Quick to Judge, Quick to Forget
Posted by Jake G. on 06.10.2009
Those trying to climb to the top of the GOP don't want to play by their own rules.
I'm sure somewhere Rush Limbaugh is happy. According to Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama has already "failed". It's an ideal that's being pushed heavily by the GOP right now, though I'm not sure who exactly is buying it. For those keeping track at home, Rush wants Obama to fail, Newt thinks he already has and Sarah Palin believes we're now living in a socialist America.
There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with the President's plans or ideas, but it's a bit early to call them a failure. The stimulus is being called a failure, but 95% of the money hasn't even been dispersed yet. On the surface THAT might be considered a failure, but in actuality the small amount of stimulus money that has been used, has been put into action in record time.
President Obama is apparently not happy with the speed that the stimulus is being put to use either, he wants it to be put into action faster. I'm not sure what Gingrich's people can point to as how it's been a failure. I'm surprised that Gingrich is willing to admit Obama's plans are a failure as he still hasn't figured out that a large portion of former President Bush's were failures too.
No matter what the fledging GOP says however, doesn't change one simple fact: Most of America doesn't believe Obama's plans are failures. In fact most of America thinks he's doing a pretty good job. That doesn't mean they necessarily like the stimulus or other measures, but they're willing to wait and see if they work. Republicans have essentially shown up for a 12 mile race and then exclaimed "We lost" right after the starting gun.
Then again, maybe they're so used to losing races they just assume it's better to give up before you ever even really get into it. That's what they've essentially done on the economy. I've still yet to hear what the GOP's plan would be to get us out of this mess that the last administration put on us, but I'm sure it involves easier access to guns, bans on gay marriage and bombing Iran.
The GOP should be ashamed of themselves for wanting to "cut and run" and should know that the best way to get out of this quagmire is to "stay the course". I seem to remember Gingrich and other Republicans pushing the idea during the Clinton years that Bill hadn't done anything but that it was the previous administration's good work that was making the time so prosperous. And then it was Clinton's time in office that made Bush's term such a disaster.
That's just another Republican ideology that they seem to forget when it's convenient. There's simply no way that Gingrich can know if policies that Obama put in place, many of which are less than six months old, have failed. Obviously Newt and Palin are trying to line themselves up as 2010 contenders but they'd better get some new material because the inexperienced, socialism, failure routine doesn't hold any water with the American people. Especially this early in the game.
The country already has voter's remorse. There was a large segment of voters who voted for him only because McCain was such a lousy option.
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on June 09, 2009 at 07:07 PM
65% approval ratio voter remorse Michael.
Posted By: Paul (Guest) on June 09, 2009 at 08:56 PM
"There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with the President's plans or ideas, but it's a bit early to call them a failure. The stimulus is being called a failure, but 95% of the money hasn't even been dispersed yet. On the surface THAT might be considered a failure, but in actuality the small amount of stimulus money that has been used, has been put into action in record time."
So it's too early to call "FAIL" on a bill that we were told we MUST have because it was ESSENTIAL to saving the economy and jobs that has so far failed to save the economy or jobs. And I mean, really, REALLY failed to save jobs.
But, don't worry, because you see it's not a failure. They will just dribble more money into the economy just in time for midterms in 2010 and re-election time in 2012.
You want evidence of failure? This guy illustrates it better than I could:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJu0DgpiK8c
Oh, one more thing...
It's funny how libs who constantly decry the concept of "trickle down economics" are strangely comfortable with its perverted, mentally challenged step-child "The Stimulus":
"Trickle Down Economics" - Letting businesses and individuals keep more of the money they earn will allow them to create jobs by hiring or spending, essentially "trickling" that money down to the population at large through jobs and increased commerce.
"The Stimulus" - The government prints or borrows a crap ton of money which we, the tax payers are on the hook for, to spend as it sees fit, with the money eventually "trickling down" to the populace through make-work jobs and "enhanced" infrastructure...except all that money is borrowed against ourselves, so really we're just putting ALL of us in debt to help line the pockets of some of us.
