Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by booklover on October 22, 2012 at 7:24am

I love your last paragraph especially Sentient Biped.  I could not agree more.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Allan H. Clark on October 22, 2012 at 5:51pm

Despite fierce and unwavering opposition from House Republicans, Obama managed to achieve significant things—saving the auto industry, passing a stimulus bill that has saved jobs, a healthcare act that is far from perfect, but the only achievement in that area since Medicare. Dodd-Frank is important regulation of the financial industry and needs to be kept in place.

There could have been more progress but the GOP's refusal to compromise has made it very difficult. If Obama is re-elected and the Republican majority in the House reduced a bit, it may be possible to make progress.

I have no problem voting for Obama even though he has not always been as progressive as I would have liked. His achievements are worth saving. People have forgotten what a total disaster George W. Bush was and a return to that mode of governing would be disastrous.

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Permalink Reply by Jim DePaulo on October 25, 2012 at 8:53pm

Obama accomplished more than people give him credit for and when you consider the stated position of the Republicans was to block any legislation coming from the WH – it's amazing he got any thing done.
1. Bin Laden is dead ....2. General Motors isn't.... 3.The basic structure for a comprehensive national health care system is in place.... 5. Despite GOP denials the stimulus worked.
But the best argument is Mittens in the WH, Mittens appointing The next 1 or 2 Supreme Court Judges, Mittens being advised by RW loony luminaries like Akins, Broun and Mourdock, et al.. And finally, he's an adherent to a religion as crazy as Scientology

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on October 25, 2012 at 9:05pm

You are scaring me.

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Permalink Reply by Renee on October 22, 2012 at 5:38am

I feel completely alienated and isolated from this election.

I care deeply, and yet I don't care because no one cares about me. I cannot stand both candidates the "Big Two" parties have offered us. It's just amazing to me how differently I'm feeling about this election versus '08 when I supported and voted for Obama. I'm disgusted and repulsed by our lopsided merry-go-round political system, where if you don't agree with the Donkeys or the Elephants and/or subscribe to theism, you are irrelevant. I feel ignored, frustrated, and disenfranchised by politicians and the news media who prefer empty rhetoric to problem solving. I'm incensed by the disregard for our Constitution, big government bullying, the cheapening of our currency, the trampling of our civil liberties by fear mongerers, the intrusion into our personal lives by the religious right, and the bullshit of having our military stationed everywhere as glorified babysitters. I'm annoyed as hell with the current state of our country, and most depressingly I don't see it getting better any time soon. I certainly don't with these candidates, who in my opinion, as a libertarian independent, are two sides of the same coin presented in slightly different packaging. When I focus on it for too long, I become so infuriated that I want to punch a hole in the wall. At this point I don't think I can adequately convey just how much I despise the Democrats and Republicans. Every election we run back and forth from one party to the other and does it ever occur to anyone that we should try something else? I probably won't participate much in discussions regarding the election. I know who I'm voting for and it ain't Romney or Obama. I'm utterly disinterested in the "official" sham debates until Johnson and other candidates are let in. In '04 and '08 I watched every debate and took them seriously. Hell, I even remember the Gore/Bush debates from before I could vote. I laugh at that version of myself now.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Simeone on October 22, 2012 at 7:06am

I don't think we can forget about the role race plays in the right's hatred of Obama. I truly believe that if Obama was white he wouldn't be lothed as much as he is by certain groups. 

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Permalink Reply by Pat on October 22, 2012 at 7:32am

If the President were white, this election would be shoe-in for him. Now, I will grant you that not all on the right are racists. But, I submit, all racists are on the right.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Simeone on October 22, 2012 at 8:11am

Do you really believe that all racists are on the right? Racism exists in any group of people. During the 2008 Democratic primary Obama got roughly 95 percent of the African-American vote. Clearly, that number had much to do with some African-American voters being too racist to consider the white candidates. At the same time, Obama regularly lost the working-class, white male vote because lots of them are racist. Racism may be more abundant in the Republican party but it's alive and well in the Democratic party too.   

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on October 22, 2012 at 8:26am

Yes Jonathan I agree there is racism on both sides. We can't make sweeping generalizations - generalizations about people are not factual.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on October 22, 2012 at 8:34am

Maybe. But among the tea party types it is open and virulent. It's almost like a badge of honor with them. And, it's being passed on, under coded talk such as "Obama is a Muslim," "food stamp President," etc., by those in Washington and in elected office, as though it's an acceptable form of a policy position. Yes, blacks will vote for the President just because he's black. But what I don't hear in the public discourse from those voters on the left is something like, "the brother gonna get us all the free shit." On the other hand, I hear this exact thing coming openly and proudly from the right.

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Permalink Reply by jay H on October 22, 2012 at 9:27pm

"saving the auto industryP

use taxpayer money to prop up bloated industries. Smart. Politically that is.

I'm from the government, I'm here to help you.

It's too bad the GOP doesn't actually support free markets, it might have done some good.

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Permalink Reply by jay H on October 22, 2012 at 9:32pm

"The problem with third party is it can help elect the worst choice. "

This is what the party bosses DEPEND on. The voters are too scared to bolt, so they suck up whatever the party dishes out. Grow a FREAKIN spine folks! If you continue to vote for crap, that's what you'll get.

That is one thing the Tea party did right (regardless of their ideas). They stood up to the party. They voted against the party. They scared the hell out of the party bosses about losing control. Until you get the courage to take risks, NOTHING will happen.

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