Lindaman writes (on EARLY SATURDAY MORNING since he had nothing better to do on a Friday night):
President Barack Obama has a lot of problems on his plate these days.
Inherited problems, yes.
From the economy
Inherited from Bush.
to health care
The Republicans have always fought AGAINST having a solution to this problem.
to foreign policy,
The world is finally warming up to the USA now that Obama's been in charge. America's influence in the world is now seen as more positive than negative.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8626041.stm
Must be that bass-ackwards approach to foreign policy. You know, like not being a shithead.
it's amazing to consider everything Obama has to deal with on a daily basis. That requires a keen attention to detail and a solutions-oriented approach.
Wait for it... wait for it...
Unfortunately, Obama seems to lack both.
Ta-Da! Gee, how did I know he would say that?
If anything, Obama has shown a decided lack of these skills or at least a Bizarro World approach to problems.
Since you consider improvements to be bad things, you right wingers are quite funny referring to Bizarro World (wonder where you got that term from? Certainly not from "A Certain Leftist Blogger That 'Hates' You Yet Copies Everything You Say").
Take the health care reform battle, for example. With unemployment skyrocketing,
Also inherited. Of course, when things are going well economically under a Democratic administration, then it's the Reagan administration that gets the credit.
Obama decides health care is the most important issue because of the millions of people who aren't covered by health insurance.
Right, since a president can't work on more than one thing at a time. Uh-huh.
That's a blatant lie, anyway. Obama stated his number one focus for this year is... guess what? Job creation.
Okay, but how does that put people to work?
Why do you constantly take irrelevant subjects and stick them together like that? Do you have conversations like that, too?
"I bought some milk today."
"Yeah, but how is that going to put gas in your car? :-)"
"Uh, I got gas yesterday. What the fuck does that have to do with milk?"
"Exactly! :-)"
"..."
Sure, you're creating a government bureaucracy,
Considering it's still all private insurance, that's a bit of a stretch.
but that's not really helping the economy by creating jobs in the private sector.
"Gas milk whargarbl!"
When you consider, though, that health insurance is included with a good number of jobs these days, a logical approach to the coverage issue might be...oh I don't know...getting people into jobs with health insurance. Not only would it get the uninsured the coverage Obama thinks they need, but it would also tackle the unemployment issue and go a long way towards improving the economy.
Oh, for christ's sake...
First, having a job doesn't guarantee health benefits. Second, having a job with health benefits doesn't guarantee that it will be ADEQUATE health insurance (ever heard of high deductibles?). Third, having a job with optional health benefits doesn't mean you can afford the insurance packages that can cover you decently (or did you know that in many cases, even if your job has health benefits, you STILL have to pay for much of your insurance)? Forth, having a job with health insurance doesn't mean you're not going to lose your coverage due to the typical strategies of health insurance companies to deny you coverage. The whole "You don't have insurance cause you ain't fuckin' workin'" soundbite isn't going to fly, Teabaggers.
Instead, Obama decided to attack a symptom instead of the disease.
The United States health care system IS a disease. A sickening, embarrassing, disgusting pus-filled boil of a disease. Not a symptom, a DISEASE.
Obama did something about this DISEASE in a major way, and the best you guys can do is say "Yeah, well... how does that solve unemployment?" UNEMPLOYMENT? Honestly, what is the MATTER with you people?
That same special ed logic can be turned around, ya know: "Health care reform can help unemployment because people will get checkups, and thus won't lose their jobs due to constantly calling out sick!" How do YOU like it?
In doing so, Obama has committed to working on the problem from the wrong end. Get people health insurance coverage and then worry about their ability to pay for it.
Health care NEEDED reform, and it was just as important as the unemployment issue. Obama is working on BOTH.
You're focusing on "paying for it." Did you know that people that CAN'T work, get cancer too? Did you know that?
And things are already being accomplished to due his work. Including reducing unemployment:
One would be blatantly lying by stating Obama did nothing about unemployment. Did you forget the Recovery Act, that gave small businesses tax breaks?
