May 28, 2012
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It’s The Economy Stupid
The unemployment rate is at 8.1% which is higher than it was 3 and a half years ago when President Obama was elected. Here is the link: Link
The federal deficit is at 15.7 trillion and growing at the fastest rate ever. Here is the link: Link
On the other hand, President Obama killed bin Laden.
Does President Obama deserve to be re-elected?
Comments (165)
Yes.
I just found out a family member is related to Obama so I feel like I have conflicting interests.
Yes.
Nope.
He never deserved it the first time.
Funny how that very slogan was used for re electing Clinton when he had all the moral questions going on.The thought that the economy was doing well is what counting fo him to deserve re election.Now with Obama somehow the economy doesn’t matter.Worst economy ever and yet thats not a probem now.Democrats,you can’t have it both ways.
And if Gore had been Pres instead of Bush,Bin Ladin would never have been able to be found by Obama!And I would say there would have been many more attacks on the US like 9-11
@Somefishytales - I like your name.
well.. this whole election is being centered around social issues, so i guess economy is out of sight out of mind.
Yes. deficit spending has flattened out. were are still living with much of Bush’s economics. you cannot take day or month 1 or 2 or 3 of Obama’s Presidency and say that was Obama. that would be like trying to stop a train rushing out of control downhill and blaming it on the person who jumped on to try and stop it. it took time to stop the bleeding. now we have 25 straight months of job growth.
on the other hand as Romney ran for Governor of Massachusetts he said he was the one to elect because of his business experience…that he would create jobs and with his business connections he could influence other businesses to create jobs. sound familiar? under Romney’s Governorship Massachusetts ranked 47th in the nation in job creation. many left Massachusetts to take jobs elsewhere AND he ran up the Mass deficit. it’s why he doesn’t talk about his term as Governor. in fact he jokes about it. “Sure I was Governor but I didn’t inhale hahahaha”. That’s a slap in the face to the people of Massachusetts, especially those who campaigned, donated and voted for him. It’s probably what he’ll say later if heaven forbid he’s elected President.
you forgot to mention Obama rescued the U.S. auto industry, something Romney said in a full page New York Times Op Ed he would not have done. the title of his article was “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”. housing is on the rise. Wall Street with it’s dips and jumps has been on the rise for a long time. Obama’s deficit spending is actually lower than that of the past 6 Presidents and tax rates are as low as they’ve been since the 1950s. oh and Obama added the two wars to the deficit spending, correctly so. Bush did not account for those expenditures.
Can one man fix a whole country’s problems in only four years?
The entire world is in a recession. It’s hardly the fault of Obama. But people tend to lose perspective of that.
What people arent understanding, is civil liberties. who cares how much money we are making if the government is limiting us the same rights as those of prisoners and criminals?
@TheSutraDude - thank you for putting into words what has been buzzing around in my brain for a while now. you have done a great job of organizing and presenting facts without that “IN YO FACE!” attitude that just makes me mad, even when i agree with what the speaker is saying…
how can you not vote for the big O? i mean yeah, the economy is tanking, he’s continuing the patriot act and other policies but he’s also running a contest to hang with him for a night in NYC. how can you not get with an epic guy like that?
More importantly – When Clinton left office we had a 127 billion dollar SURPLUS. Republicans spent some time in the oval office and left us with a 1.3 trillion dollar DEFICIT! We pay interest on that debt of course and since we have not been in a position to pay the Republican deficit down the debt, compounded with interest, is going up. No surprise there.
But keep in mind that while Obama has been in office federal spending has been at the lowest pace in nearly 60 years!
Yes. Obama should be reelected!
@iones_island - and Romney is raffling the opportunity to dine with him and Trump.
@mtngirlsouth - He won the election legally. He definitely deserved it. He out-spoke his contenders and was granted the title through our electoral system.
@FlashFosgitt - you’re welcome. the bit about lower deficit spending was published in a recent article by The Wall Street Journal.
Obama hasn’t done any better or worse of a job than McCain would have. The candidates are all. the. same. I do think Obama was incredibly naive when he went into office; I think he got caught up in his own campaign message. LOL
I would also like to add the following: The President has VERY little to do with the economic growth/decline in the country. That’s how our market works, but people still foolishly vote for a candidate based on this, and the candidates still say they’ll change/improve it when they really can’t (gas prices are a GREAT example of this) . CEO’s, bankers, and wall street traders have more impact on the economy than the President ever does.
@RazielV - Just for you, a list of lies he ran on:
No more wiretapping of citizens
Youtube
Mr. Ayers as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” but “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
News Busters
Obama campaign would accept public funding
ABC
Minimum Wage will increase to $9.50/hr
A Socialist
Ann Dunham spent the months before her death in 1995 fighting with insurance companies that sought to deny her the coverage she needed to pay for treatment.
Mounting Heath Care Lies
Would have the most transparent administration in History
Cato Institute
We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.
Boston Globe
I have visited all 57 states.
Snopes
I’ll get rid of earmarks
Source: Any bill passed during presidency
When a bill lands on my Desk, The American people will have 5 days to review it before I sign it.
Campaign Speech
Have troops out of Iraq by March 31, 2009
News Video
Seniors Making less than 50,000 will not have to pay taxes
YouTube
Not no, but hell no! If it weren’t so late, I would add to Mountaingirlsouth’s supply.
@mtngirlsouth - You’re correct that he ran on those principles. But those are the principles that got him elected. You’re also neglecting the fact that to actually put a lot of these ideas into practise he has to run things through the House and Senate. Obama is not perfect, and certainly not all powerful like people think the President is, but he won the election fair and square. Whether he follows through on his promises or not is not the issue (back then). It only is one now. It also doesn’t change the fact that he earned the election properly.
Also, if I recall correctly, the actual ISFA (Iraq Status of Forces Agreement) stated that American troops would withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and be completely out by December 2011. This was closely followed and only occasionally strayed from the time-table.
