Is this the official end to blaming the "prior administration" ?
How does a guy that spent half his term pointing fingers continue to be unaccountable? I mean, it worked really well the last time.
"I inherited an inherited mess?
"I gave myself a less messy mess than I inherited last time"?
Just curious.
dobro
Member Profile
So I suppose, for you, history ends and begins again every 4 years. That would be great if we could wipe the slate clean and start over but those of us in the reality based community realize that actions have consequences and the clock doesn't run out on them.
So, to answer your question,I don't think the mess created by the prior administration over 8 years has been totally cleaned up over the last 4. It's a lot easier to tear things down than it is to repair them. Progress has been made, tho.
so, how does a guy who totally blew it in his 8 years totally get past you, Smitty. You want to blame Obama for everything under the sun, yet, you never, ever said anything on here regarding Bush, from what I can recall, like he never existed, and never did anything to hurt this economy. I still call bullsh*t on that. Does this mean it all move on to the next president in 2016, and no blame will be put on Obama ever again? The world here did not begin in 2008. It's been around for a long time, and it's cumulative. We have to point fingers where they should be pointed, even to the-one-who -will-not-be-named...
How exactly did he "blow it"?
By believing the intelligence - like the rest of the entire congress did - that Iraq had WMD programs ready to initiate and was bound and determined to use them? What was he supposed to do, call bullsh#t and hope for the best?
By lowering tax RATES, thus spurring the recovery from the recession HE inherited (remember 4% unemployment? Me either, sadly) and - look it up - increasing federal tax revenues as a result (contrary to popular belief).
Is it his fault that the housing bubble that started in the late 90's burst under his "watch"? how so?
Yes, he didn't do everything right (throwing money at education is case in point #1).
That said, I have never seen any administration blame the prior one as much a the current administration has. They have no shame, and I was wondering how you word it is all - Lord knows he won't stop it.
Carter
Reagan-Reagan-Bush
Clinton-Clinton
Bush-Bush
Obama-Obama
Looks pretty even to me.
ahhh...I see...Bush didn't contribute anything to putting us in a deficit...I get you now...thanks, Smitty...
dobro
Member Profile
"How exactly did he "blow it"?"
Remember that crazy little thing that happened on 9/11 in his first year in office? After he ignored the "Bin Laden determined to strike USA" Presidential briefing that he received the month before? Oh, wait, I guess you'd blame that on Bill Clinton the way you did with the housing bubble. That's kind of like blaming Bill Clinton for stuff that happened on Bush's watch. What happened to your "every 4 years history is erased" theory?
smitty..
you gave Bush 8 years to make that mess
so why doesn't Obama get 8 years to clean it up?
dobro
Member Profile
"By believing the intelligence - like the rest of the entire congress did..."
Actually, 126 House Democrats (60%) and 21 Senate Democrats (40%) voted against the war, so I guess you're exaggerating just a wee bit.
"...spurring the recovery from the recession HE inherited..."
Hey, why the sympathy? The history reset button went off Jan 21, 2001 according to your theory.
"Yes, he didn't do everything right..."
Ah, something we can agree on.
"They have no shame, and I was wondering how you word it is all..."
Oh, I get it, you weren't asking a serious question after all. Just stopping by to drop a load of the usual Obama bashing BS. In case you forgot, he won by 5 million votes and an electoral vote of landslide proportion. Sore loser much?
Obama is your president
That's a fact.
You can either blame him for our current mess
or hang some responsibility on the squad who put defeating him in the last election above our national interests..
from the first day of his first term.
the time for all of that partisan flag waving is over
it's time to either show your patriotism and start helping us all dig out of this mess
or not.
it really is your choice
dobro
Member Profile
Anybody notice which still-living ex-president failed to attend the Inauguration (not counting the one who just got out of the hospital)?
Give us a hint.
Was it the same guy who failed to report for duty with the National Guard?
The thing that drives me crazy about comments from Smitty and others on this site about Obama (especially) or virtually any Democratic policy since the advent of Faux News and Right Wing dominated Media is that...
...if you took off the party labels, changed a certain President's skin color, and just examined without bias virtually EVERY POLICY enacted since 1990 you'd find that they were centrist at best and conservo-plutocratic in the main. The only exception being gay rights.
