Obama has had an incredible week. He trumps Trump with his birth certificate, shows the world his sense of humor at the White House correspondence dinner, gets Osama bin Laden and makes the GOP looks like fools, the GOP candidates looks very very weak, and the recent job report was much better than expected. Someone is getting laid tonight.
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Last year he beat Clark Kellogg at H-O-R-S-E on national tv.
Mad props to Obama for his handling of the bin laden mission. I think he showed great judgment and audacity. If the mission had failed, he seriously would have risked his presidency; the GOP House would probably be getting ready for impeachment right now.
Having said that, bin laden's death will not have much of a role in next year's election. Just like daddy Bush found out in 1992, it's all about the economy (of course barring another attack on our soil).
I think we have the best combination of President/SecDef/Secretary of State in post-WWII America when it comes to foreign policy. And we can mitigate the domestic policy weaknesses by electing a Republican Senate/House.
Maybe Obama doesn't deserve a second term, but I think Bin Laden crushes the Jimmy Carter narrative.
It's millenia in politician-years before November 2012, but if the situation continues, Obama has my vote and the Senate/House Republicans have mine as well. I will be one of those 1996 voters who shot down Dole but kept the Republicans in the house.
I think it makes spreading the blame easier but neither party is going to help the economy. Getting some sort of budget out the door and reforming the tax code are Obama's best chance at improving his economic standing. Avoiding a QE3 should be a priority and resolving fiscal issues would be a good alternative way to keep yields down.
Would have been absolutely nuts if he had made a Bin Laden joke at the correspondent's dinner.
Almost any sitting president except Carter would have pulled the trigger on Bin Laden (pun intended).
Bush was always great at the Correspondent's Dinner (a completely irrelevant event)
Trump came out looking like the winner in the Birth Cert issue. The certificate was announced to a tiny media crowd b/c a swarm was too busy covering Trump in New Hampshire.
The current GOP field will NOT resemble the 2012 primary group. A popular GOP sitting governor could crush the current field and certainly beat Obama (Could Obama touch Chris Christie? doubtful)
The definition of delusion.
The first 3 points are ironclad.
We can debate the GOP field vs. Obama.
Obama is extremely weak: it's the economy stupid. OBL is a tiny temporary bump.
Concur
Not as ironclad as you claim : http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/05/bin-laden-is-dead-but-why-didnt-we…
I wouldn't give too much credit to all those sources but the first one (Senate report) is particularly reliable.
People like you almost make be embarassed to be a conservative/Republican. Obama will win in 2012. America won't elect a Mormon, or a Tea Party-ist, or an outspoken libertarian (at this point). Our focus should be on 2016 and delivering a united platform from the right.
p.s. Trump didn't win shit. You shame your ideals by supporting a spoiled clown who can't keep his own finances (or marriages) in order.
I would never support Trump but he won the birther issue! He got the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to answer his heckling. Are you unable to see how pathetic that is? Obama shamed the dignity of the Office of the executive by trolling in the mud with Trump.
A Tea Party supported candidate could certainly win. The winner won't need to capture the Left, just the middle 10% independents. The Tea Party candidates in 2010 achieved this to great success.
I'd never vote for Romney, Huckabee, Palin. I'd vote for Ron Paul but he's likely not electable.
Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry. All excellent candidates.
I think this is what you call a hack.
Yes, I am a hack. A registered independent hack. Good work sleuth.
A sitting GOP governor could crush Obama. The current GOP field is a joke and will NOT produce the eventual nominee.
2010 mid-terms are the greatest predictor of the 2012 race. The Obama legislative agenda was rejected. He will still be saddled with a weak economy.
Jimmy Carter 2.0. If only the GOP had a Reagan in the current field..... Draft Chris Christie!
Bottom line is that Obama/Hillary/Gates seem to be too good for this country on foreign policy for us to kick them out the door over a squabble on domestic issues. I think that if we keep getting these kinds of results on the diplomatic and execution front, Obama is going to be seen as superior to Ike, Reagan, and Clinton on all fronts when it comes to foreign policy by historians- practically the polar opposite of Bush.
I also agree with Fareed Zakaria on the fact that the fiscal policy pendulum is at its furthest swing to the right and higher income taxes are probably necessary. That doesn't mean we're going back to 70% taxes- we live in a much more capitalist global economy than the '50s-'70s were, but Obama probably needs to get his way on taxes and Paul Ryan probably needs to get his way on Medicare if we really want to balance the budget.