Obama is proposing:
1. Tax credits for small businesses that hire new employees.
2. Tax incentives for all businesses to open new plants.
3. Elimination of capital gains taxes on small business investment.
4. A new small business lending fund, now that the banks are recovering.
Now, Conservatives, tell us how these things would NOT help. Go on, tell us.
In order to try to make Obama look bad, you have to ignore all he's done to fight the unemployment situation, and instead point your finger at health care reform, which is an Obama... accomplishment. And you say OBAMA lives in Bizarro World?
Oh, and in a completely unrelated story, around half of American households pay no income tax as was reported recently. So guess who gets to pay for Obama's largess. That's right, the other half, who probably already have health insurance coverage. Yeah, that will sit well.
What in the hell does taxes have to do with it? Paying for taxes and paying for health insurance are two different things.
When you have health insurance, you're ALREADY PAYING for other people's health care. That's how it WORKS. The difference is that it will work BETTER with the reform, because EVERYBODY will have insurance.
And I thought you Teabaggers were always screaming for lower taxes. We have the lowest taxes in decades and nearly half of Americans pay no income tax... and you're BITCHING about it? Jesus, income taxes have been lowered at every income level and you're STILL repeating this lie.
Would you Teabaggers just finally admit that your little rallies have nothing to do with smaller government or less taxes?
I think the best thing for Obama to do, is to attend a Teabagger meeting, and announce that he will roll back taxes to exactly the way they were under the Reagan administration. Those guys would cheer like crazy, since they're too stupid to realize how much higher the taxes were back then. That would be absolutely hysterical.
Oh, and speaking of Reagan: In 1983, unemployment was at 10.8%, and Reagan's approval rating was 35%. I guess that's why he was an unpopular one-termer, right?
In foreign policy, Obama is no better. We have serious issues on the horizon with Iran developing nuclear technology. They say it's for power generation, but when you consider Iran is sitting on one of the largest oil deposits in the world, I'm thinking it's for other reasons than energy generation. Obama is committed to dealing with Iran, but recent talks about the Iranian nuclear program included a discussion about another country in that neck of the woods, Israel.
Seems Obama wants Israel to stand down at the same time he wants Iran to stand down.
Okay, how many other people reading that had a WTF moment? Just checking.
Yep, it's WTF that anyone would write that, considering they would be ignoring one little fact:
Things aren't so peaceful right now with Israel occupying Gaza and the West Bank.
It's good that Obama wants to address the Iranian situation, but why bring Israel into it? Iranian President Imadinnerjacket has said repeatedly that he wants to destroy Israel, so it would seem logical that Israel would want to defend itself through whatever means they have at their disposal, which includes...nuclear weapons. The likelihood that Iran will abide by the terms of any agreement is unlikely at best, but Israel has a track record of following our lead as best they can.
Whether Israel will go along with the Obama plan to scale down both Iran and Israel is up in the air yet, but it doesn't undercut one of the major issues behind it: Obama's wrongheaded approach to solving problems.
Israel has hardly been following our lead. When we are nice enough to provide them with military technology, they turn around and sell it, and they have been found to have spies in our government in the past. They spat in our face on numerous occasions, but for some reason, the right wingers feel we have an obligation to them. We are like the enablers of the addict that is Israel. How often do they bite the hand that feeds them? How often do they start yet another development on Palestinian territory or commit blatant acts of espionage here in DC? Israel is about the worst "friend" our country could possibly have.
Whether you guys can accept it or not, Israel is an apartheid state that commits war crimes.
The United States has a SHITLOAD of sanctions on Iran, along with UN sanctions. And sanctions WORK, as have been proven over and over again. And Obama is attempting to increase the sanctions even more.
But no, that's not enough, is it?
