Barack Obama

Once the AWB returns with a vengeance and concealed-carry is trashed, there's gonna be hell to pay. Responsible gun owners (including would-be's like yours truly) will be pissed. Obama will have made his biggest fuck-up ever.

[randolph]

Right on Hank, but I don't want them to be history,
I want them tried for WAR CRIMES!

[marlowe]

Well, Obama time is upon us. It'll be impossible to live up to the hype but let's HOPE that we can look back in four or eight years time and praise him for harnessing America's strengths to promote a more peaceful and positive world, steering away from the climate of FEAR that has dominated the last eight years.

[hankhavelock]

Originally Posted by randolph

Right on Hank, but I don't want them to be history,
I want them tried for WAR CRIMES!

I agree - they would deserve it... as Jesse Ventura said in some interview... "George W. Bush will leave office totally happy and "ignorant" of the damage he has done. He will ride out in the sunset the good old American way and live happily for ever after..."

He's history! Thank God!

So let's focus on the tasks ahead and be amazed that we are being part of history being made here - beyond any presidential election probably EVER!

Enjoy the inauguration!

Congratulations, America! Congratulations, World!

H

Blazing Saddles, anyone?

[randolph]

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

I agree - they would deserve it... as Jesse Ventura said in some interview... "George W. Bush will leave office totally happy and "ignorant" of the damage he has done. He will ride out in the sunset the good old American way and live happily for ever after..."

He's history! Thank God!

So let's focus on the tasks ahead and be amazed that we are being part of history being made here - beyond any presidential election probably EVER!

Enjoy the inauguration!

Congratulations, America! Congratulations, World!

H

I like the image of the helicopter on the tarmac, with Bush in it and Obama and his wife and Biden and his wife standing there waving goodbye.
Thank God he is leaving! The worst President in our history!

[smc]

As I wrote on inauguration day in my Facebook status, I am "wondering how long the illusions of the day will last in the minds of my celebrating friends."

[CreativeMind]

Originally Posted by smc

As I wrote on inauguration day in my Facebook status, I am "wondering how long the illusions of the day will last in the minds of my celebrating friends."

Well, considering that a poll just released shows that only 42% of the country now support the Obama economic plan, which means that 58% of the country feels it's a waste of money and it WON'T help the economy...

And considering that other polls show that (on average) about 60% of the American people now feel that CONGRESS is to blame for the economic crisis, every bit as much as Wall Street, for stupidly wasting money on stimulus packages and pork barreling it -- such as Nancy Pelosi wanting to spend $400 million (400 MILLION!!!) on condoms and birth control because, hey, that will really stimulate things (yes, bad pun intended)....

And considering it's been a Democratically controlled Congress for 2 1/2 years now, which means they controlled things going back BEFORE this crisis emerged...

...It's safe to say that with each passing day, as thousands and thousands of people continue to get laid off or lose their homes or see their bank accounts drained, that the glow of Inauguration Day has ALREADY passed.

Always remember rule number one in politics: EVERYONE votes their pocketbook. And no matter how big a smile or friendly a guy he might be, Obama now has to SOLVE this economic crisis, which mind you has escalated to being a GLOBAL crisis. So, in the coming year, Obama has two roads he can go down. It's that simple. He either proves his Harvard brilliance and the economy rights itself, in which case he seals his re-election in 4 years right off the bat...

...Or the economy continues to stay low for another few years, needing time to re-balance itself naturally over time, in which case he suffers the same fate of Jimmy Carter and being the guy who was President when economic times truly sucked, in which case he'll be voted out of office in a landslide (like Carter) because people will blame him for everything.

Bottom line: the "glow of Inauguration" (even a historic one like Obama's, being the first African-American President) will mean NOTHING to the average American if they're out of a job or can't meet their bills.

[randolph]

During WWII I wonder how many Germans wanted Hitler tried for war crimes.

The meltdown? The consensus is that Greenspan was the key player. The conservative fundamentalist philosophy of Milton Friedman that the Republicans and Greenspan worshiped is what led to this debacle.

[CreativeMind]

Originally Posted by randolph

Right on Hank, but I don't want them to be history,
I want them tried for WAR CRIMES!

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

I agree - they would deserve it... as Jesse Ventura said in some interview... "George W. Bush will leave office totally happy and "ignorant" of the damage he has done. He will ride out in the sunset the good old American way and live happily for ever after..."

Well, you can give up that pipe dream right now.
Never gonna happen -- frankly, never stood a chance of happening.

The truth is SO many people on BOTH sides of the political aisle voted for and supported the Iraq War right from the start that ANY sort of trial would involve bringing countless numbers of people to the stand -- all of whom don't want to be anywhere near a courtroom to protect their own self-interests.

Hell, just look at the big news of Friday: it turns out the one leading Democrat, Rep. Conyers, who was vocally pushing for Bush to be brought up on charges, has now been revealed to have his own secret that he was trying to bury and hide: namely, his wife could now be facing a criminal bribery indictment for abusing his office's power to secure financial deals. Gee, maybe it's just me, but the notion that his own wife could be soon standing in front of a judge herself sort of tarnishes the image of him then grandstanding and saying "I'm all for the law and truth to come out!"

Here's the bottom line: everyone who is on the opposite side of aisle to the party currently in power always dreams of tearing the other side down. That's just basic human nature and wanting to see "your side" win. But sad to say, in this day and age, political venom has reached such astounding levels that many people no longer want to see someone just losing their job or being voted out of office -- instead they dream of some nutty Watergate-level conspiracy taking place that is going to tear down absolutely everything in sight. Like a tsunami, it will literally just wipe the other side completely out so that "your side" can now take over for years to come. And unfortunately, Hollywood has done a sensational job (post-Watergate) of selling this bogus idea of all-powerful and all-encompassing conspiracies existing out there, when the truth is there really are none.

The truth is NO administration EVER wants to go after a previous one, simply because it means you THEN expose yourself or your party. You want to go after Bush? Fine -- but then you expose all of the Clinton years that led up to the war, which means the Democrats would actually be putting other Democrats on the firing line. Or look at what's happening now: someone like Conyers wants Karl Rove to testify before Congress, yet Rove is now citing executive privilege and willing to fight it out in court. That puts Obama in a giant bind...and a truly uncomfortable spot...because if he backs a nut job like Conyers and says "Okay, put Rove on the stand" that instantly sets a legal precedent and means over the next 4 years all of HIS advisors can now be made to testify in front of Congress -- or worse, once he's out of office (and, yes, that day will come. After all, we didn't elect him King!) THEN all of his people can be made to testify and reveal confidential information, which I'm sure will include many a conversation that even Mr. Nice Guy Obama would prefer to see kept buried and private.

Politics has too many off-shoots, too many people involved on the Federal level from ALL political parties, which is why everyone will now treat the Bush/Iraq War years as simply something that happened... as something that will be pushed aside now, in the midst of the global economic crisis... and people will prefer for it to simply be something that history will be the final judge on, and not some silly courtroom where ultra-Leftists, consumed in their lingering hate for Bush, are still hoping to get at him even though he's long gone.

For crying out loud, a recent poll showed that a whopping 84% of the American people DON'T support any type of Iraq War hearings or any type of pursuit of Bush for "war crimes", feeling it would only hurt the country and it would be a total waste of money. As I said, they feel we should just move on now since we have this economic crisis to deal with. So, as much as you guys would love to see Bush brought up on "war crimes", keep in mind that 8 out 10 people disagree with you. That's a pretty fucking big number of people that would instantly come up to you and say "What the hell is with you guys? Leave it alone already. We have no interest in this."