If Obama wanted to say that voters are bitter and fed up because of the economy, that's fine. But to say the people who vote on issues like guns, gay marriage, and illegal immigration are simply doing so out of bitterness towards their government and towards their fellow citizens is beyond stupid(not to mention untrue in most instances). In fact, illegal immigration has a direct effect on the economy, so it's absurd to say people who want a fence built or immigration laws enforced feel this way due to bitterness or xenophobia. He probably cost himself a shot at several red states with those remarks. This will be played ad nauseum during the general election. Hell, he may not make it that far depending on how Hillary and Bill sell this to the superdelegates. They can't be too happy right now.
the wheels on the bus are coming off coming off, coming off the wheels on the bus are coming off all through the town!
While it is true that illegal immigration has a positive effect on the economy, I don't think people that are voting because of that issue are doing so because of that. I think the bitterness argument is historically accurate, as in the fact that in the past similar movements to those mentioned from Obama have come at times when groups felt frustration with the economy, govt. etc.
I know things are especially bad in CA, but I am very cautious to not take the hardest hit area (along with Detroit) and use it to make policy for the rest of the country. The problems in CA are made much worse because a good many of the homes there were, IMO, grossly overvalued. There was bound to be a correction in that market. AZ and WA fit that mold as well. It is not nearly as bad in other parts of the country. At this point, many analysts I have spoken to believe that we have either hit the bottom or will hit the bottom later this year and things will rebound. It would be bad policy to overreact now and forstall the recovery.
I'm really torn on this because I don't want to see the economy crater and I also don't want to bail out bad lenders and borrowers. For years I've seen people who make less than I do living large in better homes and driving better rigs... and now it's clear how they did it and it wasn't an inheritance from grandma. And... see my next post...
These are just subprimes... there are many more that are not subprime... and it's not just a few places in the country. People were using their houses as free ATMs all over the country and unscrupulous lenders were all too happy to encourage it.
Spot on. Barack Obama is more like any other politicians than most of his supporters like to think. My read on this is that he was making a statement to one group, San Francisco fundraisers, speaking in a way that he felt that would appreciate and then is spinning this now in response to a criticism to the wider electorate.This was a mistake that he should've considered better but one that happens to most politicians In regard to the debate whether Obama is from a more or less privelaged upbringing the damage isn't that he comes off as a wealthy elite but that he comes off as a liberal elite dismissive of Red State values.
Obama was trying to give an explanation or a theory for why poor rural people don't vote for liberals like himself, even when liberals are ostensibly the ones that care about poor people, that feel their pain. His theory is that since the government has been so bad at helping poor people, poor people vote on other issues, like guns and gay marriage, rather than on economic issues. Of course, Obama's knowledge and first hand experience with basic economics is quite limited (he wants to raise the capital gains rate by 10% during tough economic times, unreal). He certainly hasn't ever run a business or managed a payroll, and I'm not sure what kind of private sector jobs he has held. When the CNBC lady informed him that over 100 million americans that owned stock would be affected by a capital gains tax hike, his response was that Warren Buffett said it would be ok. The elitism label comes from the assumption that only his party cares about poor people and also from the assumption that poor rural folks vote GOP for reasons other than it's economic platform (low taxes, less regulation, tort reform, etc.).
Yes I know how it is like to not have a dad at 5years old. My dad died and I was raised by my mom and grandparents on the west side of Chicago. I was born at Cook County Hospital a long time ago. I didn't go to the best schools growing up. I didn't go to Columbia or Harvard like Obama did. Obama turning down a wall street job to me was stupid on his part. That shows me he doesn't have what it takes to run or work for a business. He decided long ago that he wanted to be a politician. So far none of you Obama lovers can prove to me that he has suffered. Obama gave you his so called sob story and you bought it. As one person who HAS suffered and moved around from state to state all my life, Obama has no clue of what it's like to be poor, homeless, jobless, but also come back from adversity like I have all my life. I'm not buying one bit of his own lies.
So basically what you want is somebody who has had your exact emotional life experiences or worse in for them to claim that they've gone through some kind of hardship. Do you not believe that suffering is relative? The poorest man on earth could look you in the eyes and tell you that you have not suffered one bit in relation to what he's gone through and according to your logic, he'd be right. You can protest him and say that what you've gone through was tough and that you suffered. But if he uses your line of thinking, he declares, "No, you have not suffered. Emotional distress is not relative; there is a benchmark. I am the benchmark." And what can you say to that? Nothing. You keep repeating "He has not suffered one bit," in his life. Who are you to be the judge? Are you a god among men who can read others' minds? Were you able to look into Obama's mind when he was a young boy who barely knew his father? Could you see him thinking before he was 10, "Gee, this isn't that bad. In fact, I can use this when I run for president one day! Thanks, Dad for being absent in my life! Thanks Mom for moving me around the world!" For somebody who wants empathy from a politician and the readers of this thread, you seem to be incapable of dishing it out yourself.