And no, you don't get to ignore that in a time of economic expansion, Cheney said Reagan proved deficits don't matter. And yes, Clinton was the biggest deregulator of the financial industry. And yes, unions are neutered. And yes, we've raced toward the bottom via globalization. And yes, Obamacare was the best option put forward from a Conservative "Think Tank". And yes, we're about to be the largest producer of oil/gas in the world. The list goes on and on.
So, if the conservo-plutocratic ethos is essentially a FACT for approaching 30 yrs. I have two questions for the Smitty's of this world:
1. Why aren't you ecstatic about your policy domination for all these years? You won. Why the angst?? Which segues to...
2. Where is the economic and cultural prosperity those policies promised us? You've been driving the bus for decades, why are we sitting on the gravel shoulder with the hood up??
Again, I'll wait for the answer you never seem willing or able to provide.
Was it the same guy who nearly failed college?
"Was it the same guy who failed to report for duty with the National Guard?"
Sincerely,
Dan Rather
"Was it the same guy who nearly failed college?"
Sincerely,
Al Gore
dobro
Member Profile
Noted in your reply that neither of those guys are living ex-presidents. Way to dodge the question.
Really Smitty, that's all you got? A Gore slam?? Still waiting...
I'm excited to see a second term president. Maybe we can actually get something done? George W.'s second term was a disaster. He promised he'd spend time overhauling the tax code (never happened) and "fixing" social security (also never happened.) Let's hope Obama can do better. I think the most pressing issues are deficit reduction and immigration.
No, wait!
Did you say still living?
Oh, yeah. No no, that's right.
He's still alive.
Yer outta the spotlight for a while and people start wondering, ya know?
Fix unemployment and you fix the deficit. The inverse is not true.
Why do conservatives hate Americans so much?
I respectfully disagree that fixing unemployment will fix the deficit. It would only make a small dent. We are currently spending $1 for every 60 cents we take in. Getting the unemployment rate from 9% to 5% would help but not a whole lot. To fix the deficit we need to either spend less, raise taxes, or some combination.
Why do you think Conservatives hate America? I thought we were discussing the potential of Obama's second term.
Thanks Skeeter, you just proved my point. You're hoping that a "radical socialist" President is going to address the two main "problems" that the CONSERVATIVE media wants addressed. And he is. He's already started to.
And for those of us on the progressive side, those problems aren't at the top of OUR list - at least not likely in the way they're going to get addressed. WHY aren't they?
Cuz they're symptoms, not causes of our maladies.
So, we're continuing down the already discredited, decades-long path of serving the conservo-plutocratic cause. Led yet again, by a...fill in your label of choice here: Democrat, Radical, Socialist, Communist, traitor, undocumented worker, President. Heads you win, tails we all lose.
Skeeter, you didn't take into account that a chunk of that $1 outgoing is for supporting unemployed/underemployed with unemployment $, health $, food $, etc. Take them off those rolls with living wage jobs and you add them to income tax rolls at higher levels. The values come off the negative side of the equation and go toward the positive. (And yes, we DO need to cut the Defense budget by $250B/yr. too.)
And my note used the term "AmericaNs" specifically and ironically. Faux news made the phrase, "why do liberals hate AmericA?" a standard meme for years. I turned it around because I wonder why conservatives don't want Americans to be employed at a time when spending on things like trillion dollar infrastructure deficits can't get on the radar no matter how hard we try on the left. Those jobs have large multipliers in the economy and go toward making us more secure in every sense of the word. Shameful.
In which post did I call President Obama a "radical socialist?" I don't even think that, let alone did I call him that. He's pretty centrist if you asked me.
My first post on this thread (#18) was a statement of hope that Obama would be a better second term president than George W. Bush.
As for the "CONSERVATIVE media," my primary news source is the WSB! <wink>
Hey man, I didn't say YOU call him that. I have HEARD him called that by people I presumed to be rational folks, though. And I did suggest you could choose your own label. :-)
Cait
Member Profile
How about asking Congress about when they plan on pitching in.
dobro
Member Profile
We'll find out a lot tomorrow about how badly Congress wants to get anything done when we see how or if they alter the filibuster rules in the Senate.Stay tuned.
i am not holding my breath :(
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