As for the “57 states” remark, really? If we’re going to point out the incredibly stupid things a president says then let’s crack open the gem that was Clinton, Bush Sr, Bush Jr (could be a few volumes for sure), Nixon, and pretty much EVERY PRESIDENT IMAGINABLE. That’s not a valid place to stand an argument on.
Again, Obama isn’t perfect and I didn’t vote for him, but attempting to vilify him over not meeting expectations is silly, especially considering the majority of Washington Republicans have fought him every step of the way, making it almost impossible to impose the things he promised to during election. There is also the possibility that Obama lied, which all presidents have done and will do. So if anything, he’s just another president, no worse no better. I’ll also point out that since Clinton’s impeachment we’ve been in a steady decline economically and socially. We had 8 years of a mediocre to poor presidential reign (Bush) who barely took the time to try to reform or postulate reform of many important aspects of our government and national needs (FEMA, Healthcare, Medicare, etc.).
Obama makes mistakes but I’d rather a mistake we can fix than nothing at all.
It still doesn’t change the fact he won the election fair and square. Ergo he deserved it. If McCain deserved it he would’ve won. It’s simple as.
(For the record: I wrote in my ballot during the 08 election. My candidates were: President – Stephen Colbert, Vice-President – Christopher Walken)
Heck no. The man breathed new life into the Patriot Act and signed the NDAA which allows him to lock up any American indefinitely without trial.
That is enough to fail you in my book.
@RazielV - He lied his way there, that is not my idea of earning it properly. I vilify him for his lies and his destruction of our liberties. You said it right the first time, “He out-spoke his contenders.”
“I’ll also point out that since Clinton’s impeachment we’ve been in a steady decline economically and socially.” – Yeah. Only since Obama got into office we have been going there in overdrive.
And for the record, I’m not too thrilled with any Presidents since Reagan.
@mtngirlsouth - We don’t know for sure if Obama lied or just hasn’t been able to meet the goals he intended to. So to be fair we can’t say for sure he lied about those things. I do agree with you on the Reagan bit. Not one good one. Besides, yes Obama’s spending has been out of control, but don’t forget he inherited Bush Jr’s 1.2 trillion debt that was built off a massive surplus under Clinton. So yes Obama is bad, but Bush is worse (imo) for getting us in debt in the first damn place.
Him, over the competition. I couldn’t change an entire country in 4 years, and I think he could use 4 more years to work on it. Regardless, the biggest reason I clicked on the link was because I think your title is supposed to be “Its the Economy, Stupid” and I’m a comma nazi, so I couldn’t resist any longer. If you aren’t addressing stupid…well…then my bad, and I just don’t understand.
@Somefishytales - Conservatives can’t have it both ways either.
@zoetherat - And what way is that?
I can’t believe some of the things I’m reading in these comments. Obama is the first president since WWII to spend more than 24% of the GDP. (LINK) He spends money like crazy. (LINK) His health care plan will cost 502 billion in the first ten years. (LINK) Homeownership is at the lowest rate since 1997. (LINK) Which has caused mortgage rates to drop to historical lows. (LINK) Obama’s bailout for GM was NOT a success. (LINK) It cost us 1.3 billion that even the .gov own release says we will never get back. (LINK) The media that loves him so love to tweak the numbers to make it seem employment is on the rise, but the real numbers of unemployment are closer to between 18% and 24%. (LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK) See for yourself at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm . Foodstamp recipients are also at historical heights. (LINK) And taxes are going to skyrocket. (LINK) How else is he to pay for all the “wonderful” programs? (LINK)
@RazielV - The thing is, you can’t spend your way out of debt.
@mtngirlsouth - It’s simple really,they would rather believe lies than the truth ie trusting the liberal bias over the Eville Fox News.If they would seriously look at the facts they would see how badly they have been dooped.Even a caveman could look at the economy and get it….sorry Geico caveman dude!
@mtngirlsouth - This is true but again look at his opposition. Romney is going to do far worse to the country than over-zealous spending. Essentially he’s posed to attempt to implement a false theocracy with his ideals, as well as do away with many educational sectors and move that funding over to military (Navy). Yes, I would rather take the over-spending to the utter butt-fucking we as a nation will endure under an even more unqualified politician.
Romney’s track record reads like a nightmare fueled by even worse nightmares. If you think Obama’s is bad, the storm is just getting started.
@Somefishytales - Fox News is an op-ed cable station. 90% of their programming is Opinion shows and pundits, with very little to any reporting. All of which is heavily Conservatively slanted. It’s not evil, just biased and full of misinformation like most “news” networks nowadays. Most people aren’t believing “lies”, they’re just avoiding a worse candidate.
There is no better alternative. So yes.
@roxics - Doesn’t that make you suspicious?
The same. They’re all the same and will do the same.
abso-fucking-lutely.
with the other crazy-as-fuck options? the bigotry of the other candidates?
people/human rights are far more important than money.
@eatdrinkandbemaryy - i always say what my mom says “so waht gays get the right to get married. BIG DEAL will they be abel to support each other?” yep i love the douchebag president we have and romney being a bigger one for not stepping up
@RealistFantasies - wow so americans jobs are not important? you sir are an idiot.
i like how you can blame one person for the whole nation’s misgivings. It’s not entirely his fault, you know. You’re responsible for your country, too.
@Jeremy_Sheer – all Republicans have run their campaigns completely wrong. They need to fire all their managers.
When Bush was Pres and dems in congress, the economy was Bush’s fault. For Obama, its the rep house’s fault. libs report that the unemployment rate has dropped. Conservatives report that it is higher. Which is it? why am i constantly being fed misinformation? Damn-it! I hate politicians!
@Lithium98 - Yes. Ronald Reagan fixed the Carter disaster in 2 years which led to 25 years of a growing economy. And Carter’s policies were exactly like Obama’s.
The key to fixing this economy is to cut taxes across the board, gut the 80,000 new federal regulations a year that the Obama administration is cranking out to intentionally kill the economy and to get the madness out of the Federal Reserve which has been printing money like there is no tomorrow as part of the Obama Keynesian stimulus.
