Are we about to see a more aggressive Obama?
The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan taught us.
With that in mind, what should we make of the fact that President Obama has requested a joint session of Congress on the evening of Sept. 7 to lay out his jobs program?
The high-profile setting, with live coverage by the networks and news channels almost guaranteed, would suggest that Obama intends to be ambitious in his proposal. A more cynical mind would also note that Obama might be treating this as the kickoff to his 2012 election campaign, using the speech to lay out a series of proposals and publicly challenge a highly unpopular Congress to adopt them.
If Obama has decided to model his campaign on Harry Truman’s 1948 successful campaign, in which “Give ‘em Hell” Harry ran hard against a do-nothing Congress, this would seem to be a great opportunity to drive that message home.
Of course, that’s not how the White House put it in the letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:
“It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small business, helping Americans get back to work and putting more money in the paychecks of the middle class and working Americans, while still reducing the deficit and getting our fiscal house in order. It is our responsibility to find bipartisan solutions to help grow our economy, and if we are willing to put country before party, I am confident we can do just that.”
The timing of the speech is also interesting. As it happens, the first in a series of debates among the GOP presidential candidates, this one to be broadcast on MSNBC and held at the Reagan Library in California, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday, the exact time requested by Obama.
Imagine that. One would almost think that Obama was using his power as president to steal the spotlight from his would-be challengers and remind them that he has no intention of being upstaged.
In a press briefing this afternoon, White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked whether that was the intended message. You can guess his answer.
“No, of course not. There were a lot of considerations. Once you want to do a speech to Congress and you have to deal with congressional schedules and there are many other factors here … one debate of many that is on one channel of many was not enough reason not to have this speech at the time that we decided to have it.”
“There are many opportunities for the American people. There’s a choice they can make to watch the president, to watch the debate,” Carney said. “A network could make a decision to alter the timing of the debate by an hour.”
Or, in the immortal words of Hank Williams, “move over little dog, because the big dog’s movin’ in.”
– Jay Bookman
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946 comments Add your comment
Uncle Jed
August 31st, 2011
5:55 pm
Hillary is totally over y’all’s buuuuuull-poo. She’s got better things to do.
+++++++++++++++=
You are probably right, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see it happen.
I think what Barry really needs to worry about is Palin. She can’t decide what to do and it has been rumored that she may switch to the democrat party and challenge BHO, in which case he loses no matter what.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
5:55 pm
Scout
You’ll have to refer to Matti’s earlier comment to get the real meaning of “pad his resume’….
josef
August 31st, 2011
5:56 pm
Obama can move even further to the center and not lose his left-liberal support for the simple reason they’ll vote for him out of sheer terror, however p*ssed and alienated they may be. The GOP would have to field a candidate who could play to the center, which is where the bulk of the American voters are in order to give him a run for his money. With the proper candidate (Romney?) They might even win since the center is none to happy with Obama. Instead the GOP appears intent on committing political suicide by playing to their own extremes.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
5:57 pm
Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I came up with “AA-130″ to illustrate “I flew attack airlifters.”
Yes, but I came up with Bombay Doors! So THERE!
getalife
August 31st, 2011
5:57 pm
“Reagan debate can wait” drudge
Crush them again President Obama.
md
August 31st, 2011
5:57 pm
IF Hillary wants to run again, I’d say this is her last chance………if Obama gets re-elected, history dictates the country won’t do 12 yrs of D’s……..if an R wins, odds may be for 2 terms, and then the historical data kicks in again………and by then, she is an older McCain…………………..
jm
August 31st, 2011
5:58 pm
josef 5:56 – campaign season has barely begun…… don’t count your chickens yet
Jay owes me one on the Boehner response….. being good at games can make one a lot of money (and help one figure out politics too)
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 31st, 2011
5:59 pm
any thoughts on Hillary trying to unseat him for the nomination? Strong rumors out there
I am confident that the Dems caucus frequently with the providers of Scout’s emails to be sure he is up on all the scoop.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
5:59 pm
Hillary is ready to retire.