Too funny.
Posted By: lol (Guest) on June 09, 2009 at 11:30 PM
No one, not even Obama or the leftest leftie said that the stimulus would work overnight. Most said it would take years to really have a full effect.
If the bulk of the stimulus money hasn't been used yet, then yeah, you can't call it a failure.
You can predict it will fail, but you can't say something that hasn't happened yet has failed.
It's not a hard concept, but most things that Republicans don't understand aren't. It's hard to grasp anything if you don't listen or only hear and see what you want. Part of the reason the GOP is in so much trouble these days.
Posted By: Charles (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 01:10 AM
I don't know how Obama has failed when its the GOP that got us into this mess in the first place. It is a amazing how the GOP has shifted all the blame for the economy on Obama when he has only dealt with it for six months to the GOP's 8 years. Also, if you want the President to fail then you are an moron. If he fails, we all fail. The last 8 years has been epic fail, but no one wanted him to fail, he just failed. The GOP wants Obama to fail, because it takes away the blame for getting us into this mess to begin with.
Posted By: AFan (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 07:07 AM
Salivate over Obama all you want, but people are still losing their jobs at a record rate. And I'm sure the first thing lefties do is go "well... Bush! it'll take a while!" that doesn't help the millions of americans who are losing what little they had on a daily basis
Posted By: M:-X (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 07:19 AM
Liberal lefties have no clue about economics. You can't spend your way out of a recession. Face it, you losers elected someone who has never worked a day in his life, he's never balanced any books, he's done nothing of note. Yet you elected the failure.
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 09:37 AM
What I've always found a basically hilarious difference between democrats and republicans is the threats they use when they lose. Dems claim they'll move to Canada, Republicans claim they'll secede.
This is because Liberals always feel like everyone is against the and Conservatives always feel like everyone agrees with them.
Even when, like now, it OBVIOUSLY isn't true. There is no buyer's remorse. It's still the same loud people who claimed it was going to fail, that are now claiming it has failed. No one else cares about them.
Posted By: Andytobo (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
To Michael; you apparently don't understand how economics work. You do spend money to get out of a recession. Investing money into companies and projects - like car companies, or building projects (by the way I'm sure you didn't have a problem with Bush bailing out the banks, but take major issue with Obama bailing out the car companies) - means that you're either saving jobs, or creating new ones. By doing this the workers either end up with more money (if they didn't have jobs before), or the same, secure influx of money (f they kept their job), meaning that they can then go and buy products and services from other companies which result in them making money and being able to keep their staff or hire new guys, which then means those workers can then use their money to purchase goods and services from either people, meaning that the economy gradually rebuilds itself in strength. It's pretty simple stuff, that you evidently don't understand.
It should also be noted that such stuff does not and cannot happen overnight. I'd be surprised if it even started to show anything more than minimal progress within a year, because such things take a long time. Another reason why knee jerk reactionary conservatives, who really don't understand a thing about economics or political systems (because believe me, America is not currently, nor is headed down the 'road to socialism'), instantly start crying that the sky is falling because the economy hasn't rebounded to Clinton-like levels within 3 hours of the Bill being passed. It's funny that they have no problem 'staying the course' in Iraq, but want to 'cut and run' as fast as they can out of fixing the country that they claim to be the real patriots of.
Posted By: MW (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 11:20 AM
I certainly have buyer's remorse about Obama. Not in the sense I wish McCain had won, but based on policies.
Prisoner abuse photos are being withheld when Obama promised transparency. Why? It's not based on the reaction abroad, they know what we did without seeing it. It's based on the fact that faced with our crimes, the nation will gain the will to demand full investigations and accountability. Now that Obama is President, limiting or even checking executive power is not to his advantage. Political expedience over doing what's right.
Speaking of which, gays can forget about any real change on DADT or marriage. Legislation is crafted by hundreds of Congressmen and a hundred Senators, not the President feverishly hand writing it at his desk. Saying "there isn't time for that now" is an absurd excuse for inaction. They all made time to cram the urgent stimulus bill with pork. It's about will, not ability.