I don’t think it matters who is elected president. The Congress runs the country and spends the money.
@yan_ni - I think people like to blame Obama, one man, for our country’s problems because he has spent his entire presidency doing the same.
No. Besides the reasons you cited above, he’s wasn’t born in America.
@RealistFantasies - I’m guessing you haven’t lost your job, then? “When there’s no food on the table, that’s the only thing that matters.”
I don’t think he deserves to be reelected, but I also think we need better candidates.
I’m begrudgingly voting for Romney. Luckily he is more moderate than he’s proclaimed. We all know most of the social issues cannot even be addressed by a President, and really shouldn’t be important factors in this election. Wish Ron Paul’s son, Rand Paul would run. I think he’d be good.
It’s time to let Mr. Fit It Man have a go at it. Bro. Romney can get the job done.
obama didn’t kill bin laden. gave the order, didn’t pull the trigger. just saying.
For the millionth time…. since when did Obama personally kill Osama bin Laden? All of the work, locating and action, was performed by others. Obama signed a piece of paper. Yes. He deserves credit.
I’m continually confused about the reason why so many vote for a president from one party and then saddle him with congressmen they know are going to try to foul him up at every turn for the next 4 years. Checks and balances are great but deliberate stonewalling is negative to everything we hope to accomplish. Campaign funding is the pits the way it works now and everybody should vote. More should be done to expose what goes on under the table to keep the crooks up front. Face it — we’ve got exactly what we”ve asked for.
yes
@RazielV - Competition is a good thing,but in the News business it’s dangerous.Why does News hae to be competitive,just fricken report what happened.When you don’t know the whole story,report what you know and wait til the rest pans out.Why MAKE newsthat isn’t really there.It’s just like eveything else,i’s ALL about the money.
I fear for America if he gets elected again. He’s a tax and spend President.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Great talking points. You must’ve read Reagan’s book, “The Things I Didn’t Do That Will Help You Sleep Better At Night”.
Reagan’s the one who got us all into this mess in the first place. He’s the one who created the ‘steal from the poor and give to the rich’ style economy. Cutting taxes for people and businesses who could afford an increase and raising taxes on people and businesses who couldn’t. Why would you give only the top 1% of the people who stimulate the economy an incentive to spend the more? Why not give it to the other 99% and ACTUALLY make a difference? Woo! REAGANOMICS!!!
Wanna take a trip into reality with me where our presidential leadership isn’t out to keep his wealthy friends wealthy? Here’s how you fix the economy. Cut taxes on the people who can’t afford them. This will increase the amount of spending on their part (their part is that fat 99% of the economy that does all the spending already). Leave the 1% alone. You try to tax them, they’ll just loophole their way out of it. Then you create more jobs for the 99% so they can spend even MORE money. You do this by taxing the big businesses who unpatrioticly take their business outside of the US. If you wanna do business outside of the States, you’re gonna have to pay to do so. The amount of money we’d generate through taxes like that would help kill that awesome trillion dollar deficit Reaganomics help create. And with all these companies no longer outsourcing their entire businesses to other countries, leading to affordable business for them here in the States. They’ll actually WANT to do business here. They’ll open up factories and hire people by the thousands.
As far as those 80,000 regulations a year you’re talking about (prime example of a talking point you got there), you gotta be more specific. You just ran up to me and yelled about how you don’t like Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. That doesn’t mean anything to me. Tell me which flavors you dislike.
Lastly, that stimulus that Obama put out, guess who he got the idea from.
REAGANOMICS!!!!
@Lithium98 - I was alive during that time and saw the outrageous success of Reaganomics aka supply side economics.
The primary difference between the failed economics of Keynes and the successful supply side economics is that Keynesians believe in the myth that the government is the source of economic growth.
Supply side economics understands the reality that the economy exists in the private sector and all government activity actually depletes economic wealth.
Consequently, deficit spending, bailouts, printing money and excessive financial sector regulations will cause, worsen or prolong any economic downturn.
And those are the exact policies of the Obama administration and the exact reasons why the private economy has shrunk since 2009.
Since Republicans made it a point to deny any legislation that would help the economy and job creation, lest it makes President Obama look more electable, causing more economic misery for Americans while saying this would be to make President Obama a ‘one termer’, I would say a resounding yes to re-election.
The former members of the Bush administration are chomping at the bit to get back in power under Romney and continue the awful policies of the last decade. America just cannot afford to allow that to happen.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Cool story bro! Thanks for addressing any of the points I made and completely switching the topic of discussion. Now we’re talking beliefs? Let’s talk about facts. I might have not been alive back then to see this magical economy that must’ve only been sustainable with Reagan in term, but I’ve seen the numbers. The biggest sign of a bad economy is one that is left with a deficit. Fact: Reagan left office with a cloud of shame hanging over him worth $997 billion.
The economy does exist in the private sector but you can’t let the private sector run rampant without regulation. That’s like sending your kids to school and not having any teachers to keep an eye on them. When you’re in the business to make money, why would you be interested in how you make it? As long as you’re making money, who cares about everyone else, right? Regulations keep those business in check. Unfortunately for us, the consumer and simulator of the economy those businesses rely on, the people making the regulations are the people who have to abide by them.
Want a basic example of what would happen if the private sector was unregulated? Get rid of the police. Let’s see how safe you feel when you go outside and there’s no one to stop people from murdering you for fun.
All you’ve been preaching is how you wanna give the power and control of our nation to a single group. Doesn’t sound very patriotic of you. Do you hate America?
@Lithium98 - Ronald Reagan had a Democrat Congress. And we all know it is the Congress that controls the purse strings. So just like today, the Democrats of the Reagan era did not believe in fiscal responsibility.
So the shame you speak of is all Democrat. And that point like all your points is pure fiction. That’s why I didn’t address them.
And today, like then, the shame for our deficits is all Democrat. Did you know that the Democrats in violation of the US Constitution, have not submitted a budget in 3 years?
They are doing that on purpose. Without a budget the government must run off of “continuing resolutions.” No cuts or budgetary adjustments can be made with continuing resolution.
