Thread: What is Obama doing wrong?

Originally Posted by mkmdbm7

This nation has been fundamentally transformed into a socialist nation from a capitalist nation.
Under President Obama's reign, the government has acquired ownership and instituted regulations to control the banking system, the auto industry, and the latest acquisition-the Healthcare Industry.

Already addressed in my previous post with a resounding .

The rest of corporate America is dying because of financial burdens imposed by this government now and for the future and the unemployment rate is at a historical high across our nation.

What?

The Right likes to claim there is a "high" corporate tax rate in the US but of the forthy industrialized countries, the United States collects the least corporate taxes and in fact 2/3 of corporations operating in the US pay zero taxes. The corporations' share of Federal tax collections have gone from 45% in the fifties to down around 6% today.

Many corporations also gain windfalls from various levels of government for "creating" jobs [...] or they get money for things like oil "depletion" (where we pay them for having used up our resources) and that makes corporations negative tax payers, but don't call this "welfare," that's what the poor people get.

Prairie2 News: the efficiency of privatization or how to cook lamb

When Obama was campaigning, he promised "CHANGE"...that is the only promise he made that wasn't a lie. Those of us who are in the "middle class" income range are getting squeezed to death financially and have a new tax imposed almost daily it seems.

Really? What new taxes are you referring to? If you make less than $250, 000, you received a tax cut.

About 50% of my income is now paid to the government to fund their social agenda. I worked hard to obtain an education and a good career, and I feel like I would come out ahead at this point if I were to get a job flipping burgers at a local greasy spoon cafe....after all, then I could have my income subsidized by everybody else's money just as thousands here in this country already choose to do....or, maybe with the new Healthcare Reform bill, I will be in the unemployment line along with tens of thousands of other people who are FORCED to have their lives funded by the government now.
Hmmm, this is probably what they want....then, they have us under their total control right?

First, I don't believe you make less than $250,000 and pay 50% of your income. Second, the rest of your paragraph is sorely ill-informed. But hey, if you don't want to pay taxes, don't use the roads you use to get to your place of work. Don't drive a car that meets US safety standards - hell, don't drive a car at all, since the auto-industry is heavily subsidized by the government. Don't drink any water since it's been purified with tax-money. No parks for you. Don't ever call 9-11. Don't go to a public hospital (you can't get there anyway because you won't be driving).

In fact, you probably won't be able to do much of anything. What the hell are you doing on the socialist internet? That's funded by government and created with tax-payer money through DARPA. Get off now, or you'll be called a socialist!

America, love it or leave it.

*sits ondeck with a mug 'o mead and enjoys Rude Boy's fusillade*

Welcome to USPO, mkmdbm7.

them kinda boilerplate posts shall be raked with cannonfire from aft to stern.

big targets they be.

welcome!!!

- MeadHallPirate

I had a thread titled exactly the same way not too long ago. There is a poll on the top which may give you a quick summary of this forum's views. What I gotta say on the subject, has been said. Good that you brought it back up though. I havn't changed my mind though others may have during this time in between.

Originally Posted by Helene

This is not a rhetorical question. I genuinely want to know the things that Obama is doing wrong. What decisions has he made, what were the alternative options, and why would those alternative options be better?

Living in the Netherlands, I only am really exposed to his international politics. He's not in the news much. We like him better than Bush, he appears to be more reasonable and less antagonistic.

But obviously, a lot of people are unhappy. Please let me know why, so I can become more informed on the matter.

Oh, and if at all possible, could you refrain from one liners, but post actual cases, and base them on factual arguments?

You may want to rewrite your question as "What has Obama actually done?"

All sarcasm aside, while your question is simple, the answers are not. How detailed do you want people to be? Remember, there IS a character limit on posts...

Originally Posted by Helene

Living in the Netherlands, I only am really exposed to his international politics. He's not in the news much. We like him better than Bush, he appears to be more reasonable and less antagonistic.

In what way was Bush antagonistic towards the Netherlands?

Originally Posted by CSA

Better to ask what has he done right..

It would certainly take a much shorter amount of time to read that list...

Originally Posted by MattInFla

Well, one example is the ongoing, unconstitutional suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus by the Obama administration. This particularly odious violation began under Bush, and is being continued (and perhaps expanded) by the Obama administration.

Rather than re-hash the topic here, let me direct you to a thread I started about it: The ongoing suspension of Habeas Corpus

Matt

This is my biggest issue, as he could correct it with the stroke of a pen. He has not, and like so many things has instead chosen to follow the precedents and policies of the Bush administration, the administration he de facto ran against in his campaign.

Further he campaigned as a Liberal Lion, but he hasn't done anything for the left. His healthcare bill only mandates PRIVATE insurance, WTF is that? He started the negotiations with the most obvious course of action, single payer, completely off the table, so no where to go but right, and what we have is a republican bill for all intents and purposes; there's not even a public option. His economic stimulus plan was the exact same right wing Fat Cat rescue package pushed through by Bush, with virtually no socialist or left leaning policies.

