Perfect fence walk as usual.

Oh I could not disagree more...first of all with this statement...

"Barack Obama can be similarly criticized. He campaigned as one on the left side of center. But in the first months of his first term, he's governing and permitting the liberal Congress to legislate on the far left fringe of the political spectrum. We may have been fooled again, maybe not quite as badly as with W, but mislead nonetheless. Time will tell whether the damage that the country may suffer will approximate that of the previous administration. I hope not."

How can you say something like that ? His radical side was continually brought up but we were told that in HIS case it was not important. As said on here before the associations this man had would have eliminated any other candidate for President. His religious ties, etc would have eliminated him.

BUT the media fell in love with him. Of course he tried to temper his remarks as he conned us, but there were those times when he was caught off guard, like in San Francisco but it was all quickly pushed under the rug. There was the Black Panthers, NOT JUST IN PHILLY BY THE WAY...and the list goes on and one so I think the media simply downplayed all his radical thinking which if you read his past it is so evident !

VK---First of all, Bush was not a conservative. How you can compare people like Rumsfeld, Bill Bennett etc. to Van Jones etc. is beyond me. I disagreed with W on many occasions, but never ever did I think he hated America. I wish I could say the same of this new crew, in power. I know that is a harsh statement, but I don't have any other explanation for what is happening to our country. As was mentioned, all the clues were there. People just didn't want to see them.

And they don't want to see them now.

What's New? But Something Should Be
 

Bucco, of course those kinds of criticisms were raised during the campaign. They were raised on both sides and in every campaign. Going back, Bush was too dumb; Kerry was a fake hero; McCain was too old and sick; both Palin and Biden were too dumb, and so on.

I'm not referring to the criticisms that were leveled by opponents. I'm talking about the platforms the candidates ran on. Bush was the compassionate conservative, the healer of partisan differences. Obama had a pretty high-minded platform of healthcare reform, improvement in education, even tax reductions. Then after election, both tilted towards the far edge of their respective ideologies. Initially at least, both may have been pushed in those directions by the partisan base of their parties, which controlled Congress. But both seeded their administration with ideologues on the far edge of their political beliefs. Some of the Bush appointees couldn't go along with the unexpected shift in ideology towards neoconservatism and quit. Colin Powell and John Snow were among them. We've yet to see whether there are some centrists in the Obama administration who might think governance is shifting too far to the left.

There's little to be gained by losing political opponents saying, "I told you so." Obama was elected by a majority of Americans, as was George Bush. He's our President for four years at least, as was every President who preceded him. Frankly, I'm disgusted by the bitter partisanship that seems to be preventing our country from coming together for a common good. As Ronald Reagan once told Teddy Kennedy,"If you can get the Democrats to vote for 70-80% of what I want, that's enough. I'll get the rest later." That political philosophy has morphed into a "100% or nothing" ideology. While the term was created somewhat more recently, the Democrats were the party of no when Bush was President; now the GOP has taken their place.

Is all this in the best interests of the country? I think not.

Good post SallyJo, and I would go one step further and say tnat there were more than JUST CLUES. It was obvious where this man would take us. Problem was in my opinion, since VK brought up Bush, that the hatred conjured up over years about the elections, and beleive me most of it was PERSONAL and not idealogical at all welcomed someone to come in and win based just on that hate !

We have 3 1/2 years to go. VK always says if we dont like it we can vote him out....well, that will be in 3 1/2 years, HOWEVER having said that I join VK in saying the 2010 elections are vital so that at least there is some resistance to what is happening right now in the USA !!1

To say the GOP is the party of no is nothing but a bunch of crap. The GOP has plenty of materiel on the table. Obama steamrolls them every single time and REFUSES to even listen. At the same time he lies through his teeth and says they want to work with the Republicans. They have LOCKED the GOP out and you know it.

On the other hand if what you say is true, I thank God the GOP is the party of no right now. They are the only one's saving us from these wacko's.

Of course on this I agree with you....it is not in the best interests of the coutnry, HOWEVER we have a run away train here.

DKLASSEN made this post about clues concerning this president..."And they don't want to see them now."

Listen, we have 3 1/2 years until the next presidential election. We have over a year until congressional elections...thus far we have a "stimulus" bill that was nothing but pork and social programs...we will have cap and trade...we are taking over companies...setting salaries for CEO's.....on the verge of an health bill....unions are gaining power left and right and BEING USED for political purposes, etc. AND ALL OF THIS IN 6 MONTHS !

There are no elections for over a year !!!

Each of those items I mentioned can be debated and each has plus and minus to them but they were all HUGE programs...ramrodded through by a man who promised "change".....we still have over a year and best case scenario, in a year all we can do is SLOW it down. This is a radical Presidency from the get go !

I would also disagree that "those" issues were raised during the campaign. It was not allowed; if you did you yousrself were called a nutcase or a radical, or you were a racist or something of that nature...I experienced that first hand. The media would present it one day and make fun of those who raised the issue and then it would go away !