WOODSTOCK MIKE
August 31st, 2011
5:59 pm
It’s funny when you hear “tax the rich”, people that are “rich” don’t have a job where their employer sends them a W2 at the end of the year and they are taxed by the govt. People who are rich are that way by investments, family wealth, real estate owned, things like that. They don’t necessarily have income coming in each year that can be taxed. What happens when silly Democrats think the “rich” should be taxed is hard working Americans that make a combined income of 250K or more bear the burden of a tax increase. These are people that get up every morning, fight rush hour traffic to make a nice living for themselves and their family. Democrats think they deserve to be penalized for that. When you silly Democrats think that by raising the federal income tax bracket on the “rich” is going to effect guys like Warren Buffett or other major players you are plain wrong. Same thing goes for all the “evil” CEO’s out there, they don’t get a W2 at the end of the year showing $25 million bucks, they are paid mostly by company stock these days which can’t be taxed until it is sold.
And if a Democrat thinks that in a recession taxing corporations and rich people is going to help the economy and create jobs you are sadly mistaken. Why don’t you think Obama has pushed more for it, do you really believe the lame idea that he didn’t increase taxes because of the extension of unemployment benefits? Don’t be that gullible, he didn’t raise taxes because he knows that would be a stupid idea. Obama campaigned on taxing the rich to satisfy Democrats and he hasn’t done it and guess what, he certainly won’t increase taxes before 2012 because he know that’s a good way to loose the election.
Uncle Jed
August 31st, 2011
6:01 pm
and by then, she is an older McCain
+++++++++++++++++=
For crying out loud, it is dinner time.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
6:02 pm
Paul:
Sorry, I only read “Matti” once.
Message from Matti
August 31st, 2011
6:02 pm
Scout,
She’s over it. She knows exactly why a non-Dem would encourage her to run, and the motivations there are absurdly transparent.
Uncle Jed
August 31st, 2011
6:03 pm
Hillary is ready to retire.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Man, those ankles are really going to look thick in the SAS shoes
(I gotta go run cable to the deck for Saturday’s game…GO DAWGS)
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:03 pm
I can see a draft Hillary movement…how much steam and her own reaction? Who knows.
jm
Oh, I agree with you and the Romany lady that it’s way to early to be making any kind of predictions..however, the GOP has got to do better than its doing now with that crop of, well, plain loonies…
getalife
August 31st, 2011
6:04 pm
Another over reach by disrespecting our President on his request.
They are out of touch with the majority.
Can they behave like adults during his speech?
Doubt it.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
6:04 pm
getalife:
Not so fast ………………
Headline L.A. Times (Yesterday): “She’s baack! Hillary Clinton questions return to Obama White House”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/hillary-clinton-obama.html
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:04 pm
Lottery Players
And so you did, and good on you for it. But I was shocked, I tell you, shocked to see that’s the name of a band! Somehow I think the ground pounders would like my Bombay dropped better than yours. Just a guess –
http://tinyurl.com/3np98tz
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
6:04 pm
Matti:
You too ………… 6:04
Hillary 2012
August 31st, 2011
6:05 pm
Would be cool to see 2 barriers (first racial, then the glass ceiling) broken in 4 years.
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
6:05 pm
Poof and wheedleldee dee
What night is the great Obama kickoff show and the raucous Repub dogfight? The BRAVES better be playing then. I’ve got to have something worth watching.
WOODSTOCK MIKE
August 31st, 2011
6:06 pm
And I love Jay’s title of his article, I mean the economy has been a mess Obama’s entire 1st term, wouldn’t you think he would have been more agressive a while back? Oh yeah, 2012 is coming around the corner, election time, he’s gotta start working for that 2nd term, haha, I hope things do get turned around, I don’t care who’s in office, but it might be a little late to start getting agressive. And he’s gonna have to get more agressive than scheduling a speech the same time as a GOP debate!
AmVet - Read my lips. No new Texans!
August 31st, 2011
6:06 pm
Well, I’ll have to salute the Texas trash hauler. At least he didn’t hide out in Alabama for the last year of his commitment, losing his flight status in the process while stumping for some unknown GOP hack…
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:06 pm
Scout
No problem, it was pun time.
Writing that reminded me of a Get Smart episode where the writer said he did the entire script of Maxwell Smart tracking a bad guy named Grauman who had a Chinese bodyguard (kind of a Goldfinger take) so he could have Maxwell looking at them and saying to 99 “So that’s Grauman’s Chinese.”
jm
August 31st, 2011
6:07 pm
Boehner pushes back on Obama’s request to give jobs speech
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62417.html
Jay, I won’t make you eat crow. You can just buy me a beer at Manuels…..