Again, Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It's complying with the treaty, has no nuclear arsenal, and does not even have a nuclear weapons program. The NPT allows countries to enrich uranium for fuel, which is all that Iran is known to be doing. Yep, they have oil for fuel, too. But does having oil mean they can't have uranium? Where is that written in the NPT? We have florescent lightbulbs, so does that mean we can't have LED technology?
Remember Iraq? That whole mess is because of repeated lies about WMD's that were proven to not be there. We're not going to have another useless, pointless war based on "I feel it in my gut!"
In contrast, Israel is blatant about constructing and stockpiling nuclear warheads, and they loudly wave them at other Middle Eastern states.
You know what that creates? A nuclear arms race. Remember the good old days of Reagan? So even if Iran is obtaining uranium (LEGALLY) just to make people nervous and think he's going to magically transform a nuclear arsenal from it, there's a REASON for that.
We threaten Iran with crippling sanctions and some even threaten a nuclear strike, simultaneously ignoring Israel’s massive nuclear weapons program... and then act shocked when Iran wants uranium.
Much hay was made by the Bush administration on Iraq flaunting UN resolutions. Israel has also flaunted them... now what?
The only reason America is Israel's puppet is because of the Suez Canal, fairy tale holy land, and that bullshit in Revelations. There is a deep seated certainty among evangelicals, Christian conservatives, etc. that Israel is God's special country and that the key to US prosperity is our continued protection of them. Our evangelical constituents do not want peace in the middle east. There has to be war there for them to fly up into the sky and meet Jesus.
Oh, and the nasty left-wingers need to stop urging Israel to treat the Palestinians like human beings! After all, they aren't. Anyone who says otherwise is an anti-semite. At this point, the Republicans would side with Israel even if they started systematically exterminating Palestinians, rather than just forcing them out of their settlements.
If this was any country other than Israel directly lobbying the government of the United States to change their policies because they don't like it, there would be a push to hang whatever traitor even talked to them. But somehow, American politicians are required to be loyal to two countries: Israel and America, and what Israel wants comes first.
After the Gaza massacre, Israel should have been cut off completely and its leaders standing trial in the Hague, yet asking Israel to give one millimeter on nuclear arms is somehow being "unreasonable."
To Conservatives, pissing our money away to Israel = being financially responsible.
But no, critics are just anti-semitic because they think giving one fifth of the United States' foreign aid budget to a country that they get to use for reasons they don't even have to disclose (including things the US opposes) is stupid when the country doesn't even seem to make an effort to fix their shit.
Israel is our ally with a democracy? Then they should ACT like it, rather than doing this bullshit. It's dishonest to downplay the aggregate harm that our relationship with Israel has caused us in terms of bloodshed and dollars pissed away. Israel needs to get its house in order, and it's not going to figure that out with the US acting like a helicopter mom.
Just remember: 9/11 happened because of 50 years of pissing in the middle east's pool, meddling with their governments, propping up their despots, putting non-Islamic troops near their holy sites, and blind support of the Israeli government without any sense of stewardship that might have helped the region overcome religious disparities.
If we want the Arab world to stop thinking of the US as Israel's bitch, maybe we should stop acting like Israel's bitch.
Obama's handling Israel's current douchebaggery just fine. Leaders with an actual spine are a good thing. Refreshing, isn't it?
It's one thing to come up with a solution that doesn't work and have to go back to the drawing board. It's another to make the same mistakes in different scenarios and never correct them.
Too bad that in all your examples, there were no mistakes Obama has made that need correcting.
At this point, Obama is clearly on the latter path. That can only have negative implications down the road.
The majority of the Jewish American population supports Obama's stance towards Israel. So please, Obama, don't lose a moment's sleep over the possibility of losing that voting block, despite vague grumblings of "negative implications" by Christian right-wingers (who hate the Jews anyway because Jews killed their fictional messiah).
The economy is improving, there's an improvement in our health care system, and the world isn't hating us as much now. Why? Because our current president is actually getting things done and creating solutions (the stimulus, the health care reform bill, better foreign relations, etc).