+1. I think a swing in the regulatory pendulum is also necessary., and I don't mean on stupid stuff like the Dodd-Frank/Volcker rule.
Didn't Hillary announce her retirement? Or isn't she expected to?
I know we killed Osama Bin Laden and all this week, but my highlight had to be the WH correspondent's dinner.
The part where they cut to Trump sitting in his seat, teeth clenched and beet red, I wish I could have been there so I could have walked up to Trump after the ROASTING, point my left index finger and say...
HAHA, U MAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama.... a foreign policy strength?!?!? The proponent of "lead from behind"? Who is embarassed by American strength? Who intervenes in wholly unpredictable/erratic ways? Who lets our woefully underprepared allies take the first blood? Who has exposed our Eastern European allies to Russian aggression?
Better than REAGAN?!?! Who brought down the Soviet Union??? At a time when many thought we couldn't win and shouldn't win the Cold War, he committed us to victory.
Obama has drawn major criticism from BOTH sides of the aisle for his foreign policy.
I'm not a neocon (fairly non-interventionist. keep our powder dry for big crises) but at least the Bush Doctrine had substance.
Obama seems to hope that his dark skin and middle name will magically make us allies of the world.
Would Obama defend Taiwan? Or would he bow to the Chinese?
Obama has drawn major criticism from BOTH sides of the aisle for his foreign policy.
The Bush Doctrine cost our country dozens of allies and $1.9 Trillion in military spending. China's not stupid.And what substance would that be? Reckless stupidity? Talk about betting the farm on one of the most misguided conflicts ever.. Positively everyone hated the US and its not like we were gaining anything from it. Maybe a little less "substance" would have done us some good.
And what substance would that be? Reckless stupidity? Talk about betting the farm on one of the most misguided conflicts ever.. Positively everyone hated the US and its not like we were gaining anything from it. Maybe a little less "substance" would have done us some good.[/quote]
Holy sh*t. Is it not possible to discuss a President without supporting him?
Obama has failed to articulate any sort of cohesive foreign policy framework.
Bush was wrong but he at least articulated his doctrine:
Right or wrong (it's a mix of both with Bush) at least I understood his principles and could discern whether I agreed with them.
Obama remains a blank slate. That is much more dangerous.
I don't recall supporting Obama's foreign policy stance anywhere on this thread.
Bush violated the first point of his doctrine by diverting resources to a conflict that didn't meet the second requirement and had the third and fourth points tacked to make the whole thing seem palatable. That's not a doctrine, that's smoke and mirrors from start to finish. The Bush 'doctrine' is a cover-up for a foreign policy of hubris, recklessness and sheer lunacy. Obama would be hard-pressed to do worse.
I disagree, as much as the Republicans like to call him a far left socialistic Obama is actually pretty moderate. This disconcerts some because he tends to look at issues on a case by base basis instead of blindly adhering to one ideology. The Bush doctrine was a dangerous proposition that slapped all of our allies in the face, I don't think anyone really believes that Bush was better at foreign policy than Obama.
Oh here we go again
Good call. It's too nice out for a PoFlaWar.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Beer in 5....4...3...2...
Lol. Gear up man...
On another note, you ever notice how virtually IMPOSSIBLE it is for someone to have a debate concerning Obama and not mention or make some sort of implication about his race/ethnicity? In my head I'm always like, "wait for it...wait for it..." lmao...
USA! USA! USA!
Obama is the one flaunting his ethnicity as though it were some foreign policy magic wand.
Go f*ck yourself. I have a similar racial composition to Obama.
Go ask African-American political economist Thomas Sowell what he thinks of Obama....
It appears his balls are growing uncontrollably fast, lol...
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/south/Pakistan-Says-US-Drone-S…
Regards
Heads-up, this is disgusting but a-propos. http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e03-medicinal-fried-ch…
Ha, I was talking to a friend on facebook while watching Obama reveal the news on Osama. In a moment of ecstasy he was like: "I want to give Obama a blow job." I think that speaks volumes as to how much Obama has revitalized his base. He's not gay, or bi.
Sounds pretty gay to me.
umm...that is gay....there is no way around that. No amount of no homos will make that less gay.
Me too....
