Obama '08?

The Marx brothers, compared to Bush, would have done a great job running the country.

The Marx brothers were really smart people; I have always thought Graucho was not only smart but witty and a great funny man.

Here's one of my favorite books:
http://www.amazon.com/Groucho-Letters-Marx/dp/030680607X

Here's an excerpt of his letters to Warner Brothers-- very brilliant...
http://www.mamohanraj.com/Amusing/warner.html

Went to Amazon to order the book for $2.15 (used), but when I went to checkout, the total bill was over $147. I escaped very quickly from that link.

The Obama Administration continues to repeat and expand the mistakes of the Bush Administration causing a continuation of decreases in total employment by increasing quantity of:
(1) government expenditures;
(2) budget deficits;
(3) giveaways of government revenues;
(4) housing loans to people who are unable to pay monthly costs of loans.

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.cpseea1.txt
Total employment in the USA in:
December 2006 = 144,427,000
December 2007 = 146,047,000
December 2008 = 143,338,000
January 2009 = 142,099,000.
October 2009 = 138,275 ,000.
November 2009 = ?
December 2009 = ?

But he was an acquisitive Jew, right?

CI. I have been thinking about going to Amazon because the nearist bookstore is 50 mi from where I live. How in the world did you end up with a bill of $147 for one book. I cant afford to spend that kind of money for one book!

Very very funny. I doubt Obama even knows who the Marx brothers were, but he does know who Karl was, not much doubt about that if you guys would actually have studied Obama. But then again, you guys may like Karl as well? Maybe it matters not to alot of people that his political philosophy has resulted in the suffering and deaths of tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people? It does matter to some of us, and those some of us are known as conservatives, and that is why we intend to work as hard as possible to vote out the losers currently running C0ngress and the administration. Anybody that values liberty and freedom, and has the spine to take responsibility for his or her own life ought to agree that these jokers need to be voted out.

Eeesh. If worse comes to worse you can always get it intelibrary loan from your public library. I love the letter to Warner Brothers, especially the part where he says how difficult it is to tell Ingrid Bergman and Harpo apart...

Of course he knows who the Marx brothers were, that's who he's modeled his policies on.

Gala,
You said:
@Advocate,
Quote:

This board is all about people telling others what to think. I suggest you get away from your race and background and concentrate on the issues at hand. I had a rough beginning in life, but it would bore others, and be irrelevant, for me to dwell on it.


I happen to think what teeny posts is relevant. What a relief to actually have a black person expressing it full on. And, it sure beats the postings about relationships where people fight over shower curtains and then feel compelled to come here to talk about it.

It's true, everyone's a freakin' expert on Able2Know, but teeny's the real thing-- smart and to the point, she's no shrinking violet, thank goodness.

One more thing-- I voted for Obama, I am, of course, grateful for no McCain or Palin. Nonetheless, I'll always be entitled to my opinions about whether or not Obama is doing a good job. I'm not a an automaton who blindly follow him, if he's messing up we'll say so-- this does not put me under the sway of the Fox or the right wing of the republicans.

I said:


For your response, I am truly thankful. I beleive in a fair and honest appraisal of anyone is relevant. I don't apologize for not being from the ghetto, until I saw one. Then, I felt guilty for "having", when so many people, Black and White are/were poor. Having been raised a Christian, I wanted to be what Jesus was; a giver. Someone who cared and gave a damn.
We come into this world naked and we'll leave the way we came.

What gets me is the people who fight me, have so much in common with me. My mother taught me that as long as poor people are divided, we will be at war with each other for the "crumbs" that fall from the Master's table; meaning that everybody is fighting for their little scrap of the pie, that they toss to us and like "crabs in a barrel", we will step all over each other to get OURS!

While slavery has long been abolished, we are still bound to jobs we hate, if we still have one. Others deciding which freedoms we think we can still enjoy after Bush and other stupid schitt that is really irrelevant! Race and all that comes with it, is really NOT my thing. When I step out my front door I am a proud American. I came from a middle-classed background, private school, fine clothes, a beautiful home and good parents. What does THAT have to do with my race? Not a damned thing!

Again, thanks for your thoughtful response.

Thanks for my laugh for today. LOL

Then quit and get a different job. Thats what I have done when I decided I didn't like them anymore.

You know, blaming your unhappiness and everything else on Bush is really ringing very very hollow, and frankly nonsensical anymore.

Then quit calling other people racists, and do not vote for somebody based upon race, from now on.