But no, apparently the right-wingers think it's Bizarro World when solutions actually work.
President Barack Obama has a lot of problems on his plate these days.
Inherited problems, yes.
From the economy
Inherited from Bush.
to health care
The Republicans have always fought AGAINST having a solution to this problem.
to foreign policy,
The world is finally warming up to the USA now that Obama's been in charge. America's influence in the world is now seen as more positive than negative.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8626041.stm
Must be that bass-ackwards approach to foreign policy. You know, like not being a shithead.
it's amazing to consider everything Obama has to deal with on a daily basis. That requires a keen attention to detail and a solutions-oriented approach.
Wait for it... wait for it...
Unfortunately, Obama seems to lack both.
Ta-Da! Gee, how did I know he would say that?
If anything, Obama has shown a decided lack of these skills or at least a Bizarro World approach to problems.
Since you consider improvements to be bad things, you right wingers are quite funny referring to Bizarro World (wonder where you got that term from? Certainly not from "A Certain Leftist Blogger That 'Hates' You Yet Copies Everything You Say").
Take the health care reform battle, for example. With unemployment skyrocketing,
Also inherited. Of course, when things are going well economically under a Democratic administration, then it's the Reagan administration that gets the credit.
Obama decides health care is the most important issue because of the millions of people who aren't covered by health insurance.
Right, since a president can't work on more than one thing at a time. Uh-huh.
That's a blatant lie, anyway. Obama stated his number one focus for this year is... guess what? Job creation.
Okay, but how does that put people to work?
Why do you constantly take irrelevant subjects and stick them together like that? Do you have conversations like that, too?
"I bought some milk today."
"Yeah, but how is that going to put gas in your car? :-)"
"Uh, I got gas yesterday. What the fuck does that have to do with milk?"
"Exactly! :-)"
"..."
Sure, you're creating a government bureaucracy,
Considering it's still all private insurance, that's a bit of a stretch.
but that's not really helping the economy by creating jobs in the private sector.
"Gas milk whargarbl!"
When you consider, though, that health insurance is included with a good number of jobs these days, a logical approach to the coverage issue might be...oh I don't know...getting people into jobs with health insurance. Not only would it get the uninsured the coverage Obama thinks they need, but it would also tackle the unemployment issue and go a long way towards improving the economy.
Oh, for christ's sake...
First, having a job doesn't guarantee health benefits. Second, having a job with health benefits doesn't guarantee that it will be ADEQUATE health insurance (ever heard of high deductibles?). Third, having a job with optional health benefits doesn't mean you can afford the insurance packages that can cover you decently (or did you know that in many cases, even if your job has health benefits, you STILL have to pay for much of your insurance)? Forth, having a job with health insurance doesn't mean you're not going to lose your coverage due to the typical strategies of health insurance companies to deny you coverage. The whole "You don't have insurance cause you ain't fuckin' workin'" soundbite isn't going to fly, Teabaggers.
Instead, Obama decided to attack a symptom instead of the disease.
The United States health care system IS a disease. A sickening, embarrassing, disgusting pus-filled boil of a disease. Not a symptom, a DISEASE.
Obama did something about this DISEASE in a major way, and the best you guys can do is say "Yeah, well... how does that solve unemployment?" UNEMPLOYMENT? Honestly, what is the MATTER with you people?
That same special ed logic can be turned around, ya know: "Health care reform can help unemployment because people will get checkups, and thus won't lose their jobs due to constantly calling out sick!" How do YOU like it?
In doing so, Obama has committed to working on the problem from the wrong end. Get people health insurance coverage and then worry about their ability to pay for it.
Health care NEEDED reform, and it was just as important as the unemployment issue. Obama is working on BOTH.
You're focusing on "paying for it." Did you know that people that CAN'T work, get cancer too? Did you know that?
And things are already being accomplished to due his work. Including reducing unemployment:
One would be blatantly lying by stating Obama did nothing about unemployment. Did you forget the Recovery Act, that gave small businesses tax breaks?
