Comments on: SOUND OFF: Thoughts on the President’s Address To Congress?

By: Juan

Juan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:11:42 +0000

gotcha. He should have hired you as his opposition strategist. Every professional team has a scout team to practice against. With you knowing so much and having worked for Regan you could definately warn him of potential pitfalls.
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Who do you feel was responsible for that gaff? I’d assume his handlers.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:54:17 +0000

That’s not the problem; it will open up a whole judgment question.
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He says … I can stand here with confidence that we have pulled this economy back from the brink.
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Which means as soon as it goes bad, people can now say… well, if he was so sure that the economy was on the rebound, how can we trust him with health care, foreign policy or anything else?
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The line wasn’t necessary. It had nothing to do with the subject at hand. It appears to be thrown in as an after-thought; but it could become a major pain in the ass for him, all unnecessary.
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FYI: the read my lips wasn’t a lie, it was just bad politic-ing. Bush promised no new taxes, and tried to keep that promise, but the opposition boxed him in a budget where the choice was raising taxes or shutting down the government.

By: Juan

Juan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:47:21 +0000

Interesting. I didn’t catch that part of the speech. I can’t say it has the same power as the aforementioned because he’s not really saying the Dems saved the economy but just allowed us to live to fight another day. The mission accomplished was pretty silly, “read my lips” and “I didn’t sleep with that woman” were flat out lies.
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Honestly I like parody in politics. I think that congress swinging back to the red was inevitable. The problem occurs when there are too many lawmakers that are so far left or right that they’re unwilling to work with each other. That’s potentially the issue at hand.

By: 4pl

4pl — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:35:08 +0000

I said b4 and I’ll say it again this has nothing to do w/republicans who cares what they think or feel they’re now the minority. Whats holding this Healthcare Overhaul back are the conservative “Bluedog” Democrats who are protecting their constituents who are more affluent and pushing the agenda of healthcare lobbyists. So I believe that statement was more for the Bluedogs then it was for Republicans,just by numbers alone he doesn’t need any republican. The Healthcare Build proposes we spend $900 billion over 10 yrs. Granted 900 bill is a lot of money, but over 10 yrs for America it’s not that bad. Not to overhaul a system that in its current form will be much more detrimental financially. We just spent close to 800 billion in a few short months to “bailout” Wallstreet and the housing market.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:32:12 +0000

He was trying to shame them into action. But it isn’t going to work, because they have no shame.
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Watch the video of Lyndon Johnson’s voting rights speech to see how the master of the Senate did it

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:28:11 +0000

Probably closer to bush and his famous “16 words”; where they added it at the last minute as an applause line, and then the left hung it around his neck for the next 5 years.

By: Emerson Diaz

Emerson Diaz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:15:11 +0000

I took it as him telling them, “get with me or we’ll do it without you and if it works, we can all celebrate. If it doesn’t, it’ll be on you for not trying to work with me on the problem.” And I support the president on that. Republicans need to work with the president. They just finished screwing everything up for the last 8 years.

By: Mike "Evorgleb" Belgrove

Mike "Evorgleb" Belgrove — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:06:02 +0000

I was a bit confused as to what Obama was trying to say. In one breath he’s saying this issues needs the imput of Republicans and then in the next he was saying it will get done with or without their help. Which is it?

By: Urban Thought

Urban Thought — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:59:21 +0000

When you put it that way, I’m reminded of Bush Jr. declaring the war over by saying, “Mission Accomplished.”

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:14:27 +0000

Last night the President unknowingly gave the opposition their main talking point for the 2010 Congressional elections.
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Before getting into the health care portion of his speech, he made the following statement…
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…But thanks to the bold and decisive action we have taken since January, I can stand here with confidence and say that we have pulled this economy back from the brink…
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Here’s the problem… the credit and subprime crisis we went through last year was only ½ of the problem. The other ½ of the problem (the Alt-A and option-ARM mortgages) are scheduled to crash the economy in early 2010.
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When subprime hit the skids, the government used all of their ammunition to fight the problem: they effectively lowered interest rates to zero, and they spent what remaining credit the government had to bail out the banks.
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This means that when the next ½ of the problem hits in 2010, there will be very few options for solving the problem (which makes sense, since the problem is mathematically incapable of being solved.)
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So… we have a MAJOR downturn in the economy scheduled to hit just in time for the run-up to the November 2010 congressional elections, and the President just openly bought all responsibility for the economy.
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You can expect that quote to be played over and over again as the opposition uses the economy as their wedge issue.
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You should expect them to compare Obama to Jimmy Carter, to Bush Sr’s Read My Lips promise, to Clinton’s I did not have sex with that woman comment.
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Based on that comment alone (and feel free to mark my words here), you can count on the republicans winning back the House of Representatives and possibly the senate.