Good, and you don't need race hustlers anymore, and you don't need a party that buys your votes anymore, based upon your race. I am glad to hear it, but actions speak louder than words.

teenyboone wrote:
While slavery has long been abolished, we are still bound to jobs we hate, if we still have one.

okie wrote:


Where have you been since last year when millions lost their jobs? Have you told any white people "quit and get a different job?"

teeny wrote:
Others deciding which freedoms we think we can still enjoy after Bush and other stupid schitt that is really irrelevant!

okie wrote:


Have you asked any white people if they're happy with their job loss, their home loss, and their health insurance loss? It's probably hollow of them to complain after eight years of Bush in the white house, and the destruction of the world economy and two wars that he couldn't end.

teeny wrote:
Race and all that comes with it, is really NOT my thing.

okie wrote:


okie can't seem to read into other people's post what he himself can't seem to escape; he believes everybody who doesn't resemble him is a "racist." He can't see that his telling somebody "do not vote for somebody based upon race..." shows how racist he is!

teeny wrote:
When I step out my front door I am a proud American. I came from a middle-classed background, private school, fine clothes, a beautiful home and good parents. What does THAT have to do with my race? Not a damned thing! Again, thanks for your thoughtful response.

okie wrote:


Who in hell is okie accusing of needing "race hustlers?" When okie talks about "buys your votes,' okie obviously doesn't understand how conservatives have been guilty of this - and conservative congress members have been bought and paid for by K Street more times than he can count! Such ignorance and stupidity, and okie wasn't even paid to say such things. It must be inborn at birth.

Obama's Brilliant First Year

By January, Obama will have accomplished more in his first year as president than other president besides FDR.

http://www.slate.com/id/2236708/

Praises some earned and some still too early to determine success or failure.

Send a copy to okie to see how he chops it up! LOL

even if that were true, which I am not subscribing too, it is irrelevant. The meaningful metric is the spread between the job requirements and the job performance. We live in extraordinary times, we needed an Extraordinary President, but we did not find one.

Whether we have an extraordinary president will not be evident for some time. I doubt Lincoln's eventual crowning as "best President ever" was evident in 1861. (Not saying Obama is Lincoln.)

I will say that the reason we live in extraordinary times is not because of a global confluence of events outside of our control like WWII, but due to our own stupidity. We elected and continue to elect and support people who place ideological success ahead of the good of the nation and attack anyone who seeks to compromise or (heaven forbid) actually comes to the realisation that their cherished beliefs are not best for the coutry. I see Obama taking heat from both sides because he is a moderate. (Yes Okie, I know this is the most ridiculous statement you've even seen on A2K.)

His work on Afganistan is especially enlightening. Seymour Hersh did a nice interview on Fresh Air that captured my thoughts really well. His opinion from his decades of work on military matters was that Obama was taking the absolute worst political position on Afganistan, but the best one as a CIC. The general in charge seems to be clueless on how to proceed, so he asks for more troops, a generally safe stall for time move. Obama asks for a detailed strategy on how those troops will be used and the general is dumbfounded and can't provide one. The politically astute thing to do would be to give him the troops anyway even though the Army really doesn't have the right types of troops available and this will require a much more severe rotation on the infantry units. (The armor units so useful in Iraq and not suited for Afganistan.) Obama could please his Democratic constituency (since he will never please the Republicans) and say "No, let's pull out." Instead, he demands the Army put together a detailed, comprehensive strategy that will lead to success, therefore ensuring he will be attacked by both sides either for "dithering" and not respecting his battle hardened generals or by throwing good money after bad when he does approve the increase in tonight's speech. I can't see any President since Truman throwing politics to the wind and demanding a detailed plan from the military like that. Holding the generals accountable for their actions - revolutionary. We'll see if that happens as well. Obama and Gates seem to make a great team and I think one day that will be recognized. They have already cut big, unwanted military programs and that has to be the first loss for military arms suppliers since Carter killed the B-2.

On the economy, the Obama stimulus is far from the radical, socialist program you hear about in the conservative circles and once again, far less than the left end of the spectrum wants. Reagan propped up the economy with unheard of (at the time) deficit spending in the '80's and he's a conservative hero. GW Bush and Obama do so with a much worse economic picture and two wars and they are super villians. Let's also not forget that the ecomonic bubble we experience under Bush was due to deficit spending due to unneeded tax cuts overheating the economy and deficit spending due to unneeded wars.

Same on healthcare, Obama is the middle of the road; not radical enough for the left, too radical for the right. His proposals are VERY tame compared to other ideas out there or even living, working examples of successful healthcare in other countries, but you would think that he's Satan himself. Obama's proposals don't really even address costs. It is really just healthcare insurance reform, but you would think that Obama is enslaving doctors and socializing hospitals to ready the vitrol spewing out. The logic that universal access to basic healthcare improves our economy, improves the competitive position of our companies, improves our worker productivity and improves our overall standard of living is very easy to understand, but Obama is a demon for suggesting the very mildest of proposals to move us in that direction. Even if that results in a tax increase, WE SHOULD BE WILLING TO PAY FOR THAT, but somehow logic is overwhelmed by politics.

If Obama may go down as a less than extraordinary President, but I really don't think we are giving him the tools to be one. If he pulls it off in spite of that, then that will be truly amazing. Being a moderate type myself, I am reasonably happy with where he is even if I'm not happy with where the nation is and every single position he has taken. I'm certainly willing to wait a couple of years before declaring his a failure.

(I just looked back over this post. It really just started as a comment about Lincoln. Guess I needed to rant.)

Transcript of Hersh interview for those interested.