Nope I want a President that knows what he's talking about and not just talk about it. I would hope the future President DOESN'T go thru the things that I've done. I don't make excuses because of how I was brought up, or what race I was, nor have ever depended on the government in my life for anything. Everything I have and have overcome was because I learned to do it all by myself just as my mother did raising me. I am not God nor am trying to be one. I am always weary of people, especially CAREER politicians who claim to be one thing but in reality is not. We had Bush who came in 2000 supposedly the man to change Washington as a Uniter. Look how that turned out. We have Hillary Clinton who claims to have all this experience and just turns out to lie about things one right after the other. We have McCain who doesn't necessarily lie but to me isn't in touch with the economy. Then we have Obama - the great hope of change for America. For someone who has never run a business, worked for a corporation, never lead a team, never did much but learn how to be a politician, I just don't trust him. I don't want empathy from any politician or from this board. Just don't tell me that you know what it's like to be poor when you weren't. He had a priveledged life. He was taken care of well. That's a FACT! He had way more than many people in this world to succeed in life even without a father. I know what it's like to not have one growing up but I don't need any empathy, sympathy, or justification from anyone. I only brought it up when someone here said I don't know what it's like when I do. As I said before, if Bloomberg was running for President, he would be my First and Only choice. However, since we have a field of the WORST candidates in my lifetime, it's slim pickens.
I'm not sure what it is about NY people who believe that the experience running as mayor of a city somehow provides presidental credentials. Not once, but twice. In the same election. We saw how Rudy did once he started to have to campaign anywhere else but NYC. Bloomberg's a great businessman and philanthropist, but that doesn't make him presidential. We may as well nominate Bill Gates. There's an irony in chiding Obama for his credentials, his lack of experience, and then espousing another man who's got even less. The man's never even represented a state, much less a nation.
Bloomberg is not even CLOSE to Rudy. The two don't even compare. The only thing they share was the NYC mayor office but that's it. It's not even his experience as Mayor that makes him a better candidate than Obama. He was way more successful BEFORE he became Mayor. If you want to compare Obama vs Bloomberg, the two don't even come close. Bloomberg blows him and any other candidate out of the water. Bloomberg truly does things Independently regardless of party lines. Bill Gates as much money and power he has would never be a good politician. Bloomberg has the history, the experience, and the track record of getting things done. Experience of running a nation? How about running a GLOBAL BUSINESS. Bloomberg has THAT experience over ANY candidate. BTW...I'm not NY people. I used to live there but I'm a Texan - for the third time in my life again.
IMO Rudy never really wanted to run for President. His strategy for counting on Florida to me was an excuse for him to drop out. I just don't think he could take the abuse his wife was getting. I for one would not have voted for Rudy even though he had a good track record as Attorney General and Mayor of NYC. He has way more experience than Obama. Unfortunately for him, he also carried a lot of baggage and had many skeletons in his closet. Once the attacks on his wife started coming out, that's when Rudy just gave up IMO. Bloomberg is a whole other story. He knows how to run things, he knows how to work with people regardless of party lines, He knows the economy, he knows Global markets, he just gets it. He has the credentials to back it up. Too bad he didn't run but I suspect we'll see him in 2012 if not as Vice President for someone. If McCain was smart, that's who he should have as VP.
Regardless of how Obama supporters spin this, Obama keeps making stereotypical comments and that isnt going to fly.
#1...I appreciate certain posters such as Deckard, and rocketsjudoka not spinning it and telling it like it is. One more reason I have great respect...I have heard how Obama is sounding more and more like regular joe-politician (something Obama doesn't want) and the latest episode is further demo....
From the Hillary camp -- it's SPOT ON: Obama has been forced to talk to normal people during this campaign. His well hidden contempt for non-wealthy Americans is showing. Obama recently has had to mingle with regular Americans in bowling alleys and working class bars in order to convince Pennsylvanians and Americans that he is not a stuck up elitist know-nothing with audacious ambition and a low level management trainee resume.
This is amusing coming from the candidate that has dismissed all the "small" states she's lost as not being important.