So all the budget busting spending that the Democrats passed in 2009 continues unabated and against the will of the people since over 700 Democrats nationwide where voted out of office in 2010.
Yes…The war in Iraq did a lot of damage to our economy and it is going to take a lot longer than four years to recover from it. We spent billions there every month for how many years? That hurts…
@Ricardo98 - The Democrats were able to pass every piece of legislation they wanted since assuming power in 2006 to 2010 when Democrats nationwide were booted from over 700 elective offices.
As of now we are stuck with ALL Democrat legislation because they have not allowed the GOP to pass anything since retaking the House in 2010. So it is not reasonable to blame the GOP for anything.
The Democrat Party still owns the Senate and Presidency. That is 2/3s of the elected federal government.
It is strange how Democrats are asking everyone not to believe what we all can see with our own eyes or what is provably not true.
Absolutely not. I voted for him the first time because I thought he could get us out of the hole that Bush got us in. Instead, Obama has just been getting us in deeper and deeper, all the while blaming it on Bush. Good grief. Four years has gone by–four years–more than enough time to get the country back on track.
Besides, the man is bent on making us a socialist nation.
He killed Bin Laden? He signed off on the seal mission, which any president would have done, probably even Carter.
@Tallman - Spending on the Iraq War was minuscule compared to the total budget and our total GDP.
However, nearly $2 trillion dollars was funneled to Wall Street, bankers, unions and every interest group, crony and lobbiest under the sun in the name of Stimulus.
Billions of stimulus dollars even went to Michael Mann at Penn State University for the global warming hoax even after he had been busted for cooking the data and corrupting the peer revue process.
Why do Democrats only care about cost when US national security is at stake or when the spending concerns law enforcement?
@PrisonerxOfxLove - So anything that went wrong during the Reagan years was not his fault? I called it a cloud of shame because of the FACT that he himself said it was the most shameful legacy to come out of his presidency. I’m just going by what he said.
I’m gonna take a page from your book and topic hop because your ridiculous and ignorant response doesn’t deserve acknowledgment. Let me ask you this, what kind of country do you want for yourself now and for the future? Do you want monetary division between social economical classes to be so great that the majority of the nation goes poor and hungry (and if this happens, even on a small scale like the great depression, we won’t come out of it because of the structure that has been put in place by the wealthy)? Or do you want to create a nation that thrives and leads the world in business, technology, economic growth, and all that other fun stuff? The presidency and control of our government isn’t about our (yours and mine) great nation and it’s prosperity. Right now, its a struggle between one wealthy group trying to stay wealthier than another. Democrat or Republican, it’s not gonna matter until the way you think about who you’re putting into office and why changes. The day we see a president without ties to some major corporation who’s looking for some favors is the day we see some progression towards being the great nation we potentially can be. That’s what I want from my president and for my fellow countrymen (that’s you, buddy).
So which is it? Poor, broke ass country not worth fighting for, or the good life?
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Since the Senate is only 1/2 of the congress, I would say you need help with your math. Since the GOP can filibuster with a minority or stop a bill with a single person in the Senate, I would say you need help with political science.
@Ricardo98 - Trivial Pursuit notwithstanding, I have given a very accurate summary of what has actually happened. It has been the Democrat Senate that has stopped all GOP legislative efforts to reign in spending since 2010.
And in 2009 the Democrats had a filibuster proof Congress with a Democrat President.
The bottom line is that our present mess is ALL Democrat.
The Democrats passed the financial sector regulations that caused the housing and banking meltdowns. And they passed all the spending legislation that has lead to our massive deficits.
And they locked the GOP out of the legislative process from 2006 onwards. President Obama even told the GOP they’d have to “ride in back” from 2008 onward.
@Lithium98 - The economy went gangbusters from 1983 to 2009. There was a savings and loan blip that Clinton parleyed into his win over Bush the Elder but for the most part it was a great economy.
And GW used supply side economics in 2002 to successfully and healthily stimulate the economy after 9/11 shut everything down.
Liberals always impose the standard of perfection like you are trying to do with the Reagan economy. But you never apply that same standard to Democrats who almost always fail miserably at everything they try.
Clinton was corralled by the Gingrich Congress and his adviser Dick Morris otherwise he would have led the US off the cliff just like Obama who was completely unchecked for 2 years.
@ItsWhatEyeKnow - So what you’re saying, in essence, is that Bush took a $127B surplus and turned it into a $1.3T deficit (when added together means he spent $1.4T) while Obama started with a 1.3 trillion dollar deficit and turned it into a $15.7T deficit, which means he spent $14.6T – or ten times as much as Bush spent in his 8-year term and Obama hasn’t even been in office for 4 years yet. In that case, Yes, I agree with you – Obama is spending our money like it’s his personal money tree. But No, I would never vote for him.
Your use of unemployment figures shows how statistics can be quoted so as to be misleading:
In Jan ’08 the unemployment rate was about 5%. In Jan ’09 (when Obama took office) it was 7.8%. Unemployment topped out in Oct ’09 at 10%. It has been declining ever since. Obama’s rather modest stimulous programs has been modestly successful. I grew up in the 1930′s and remember some of what a REAL depression was like. Despite massive Republican blocking of much needed reform legislation, Obama’s policies have been modestly successful in righting a badly out of balance economy. Now what we need is sensible tax, educational, and medical reform – which we are unlikely to get if Romney is elected.
Unlike the politicians of the Depression era who had the guts to ride the inevitable crash to its end rather than push it back with :stimulus packages” to save face, Obama has merely intensified the inevitable economic depression in all its force for just awhile. Likely, our children or grand children will bare the brunt of his fake “solution”, and it will appear it’s the fault of whoever is in office at the time.
That’s irresponsibility to the highest degree. At least politicians during the Depression, though they allowed us to endure hardship, had *our* best interest in mind by refusing to implement socialist agenda, and not their public image alone.
Some politicians still tried to implement socialism back then, but not to the degree he has, and not resulting in nearly the amount of detriment we will face.
