Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States

[brennan]

On topic:

Good. Although I think it's a great pity race has been an issue at all.

Sorry, did I say 'pity'? I meant 'disgrace'...

Yeah, you must not know much about American history. Bush and his policies have kept terrorism at a minimum.

Meanwhile, back in reality:
US report says Iraq fuels terror

 

[BasketCase]

Now that the election's done (Thank GOD, I was so sick and tired of lobbyists calling me every ten minutes), I'll go right ahead and tell Obama the secret to staying in office.

Why am I giving the secret away? Because I know he won't listen. World leaders hardly ever do. The Greeks, the Romans, Augustus, Napoleon, Hitler, and just about every U.S. President ever. They don't listen and so they keep making the same mistake.

Here's the mistake they make: they overreach. Republicans and Democrats alike have this idea about mandates and destiny and stuff about how human beings should live, and as soon as they gain power they try to shove as much of their agenda into law as possible. And American voters react the same way every time: they swing in the other direction.

Obama will be under a great deal of pressure from the far left in coming days, and so he's going to make this mistake faster than most. I predict the Democrats will lose control of Congress in 2010.


So, the secret, very simply, is this: don't bite off more than the voters can chew.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

The indication that so many young people voted for him gives me real hope that America can turn away from the terrible years of Bush who haunted all of us with his black and white idiocy.

I can't stand W, but that's not a fair statement. One of the VERY few good things about him is that he isn't a racist.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

Obama will be under a great deal of pressure from the far left in coming days, and so he's going to make this mistake faster than most. I predict the Democrats will lose control of Congress in 2010.

I don't see that happening. The GOP is defending more Senate seats and they'd need massive turnover in the House.

 

[Bill3000]

I can't stand W, but that's not a fair statement. One of the VERY few good things about him is that he isn't a racist.

I don't think he was calling Bush a racist; he's talking about bush thinking in black and white terms, e.g. you're either with us or against us. Unilateralism and hard power as opposed to internationalism and soft power.

And I think it's far too early to tell what will happen in 2010.

 

[Phlegmak]

Now that the election's done (Thank GOD, I was so sick and tired of lobbyists calling me every ten minutes), I'll go right ahead and tell Obama the secret to staying in office.

Why am I giving the secret away? Because I know he won't listen. World leaders hardly ever do. The Greeks, the Romans, Augustus, Napoleon, Hitler, and just about every U.S. President ever. They don't listen and so they keep making the same mistake.

Here's the mistake they make: they overreach. Republicans and Democrats alike have this idea about mandates and destiny and stuff about how human beings should live, and as soon as they gain power they try to shove as much of their agenda into law as possible. And American voters react the same way every time: they swing in the other direction.

Obama will be under a great deal of pressure from the far left in coming days, and so he's going to make this mistake faster than most. I predict the Democrats will lose control of Congress in 2010.


So, the secret, very simply, is this: don't bite off more than the voters can chew.

I don't know how you accomplish it, but you accomplish it. You're writing style is always "Look at me, I know the absolute truth." Everything you write looks exactly like you're saying that all the time.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

I don't think he was calling Bush a racist; he's talking about bush thinking in black and white terms, e.g. you're either with us or against us. Unilateralism and hard power as opposed to internationalism and soft power.

And I think it's far too early to tell what will happen in 2010.

Ah, my bad

 

[MobBoss]

The world already loves Obama.

I guess we will see how long that honeymoon lasts.

 

[nonconformist]

Yeah, you must not know much about American history. Bush and his policies have kept terrorism at a minimum.

 

[IglooDame]

Yeah, you must not know much about American history. Bush and his policies have kept terrorism at a minimum.

You must not know much about logic - correlation does not equal causation.

And noncon, we need that graph to extend out through 2007.

 

[Böle 1]

After 8 years of misery I can finally feel sympathy for America.

Thank you, Americans, for voting for Obama!

 

[Evie]

I guess we will see how long that honeymoon lasts.

If he is tested, long indeed. I don't see Obama pulling an Iraq out of his rear end, and it took Iraq for Bush to destroy all the capital he had after 9-11.

Obama already has a lot of Bush's 9-11 goodwill capital without 9-11 happening. If he is tested - if terrorists take the bait - it would take a terrible mistake

 

[MobBoss]

If he is tested, long indeed. I don't see Obama pulling an Iraq out of his rear end, and it took Iraq for Bush to destroy all the capital he had after 9-11.

Actually, it took a couple of years of Iraq to destroy Bush's capital. At the start of the Iraq war he was still quite popular as was support for the war.

Obama already has a lot of Bush's 9-11 goodwill capital without 9-11 happening. If he is tested - if terrorists take the bait - it would take a terrible mistake

Who said it would be terrorists testing him? Why not Russia? Iran? Syria? North Korea? China? I think thats more in line with what Biden was referring to....not terrorists.

 

[philippe]

Now that the election's done (Thank GOD, I was so sick and tired of lobbyists calling me every ten minutes), I'll go right ahead and tell Obama the secret to staying in office.

