Alex, well said, and I agree with your points.  Take the recent Health Care vote in the U.S. House.  Decent, affordable Health Care for tens of millions of Americans hinged on the same tired, well-worn, never-dead (no pun intended) abortion issue.  Pitiful, shameful, and all too representative of the state of American political affairs! 

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Meri said…

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I had the same recation. HUH???

sunninjim said…

I feel Obama is up against a brick wall with Congress and the House.  

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What the heck???  Both the House & Senate are Democratically controlled.  Or, are you another Uninformed Voter?

It doesn't matter if the Democrats have a numerical majority; there are enough Senators and representatives from the more conservative wing of the party to put the brakes on any piece of legislation.

Also, I'm not too happy about the way some posters are hyper-linking editorial comments to members' profiles.  I think it's rude and unnecessary, and it doesn't do anything to foster a civil discourse.  It's fine to hyper-link to one's own material, yes, but I strenuously object to posting links to another member's profile, especially if it's done in a sarcastic manner.

 When something is amuck in our lives for whatever reason, we want time to take care of it, and feel if someone does not give us that, they are disrespectful or expecting too much out of us. We the people need to give President Obama the same opportunity. The problems were not created overnight and we can't expect him to work miracles and clean them up overnight. Yes, put the past behind us and who caused what, but the remains we still see and have to clean up.

We may or may not like the current President but fussing over who is right or wrong will not change who the president is.

I look at things this way. For example: Obama said many things in his campaign speeches, but I knew once he was elected not 100% of those things could be taken care of the way he said. His fault? No! Once the election process is complete and one goes into briefings they learn things none of us know and causes them to see things from a different perspective. If we expect 100% accuracy, we are expecting things out of our President that we don't expect from ourselves.  

lorihall2861 said…

 When something is amuck in our lives for whatever reason, we want time to take care of it, and feel if someone does not give us that, they are disrespectful or expecting too much out of us. We the people need to give President Obama the same opportunity. The problems were not created overnight and we can't expect him to work miracles and clean them up overnight. Yes, put the past behind us and who caused what, but the remains we still see and have to clean up.

We may or may not like the current President but fussing over who is right or wrong will not change who the president is.

I look at things this way. For example: Obama said many things in his campaign speeches, but I knew once he was elected not 100% of those things could be taken care of the way he said. His fault? No! Once the election process is complete and one goes into briefings they learn things none of us know and causes them to see things from a different perspective. If we expect 100% accuracy, we are expecting things out of our President that we don't expect from ourselves.  

 

 

 

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All politicians, all around the world, make lots of big campaign promises that they (a) know they can't keep, (b) plan to keep but later can't, or (c) are too vague and generic to gauge perfectly.

If I remember well the 2000 campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush promised he would be fiscally conservative, have a foreign policy based on humility and not engage in nation-building.   History shows that he broke all three promises.

I didn't base my decision to vote for the current President on his lofty rhetoric; sure, his charisma played a big part, but I was leaning toward McCain until he named Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I find it strange how we were considered unamerican if we said anything harmful or hurtful during the bush administration, but now that we have had a "changing of the guard," we can now "speak" our minds about our new president. What ever happened to whats good for the goose is good for the gander? Since we are all Americans, we should give the same respect to this one as we did to the other. If we are indeed a country of freedom of speech, we should have been able to speak our minds concerning our former president without the threat of being considered unamerican. What/who are we now? Are we being American when we put him down? Give him a chance and let's see where it takes us. Surly it wont be as bad as his predecessor. We are in the worse shape we've ever been in as a country and it is not Obama's fault.

It doesn't matter a whit that the House and Senate are, at least on the surface, controlled by one party or the other.  There are, I believe, many Democrats who take conservative stances in lots of issues; they're called Blue Dog Democrats and can (and have) often voted with their Republican counterparts.  Whether they do so because they want to stay in office (since they represent conservative-leaning districts) or out of conviction, I can't claim to know.  All I can attest to is that if those members of Congress want to stop a piece of legislation, they will.

sunninjim said…

I feel Obama is up against a brick wall with Congress and the House. He can only recommend it is up to them to initiate and pass the laws for Obama to sign. Do I think we should have Government funded healthcare ? I think we already have one called Medicaid and Medicare and that needs to be revamped! I still think with all the problems this country faces even economically, this is still THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH to live, prosper and raise a family. Ok enough said!

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I have been fortunate to have lived outside the United States, first in Panama, then in Turkey, and lastly in Germany.  Each country had things to recommend it as well as things I did not care for.  Having lived the majority of my life in the U.S., I would have to say I am most comfortable here, but I cannot stat categorically that the U.S. is “the best place to live and raise a family.”  

I was too young to really remember Panama, but I absolutely loved my 1.5 years in Turkey; the history, and cultural differences were an eye-opening experience, and the Turkish people treated me with respect, and I spent as much time immersed in the society as I could.  And I loved the (2) years I lived in Europe; the place is steeped in history, culture, beauty.  I made many friends there who I am still in touch with, and I was never made to feel out of place, or unwelcome. 

My point is this: the United States is a great place to live, but other places around the globe as just great or perhaps a little better.  There is a lot wrong with America; we face problems that have been long resolved in other nations, chief among these national Health Care, and a society that truly puts family first. 

Vincent 

The ideals and ideas of the U.S. are truly great.  In practice there are many problems and clinging to the ideals and ideas still is something many of us do.  This will hopefully lead to changes bringing us back closer to the ideals and ideas that created this country and made us great.

Politics are a collision of interests.  My state is better than your state and needs money for this and that.  My neighborhood is better than your neighborhood, my house is better than your house, my car is better than your car... or newer, or goes faster or uses less gas and pollutes less or will simply crush yours like a bug....worm.

We compete constantly in many ways.   As politics tries to regulate the competition it can get into big trouble, particulatly when when one branch of the government insists it has the correct answer.

The system as designed is pretty remarkable.  The fact it remains mostly intact is impressive.

We knee jerk react to all kinds of incomlete information and sometimes mis-information and then we are sure our opinion is correct and we compete to have it heard and defend it if necessary and then...

something distracts us--hopefully something important like a warm kiss and hug from a loved one, or a child who needs help with a perceived problem.

Can you feel the holiday spirit around you today?   Do you want to?