Democrats have made quite a rep for themselves as spineless, so much so that even Jon Stewart ripped them for it in 2006 when they rolled over every time Bush wanted something. It hasn't changed. If they just stand back and don't put their fingerprints on anything, they can blame the GOP for years to come. It hurts the country, but that's not as important as holding onto their newfound power.
Some issues like fixing the economy are hard. Others are a simple matter of doing what's right. Obama lacks the will to do what's right if it costs him any political capital. That's the cause of my buyer's remorse.
Posted By: Shockmaster (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Shockmaster;
I, too, was originally upset with Obama not sharing photos of mistreated 'detainees'. I brought this up to a friend of mine who just got out of the service and he replied "I still have friends serving. The last thing i want is a photo going out, showing how we treated our 'POWS', and then have one of my friends captured.I know they'd be in the shit no matter what, but it really wouldn't help." Just thought i'd throw out a different look on things.
Posted By: moreyouknow589 (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 04:20 PM
Though often when I read his comments I disagree, Shockmaster is entirely right with everything that he said above. Obama is doing right on several things, but his either ignoring or deliberately dragging his heels on other things.
On the gay rights issue, he is just like the spineless Clintons, play gay friendly to get the vote, and then completely ignore them once you're in. We homosexuals need to realise something very important; there is no nation in the world that actually gives a damn about gay rights. They all throw out bones, but it's only doing just enough to keep them on their side and keep voting. There is not one champion of gay rights in the US Congress or Senate, because they're all either against it, or too spineless to stand up for what is right. It's the same in Britain, in France, in Canada, in Germany. To hell with homosexuals, these nations will say. Give them enough and we'll keep them on side, but we won't upset the bigots and the religious and the conservatives as they have more uses than the fags do. It's disgusting, and it's the reason that no politician on earth will get my vote until I see a party or a politician that actually makes a stand to do something to change the accepted homophobia and inequality that permeates all of human civilization today.
Posted By: MW (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 06:19 PM
Lets see, everything Bush did that the liberals sh|t on him for Obama has doubled down on. Also, the reason some folks weren't "patient" with him is because him and his administration told us this stimulus NEEDED to be done to save the economy now. It was going to save or create (what a joke) 4 million jobs. Unemployment was gonna top out at 8-9 %, and it's what? Already over 9? And likely will be in double digits by the end of the year. His approval rating is high. But poll after poll shows that americans do not like his policies, but like him. At what point does that take a lag effect? And on foreign policy, he told us we'd be out of Iraq. So what does he do? He keeps Bush's sec of state, and stays on Bush's timetable for exit of Iraq. He says he's closing down gitmo within a year, with no CLUE on what to do with the detainees, who aren't exactly boy scouts. He sh|ts all over the military tribunals during the campaign, then now realizes they weren't so bad. (The dude that is gonna stand trial in New York wants his legal team from the military tribunals, hmmm... must not have been THAT bad) On top of that, he wants the FBI reading miranda rights to these guys. Yeah, tell them to remain silent, even though they might have information on the next terror plot to kill thousands of americans. Oh I forgot, we can't use the word terrorist anymore. I would argue that his whole presidency is yet to be determined, but so far, I don't like what I see. And when someone says "yeah but you need to give him a chance." When exactly did you people stop "Giving Bush a chance." Florida 2000?
Posted By: gwpbrian (Guest) on June 10, 2009 at 09:51 PM
Jake, this column was a joke. You need to check a few more polls...most Americans are already convinced your savior's plans are going to fail...and they're right. And "so used to losing races"? WTF? Up until very recently they were drubbing the fuck out of you liberal pussies. It's an aberration. By 2010, common sense will reassert itself and the Dim-O-Crats will no longer control Congress. Seriously, man...you're drawing way too many conclusions out of way too little information, and even less intelligence.
Posted By: Eminemanem (Guest) on June 11, 2009 at 12:25 AM
Sorry meant sec of defense not sec of state.
Posted By: gwpbrian (Guest) on June 11, 2009 at 10:09 PM
STAY CURRENT