My father, Obama's former doctor said they are of average size, Meh
I stayed out of this all weekend but here are my thoughts on those who say Obama has not articulated a foreign policy.
I agree. He does not have a set of rules on it. He takes a pragmatic approach on every case and that is a good thing. It's a risk/reward ratio on every endeavor. We're in finance and we should understand this better than most people. In my opinion, supporting the Libya conflict was appeasing our allies strategic interest at a fairly low cost. We asked our allies to go to freakin' Iraq for NO reason.
And a related point to those who say it's not to be a flip flopper. Guess what? Everybody is a flip-flopper in their own lives. You make certain decisions with information available at the time and sometimes have to change those decisions when newer information is available. That is what a good leader does. Our task is to see who is changing their mind just to get more votes (i.e. Romney on Romneycare's national implementation.)
I agree with you, though, what an incredible week.
Other than that, some people here are clearly deluded. I am right-wing [and UK-based] but to me it is clear that Bush was a failure and that History will remember Obama as a strong president. How can people even argue with that? Most geopolitical problems Obama has to deal with were amplified by Bush's lackluster foreign policy!
I see ZERO evidence of Obama as a "strong president"
He is flotsam on the sea of history. He will be forgotten as quickly as his candidacy arose.
ummm lets see...
Economy is recovering at record rate and surpassing other nation's recovery
Killed Osama Bin Laden our enemy number UNO
Passed a health care bill that doesnt help us but will help millions of Americans
I think you just want to be difficult and not give the man his props.....smh
sad
Economy is experiencing the slowest recovery for any post-recessionary period.
Health care bill was passed despite minimal support, caused the electoral defeat of many supporters in 2010 and will be a major negative for Obama in 2012.
Killed OBL- did what ANY sitting president would have done.
Offers ZERO budgetary leadership.
Deferential and feable foreign policy.
Your standards for the office of the president are terribly low. He is failing.
I'm just glad people are dumb enough to give Obama ANY credit for killing bin Laden. The CIA found him and the military killed him. Anyone who thinks that Obama's permission was actually needed is delusional. He would have been killed one way or another, with or without his "approval".
Bear in mind that this was over two years into Obama's presidency. At the very least, even the staunchest conservative has to give him credit for not letting the US Intelligence apparatus at least not degrade from Bush's level which it very well could have in two years if we supposedly had a mess under Clinton that Bush supposedly fixed. Once- the piracy kidnapping two years ago- was a tactical fluke; twice is starting to become a strategic story. Three times- the US involvement to protect civilians in Libya and take down a dictator without pissing off the whole middle east- starts to become a very clear pattern at least over two years.
There's an undeniable strategic component to this. Anyone sane knows Obama at least isn't Jimmy Carter or even Bill Clinton at this point. And frankly, this fiscal conservative who voted (R) in the past two elections thinks he's doing much better than Bush.
If the trend that I've seen over the past 27 months continues over the next 18, we need Obama to stay in office- and we need a bunch of Republicans and deficit hawks to keep him under control on spending. He is simply too good for US foreign policy to throw out merely because he happens to be a Democrat. Since LBJ, people on one side or the other have always been able to argue that a president has caused America's international prestige to slip on some level. Obama is only 27 months into his term, but nobody has been able to remotely argue that. We avenged the indignity of September 11th. We weakened a number of unfriendly dictators in the region and two of our enemies- Syria and Iran- are on the verge of a meltdown. The US trade deficit is narrowing despite a recession that arguably started under a previous president.
Things could change tomorrow, and Obama is an idiot for signing Nancy Pelosi's stimulus package into law and promoting universal healthcare, but he deserves a second term for his foreign policy. We just need to make sure the Republicans control both houses in congress so he doesn't screw up domestic policy. Obama's only mistake on foreign policy is that he chooses to remain dignified about the whole matter and give credit to the troops and his staff rather than shove it in the faces of angry and increasingly irrelevant reality TV stars and hockey mom governors.
If Obama keeps it up on foreign policy execution and Boehner blocks his stupid domestic policy moves, Obama is going to win in a landslide in November and Palin is going to increasingly look like George Wallace's deranged niece. She and Trump are becoming an embarassment to fiscal conservativism.
Because folks like verittas convince independent voters that the Tea Party is tearing the country apart. Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, and the tea party need to choose their battles better. Foreign policy isn't really the hill to plant your flag and fight your battle on if you are a Republican- at least right now.
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