(Not that Boehner has won this battle yet)
getalife
August 31st, 2011
6:09 pm
NFL starts the day after the President’s speech.
Go Saints!
Champs vs champs.
Who dat gets that belt.
Message from Matti
August 31st, 2011
6:09 pm
Rightie Whities would just LUUUUUUUV for Hillary to challenge Obama, further divide the Dems, weaken whatever chance they have to retain the White House. And that’s just for starters. THe REAL fun begins when they have a whole new catalyst to start in again, like Uncle Jed, with their gross, misogynistic commentary on her appearance and legitimacy in the feminine gender, and start bashing her husband again while simultaneously empathizing with his decision to run around on her. Again. YUCK! What would possibly be in it for her? Nothing, because that’s what her pretend fans are offering. Zippo.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:10 pm
AmVet
As has been said, give honor and credit where it’s due.
So I give him that, too.
But it’s his political character that concerns me.
Woodstock Mike
“They don’t necessarily have income coming in each year that can be taxed. ”
I believe that’s where the debate is. Earned and unearned income and the tax rates applied. Nothing said about current asset values.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
6:11 pm
I don’t know about that, Paul. I actually think the enemy would be just plain shocked and awed to look up and see a band with guitars and drums and all dropped from a C-130, oops, I mean AA-130.
Left wing management
August 31st, 2011
6:11 pm
jm “The stupid media keeps listening to him, and the stupid investors did.”
Alright pardner, I think we can agree to put down our six shooters here. And I’m not interested in defending Roubini per se, I just thought you were rejecting him just because he engaged in prognostication and forecasting.
One thing I will say, perhaps one reason for the fascination with Roubini now in the wake of the crash is the utter failure of so much of the economic commentariat to even see the crisis coming, let alone recommend any steps for dealing with it.
It was sort of like suffering through the financial equivalent to Katrina, except in this case we didn’t even know it was coming because 95% of the forecasters either had faulty models or had their heads so deep in the sand they didn’t know what way was up. So I think in this particular case there is some grounds for being indulgent with those few voices who were raising alarms well before the crisis hit unlike the majority in their profession.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
6:13 pm
Matti:
“Rightie Whities would just LUUUUUUUV for Hillary to challenge Obama, further divide the Dems, weaken whatever chance they have to retain the White House.”
Wow ! How perceptive.
Bosch
August 31st, 2011
6:15 pm
Scout
God isn’t the one who made that claim you did- now again name those unholy denominations
jm
August 31st, 2011
6:16 pm
Obama’s defenders were fuming over Boehner’s cheek in suggesting Sept. 8 — which would conflict with the NFL’s opening night matchup between the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62417.html#ixzz1WeBZQAjD
Really? Obama’s football schedule is more important than jobs or deciding the future president of the United States. Obama’s people live in looney ville. Or they think people are suckers.
jm
August 31st, 2011
6:18 pm
Carney is full of so much BS….. spin (his area of expertise)
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
6:19 pm
Josef, 6:03
You read this blog and think Repubs produce loonies? And you a school teacher!
The loony D gene is so rampant in Dem circles scientists may call it epidemic. No shots for it yet. It may be related to the aggresive chickenhawk virus first found in community organizers. It’s called Chicago CV.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:20 pm
Bosch
What’s the time designator for the unholy denominations post?
Someone slandering pagan agnostic Jedi Episcopalopians?
kayaker 71
August 31st, 2011
6:21 pm
Scout,
Ever make it over to the 95th Evac while you were in DaNang?
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
6:21 pm
Bro – why choose the BB gun when there’s a canon right next to you?
Arguing over the flight experience or name is like a Republican bringing up 57 states. Really?
jm
I could probably go on and on with Perry, but that speech gaffe there is reason enough for people to look at him with a jaded eye. AC-130’s typically come in when there’s asses to save on the ground. They are not used as primary airlift vehicles. C-130’s are primary airlift. If Perry has to macho up his military service because he doesn’t think it’s manly enough to fly C-130’s, then what else is he trying to macho up in his run for office.
I’ve had lots of military personnel in my family. The big joke for Army folks was to not choose 88-Mike as their MOS. If you didn’t know, 88-M is a truck driver. When 88-Mike’s started dropping left and right in Iraq from IED’s, that joke is no longer told at the table.
jm
August 31st, 2011
6:21 pm
LWM 6:11 – yeah. People like John Paulson. Or any of the several dozen other forecasters that were warning about it, but weren’t as big a bunch of self promoters…….
