Obama '08?

I think the word your looking for is "simpletons"....the younger Americans tend to be simpletons, unschooled in the ways of their fellow men, and thus easily deceived and manipulated.

Obama certainly is a good enough politician to have figured this out, and he took full advantage of his opportunity to use American ignorance to his advantage.

I however don't knock obama for doing this, his job is to manipulate his surroundings to his power advantage. I put the knock on Americans for being stupid.

Interesting, hawkeye. Actually, I have said in the past that an election can be as much a referendum on the mindset and relative emotional health of the citizenry as it is the candidates. I believe that politicians are a reflection of ourselves, of culture. Corrupt cultures tend to have corrupt political environments. People that will sacrifice what is good for the country for what is good for them, by voting for politicians that promise them the most personal gain, those people can and will eventually vote a government into power that will enslave them. It is in fact hard work, and it requires most people want to be self responsible to maintain freedom and liberty. Freedom and liberty is hard work. It requires people to be responsible people in their personal lives, to be able to work and support their own lifestyles and wants, rather than demanding government provide it for them. I think the balance of the two sides of the pendulum, liberty and bondage, we are currently on the cusp of it, and it really depends upon the predominant character of the American people, whether we will continue to slide down the slippery slope of more socialism and ultimate bondage, or whether we will be able to right ourselves and correct the course.

I think it is appropriate in regard to what I just posted in response to Hawkeye - this is a quote from my opening post on the thread: "What produces Ruthless Dictators?" http://able2know.org/topic/66117-1 I hope that what I posted does not become extremely prophetic in regard to the United States real soon.

"One observation I would like to make here. Such personalities can be found in abundance in every culture, but obviously there must be conditions whereby such people can gain an audience and eventually gain political power. I think such potential dictators with their inherent politics can only gain traction in a society that also has more of a preponderence of the mindset similar to that of the potential dictator. This mindset would include a general feeling of failure and personal feeling of powerlessness, unfairness, and resentment, coupled with an increased lack of faith in God or religion. Such a collective mindset then takes on an increased hope that "government" can right the wrongs and create some kind of system that is more fair. Business and free enterprise becomes more demonized and viewed more as unfair, thus something needs to be done to correct it. An important component in this cultural mindset is the condition of the family unit, whereby children grow up in happy, balanced conditions, so that they can grow into being happy adults without some axe to grind, and they are happy to work and bear the fruits of their own labors. Also a belief in God rather than a belief in government is important in keeping a culture away from dictators, at least that has been true for the first 200 years of this country. If too many people in our culture begin to have more axes to grind, then the seeds of some ruthless dictator or government gaining traction becomes a very real danger."

with the exception of the bashing of socialism, you are correct. The bondage comes from wanting the no pain easy answers, and thus we walk into our cages under our own power as our masters whisper sweet nothings into our ears. Socialism is a tool to better ourselves, not a vice or an evil.

hawk, I'm not sure you are aware that Obama's approval rating has been dropping on both fronts; the war in Afghanistan that he approved to send 30,000 more soldiers (that's truly a conservative action), and on universal health care that the majority are now against (what you and okie call socialism).

Where's your beef?

Socialism is a relative term, hawkeye, I realize that, and I also realize that any government is slightly socialistic or we would not have a government. The difference in my view is how we interpret which functions should be socialized and which ones should not be, and that is what our consitution explicitly describes. I believe we have been extremely successful because of the fact that socialism, and government, have been limited in terms of how we live and govern ourselves so far.

A little socialism being okay and good does not translate into the fact that more and alot more is better and alot better. That is why I think it is as slippery slope, and I think all great statesmen in our history have recognized that fact. It has been so recognized, hawkeye, that I think the very idea of turning America into a socialist country is un-American at its very core. It is not our spirit, it is not our soul, it is just not American.

And it's up to you to determine the level of socialist practice? In that case, you need to contact our government and let them know how you interpret our economy, and the dangers we face in having too much socialism.

You'll have to explain to them the "slippery slope" our country is in.

Do you have a choice in which mental institution you would like to spend the rest of your natural life?

I think the reason his approval ratings are dropping is that it is dawning on the people that he does not have any pixie dust in his back pocket after all. Damn, now what?

Working, building ****, has yet to seem to people to be a reasonable way to get to where we want to go.

I think Obama's biggest problem stems from the fact that most people's perception of him during the campaign was of an individual with above average intelligence, and the ability to bring our country together. He was going to work with both parties, and always let the American people know what was going to happen in government with total transparency.

Most Americans now feel betrayed, because his administration forgot about main street, and spent all their energy helping wall street. After that happened, banks and financial institutions got back to paying million dollar bonus' with taxpayer dollars - all while the unemployment numbers continued to increase. The stim plan was a disaster on two fronts; 1) he failed to communicate how and when the money was going to be spent, and 2) we learned about the many sloppy spending projects, and the failure to create jobs.

Afghanistan was another disaster that just shouldn't have happened; he should have listened to the American People.

Afghanistan is not as big a deal as you make it. Few care very much, and opinion is split close to down the middle at this point. With-in the next 20 years we will bring most of our military home, and we will not get involved in military affairs around the world short of some cause such as ww2, both because the people will not stand for it and because we will have no funds to war war with. But for now Obama is clear to pursue the war.

I dont get how people can say that Obama betrayed them when all through the process tons of people were warning that we really had no idea of who and what Obama was. We went with an unknown, which may have been a sound choice given that the knowns of Clinton and McCain where hard to live with. Obama is not what he said he was, but he is a politician. We all knew that right?

Rasmussen has overall approval rating for Obama at a new all time low, that is the poll of likely voters that at least somewhat approve of Obama, it is down to just 44%. The previous low was 45%. This number coupled with the last 3 days of Minus 16, minus 19, and today minus 18 of the Strongly Approve vs Strongly Disapprove index, the overall trend for Obama continues to sink lower, which is good news for America. It means more people are awaking from their trance surrounding the "Obama Effect."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

"Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s the lowest level yet measured for this president."

Another observation here, it seems apparent that liberals are either unwilling or unable to answer simple straightforward questions that I posed in regard to what they think Obama believes. Cyclops gave an initial stab at it, essentially admitting that he was to the left of Obama, but now has pretty much disappeared from the exercise in logic. Teeny has not even made a stab at it.

You would think that anyone could or should be able to provide honest opinions about their chosen candidate, especially on an opinion forum? That would appear to be the primary purpose of participating in this forum, but then again I am just an okie at heart, I am supposed to be too dumb to figure out such rudimentary things.

I agree with this.


Not with this. Afghanistan is a big deal.

The dumbmasses certainly picked a winner with staying power

At least we picked a winner, sucker.

Man, I wish we had that guy in charge right now, whoo, would we be breathing alot easier, and we would at least have some hope of turning this mess around. The guy is not perfect, but at least he does understand a few basic things right.

Ofcoarse, okie has his crystal ball that can predict how any president will perform in this environment. What a nut!

No, he doesn't. At all. All he knows how to do is try and position himself best, according to what you bunch of mouth-breathers think is a hot issue to bitch about at the moment.

Talk about a flip-flopper, this guy made Kerry look like the rock of Gibraltar.

Cycloptichorn

Good point! McCain flip-flopped so many times during the campaign, nobody knew where he stood on anything. However, okie could filter through all that maze and figure out that McCain would have been a better president.

Two crazies in our midst.

Agreed!