the country. That's perfectly understandable, and everybody involved in this effort is bearing a lot of the brunt of that frustration and anger."

In the second portion of the interview, Geithner said that the financial rescue program which "was designed to bring capital back into the financial system so banks could lend again" was "remarkably successful."

"The cost of credit and the ability for businesses across the country [to get credit]" was stabilized by the bailout, Geithner said, while acknowledging that the small business market is still having trouble getting credit.

It's so nice to see friends sticking together. "If you don't do what we want the world will probably end."

Obama should get rid of Geithner, Rahm and Bernanke.

 

[SimpleDesign]

McChrystal: Taliban Could Play Role In Afghanistan Peace

General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, has raised the prospect that his troop surge will lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

Gen McChrystal will urge his allies to renew their commitment to his strategy at a conference in London this week.

In a Financial Times interview, he acknowledged growing scepticism about the war, but said he was poised to make “very demonstrably positive” progress this year as a result of the arrival of an extra 30,000 US troops.

By using the reinforcements to create an arc of secure territory stretching from the Taliban’s southern heartlands to Kabul, Gen McChrystal aims to weaken the insurgency to the point where its leaders would accept some form of settlement with Afghanistan’s government.

“As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there’s been enough fighting,” he said. “What I think we do is try to shape conditions which allow people to come to a truly equitable solution to how the Afghan people are governed.”

Asked if he would be content to see Taliban leaders in a future government in Kabul, he said: “I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past.”

The remarks reveal the growing faith the US military is placing in the hope that a power-sharing arrangement can end the war, a possibility floated in Islamabad last week by Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, when he described the Taliban as part of Afghanistan’s “political fabric”.

Yeah...great strategy we got going there. Why even bother sending more troops, just sign a peace treaty and give the Taliban back that shit hole.

 

[empty vessel]

Geithner sounds likes a high priest invoking the specter of a wrath of "the markets" to try to persuade the Senate to vote for Bernanke.

Future human archeologists will look back at this era and consider these people the buffoons they are. It's just a shame I have to wait several hundred years to be validated.

 

[SimpleDesign]

Geithner sounds likes a high priest invoking the specter of a wrath of "the markets" to try to persuade the Senate to vote for Bernanke.

And it will work.

It truly disgusts me to know that the White House is fighting for him to stay. I feel dirty just knowing I voted in the man who keeps these people in power.

 

[ToxicAdam]

pssst ... GAF search is working again. Don't tell anyone.



Obama cares more about the rights of terrorists than he does gay Americans in the military

 

[Mike M]

McChrystal: Taliban Could Play Role In Afghanistan Peace



Yeah...great strategy we got going there. Why even bother sending more troops, just sign a peace treaty and give the Taliban back that shit hole.

I had heard about this possibility a long while ago, but had completely forgotten about it since. Apparently the idea hinges on the Taliban consisting of Islamist and somewhat less religious nationalistic factions and being able to deal with the latter while shutting out the former.

Best of luck on that one...

 

[empty vessel]

I had heard about this possibility a long while ago, but had completely forgotten about it since. Apparently the idea hinges on the Taliban consisting of Islamist and somewhat less religious nationalistic factions and being able to deal with the latter while shutting out the former.

The "Taliban" is just what the governing American political class calls the armed resistance to its occupation of Afghanistan. It isn't a singular organized entity. It's useful for domestic propaganda purposes, but doesn't remotely accurately describe the reality of the situation (and the American military knows this full well). If you are an Afghan opposed to the US occupation of your country, you get lumped in as "Taliban" regardless of your motivation or politics. Of course, while useful to manufacture continued consent to the Afghanistan occupation, it makes it more difficult to explain to the public why, when your strategy changes (as it must, unless you decide to commit genocide), you are suddenly content to share power with the demonized "Taliban."

 

[Diablos]

Beau Biden isn't running for Senate, btw.

Beau Biden, Vice President Joe Biden's son and Delaware's state attorney general, announced on Monday that he will not be running for the U.S. Senate seat once held by his father.