Yeah, on balance, the forecasting profession stinks. And that includes Roubini. As they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often.
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:22 pm
DUSTY
Both sides have their share of partisan loons…the Republicans just seem intent on running one for President even when presented with a moderate alternative…
jm
August 31st, 2011
6:24 pm
out- cheerio folks.
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:24 pm
BOSCH and PAUL
Papists, Papists Light, Jews and Muslims and I’m not sure the Calvinists aren’t in there, too…
Bosch
August 31st, 2011
6:26 pm
Paul
Stands has been asking Scout to name the denominations he indicated were unholy (which apparently he is too cowardly to stand up to his convictions and do) I was just helping stands out.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:29 pm
josef
Papists? Aren’t those the guys who view the denominations of those who disparage them as heretics and apostates?
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
6:29 pm
Papists, Papists Light, Jews and Muslims and I’m not sure the Calvinists aren’t in there, too…
So now you have switched to the talk about the canon, I see.
kayaker 71
August 31st, 2011
6:30 pm
Brocephus,
Quit making a big deal out of what kind of C-130 Perry flew. It doesn’t matter. I am sure that you can cite the service record of our present occupant of government housing. Bozo couldn’t fly a kite in a strong wind.
AmVet - Read my lips. No new Texans!
August 31st, 2011
6:31 pm
And let’s not forget the Corporal’s favorite – the weenie Mennonites.
Damn Christian bashers!
Paul @6;10, agreed, and that is why I saluted him.
And that term, trash hauler?
Those are his words…
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:32 pm
Lottery
PAUL
That’s them! Mama used to call the screeds “Papist Smears!”
Atlanta1
August 31st, 2011
6:32 pm
I’m always amused to see those on the left call those on the right ‘wingnuts’.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:33 pm
Bosch
Ah, why am I not surprised?
Mary Elizabeth
August 31st, 2011
6:34 pm
LWM @ 5:48
Mary Elizabeth, do you feel like you’re reliving history?
————————————————-
At times I do, LWM, but more I think that my playing Cassandra – almost 50 years ago – was prophetic in itself and tinged with a little destiny. (The theatre professor who cast me in that role had a good eye for what I am about; I will say that.)
BTW, I liked very much the remainder of your post, also. Thanks for voicing that which, in today’s world, is rarely considered. Values have changed so much since the early 1980s. I keep hoping balance will return.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
6:35 pm
Bozo couldn’t fly a kite in a strong wind.
Quit clowning around, kayaker. Everyone knows that Bozo don’t need to kite flying to make you laugh. All he needs is a good routine. You should try it some time.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:36 pm
AmVet
“And that term, trash hauler?
Those are his words…”
If I’m not mistaken, said by AF vets with smiles on their faces.
kayaker 71
“Brocephus,
Quit making a big deal out of what kind of C-130 Perry flew. It doesn’t matter.”
I am the one who began the topic. You might want to review the entire post at 5:18 in which I concluded with: “Not a big thing. Pretty small in the scheme of things. But to me it speaks more of having to project a manly man image when he didn’t need to . Being an AF pilot is honorable enough. The fact he has to manly it up is revealing.”
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:38 pm
MARY ELIZABETH
In the values change since the 1980s, speaking just as a f*ggot here, but that’s not an altogether bad thing…
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:41 pm
PAUL
Why when discussing “manly man” Perry do the Village People keep coming to mind…
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
6:42 pm
What’s the Air Force equivalent of a Swiftboat vet?
kayaker 71
August 31st, 2011
6:43 pm
Paul,
I have been around a lot of pilots in my military career from people who flew dust offs in VN to Apache A-64 pilots in the gulf to A-16 jockeys. I have never met one who didn’t have an ego about as large as his aircraft.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:43 pm
josef
They do, actually. There’s something about the guy on the left….
http://tinyurl.com/3ncqwe5
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:45 pm
kayaker 71
True words. And really, there’s nothing wrong with it. Any job where you can die any day you go to work – a bit of ego is a healthy thing.
AmVet - Read my lips. No new Texans!
August 31st, 2011
6:46 pm
“What’s the Air Force equivalent of a Swiftboat vet?”
I’m just spitballin’ here, but an Attack Airlifter vet? (grin)
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:46 pm
PAUL
That’s him! Far left in the photo!