No, and anyone who says yes is a moron.
they should elect the terminator
@roxics - Uh, no, actually, the whole world is not in a recession. Many countries came out of the recession after only one year. Check out Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil, India, Taiwan, and China. That sounds like one of your typical democrat caller lies.
Obama stole GM and Chrysler for the unions from people who had a right to the companies.
Obama cover up for those who bailed out AIG for Goldman Sachs.
Obama failed to break up the banks that are “too big to fail,” even though this is an issue that is popular with the conservative base.
Obama raised vice taxes, which are regressive and unfairly target the poor.
Obama raised minimum wages, which resulted in many young people being unable to enter the work force.
Obama created an $8000 ”fee” on people without health insurance. This is likely to target those least able to pay.
People who don’t have full-time jobs is at a very high 15%–the highest since WW2. Compare this with the Bush “jobless recovery” of 5.7%. Obama would have to climb a 100 ft. ladder in order to be able to kiss Bush’s ass.
The workforce participation rate is at a historic low.
The food stamp usage rate is at an all time high.
The poverty level is at an all time high.
Black unemployment is at an all time high.
New business startups are at an all time low.
Based on statistics, we should not say “no,” we should not say “hell no,” we should say, “Over my dead body.” Nevertheless, I hope that Obama wins, since I think that he will do even more short-term damage to our country and will turn people away from liberalism for a generation or more. I think that if he were to win, we would end up better off long term.
@soccerdadforlife - All those countires you named make far less than Americans and Europeans. As far as I’m concerned both parties are going to fuck this country however they can. But at least Obama isn’t doing it for the religious right. Anyone who keeps the Christian agenda out of our legal system is alright by me.
Fuck you, Dan.
@Lithium98 - “Can one man fix a whole country’s problems in only four years?”~ Probably not, but then again most people wouldn’t hesitate to say that one man can often make them worse! Friendly little joke on our American political thought process.
heck no. he didn’t deserve it in the beginning (and the people that voted for him deserve what we’ve gotten, though it’s a shame the rest of the nation must suffer, too) and he doesn’t deserve another term. not in any universe, past, present, or future.
but that’s just my ambivalent opinion.
@Aloysius_son - you are wrong its not the house reps fault because we all voted RED nov 2nd 2010…..this is clearly all obamas fault. the only people who support obama or demos and liberals…..and they are just close minded
@Jeremy_Sheer - How can I be wrong as I have only repeated the statements of others and made no assertments of my own? Apparently you responded prior to comprehending the meaning behind my comment..
Considering that unemployment is actually higher than this and that the President has had the power. A lot of people here say he couldn’t implement his agenda. Democrats controlled most of the congress for a lot of his presidency making inadiquacy rediculous. The problem has not been he has not implemented an agenda but the has from ignoring court orders to pushing through Obamacare against the wishes of most of the people to crushing businesses and so on he has indeed greatly succeeded in his agenda.
As for Republicans while I am certainly not happy with a lot of what they do I grow sick of hearing both parties are the same.
Does he deserve it, IMO, No. But to be honest, I hate all the candidates. I don’t think any of them deserve it.
Our government was never intended to consist of simply two political parties. As a result, everything is polarized, everything is either right or wrong, black and white, fact or fiction. I really don’t think Obama being president is the problem, I think the fact that we waste all of our time (and money) debating about things that we will never resolve is. And these things will never be resolved because of the fact that politicians refuse to compromise or meet in the middle. I love how everyone who says Obama should be re-elected is automatically considered a democrat and everyone who says he shouldn’t is considered a Republican. And that, I think, is exactly the problem with our government.
While no one knows for sure who stated it, supposedly, Alexander Tytler said,
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.”
I’m not entirely convinced that all politicians aren’t the spawn of Satan. My personal political persuasion leans towards anarchism.
Lovely comments.
@soccerdadforlife - Interest rates are the Fed. And Paul Volker did a great job working with the Reagan Administration to kill inflation.
I think Romney will be great. If he tries to pull even an 1/8 of what Obama tried to pull the press and Tea Party will keep him honest.
And if he screws up he’ll be a one term president just like Obama.
@roxics - ”All those countires you named make far less than Americans and Europeans.” What a bunch of nonsense. China is the #2 manufacturer. Brazil has a larger economy than the UK. India is in the top ten. lol, learn some economic facts. And they show how incompetent Obama is because they were able to fix their economies very quickly and Obama kept whacking the U.S. economy instead of leaving it alone with his populist rhetoric and the cap and trade and the bank overregulation and stifling our development of oil and his stifling of expanding our gasoline refining capability. Otoh, his stimulus has been a massive failure. Wait. That was the same hand. Never mind.
I should have included South Korea in my list of rapid economic recoveries. Almost every country recovered more rapidly than the U.S.
Oh, did you know that non-hispanic white people account for the majority of business startups and entrepreneurship and new hiring? And did you know that the non-hispanic white population in this country is declining in actual numbers, not merely by comparison with other groups? Does that sound like it will be good long term for the U.S. economy?
@PrisonerxOfxLove - The economy rebounded under Reagan because interest rates came down so that the demand for housing increased dramatically. It had nothing to do with supply side economics or cutting taxes. If Romney wins, he will damage the conservative brand because he will be depicted as a conservative since he’s less liberal than Obama. Of course, that will be a lie since Romney is very liberal, but people won’t see thru the lies.
You’re lying dude, hence the absence of your usual ‘link’ even from some totally corrupt source you cannot find any such link.
@TheSutraDude - THIS BLOG IS A BALD FACED LIE.
@New1E13_15 - The unemployment rate is lower. There’s a TREND in which the unemployment rate has dropped consistently under Obama, I will be posting the chart.
@FattiesGonnaFat - he’s lying, that might be a more helpful comment, LOL. I swear I leave for a week and nobody left to call out this lying FOX Boss on his LIES!
I wasn’t gonna blog today but now?
this blog coming up is ALL FOR YOU theo. All for you. YOU LIAR.
