Who here believes Obama is straight up legitimate?

[marcinstl]

well cancel the above Mitt vs Hillary speculation, just saw on the news where Ann Romney says there will be no 3rd attempt. the boss has spoken.
still hope for a 3rd party, Gomert/Bachmann ?

[Bawanna]

Let me throw this perspective out there and see if it makes sense:

I can only control what is within my sphere of influence. I can control my vote so I typically vote for whomever is most likely to leave me alone and whomever is least likely to give my employer a hard time (thus jeopardizing my job security) and who actually has a chance to get elected. So far that has always been republican. Other than that, I just make the best of whatever else I can control...try not to worry too much about what I cannot control... and live a comparatively happy life. I also study a lot so I can try to understand things. And so I don't get bent out of shape about things I don't understand. "Don't worry, be happy".

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. It works for me in government and most certainly here at work. The less I hear about what the violets are up to the better. Leader asked if I didn't want to hear what was going on at a mandatory meeting I was trying to get out of. I told it was better for all parties if I didn't hear about it.

Made me stay but I wasn't happy about it. Obese fat pig! My leader, not Hillary, strike that, Hillary too, maybe even worse.

[muggsy]

All that Mitt had to do to win the last election was to grow a pair. My picks to run in the next election would be John Thune and Mike Pence and I don't care which one is at the top of the ticket.

[tony k]

1. Yes, but I know plenty of progressives who are extremely disappointed in him. In my opinion he is delivering everything major he promised, except that he further divided us when he said he would unite us. It should make progressives realize that many progressive ideas just don't work. We are seeing a bunch of faulty premises that are being put to the test and failing miserably.

2. Yes. I don't buy all the foreigner/ islamist conspiracy stuff.

3. Yes. Even I was allowed to attend relatively prestigious colleges for my undergrad and graduate degrees. Not Ivy League, but definitely highly selective. I did poorly in high school and even had to take remedial math and English classes at community college before I was ready for regular college courses. I paid for it with the GI bill, part-time jobs, grants and student loans. Lots of Americans are just like me in this regard, and some of them end up going to top tier Ivy League schools. Why would I suspect Barry is any different? IN fact, his mother was an academic, which probably made it easier for him to get in to the college of his choice regarless of academic merit or family wealth.

4. Yes. Say what you want about his politics and beliefs, but some of the speaches he gave just after 9/11/2001 were truly memorable. In fact, the first time I heard him speak, I knew that the Democrats would nominate him for POTUS eventually. Too bad he didn't use his oratory skills to champion American values and rally us to unity.


Basically we have a president with the intellectual leanings of a progressive academic who operates under Chicago-style politics. Add that to the fact that he's never had a real job in his life, and you get what we've got.

[marcinstl]

tony k,
I have to admit to leaning more to the progressive side than the regressive side, also have to admit to thinking the what we are allowed to see, public side of politics is a total scam, just showbiz, mostly poorly acted. if somebody believed the hype about the power of the White House or the power of the majority, then why, when Barry/Urkel first got elected and had majorities in both houses, didn't he take the shot? end the wars, close gitmo, open trade with Cuba, shut off support for countries who don't read from the script, national healthcare(Medicare for everybody), WPA style jobs program, replace Bernanke with Krugman, etc., etc. standing there, nobody shooting at him, has the sights on the target and doesn't take the shot, WTF!? maybe the people he works for wouldn't let him chamber a round? Barry, Commander in Chief or just head shoe shine boy?
I really get a kick out of folks who think that because they voted, they have a voice and politards work for them.

[tony k]

Maybe I'm naive Marcinstl, but overall I think our system is legit and about as transparent as any government in the modern world.

I don't deny that there isn't a great deal of theatrics and spin doctoring from polititians, all intended to fool us, but I just don't believe that there is a secret elite using the president for it's own secret motives. Instead, I think we have lobbyists and other powerful groups trading favors, wealth, and influence right out in the open. Sure, we have corruption and politicians that are essentially handmaidens to certain special interests, but our government isn't rotten to the core like it is in countries like Mexico. Are we headed that way? Maybe. Probably.

I guess I have to concede the point about the president "delivering everything major he promised" considering the points you bring up Marc. Nonetheless, I attributive our President's failings to his own ineptitude, whereas it sounds like you attribute at least some of his failures to deliver on promises to people more powerful than the president telling him what to do.

Also, I don't think the Executive Branch has always been considered the most powerful/Influential branch of our three part system. It would be interesting to analyze executive orders issued through history as a proxy for measuring presidential influence/power. I suspect that the number climbed through the twentieth century, and peaked with the Obama Administration.