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
6:50 pm
Standard & Poor’s is giving a higher rating to securities backed by subprime home loans, the same type of investments that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, than it assigns the U.S. government.
S&P is poised to provide AAA grades to 59 percent of Springleaf Mortgage Loan Trust 2011-1, a set of bonds tied to $497 million lent to homeowners with below-average credit scores and almost no equity in their properties. New York-based S&P stripped the U.S. of its top rank on Aug. 5, saying Washington politics were making the country less creditworthy.
I’d like to hear Obama or Boehner or someone explain that one.
Mary Elizabeth
August 31st, 2011
6:50 pm
josef 6:38
MARY ELIZABETH
“In the values change since the 1980s, speaking just as a f*ggot here, but that’s not an altogether bad thing…”
———————————————-
Notice my last sentence of that 6:34 post, josef, which was: “I keep hoping balance will return.”
Btw, I promise not to stereotype you, if you extend the same courtesy to moi!
Also, a little tidbit of info for you. When Obama first occupied the Oval Office after his election, he noticed that there was a sculpture of Winston Churchill in the room. Obama had it changed to a sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Paul
August 31st, 2011
6:52 pm
AmVet
Having seen the guy campaign…. yup.
He doesn’t believe in the Geneva Convention for political races.
Actually, I’d guess the guy thinks Christian principles are exempt from political races…..
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
6:54 pm
Well, once again, the Righties have got it all figured out. They’re gonna win the White House in 2012 with Dumbass redux. (Which I agree with.)
Great! Let me ask you this? What do you think Little Rickie is gonna do that will change anything? Have you really thought about it?
Well, let’s see. We can reduce the corporate tax rate to zero. We can have tax cuts across the board. A few more wars couldn’t hurt. Oh, wait! I forgot! How about a corporate tax holiday so’s them corporations can use that $1,000,000,000,000 they made by shipping American jobs overseas to create jobs here? Huh?
I just can’t wait! It’s gonna be happy days are here again all over again.
The truth is, the Right will keep on keeping on with the tried and failed policies of the past and things will not only not improve, they’ll get worse.
Hey, good luck! Obama has taken the whipping for the Right’s policies long enough. It truly is time for a change.
Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
August 31st, 2011
6:56 pm
Watch the duotone reiterate his “laser-like focus on jobs”? He’s already done that about ten times during his regime. If you have insomnia, tune in to the Manchurian Candidate.
pogo
August 31st, 2011
6:56 pm
Yep. Obama’s pathetic attempt at upmanship by having his “major” speech on the night of the republican debate is nothing but sad. A desperate man who cannot accept he is on the way out because of his own ineptitude. The republican debate was scheduled way before Obama’s “major jobs speech”. This reeks of desperation. Jay, you should have referred to “desperation” instead of “aggression” in relation to another one of Obama’s tactics.
And oh, the unions have backed off their ban of republicans in the Labor Day parade in WS. Why? Because their leaders suddenly realized that they would have to foot the bill. The union leaders hate nothing more than having to spend money that could go in their own pockets.
out of the blue
August 31st, 2011
6:58 pm
Kayaker…..”I have been around a lot of pilots in my military career from people who flew dust offs in VN to Apache A-64 pilots in the gulf to A-16 jockeys. I have never met one who didn’t have an ego about as large as his aircraf.”
Now why do you think that is?
josef
August 31st, 2011
6:58 pm
MARY ELIZABETH
Don’t get your pantaloons in a wedgie…! I simply was saying that it’s all a mixed bag…some good things, some bad things…and you say “hoping balance will return” and the time referenced was the 1980s…NOT a time I care to look back on as good times and balanced…
josef
August 31st, 2011
7:00 pm
BTW
I’d have been much more impressed if he’d changed it for a sculpture of Fannie Lou Hamer…
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
7:05 pm
Quit making a big deal out of what kind of C-130 Perry flew. It doesn’t matter.
It might not matter to you, since you have such a crush on Perry, but I take politics very serious. He’s already machoed up his accomplishments on several occasions. What I’m beginning to see is that Perry can’t seem to be comfortable with just being himself. I don’t want somebody anywhere near the launch codes if that person feels that he has to macho up every damn time he opens up his mouth.