@Ricardo98 - PLUS? Theo’s LYING. Notice there was no link with his claim?
@ItsWhatEyeKnow - In addition to that, Theo is LYING about the unemployment past compared to present. LYING! No link, did ya notice? He can’t even find a link from The National Inquiror to support a lie like that.
@Aloysius_son - To compound your confusion, Theologican has given you still another lie. That’s why he couldn’t dig up a link. he’s lying about the unemployment trend.
@tychecat - Not only that, he’s lying about the unemployment trends! Conspicuously lying, note the abence of link to theo’s lie of the alleged unemployment trend? there’s not one because he made it up and he can’t even find a random blogger to link to those lies.
@RazielV - theo is lying about the unemployment trend, that’s why there’s no link with his lies about the unemployment trend. obama has steadily and systematically decreased unemployment despite the tea party.
@DivaJyoti - Fuck you, Jyoti.
@soccerdadforlife - What you point out at the start is an historic pattern that, were it about anything else, would likely be considered ‘proof’ that command control economics (i.e. Keynesian economics) does not work: never has – never will.
However, my friend, while I understand your thinking, if Obama wins a second term, I doubt you will have a nation left to save. Please consider the very real possibility that he will freeze the pendulum.
@Baseballchik138 - hi, sorry, i didn’t really get that, “he has spent his entire presidency doing the same.” The same what?
He not only deserves to be elected, he needs to be. It is going ot take another 4 years to even make a dent in the mess the republicans left.
@black3actual - Obama already has alienated the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate. Once he begins further destruction you will likely see even more bipartisanship to oppose his policies.
@FattiesGonnaFat -
Go sit in the corner and eat your damned chocolate.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - No question that Reagan and Volker worked closely to lower interest rates. They may have suspected the impact that lower rates would have on housing demand, but I don’t know of any support for that supposition.
@yan_ni - blaming one man. We blame Obama, Obama blames Bush.
@Baseballchik138 - oh haha..
@Grannys_Place - YES AND HE NEEDS DEMOCRATS ACROSS THE BOARD in Congress, voters must wipe the TP Republicans, wipe them, they are harming out country and they are doing so with Documented Malice.
@Grannys_Place - HAHAHAHA, Ruth I just saw a comment you made and it just made me wish I could hug you in person you made me laugh!
@DivaJyoti - Why TY Mamm
@Grannys_Place - Just a question.If Obama wins and the country goes bankrupt from the out of control spending,will it still be Bush’s and the republican’s fault? I’d like to know when democrats get to be blamed for problems by democrats.Republican’s blame republicans all the time.Just an observation,not trying to debate or cause a fight.
@Somefishytales - The country will only go bankrupt if you put Romney or another republican gets in office, instead of Obama.
@DivaJyoti - He writes solely to get reactions and people to talk about things. Like I said on your husband’s site, he rarely ever writes an unbiased or thoroughly researched post, mostly because it will piss people off, which makes them talk more. And this method has worked for him for years. It’s why he maintains such a high-traffic blog, and why people keep coming back. To see what insane thing is said next, or what line he will cross. It’s part entertainment, part discussion forum.
I rather enjoy it, especially when it pisses people off.
@Somefishytales - Republicans rarely ever accept blame, such as Demos rarely accept it either. I’ve yet to hear a Republican admit Bush was a lousy president in terms of fiscal responsibility, just as Democrats refuse to admit that they continue to push out shitty ideas.
@RazielV - but he’s lying about the commander in chief on memorial day, I guess I’m just too patriotic for my own good. that won’t stop me from raising hell!
@Grannys_Place - With Romney I agree with you.I don’t like having to vote for him.To me it’s almost a win win for democrats.Romney is more liberal than conservation,I honestly don’t get why you guys don’t like him.At the moment I don’t think ANY one man can HELP any,it’s gonna have to be a huge group effert of not only Congress and the Pres, but PEOPLE taking some responsibility in their own lives.
@RazielV - I hate politics,all it is is acting.None of it is taken seriously to amount to anything.Politicians may give 1 of their 4 years to getting something done,the rest of the time they just politic and party and go BLA BLA BLA all the day long
@Somefishytales - I agree with you that people need to take some responsibility for their lives and especially for their over spending. No matter who a person votes for the answer is to vote.
@DivaJyoti - -shrugs- Doubtful he’s being serious about it. It’s not like people make up stuff all the time. I couldn’t give a shit whether he mocks Obama or lies about him or wot. It doesn’t effect me in any way and doubtful it effects him.
@RazielV - OK hun you defend your innocent little homey. It’s a FREE COUNTRY.
@Somefishytales - He has no foreign policy experience and is talking about a war in Iran.
Not everybody is a single issue voter like you.
@Grannys_Place - right and this Republican voter suppression is evil! any voter suppression is, the Republians are doing this systematically.
The right to vote is what people died for. TP Republicans have no right to engage in this systematic state by state suppression of likely Democratic voters! People died for the right to vote for EVERYBODY!
(sorry I yelled
) You know, I’m not objective about “messing around with” voters rights.
@DivaJyoti - Who’s defending him? He’s also not my “homey”. I’ve just been here long enough to know what this blog is about. Take it however you want, but the point of this was to get people talking, and guess what? It’s working for better or worse.
@DivaJyoti - I wasn’t going to say anything to you when politics is concerned because it never turns out well,but I have to wonder,you say he is telling lies about the commander in chief on Memorial Day,I wonder what all you said about Bush on the 8 Memorial Day’s he was President.I’m not a betting man but I would bet the farm you told some pretty big ones about Bush LOL.
@DivaJyoti - And yeah,I am a single issue voter….a whole lot of single issues!!!You take care of them one issue at a time,not ball them all up in a lump and try to fix it.
@Grannys_Place - I’m out can I have yours?
@Somefishytales - yeahyeah, only counts if they don’t breathe independently yet.
After that they’re on their own BY GOD those fucking little 3 day old slacker losers worthless little bastards.
You breathe? you leave! you suck? You’re fucked!