Why am I giving the secret away? Because I know he won't listen. World leaders hardly ever do. The Greeks, the Romans, Augustus, Napoleon, Hitler, and just about every U.S. President ever. They don't listen and so they keep making the same mistake.

Here's the mistake they make: they overreach. Republicans and Democrats alike have this idea about mandates and destiny and stuff about how human beings should live, and as soon as they gain power they try to shove as much of their agenda into law as possible. And American voters react the same way every time: they swing in the other direction.

Obama will be under a great deal of pressure from the far left in coming days, and so he's going to make this mistake faster than most. I predict the Democrats will lose control of Congress in 2010.


So, the secret, very simply, is this: don't bite off more than the voters can chew.

wait, what did Augustus Ceasar do wrong? Pax Romana? Consildating the roman empire? Where did he go wrong?

How did Pericles overreach?

 

[Evie]

I was referring to international levels of support, which Iraq shot through, a lot.

As for the nature of the test, true, there is that, although the world was on your side in other sorts of tests in the past.

And there's another thing to consider - Obama is something Bush wasn't, something Clinton wasn't, something no one has been in world politics in a few decades - an honest to goodness, natural-born leader. The sort who doesn't just tell people what to do (the easy part of leadership), but inspire them to do it (that's how he won the election - well, that and the economic crisis, obviously), who makes them want to do it.

He probably will not be as popular in four years as he is now, but it would take a great deal of bungling for someone with his personality to be as unpopular as Bush.

 

[IglooDame]

I was referring to international levels of support, which Iraq shot through, a lot.

As for the nature of the test, true, there is that, although the world was on your side in Bosnia, in Iraq I, etc - ie, willing to follow when you were tested in the past.

And there's another thing to consider - Obama is something Bush wasn't, something Clinton wasn't, something no one has been in world politics in a few decades - an honest to goodness, natural-born leader. The sort who doesn't just tell people what to do (the easy part of leadership), but inspire them to do it (that's how he won the election - well, that and the economic crisis, obviously), who makes them want to do it.

He probably will not be as popular in four years as he is now, but it would take a great deal of bungling for someone with his personality to be as unpopular as Bush.

Agreed, to a point - but if that "bitterly clinging to guns and God" bit reflects true personal feelings on the matter rather than a line to get some SanFran liberals to open their checkbooks, he could get Bush-esque pretty quickly.

 

[Dame Edna]

Congratulations to Obama and Americans on what is an historic election victory.

The Bush Presidency has been an unmitigated disaster for the United States and the rest of the world. Bush squandered the global goodwill in the wake of 9/11 and dragged the US and other nations into an unnecessary war in Iraq which has had the affect of increasing the power and influence of the fruitcakes in Iran at the cost of many lives.

Bush was asleep at the wheel when hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans - the sight of thousands of people left to fend for themselves in wreckage of New Orleans in the immediate aftermath was a sickening sight.

Bush was again asleep at the wheel as the financial crisis swept the US and then the world.

Bush and his neocons appealed to the worst aspects of Americans, greed, arrogance, ignorance and prejudice. Obama has appealed to the best of aspects of Americans, generosity, compassion, creativity and hope.

This Australian wishes Obama and Americans the very best for the future.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

That might be more meaningful if the 9/11 plot hadn't been devised and started during the Clinton years.

 

[Taras Bulba]

well... I may be jumping in this threat quite late, but I had school

I just want to throw my 2 cents in....

one... I'm just really glad Bush is out and it wasn't McCain who won. Not so much that it was Barack Obama who won (but I was rooting for him anyway)

two... @ IglooDude... I just got to say.... nice avatar

 

[Dachs]

wait, what did Augustus Ceasar do wrong? Pax Romana? Consildating the roman empire? Where did he go wrong?

Probably a reference to the military downsizing, or his kinda mediocre attempts at civil reform, or the German policy. I'd rate Augustus as competent but not any better than his esteemed uncle (not by a long shot), and mostly a PR genius. The real skill lay in him delegating authority to other areas.

How did Pericles overreach?

, are you kidding me? First Peloponnesian War ring a bell? You know, that bit where the Athenians lost Boiotia and stuff to the Spartan alliance and Perikles had to buy off the Spartans before they tried to besiege the city itself. Also, his war policy in the first few years of the Great Peloponnesian War wasn't all that great (he basically relied on the Spartans getting bored, which was a terrible idea; in the meantime, crowding all those people inside the Long Walls made for a dandy plague that ended up killing Perikles himself...oops), and was a huge fiscal disaster that was only retrieved by an increase in the assessments levied on the Athenians' "allies" and in a reduction in spending by financing smaller operations, like Demosthenes' war in Aitolia in 426 BC(E). Pretty much the only things that went right during Perikles' tenure were the defense of Naupaktos by Phormion and the seizure of the rebel fort at Potidaia. Everywhere else, the Athenians suffered horribly until he died and new leadership emerged. And, the Athenians did some other pretty stupid stuff under his rule too, like the Megarian Decree which helped guarantee war with the Peloponnesians...

He was a good patron of the arts, though.