Obama is proposing:
1. Tax credits for small businesses that hire new employees.
2. Tax incentives for all businesses to open new plants.
3. Elimination of capital gains taxes on small business investment.
4. A new small business lending fund, now that the banks are recovering.
Now, Conservatives, tell us how these things would NOT help. Go on, tell us.
In order to try to make Obama look bad, you have to ignore all he's done to fight the unemployment situation, and instead point your finger at health care reform, which is an Obama... accomplishment. And you say OBAMA lives in Bizarro World?
Oh, and in a completely unrelated story, around half of American households pay no income tax as was reported recently. So guess who gets to pay for Obama's largess. That's right, the other half, who probably already have health insurance coverage. Yeah, that will sit well.
What in the hell does taxes have to do with it? Paying for taxes and paying for health insurance are two different things.
When you have health insurance, you're ALREADY PAYING for other people's health care. That's how it WORKS. The difference is that it will work BETTER with the reform, because EVERYBODY will have insurance.
And I thought you Teabaggers were always screaming for lower taxes. We have the lowest taxes in decades and nearly half of Americans pay no income tax... and you're BITCHING about it? Jesus, income taxes have been lowered at every income level and you're STILL repeating this lie.
Would you Teabaggers just finally admit that your little rallies have nothing to do with smaller government or less taxes?
I think the best thing for Obama to do, is to attend a Teabagger meeting, and announce that he will roll back taxes to exactly the way they were under the Reagan administration. Those guys would cheer like crazy, since they're too stupid to realize how much higher the taxes were back then. That would be absolutely hysterical.
Oh, and speaking of Reagan: In 1983, unemployment was at 10.8%, and Reagan's approval rating was 35%. I guess that's why he was an unpopular one-termer, right?
In foreign policy, Obama is no better. We have serious issues on the horizon with Iran developing nuclear technology. They say it's for power generation, but when you consider Iran is sitting on one of the largest oil deposits in the world, I'm thinking it's for other reasons than energy generation. Obama is committed to dealing with Iran, but recent talks about the Iranian nuclear program included a discussion about another country in that neck of the woods, Israel.
Seems Obama wants Israel to stand down at the same time he wants Iran to stand down.
Okay, how many other people reading that had a WTF moment? Just checking.
Yep, it's WTF that anyone would write that, considering they would be ignoring one little fact:
Things aren't so peaceful right now with Israel occupying Gaza and the West Bank.
It's good that Obama wants to address the Iranian situation, but why bring Israel into it? Iranian President Imadinnerjacket has said repeatedly that he wants to destroy Israel, so it would seem logical that Israel would want to defend itself through whatever means they have at their disposal, which includes...nuclear weapons. The likelihood that Iran will abide by the terms of any agreement is unlikely at best, but Israel has a track record of following our lead as best they can.
Whether Israel will go along with the Obama plan to scale down both Iran and Israel is up in the air yet, but it doesn't undercut one of the major issues behind it: Obama's wrongheaded approach to solving problems.
Israel has hardly been following our lead. When we are nice enough to provide them with military technology, they turn around and sell it, and they have been found to have spies in our government in the past. They spat in our face on numerous occasions, but for some reason, the right wingers feel we have an obligation to them. We are like the enablers of the addict that is Israel. How often do they bite the hand that feeds them? How often do they start yet another development on Palestinian territory or commit blatant acts of espionage here in DC? Israel is about the worst "friend" our country could possibly have.
Whether you guys can accept it or not, Israel is an apartheid state that commits war crimes.
The United States has a SHITLOAD of sanctions on Iran, along with UN sanctions. And sanctions WORK, as have been proven over and over again. And Obama is attempting to increase the sanctions even more.
But no, that's not enough, is it?
Again, Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It's complying with the treaty, has no nuclear arsenal, and does not even have a nuclear weapons program. The NPT allows countries to enrich uranium for fuel, which is all that Iran is known to be doing. Yep, they have oil for fuel, too. But does having oil mean they can't have uranium? Where is that written in the NPT? We have florescent lightbulbs, so does that mean we can't have LED technology?