Finally he hasn't addressed what I think are the biggest issues in the economy, the dispraportionate massing of wealth in the .1% upper income earners sucking out the economic wealth from the middle class. Mandate shareholder elections for Executive Stock options and Executive pay in excess of $1M or 100 times the average earnings of an employee in the corporation. The government doesn't need to, and really shouldn't impose wages on execs, but it can force the board to put these rediculous compensations to shareholder votes, and the shareholders wol't be so kind as the board is to itself. Also intelectual property laws need to be revamped, inovation in America is being destroyed by the draconian laws that exist now.

Originally Posted by hairballxavier

In what way was Bush antagonistic towards the Netherlands?

GW Bush's foreign policy can best be described as jingoistic. He was arbitrary, secretive, and overbearing with our friends and he was hostile, confrontational, and belligerent with everyone else.

Originally Posted by reality

First: Healthcare "reform". Obama preached and preached and preached and harrangued the entire nation about the need for affordable healthcare and how the private insurance companies were fucking everything up etc.
Then he gets down to brass tacks and gets with congress to write the actual leglislation. What comes out of it? A MASSIVE bill, that most of the CongressCritters (thats a technical term ) freely admit they didn't even READ. Its also extremely convoluted. End result though? The government mandated EVERYONE MUST purchase private insurance... you know, the private insurance that he was railing against...
If you don't purchase insurance you get to pay a hefty fine! Hooray!

Do you think that he purposefully got less than he promised/wanted, or is it possible he got the best deal given the circumstances? Just to be sure, I can imagine that it's very very hard to push through health care reform in the US, and that it would require massive amounts of compromise to at least get anything through. It's entirely possible of course that a more skilled president could have gotten more, but how can you tell?

Btw, in the Netherlands we are obligated to be medically insured and if we're not, we have to pay a fine. So you can understand that to me it doesn't sound unusual. How high is this insurance you have to pay for?

Second: Have you heard of the stimulus bills? Bush AND Obama pushed one through a piece. We didn't like it when bush did it. We didn't like it when Obama did it either.

Do you think the economy would have done better without a stimulus bill? Why?

Third: The flip flopping on his campaign promises such as the "if you make under 250,000 a year you won't see an increase in your taxes." I believe after that he enforces the notion with the words : "NOT ONE DIME".

It sounds like an untenable promise to begin with, considering the immense debt your country is in. But yes, I understand that making promises you can't keep is not an endearing quality in a president.

In fact the only campaign promise I've known him to keep was buying a dog for his daughters. Which is sweet and all but I'd really like him to concentrate more on... you know..... fixing the deficit... or the economy... you know that kind of thing.

I do understand, but I wonder what kind of miracle worker you are expecting, considering the circumstances.

Fourth: The oil spill. He sat on his hands for weeks in the beginning, then when he finally weighed in with all his superior ideas, he bogged the thing down in loads and loads of bueracracy.

Do you think that Obama wants bureaucracy, or that he is so inept that he's unable to prevent bureaucracy, or that it's almost unavoidable?

Shall I continue? There is more.

Yes, I do want to know more. I hope that you don't find my responses too antagonistic, they are not intended as such. I'm just wondering how much better you think he could/should have done.

Originally Posted by Imperator

interesting....let me ask you a Q if I may Helene; why does he appear to be more reasonable and less antagonistic than Bush?

He has reached out to the international community and made it clear that the US needs help and support. That it's important to work together. He's reached out to the non-violent Muslim community the world over. He's done a lot of damage control to negate the world wide alienation caused by Bush.

To us, Bush dropped the ball on many counts, and while Obama isn't necessarily delivering what he promised, he's certainly doing the best he can given the circumstances. At times, he's been forced to rethink his stance when confronted with a more grim reality than he could have imagined beforehand. But he's humble enough to change his stance.

Originally Posted by Dick Martin

GW Bush's foreign policy can best be described as jingoistic. He was arbitrary, secretive, and overbearing with our friends and he was hostile, confrontational, and belligerent with everyone else.

I disagree. I think his foreign policy would best be described as pragmatic and prudent.

Originally Posted by tsquare

Yeah... good point. You Helene seem to be the last person in Europe to like Obama...

FOXNews.com - Europe Warns Obama: This Relationship Is Not Working

First of all, some guy in the European Commission is very uninteresting to most Europeans. Most people have never heard of the guy. He doesn't equal everybody in Europe, for sure. I can imagine that the EU will try to grand stand the US, but that's just international politics.

And it's not so much that I like Obama, as I feel I am too uninformed to have an opinion on the matter. Why else would I be asking what he's doing wrong? I'm not saying he's not doing anything wrong, I'm actually sure he is. I'm just wondering to what extent his wrong doing is based on unrealistic expectations.

I've checked the newspaper that I normally read for all the articles regarding Obama. None of them are overly negative. Even the ones that deal with not closing Guantanamo Bay are mostly just informative, explaining that he's been confronted with a much more complicated reality than he could have anticipated. E.g. it requires a number of law changes, that have to be passed before prisoners can be placed elsewhere.

Originally Posted by tsquare

Let's make it easy... what is Obama doing wrong?

Everything...

Again:

Oh, and if at all possible, could you refrain from one liners, but post actual cases, and base them on factual arguments?

Thanks.