New single issue voter Motto, I just made it for you, no need to thank me.
@RazielV - well, that was me trying to drop it because I’ve got bigger FISH TO FRY tonight.
@DivaJyoti - This is why I can’t discuss anything with you.I’ve done nothing or said nothing ugly to you and look what you wrote to me.Sorry,I’m not playing your games anymore.
I want Clinton. Nuff said.
It’s a pity that rational people still believe in fairy tales, like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and any honest politician. We need a major overhaul, not the nickle and dime fixes that just bleed us dry. Shakespeare said “kill all the lawyers”, but the politicians make them look like philanthropists. We have become a nation of sheep following one Judas goat after another.
@ItsThatObviouz - YAY, at least he balanced the budget!!!
@soccerdadforlife - The Wall Street Journal just published a paper written for Ronald Reagan by a group of his economic advisers.
Fiscal discipline and proper monetary policy are critical to a stable dollar and the control of inflation and interest rates, they said.
@Jeremy_Sheer - i’m not a sir, and i didn’t say they weren’t important, i just said people are more important, because i’d rather people who are oppressed and dying because of it have someone who will advocate for them than someone who will advocate for jobs (if you’re straight, cis (opposite of trans) white and male.)
@DrummingMediocrity - it’s not the only thing that matters when people are murdered because of people just like the other candidates.
and i can’t get HIRED so yeah i can’t be fired.
I just honestly cannot believe anyone with a mind would vote for Obama. He is clearly a socialist and unashamedly. If you want socialism move to Europe .. seriously, move. He has doubled the debt incurred by all the other presidents COMBINED .. and he did so in just 2 short years. He didn’t save the auto industry, he rescued a single company that should have gone under and then he gave 51% of it to the overpowered auto unions as a thank you for getting him elected. he forced through a Health care bill that NO ONE in the senate or house had even read in the entirety prior to voting on it.. then he still didn’t give us the 5 days to get our opinions in before he signed it. He did so on Christmas eve so the sheep of America would be too busy to notice. He is letting our borders BLEED with money stealing illegals and in fact he is SUING any state that dares to stop his new voter base of illegals. His administration is suing multiple states over them trying to rid their land of people who lie, forge, perjure and then steal our schools money and our health care systems resources… not to mention the filth and crime they bring over.
Besides being from Kenya (by his own admission in 1991) he is not qualified to be president in any way. He has never held a job or created a job. He has never ran a daycare let alone a company or a state or a country. he has no experience with ANYTHING … Hillary Clinton would have done a far better job and she is a hideous old hag.
A budget?? Nope not a single constitutionally mandated budget in all the years he and his congress have been in session. Constitutionally frigging mandated .. he cares not one bit for the law. Repeatedly democrats and Obama specifically are just running over the law and are unprosecutable because the guy who prosecutes these things is appointed by Obama. And our attorney general is handing guns out to the Mexican mafia and nothing happens to anyone.
This is NOT hyperbole, I am not exaggeration to get my point across or making anything up … he singlehandedly has run the most corrupt covert presidency this country has ever seen. Nixon was keeping a file on some of his political enemies and broke into a building and he got impeached for it. Obama hires convicted terrorists to his administration and goes to a church that says America deserves to die for what it has done to the black man. He went there for 20 years! The guy married He and Michelle. This guy hates America and his wife admitted it by saying that this is the first time she has been proud of America (in reference to BHO being elected).
I could go on for hours writing because he has done so much to overtly destroy America that you literally have to ignorant and blind to not see that he is an ass of epic proportions. Anyone who would vote for him has not an ounce of common sense. I can’t say enough bad things about someone who would put their free “Obama” money before their country. You have all kinds of college kids/project crackheads/baby mommas, wanting to vote for Obama because he hands out free stuff. What happened to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”??? Well screw you and what you need, think about the country. We can’t afford to give illegals crap or hand out free money to everyone who doesn’t want to work or won’t put the effort necessary to get a job. Vote for Obama and you will destroy the country. We will be like Greece in no time. We already can’t even pay the interest on the debt he has accumulated, how can you be so stupid you ignorant sheep. DO NOT vote for him, you are not thinking right, stop being an ignorant ass and look at what you are doing to your country not that you can get free health care from him. Free is not free, we can’t pay for for your stuff, you need to.
@RazielV -
Bush was a horrible president, he didn’t fix the borders and he spent lots and lots of money. he wasn’t a conservative, he was a republican, Big difference.
@DivaJyoti -
Are you insane? Tea Party stopping people from voting LOL Is the moon made of cheese too? Did you take your meds this morning because you are sounding a little stupid. It was the black panthers who intimidated ON FILM! And Obama told the DA to drop it. If it was a skinhead group they would have shot them on the spot. You have absolutely ZERO proof of any real tea party member doing anything amounting to voter fraud. Please only speak about things you are familiar with or can prove in some way. People like you are the reason all these mindless drones go out and vote for Obama because they hear that republicans want to throw old people off cliffs and kill all blacks.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Monetary policy is certainly key. Fiscal discipline? Well, as I recall, the democrats forced Reagan to abandon all fiscal discipline.
@soccerdadforlife - I hope you’re correct, but I do not share your view of the relationship between the Democrats and Obama. I think they are still much tighter than they appear. I happen to have accepted the majority of the argument Carroll Quigley’s put forth in his book, “Tragedy and Hope.” If he is correct – as I believe he is – then most of what we see from both Parties is theater: intended for public consumption but baring little witness to reality.
I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I see great peril for this nation no matter who wins the election.
@soccerdadforlife - Tax policy and regulations are battles that Reagan won. And since they led to a doubling of tax revenue Reagan was very successful considering he was dealing with a wildly profligate Democrat Congress.
Anyone who signs the NDAA deserves to be fired. No exceptions.
i have learned that usa large deficit is due to the large spending for war during a different president’s ruling, which was prior to obama’s ride to presidency. the WORLD is in economic turmoil and so usa is bound to get a piece of it. n to judge the competency of a president in a short 4year governing a country is just absurd. i will have the same opinion if it were a different president. i doubt ANYONE can remedy a country’s deficiencies and problems in a single term of presidency, especially if one doesnt get a full support from his own people. so yeah, i think he deserves a second run. n then we can safely judge his competencies if he wants to run for his third.