After a weekend of confusion over whether he would run for the seat, Beau Biden sent an e-mail to supporters today saying he will seek re-election as attorney general instead of entering the Senate race, according to the Associated Press.

"I have a duty to fulfill as attorney general, and the immediate need to focus on a case of great consequence. And that is what I must do," Biden, 40, wrote. "Therefore I cannot and will not run for the United States Senate in 2010. I will run for re-election as Attorney General."

Beau Biden's decision leaves the Republican candidate, Rep. Mike Castle, still unopposed for the seat that Joe Biden held for 36 years.

Speculation carried on for months over whether Beau Biden would run for his father's seat, and an interview Joe Biden gave to the Wilmington News-Journal over the weekend raised new questions. The published interview suggested Joe Biden said his son would not run for the Senate, but the vice president's office disputed that interpretation, saying Mr. Biden was talking about Sen. Ted Kaufman, the former Biden Senate aide appointed to temporarily fill the seat, not Beau Biden.

Before Beau Biden's announcement this morning that he is indeed not running for the Senate, CBS News chief political consultant, the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, said that "Beau Biden's decision whether to run for Senate will be interpreted as a signal of whether the White House thinks that the tough political environment can be overcome by stellar candidates."

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/25/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6138866.shtml

Also, wow @ Obama's Gallup approval rating.
http://www.gallup.com/Home.aspx
48%, up +1. He keeps slippin'.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/125345/Obama-Approval-Polarized-First-Year-President.aspx

PRINCETON, NJ -- The 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats' (88%) and Republicans' (23%) average job approval ratings for Barack Obama is easily the largest for any president in his first year in office, greatly exceeding the prior high of 52 points for Bill Clinton.

:O

 

[GhaleonEB]

For now, senior lawmakers are working the phones furiously to talk up the idea of the Senate promising to retroactively unravel several distasteful components. If House Democrats make the good-faith deal, Pelosi is arguing that the Senate promise would be easy to keep. Reconciliation votes require only a 51-vote majority. Or even 50, in which case Vice President Biden could break the tie.

This aide says that leadership considers reconciliation, with the House conditioning its support on promised fixes in the Senate, as the much more strategic route than breaking the package into parts, which isn't ideal because all of the parts are interlocking. Asked what the timetable would be for that, this aide says weeks, not months.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/022073.php

 

[Particle Physicist]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/022073.php

Yes! It would be absolutely hilarious if we end up getting a more progressive bill due to MA.

 

[The Librarian]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/022073.php

So hopefully sometime in February/March.

 

[mckmas8808]

Except it's not really a problem. The tax increase would be offset by wage increases. Wage increases would even be relatively higher, because of the additional savings that single payer would provide over what employers currently have to pay to private insurance industry.

The problem is perception, politics, and public relations (the manufacture of consent, or dissent in this case), not reality.

That was my point. Lots of people hate tax increases regardless of the fact that it will help them down the road with many other things.

 

[PantherLotus]

New thread up. Let's continue all discussions over there.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=19456987#post19456987

 

[Diablos]

So hopefully sometime in February/March.

February/March? Then April/May... June/July...

 

[mckmas8808]

Obama's 'Volcker Rule' shifts power away from Geithner

So glad Volcker got his wish. I wish him and Geithner could switch places.

 

[mckmas8808]

Anyone agree that the number one poster in this thread should get banned for 3 months so he can get a life?

I typed on here mostly when I'm at work. It's what I do when I'm not working, hence I have a life zou.

Ed Schultz To Robert Gibbs: You're 'Full Of Sh*t'

I can't blame him, I say the same thing every time I see Gibbs talking on TV.

So Ed can tell Gibbs that he's full of shit. But then when Gibbs curses back at him, Ed plays the victim?

Bullshit! It's why Ed Schultz has always been a hack.

 

[mckmas8808]

.

 

[Particle Physicist]

..goodnight sweet love..

 

[WickedAngel]

Pre-existing conditions on the chopping block next.

You can't even call this "reform" any longer.

 

[maximum360]

intentional?

:lol

That's what I get for trying to post in-between bouts of Modern Warfare 2.