Obama '08?

Two comments should be raised about the figures. Alaska has by far the highest stimulus spending per capita of any state, more than twice the second highest state, Arizona ($808). But its higher amount may at least partially reflect the state's much higher cost of living. In any case, given that it is such an outlier, the charts were redone excluding Alaska. Doing that, the results for bankruptcies, foreclosures, and unemployment indicate that the states with the worst problems got even less money than shown in the charts provided here.

From what I've been reading about Obama's health plan, it doesn't look too promising, and he seems to make every attempt to do what he wants without listening to others including his own party members and the public. His stubbornness is beginning to affect his effectiveness as our president, and I hope he has some advisers that will straighten him out before it's too late.

I'm beginning to wonder if he listens to his own congressional members or the American people. Either that or he's not communicating the right message. Since health care was supposed to be his major accomplishment during his presidency, why is he having so much difficulty?

We can all go home now that H2O has weighed in.

The reason most people are beginning to rate him lower is simply based on their ignorance about when the stimulus plan is supposed to begin showing improvement in our economy.

cicerone imposter wrote:

The reason most people are beginning to rate him lower is simply based on their ignorance about when the stimulus plan is supposed to begin showing improvement in our economy.

You don't think it's possible that they rated him HIGHER initially (or during the election) based on any ignorance do you?

Or does ignorance only work when rating someone lower?

cicerone imposter wrote:

The reason most people are beginning to rate him lower is simply based on their ignorance about when the stimulus plan is supposed to begin showing improvement in our economy.

You don't think it's possible that they rated him HIGHER initially (or during the election) based on any ignorance do you?

Or does ignorance only work when rating someone lower?

From what I've been reading about Obama's health plan, it doesn't look too promising, and he seems to make every attempt to do what he wants without listening to others including his own party members and the public. His stubbornness is beginning to affect his effectiveness as our president, and I hope he has some advisers that will straighten him out before it's too late.

I'm beginning to wonder if he listens to his own congressional members or the American people. Either that or he's not communicating the right message. Since health care was supposed to be his major accomplishment during his presidency, why is he having so much difficulty?

Obama promised us the most transparent administration in our history:

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-is-hiding-latest-budget-report-at.html

February 21, 2009
Obama banishing 4 Bush accounting gimmicks: Delivers Transparency
Posted by: Red Vixen : Category: Fresh Juice, National Budget, barack obama, transparency

A recent NYTimes article details President Barack Obama’s determination to bring truth and transparency to our nation’s budget. For his first annual budget next week, President Obama has banned four accounting gimmicks that President George W. Bush used to make deficit projections look smaller. The price of more honest bookkeeping: A budget that is $2.7 trillion deeper in the red over the next decade than it would otherwise appear, according to administration officials. Eeek! Well, at least we know where the starting point is going to be.

The new accounting involves spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare reimbursements to physicians and the cost of disaster responses. But the biggest adjustment will deal with revenues from the alternative minimum tax, a parallel tax system enacted in 1969 to prevent the wealthy from using tax shelters to avoid paying any income tax.
Mr. Obama’s banishment of the gimmicks, which have been widely criticized, is in keeping with his promise to run a more transparent government.

“The president prefers to tell the truth,” he said, “rather than make the numbers look better by pretending.” "Peter R. Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Some other details worth noting:

President Bush never included the costs of his wars in the Budget. He would routinely ask Congress for supplemental appropriations during the year. For Medicare, Mr. Bush routinely budgeted less than actual costs for payments to physicians, although he and Congress regularly waived a law mandating the lower reimbursements for fear that doctors would quit serving beneficiaries in protest. Mr. Obama will budget $401 billion over 10 years for higher costs and interest on the debt. He will also budget $273 billion in that period for natural disasters. Every year the government pays billions for disaster relief, but presidents and lawmakers have long ignored budget reformers’ calls for a contingency account to reflect that certainty.
Making government responsible and transparent? What a welcome concept! Nice Job, Mr. President!

In the days leading up to his trip to Cairo to give a long-awaited speech before a large Muslim audience, President Barack Obama gave several radio and television interviews, including one in which he claimed that the United States has so many Muslim residents that it would qualify as one of the largest populations in the world.

"If you actually took the number of Muslims Americans (sic), we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world," he told French television station Canal Plus.

We are using numbers from the CIA Online World Factbook, a highly regarded government source for global statistics. It's updated twice a month, and we're relying on the latest version. By the World Factbook's count, Muslims in the United States make up about 0.6 percent of the population. That's around 1.8 million.

Using the CIA's data, we made a list of the 60 countries with the most Muslim residents. Coming in first is Indonesia, More than 240 million people live there, and 86.1 percent of the population identifies as Muslim. That means that about 206 million Indonesians are of the Islamic faith.

No. 2 on the list is Pakistan, where 95 percent of the roughly 176 million people identify as Muslim. That means about 167 million residents are of the Islamic faith. India, Bangladesh and Turkey come in next at 156 million, 129 million and 76 million, respectively.

Moving down the list, Morocco takes 10th place with 34 million Muslim residents, and Syria comes in at number 20, with about 18 million Muslims. The No. 60 slot goes to Serbia, home to 236,138 Muslims.

According to our calculations, you have to scroll down to the very bottom to see where the United States fits in amid all these statistics. Again, the CIA Factbook says that less than 1 percent " 0.6 percent to be precise " of the 307 million residents identify as Muslim. That means the United States has only 1.8 million Muslims.

So, of the 60 most populous Muslim states, the United States ranks 58th.