You’ve been on this planet for a while, but people like me have a hell of a lot more living to do. I don’t wanna end my life as a dayglo yellow brotha because some b@stard got the itchy finger because another leader challenged his machismo.
josef
August 31st, 2011
7:08 pm
BROSEPHUS
I’m with you on that testosterone overdose as a “qualification…” That’s one of the places I actually respect President Obama…he ain’t et up with it.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 31st, 2011
7:09 pm
I don’t wanna end my life as a dayglo yellow brotha because some b@stard got the itchy finger because another leader challenged his machismo.
Well, it’s for dang sure I ain’t going to invite you up to Billy Bob’s.
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
7:11 pm
kayaker
I’ll quit making a big deal out of Perry’s airplane when you conservatives call our president by his birth name. Until then, don’t ask me to not do a damn thing.
James
August 31st, 2011
7:11 pm
Imagine what Bookman would have said if George Bush had done something like this!! What a hypocrite!!
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
7:15 pm
Imagine what Bookman would have said if George Bush had done something like this!! What a hypocrite!!
Why leave your wet dreams to your imagination. Bush was in the past so go look it up and report back your findings.
Mary Elizabeth
August 31st, 2011
7:19 pm
josef @ 6:58
“pantaloons in a wedgie” doesn’t quite have the courtesy I was hoping for, josef. Neverthess, I will be courteous to you.
Every generation has its “good and bad” mixtures, but I was referring to LWM’s thoughts that today so many are engulfed in the values of captalism that they fail to realize that others, who have equal intelligence, do not choose money-making as a way of exercising their intelligence. The values of those intelligent young people of the 1960s, who joined the Peace Corps, for instance, in their day, is what I was referring to hoping would return. Since the 80s, the nation has moved in a more self-oriented capitalistic direction. Both perspectives are needed. Hence, my statement that I hoped balance would return.
I have been a supporter of human rights all of my life, and that includes those rights – inalienable – for homosexuals. I am glad the nation is finally evolving to understand the fundamental equality of all.
Obama, obviously, chose to place a sculpture close-at-hand, where he makes critical decisions in the Oval Office, of someone with whom feels deep affinity. That choice was MLK for him.
kayaker 71
August 31st, 2011
7:22 pm
Brocephus,
Machismo is not in short supply for presidents. Neither is narcissism. Perry is not the only one in the political arena with this characteristic. Just to be put into that arena with your every need taken care of, your every movement watched and scrutinized and your every word analyzed by a critical media….. this makes humility rather difficult. Your every meal is fixed for you, you have control of a budget that would dwarf the common man and you are made to believe by all of the syncophants that follow you around that your are indeed the man. It takes a pretty strong person to climb above this. Many never do. I think that the only one that has done it since Truman has been George HW Bush. Your thoughts?
Mick
August 31st, 2011
7:25 pm
Yaker
Just realize what it takes to make it to the presidency. The ultimate game of survivor, if you will. People like you do not respect the accomplishment with your silly grade school name calling of this president. That’s why so many conclude it’s nothing more than his skin color that bothers so many….
oldguy
August 31st, 2011
7:25 pm
A more aggressive Obama?
Of course……. What he will do is throw out a new massive spending bill so when the House refuses to go along he can claim they are preventing him from creating new jobs and killing the economy for political purposes.
Simple!!
welcome to campaign 2012 Obama style!!
i.e. he will include a few pseudocuts to show how reasonable he is willing to be!
carlosgvv
August 31st, 2011
7:26 pm
Speaking of MLK, that huge statue of him in Washington looks like something the North Korean Government would build for their ‘dear and glorous leader”.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
7:27 pm
The President comes and firing.
Down goes the gop.
Mick
August 31st, 2011
7:28 pm
**dayglo yellow brotha**
That’s a hilarious image, too funny…score one for the cephus…go canes…
josef
August 31st, 2011
7:29 pm
MARY ELIZABETH
Oh, don’t take me so seriously…the pantaloons comment was a lighthearted reference to those who call you an old lady!
And. again, I don’t think we’ve lost our moral compass…I look at my own kids, and as Unmentionable says, we must have done something right. It’s time for us geriatrics from the 1960s to go sit in the rocking chairs, tell our stories to the young folks, and put a little faith in what they want from their world…
And, just for the record, I think MLK and a lot of others get WAAAY too much credit…it was the Fannie Lou Hamers to whom we owe the credit…and until such time as I see her brought out for Black History Month and monuments and what have you, we are missing the true heroes and heroines of “the Movement…”
MLK came home from his stint behind bars to a nice cushy home and a secure, good salary. Fannie Lou Hamer came home from hers to find her black a33 sittin’ in the middle of a field road in the middle of a cotton patch in the Delta…
Cynic? You betcha!
getalife
August 31st, 2011
7:29 pm
out not and.
