obama a welsher?
Offline http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081208/pl_politico/16292
if he continues down this road, ladies and gentlemen, this may very well be the last US presidential election i ever vote in.
i've always been jaded about american politics, and especially leery of the democratic party, despite being a registered democratic. in the end, i always considered them more or less diet republican. i wasn't very excited about either gore or kerry, but dammit, i allowed myself to hope a just a little bit with this man. i even went to considerable trouble to vote from overseas. i was almost euphoric when he won...almost.
if he breaks the promises he made on the campaign trail, i'm done. as much as i liked clinton a hell of a lot more than bush, the last thing i want is another centrist like clinton. if obama had made it to the white house on centrist promises, fine--but he didn't. it was "change" this and "change" that. i never trusted him 100%, but i allowed myself to trust him a great deal more than usual.
we'll see, i suppose...
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
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If by "change" you mean a backing off of the illegal, freedom stealing moves of Bush and the Rethuglicans, I think that could happen.
If the change you're looking for is from where we are now to immediate utopia, not going to happen.
I would really hate to be wrong on this...
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
it has nothing to do with "immediate utopia," but i would like to see a significant left-turn, yes, especially in the area of drastically reducing the ridiculously enormous chunk of our budget that goes to the military and extensive steps in the direction of socialized healthcare.
but that's all beside the point. the article is pretty clear on which promises he seems to be sidestepping, and this is what i take issue with.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I'm not expecting too much at all, really. I was never under the hyped-up media illusion that Obama was a liberal or a progresssive.
I'd like to see some of the promises he made be kept but we still have a House and a Senate that are afraid to take any steps that would offend their money sources.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
Obama never promised this.
Dare I say that your first Presedential candidate who does will be laughed off of the campaign trail.
Give Obama some time before you start losing patience with him. Bush left a great big mess; Obama has to first get his bearings, then focus on what seems most logical to clean-up first. I would imagine that the very last thing he wants to do is confirm the Conservative angle that says progressive policies will break the economy - so he's got to tread carefully until some stability creeps back into the market.
If you guys are back on your feet, and then he stll fails to deliver, it'll be time to call him on his fakery. Myself, I'm using Iraq as my early warning indicator. If in February he does not kick-off his administration by laying-out the withdrawal plan that was central to his campaign, I'll go cynical. If by next year he has shown no sign of laying-down a plan for universal health care (another of his central platforms), then, yeah - it's likely time to give-up.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
I'm pretty sure he's Kenyan and American. Not Welsh. Though Thomas Jefferson was of Welsh heritage and a president and had kids with black women, so maybe you're thinking of him. I've gotta think it's a pretty common mistake.
"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell
Not to be a smartass, but the man hasn't even sat behind the friggin' desk yet. lol.
He might sit down and say, "OK. We do it my way first and if that doesn't work, I'll take suggestions."
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NEWSFLASH: Politicians lie. That includes Obama. I am certain that he said many things just to gain votes. Like the way Bush claimed that he would have a humble foreign policy before he was first elected. I am wondering how Obama will turn out. Since lying non-stop is the norm for politicians, I suppose we will just have to wait and let his actions tell us how he really will run the country. I have a feeling that you will feel as cheated as small government conservatives felt after seeing how Bush really acted in office. Set your expectations way, way lower when regarding politicians.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India
yes, i know. that's just the very surface of my wish list, and the only immediate way to free up more than enough money to accomplish a shitload of things (among them socialized healthcare).
still, i'm worried about the things he did promise, like beginning to withdraw from iraq his first day in office. yes, i know he's not in office yet, but i've had trust issues with the democratic party since i could read and understand a newspaper (about the time clinton first came in).
the republican party, on the other hand, i've been terrified of my whole life.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I wonder what is now wearing Barrack's skin. I also wonder if it's possible to file a complaint to the democrat party for a faulty stuff. But I hope he knows what he's doing, maybe he took the saying 'it must get worse, before it can get better' too literally. Maybe provoking a pan-american civil revolution to overthrow the White House and Capitol is the best thing he can achieve. Anyway, I'm very curious what will he do next, and I wouldn't risk another Republican president, he would surely invade Iran and Syria, and there would be no hope to get the U.S. military bases off the greatest oil fields in Iraq.
With Obama, there is also a hope he might not get convinced to build an offensive military installation in my small, but nice country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nOshiBH5Ls
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.
For crying out fucking loud, Luminon:
Back this statement up. Right now. You want to accuse people of murdering someone and replacing them with a double? Fine. But you'd better be damn well able to put your money where your mouth is.
So, let's hear it. How do you know that Barack has been replaced by a duplicate?
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Ah... hahahahahaha... Good joke! You got me, I thought you were serious.
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.
See, that's the problem with you being a quack, Luminon - I never have the foggiest idea if you're being serious or not.
Either way, I apologize. I'm just tired of hearing Loose Change-esque conspiracy bullshit drifting around and getting an undue amount of reverance.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.