@black3actual - Well, Reid has certainly blocked Obama’s budget and relegated Obama to the sidelines. No theater in that.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - ”According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan’s tax increases over the course of his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics
@soccerdadforlife - Reagan made that deal in exchange for spending cuts. The Democrats promised $3 dollars in spending cuts for every $1 dollar in tax increases.
Like a dummy, Reagan trusted the Democrats to come through with their end of the bargain.
We got all the tax increases, but spending only increased.
That proved 30 years ago that you can’t deal with Democrats. We have to defeat them and flush them out of every institution in our society.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Which only goes to show that you have to be careful when dealing with Democrats. They certainly played Reagan quite successfully over taxes. Reagan raised taxes eleven times after 1981. Do you still think that he imposed his tax policy?
Heck no, Obama has just put our country into more debt and is using up the social security money that should be used for those who really need it instead of using it for pathetic reasons that are not important at this point. This is something that our generation will have to deal with for years to come.
Yes. He was the best candidate last time & it’s looking like he will be this time, too. Bush ruined everything over a span of 8 years, do you really expect Obama to fix everything in 4? I mean, he really doesn’t have ultimate power, congress has say over things before they even get to him. & as for unemployment, if you look hard enough you can usually find a job. Maybe not in the profession or place you initially wanted, but Obama can’t force people to hire you. They just need to swallow their pride & legalize weed so the economy can finally balance itself out.
@soccerdadforlife - There is no excuse for being a liar. If their word is no good, then neither are they. Reagan should not be faulted for expecting people to keep a deal.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me eleven times, shame on me.
@soccerdadforlife - The Reagan tax rates remained in place until Clinton. Also there were tax shelters in real estate that were causing imbalances in the economy. They were eliminated in 1986 and that led to the savings and loan crises. But wringing out inefficient uses of money is good.
And lumping all tax increases together is bogus. You should know better than that. We’re done here.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - ”And lumping all tax increases together is bogus.” That’s a good point. However, the point remains that Reagan’s tax cuts were far less pervasive or deep than most conservatives claim.
Getting rid of a shelter = raising taxes. If you’re going to get rid of a shelter, in order to be tax neutral, you need to lower rates overall.
I would have argued that Reagan made the deal with dems in order to further his plan to bankrupt the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, which he did. Charlie Wilson was also important and worked closely with the Reagan admin. to accomplish that via his plan to arm the Afghan guerrillas.
In that case, the dems are seen as internal enemies since they weakened the American economy for their own political gain.
Good God NOOO!
@firetyger - He issued a signing statement saying he would never use indefinite detention. He really had his arm twisted there: Because it was a rider to the defense appropriations act, the choice is between a veto (unprecedented; you just defunded the entire military!) and signing it even with the bad rider. He chose the latter, as he pretty well had to.
The people you should blame for indefinite detention are Congress. Two hundred Democrats (I really want to call them “Democrats” because they are basically traitors to everything not only the Democratic Party, but indeed democracy itself, stands for) voted for indefinite detention. As of course did two hundred Republicans (again, “Republicans”; a republic does not imprison people indefinitely!). And they had the choice: They could have voted down the rider before it got attached to the defense appropriations bill.
Also, do you really think Mitt Romney would have vetoed in Obama’s place?
@soccerdadforlife - True, and when Congress acts within its Constitutional authority but against what Obama wants, he just goes around them. See where I’m going with this?
NO!
@pnrj - As Obama constantly criticized Bush while he was Senator, signing statements are completely legally worthless. An empty gesture. Obama can say that he will never use the NDAA against Americans but considering he can lock anyone up that he wants without trial, without having to notify the courts or American people… How would we even know if he used it or not?
Trust me, I definitely hold the traitors in Congress accountable for this atrocious bill. But Obama still signed it. What he should have done was vetoed it and told Congress hey, give me a bill to fund our military that doesn’t wipe out the 6th Amendment.
As for Romney, I’m not voting for him. He isn’t much different than Obama and he probably would have signed the NDAA too. I’m voting for Ron Paul.
Didnt vote for him the first time and wont be voting for him this time either…
You know he did not kill Bin Laden. Bin Laden was worse off living in a hole under a floor. Justice by death sentence isn’t alway the worse punishment
You can’t say Obama was hard core on defense without acknowledging the faculties put in place by the Bush admin (DHS, drones, etc.- I actually first saw CT make this point). However, the four year expansion of certain provisions of the Patriot Act are somewhat alarming. This post is about the economy though, and I’ve paid less tax under him then I did under Bush, so have most of my family. My opinion, is that the Bush era fiscal fuck ups will take several administrations to fix. At my core, I know where my vote will go, barring some massive screw up.
No way, no how. Not just no, but hell no! NOBAMA!.
No he shouldn’t and I agree with someone else up there – he never should have been elected in the first place. Sadly we have Romney up against him in this election and if he’s the best the republicans can find – god help us.
Does Obama deserve re-election? No, Americans voted for something else than Bush’s Third Term and channeling Reagan. His “change” looks a lot like the same-old/same-old of the past 30 years.
Does then that mean that Mittens deserves it? No.
(And please, no debt/deficit histrionics, Republicans always run up both when they’re in power, they don’t care about either but the media allows them to bash the Democrats over it but is too chickenshit to call them liars and hypocrites. In fact, conservatives have de facto admitted that their plan is to bankrupt America to enact their social/political agenda).
-netnguy,
@Lithium98 - No, but he sure as shit can make them exponentially worse.
Is your argument seriously that he deserves re-election just because…the job is hard?
@IntoTheWind1 - What argument? I asked a question.
yes he does.
@Lithium98 - So you weren’t using rhetoric? Ok then.
@IntoTheWind1 - Just trying to get people to think outside the box a little.