D’oh!
kayaker 71
August 31st, 2011
7:31 pm
Mick,
I have always had a certain respect for the office of the presidency until Jan 2009. I don’t care if this guy is purple with pink polka dots……he is not qualified to be in the WH. His policies have failed, his ideas are without merit and most of America agrees with me. Look at Rasmussen, even today. 79% of America thinks that we are on the wrong track. A full one in four Democrats would like to have another candidate in 2012. This tells you a lot. But it flies by you like it didn’t even exist. What kind of world do you live in?
Mick
August 31st, 2011
7:31 pm
**House refuses to go along he can claim they are preventing him from creating new jobs and killing the economy for political purposes**
Seems like you are more concerned with the politics than job creating yourself. Just an observation, I mean isn’t everyone in both parties clamoring for more jobs? What are the repubs offering? Tax cuts are worthless when you are not getting a paycheck, eh?
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
7:31 pm
I think that the only one that has done it since Truman has been George HW Bush. Your thoughts?
I can pretty much agree with you on that. The one fault with GHW Bush was that his transcending that uber-hubris led to his one term administration. He used common sense to make decisions, and that was used against him in the elections. Our electoral system is so polarized that common sense is treated as a weakness and is dealt with in like manner. That’s why we keep ending up with sh*tty candidates for office.
In my opinion there is a difference between the machismo that comes from being the POTUS versus machismo that one has before even being elected. I may be wrong, but about the only GOP candidate that has the remote possiblity of overcoming that urge to be Super Macho Man is Romney. I don’t agree with all his politics, but Romney is the only one I see that appears to have the level-headed thinking to transcend the urge to be Macho Man at 1600
out of the blue
August 31st, 2011
7:33 pm
“pantaloons in a wedgie” doesn’t quite have the courtesy I was hoping for, josef. Neverthess, I will be courteous to you.
I believe I saw and heard that very same line from this ole puritan lady dismounting from the stage coach in a gunsmoke episode!
Mick
August 31st, 2011
7:36 pm
yaker
**What kind of world do you live in?**
I live in reality where obama is no where as bad as you claim nor is he as good as you think dems claim he is. Like always, he is more in the middle, very average so far, with a few feathers in his cap. How would you rate his predessor and the state of the country that was left for whomever followed? Tell the truth…
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
7:42 pm
Kayaker 71:
Only to visit some friends thankgoodness. I got malaria later but the Lord was very good to me.
givememyfairshare
August 31st, 2011
7:43 pm
Green jobs are the answer, right?
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
7:43 pm
Bosch:
I’ve got a great idea. Why don’t you name all of the “Holy” ones?
josef
August 31st, 2011
7:43 pm
MICK
@ 7:36
We’re in the same world there. Just my own opinion, but I see him as a mediocre centrist. Some things he’s done, I agree with and some I don’t. I just wish the polarcists would quit their he does no good-he does no ill..time will tell and it’s decades away before we can even begin “to judge” his presidency. The world won’t come to an end if he’s reelected and neither will the Rapture…four more mediocre centrist years, and, considering the alternatives being offered…
givememyfairshare
August 31st, 2011
7:43 pm
Mick – you may need a reality check
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
7:45 pm
Bosch:
“Snakehandlers” !
getalife
August 31st, 2011
7:45 pm
“Tell the truth…”
Funny.
Mick
August 31st, 2011
7:46 pm
josef
There’s a couple of nice things in the health care bill that have definately done some immediate good (preconditions). Eight longggg years of the previous guy seemed like forever but as I said to the good scout, :this too shall pass”.
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
7:47 pm
What if I told you that . . .
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
7:48 pm
getalife,7:27 that was almost poetic, lets try more
————————
“The president comes (out) firing
Down goes the gop.”
The president comes conniving.
UP pops the gop
The president is arriving
Let Martha’s Vineyard be.
The president says “I’m speaking”
The gop, “We’ll see!”
So goes the great conundrum,
The dibbly dabbly bum run.