Don't they call politics "acting jobs for unattractive people"? Can't remember where I heard that.

Thanks for the thought provoking discussion Marc. Off topic: I hope things are settling down in the St Louis area.

[marcinstl]

who has more power, the POTUS or the CEO of Goldman Sachs? Lloyd Blankfein seems to get what he wants, all the time, every time. the USA is a Corporatocracy, designed, built and operated to gain more wealth for the big players. even if Gomert/Bachmann were in the White House it wouldn't matter, just be better jokes for Jon Stewart.
(in 2008, the "progressives" were beating the drum for Obama and nationalized, single payer, medicare for everybody healthcare. did anybody, seriously, think the insurance industry was going to let that happen? Bernie Sanders would have been the only yes vote if it had ever come to a vote. )

[HAP1978]

1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No

I don't believe much of anything about him to be true. Like Clint Eastwood said, "Obama Is the Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated on the American People." I'm glad to see someone in CrazyWood still has their head on straight.

After he won the second term I figured voting was rigged. Worst president (if he can even be called the president) ever hands down. He definitely has a secret agenda.

[tomrkba]

I don't know and I don't care. What matters is we have an incompetent bewb running the country. He has no idea what he is doing and prioritizes fun over work. He had an opportunity to rally the world against terrorism in France, but instead chose to watch football.

[ppsnatcher]

1. He's a politician, I trust him as far as I can throw him.
2. Socialists? Probably
3. Did he attend extremely expensive and prodigious colleges? Probably -On his and or families own academic merit and wealth? Maybe, probably affirmative action had something to do with it.(Sorry just being honest not racist)
4. Hell No, He's a politician.

[marcinstl]

other98.com, interesting site, worth a look. trying to get the 98% focused on money is a tough row to hoe, to many divisive issues to keep them divided and stupid. look back at the great depression, if this country was going socialist, it would have happened then. it was only allowed to go socialist to the extent of some safety net programs (Soc. Sec., WPA, etc.) and reform stopped there. here's a question for ya--- why do people who make less than $250k a year want to be conservatives and reject progressive reforms that would help them in their daily lives (min. wage, medicaid, etc.) ????

[ScottM]

He definitely has a secret agenda.

Based on record corporate profits and stock market performance, as well as controlled inflation and gas prices, and unemployment levels well lower than Bush left them, one could argue he's a closet Republican! [emoji6]

[marcinstl]

the Rep. majority House has voted against the Affordable Care Act 54 times and counting, not enough votes to get rid of it, just enough votes to keep the folks back home happy and sending in campaign money. if Romney was Pres. the Affordable Care Act would still be law and it would be called Romneycare2 (Romneycare1 was when he was the gov. in Ma.). the commie left and the retard right had nothing to do with this, follow the money, it was the insurance co.'s that wanted it and got it passed. more customers= more money.
why do the right wing haters call Obama a muslim? because in 21st century, polite, white society, they can't openly just call him a N....r.
as to Obama being a Rep.---- "In an Oct. 16 interview on MSNBC, Lynne Cheney confirmed the connection based on extensive research she did for her latest book, "Blue Skies, No Fences." However, she calculates that Obama and Cheney are eighth cousins."

[ScottM]

"Hey kids, I'm Mitt Romney! My family fled to Mexico to practice Polygamy. Then we fled from Mexico to avoid the revolution. Then, although I was staunchly pro-Vietnam War, I fled to France to dodge the draft. Now I stash my money in foreign banks in order to avoid paying U.S. taxes. I practice a minority religion that's kinda secretive about its inner-workings, but never mind all that - I'm a patriot and a god-fearing American. Vote for me in 2016!"

[Not actually the words of Mitt Romney]

I poke fun at him because the Republican Party does a masterful job at creating a false dialogue about who they are and who those foaming liberals aren't, and guys, it's all hooey. We're being manipulated by highly, highly skilled corporatists, and while I'm no enemy of corporations (my career has been in some of the largest in the U.S.), there is a role for them, and government, and the people that must be balanced, not flung into some hopeful Vanderbilt wet dream when labor costs 20 cents a day and the feds stay out of the mines.

[89grand]

Government IS the scam. We only have the appearance of a left and right so that the country can be divided and those with opposing views can have a "home team" to cheer for.

I lean heavily to the right, but unfortunately no politician really represents my view, even though they claim to. Actions speak louder than words, and both sides do absolutely nothing for OUR interests. They were bought and paid for a long time ago. We have have ZERO influence.

I still lean heavily to the right, but just in my own thinking. I'm a cheerleader for no politicians, and wish every last one of them the worst possible. Anyone that defends any politician is a full blown fool with no grip on reality.