BO's definition of bi-partisionsip is agree with me 100% or screw you. The GOP have been completely locked out of the process and when they don't vote along with BO's radicle Constitution busting agenda they are called the party of no. There's a real peach for you.

I just keep remembering the statement he made during his campaign and I did hear him say it. I didn't just pick it up from the media. He said, "America is the greatest country in the world. We're going to change it." That's exactly what I see him doing.

Copying a line from VK's post above:
 

"Frankly, I'm disgusted by the bitter partisanship that seems to be preventing our country from coming together for a common good."

The country coming together for the common good, even for politicians, is the name of the game.

I personally believe what we are starting to witness is that the American people are divided into those who want what is good for America and the common good. And there is another group or groups with a completely different agenda.

The adversity, for now, tends to be clumped by the media as well as folks like us as partisan in nature. I say for now because it will become apparent sooner or later that those who want what is good for America is becoming more and more bi-partisan. There are more and more Dems who are speaking up and against the so called "changes". There are many more who fall into that category who will not, ever speak up for fear of retribution.

The most obvious opportunity for all is the voting booth.

I fully agree with the a comment made previously, that 'W' did a lot that a lot of people did not like.....but he never ever hated America and what it stood for.

Just look at the czars Obama has in place and their backgrounds....enough said?

At some point the media has to decide how long they will stay on the Obama jaugernaut.

btk

What scares me is that we have 14 months until the next election and 3 1/2 years until the presidential election. A lot of damage can be done in that amount of time. I'm not sure if Obama cares if he's re-elected. I think he has an agenda and will do whatever it takes to get it implemented.

Au revoir, Auf Wiedersehen, Adiós
 

Yep, I tend to think that the politics that will better favor our country will be closer to the center than to either the left or right. I'll accept your response as the cyncical critcism that I think you intended.

That being said, I ask myself why I even bother to try to attempt a discussion with people who are so wed to an ideology that they refuse to even have a civil discussion? Even those that call themselves "Administrator", whatever the heck that is.

Before I leave, I do have a response to a couple other posts...Now there's a well thought out contribution to the discussion.No, I'd say that if you embrace freedom and capitalism, you're an American. If you believe in a woman's choice, one not only has the right to that opinion in this country but that belief is actually the law of the land. If one believes in smaller government, the term normally applied is "conservative" or maybe "fiscal conservative". I believe in all those things, and I assure you, Mr. Administrator, that I'm no radical.

I can't say it's always been fun here in the Political Forum, but it's become less fun now that a number of the more thoughtful participants have disappeared somewhere. I often felt challenged to consider different points-of-view, but more recently I came to the conclusion that it wasn't a productive use of time; the positions I was responding to were always the same.

So, I bid you all au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, adiós, and in honor of our growing relationship with China 再見. Don't let any bitter discussions get you too upset.

And remember what can be accomplished as early as November, 2010. I must add the forewarning--little will change if we keep electing the same people who are already there.

'Bye again.

Frankly VK, I think you are guilty of what you accuse many of us.

There is no doubt that you do in fact tackle each issue and try to come to some sort of reasonable decision often falling a tad left but just a tad.

What you are reading and YOU are interpeting as some great idealogical slant from many posters IS NOT THAT AT ALL....in fact it is simply FEAR of the current administration. I can only speak for me and that is my position.

I am not, in any way enamored with Sen McCain and never was and have said so....I am not a "Bushie" or whatever the term of this week is for those advocates of our last President....I am not a staunch Republican who supports whatever candidate is put forth DESPITE WHAT YOU SAY...those are facts.

I believe the posts you find fault with are simply trying to allow their fear of this administration and what it is doing.

YES...at times that can be frustrating in that you tend to choose specific issues and discuss them and that is great, but so much has already been rammed down our throat in 6 months that it is difficult, for me anyway, to concentrate on one issue with this administration because they can and will do whatever they want...and to me THAT is the issue !

It wasn't really meant to be a discussion point. I was just calling it like it is. If you feel that's in error then tell me how the BO administration have included any conservative ideas from the GOP in any of their bills? When have they ever taken the GOP into consideration? They don't and they don't care.

And why should there be bi-partisaship on anything that's bad for America. If it's bad it's bad. Should we take a bad bill, come together and make it a little less bad?

How about just coming up with a good bill?

How about creating a balanced federal budget, a pro-america, pro-business, pro-growth health care bill with a little TORT reform for good measure? I think the conservatives, blue dogs and even those in the middle would welcome it and the economy will love it.

Why don't we? Because BO and the far left now running our country don't want any part of a bill like that.

So where does that leave us? I guess we are the party of no. Sometimes just saying no is a good thing. The American people are saying no.'

So what does that make Obama? He's certainly not a capitalist nor does he embrace our freedoms given by the Constitution.