Remember Iraq? That whole mess is because of repeated lies about WMD's that were proven to not be there. We're not going to have another useless, pointless war based on "I feel it in my gut!"
In contrast, Israel is blatant about constructing and stockpiling nuclear warheads, and they loudly wave them at other Middle Eastern states.
You know what that creates? A nuclear arms race. Remember the good old days of Reagan? So even if Iran is obtaining uranium (LEGALLY) just to make people nervous and think he's going to magically transform a nuclear arsenal from it, there's a REASON for that.
We threaten Iran with crippling sanctions and some even threaten a nuclear strike, simultaneously ignoring Israel’s massive nuclear weapons program... and then act shocked when Iran wants uranium.
Much hay was made by the Bush administration on Iraq flaunting UN resolutions. Israel has also flaunted them... now what?
The only reason America is Israel's puppet is because of the Suez Canal, fairy tale holy land, and that bullshit in Revelations. There is a deep seated certainty among evangelicals, Christian conservatives, etc. that Israel is God's special country and that the key to US prosperity is our continued protection of them. Our evangelical constituents do not want peace in the middle east. There has to be war there for them to fly up into the sky and meet Jesus.
Oh, and the nasty left-wingers need to stop urging Israel to treat the Palestinians like human beings! After all, they aren't. Anyone who says otherwise is an anti-semite. At this point, the Republicans would side with Israel even if they started systematically exterminating Palestinians, rather than just forcing them out of their settlements.
If this was any country other than Israel directly lobbying the government of the United States to change their policies because they don't like it, there would be a push to hang whatever traitor even talked to them. But somehow, American politicians are required to be loyal to two countries: Israel and America, and what Israel wants comes first.
After the Gaza massacre, Israel should have been cut off completely and its leaders standing trial in the Hague, yet asking Israel to give one millimeter on nuclear arms is somehow being "unreasonable."
To Conservatives, pissing our money away to Israel = being financially responsible.
But no, critics are just anti-semitic because they think giving one fifth of the United States' foreign aid budget to a country that they get to use for reasons they don't even have to disclose (including things the US opposes) is stupid when the country doesn't even seem to make an effort to fix their shit.
Israel is our ally with a democracy? Then they should ACT like it, rather than doing this bullshit. It's dishonest to downplay the aggregate harm that our relationship with Israel has caused us in terms of bloodshed and dollars pissed away. Israel needs to get its house in order, and it's not going to figure that out with the US acting like a helicopter mom.
Just remember: 9/11 happened because of 50 years of pissing in the middle east's pool, meddling with their governments, propping up their despots, putting non-Islamic troops near their holy sites, and blind support of the Israeli government without any sense of stewardship that might have helped the region overcome religious disparities.
If we want the Arab world to stop thinking of the US as Israel's bitch, maybe we should stop acting like Israel's bitch.
Obama's handling Israel's current douchebaggery just fine. Leaders with an actual spine are a good thing. Refreshing, isn't it?
It's one thing to come up with a solution that doesn't work and have to go back to the drawing board. It's another to make the same mistakes in different scenarios and never correct them.
Too bad that in all your examples, there were no mistakes Obama has made that need correcting.
At this point, Obama is clearly on the latter path. That can only have negative implications down the road.
The majority of the Jewish American population supports Obama's stance towards Israel. So please, Obama, don't lose a moment's sleep over the possibility of losing that voting block, despite vague grumblings of "negative implications" by Christian right-wingers (who hate the Jews anyway because Jews killed their fictional messiah).
The economy is improving, there's an improvement in our health care system, and the world isn't hating us as much now. Why? Because our current president is actually getting things done and creating solutions (the stimulus, the health care reform bill, better foreign relations, etc).
But no, apparently the right-wingers think it's Bizarro World when solutions actually work.