Obama

[pete]

I firmly believe that BO will be one of the great presidents but this is all shape throwing - closing gitmo is an easy win - low hanging fruit

I don't think closing Gitmo is that easy - what does he do with the "detainees" ? Gitmo may not be popular but do Americans really want to see some of those guys walk free?

It is difficult to comment of US internal issues unless you live there & understand them fully e.g. health/education. The President is only powerful if he can get the Senate/Congress to pass his laws. From what I have read not sure American voters like having one party control the Presidency, Senate & Congress so the numbers in those houses could change in two years time.

[Angus]

I don't think closing Gitmo is that easy - what does he do with the "detainees" ? Gitmo may not be popular but do Americans really want to see some of those guys walk free?

It is difficult to comment of US internal issues unless you live there & understand them fully e.g. health/education. The President is only powerful if he can get the Senate/Congress to pass his laws. From what I have read not sure American voters like having one party control the Presidency, Senate & Congress so the numbers in those houses could change in two years time.

Sorry, you said it better - announcing the closure of Gitmo is easy and is therefore is an easy win - the actual mechanics of closing it is clearly tricky. In his first 3 / 4 months he will be able to set the tone and drive change - and this is an easy start.

[pete]

From the Irish Times

US President Barack Obama today opened the way for states to set stricter limits on greenhouse gas emmissions from cars in a major reversal of the Bush administration’s environment policy.

The president told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider California's request, denied under President George W. Bush, that would allow it to impose stricter limits on vehicle carbon dioxide emissions, blamed for contributing to global warming.

Obama quickly moving onto next big Bush policy. I suppose he using his "political" capital as Bush described it four years ago.

Saw a clip last week of Fox News running their scaremongering campaign now that Obama in charge. So blatant it is funny.

[thischarmingman]

From the Irish Times



Obama quickly moving onto next big Bush policy. I suppose he using his "political" capital as Bush described it four years ago.

Saw a clip last week of Fox News running their scaremongering campaign now that Obama in charge. So blatant it is funny.

They interviewed Palin 2 nights ago and it was cringeworthy.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Anyone have any thoughts on his sanctioned? bombing of Pakistan last Thursday?

[Beavis]

'But if you look at the track record ... America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that.' - Obama

Without even considering the quagmire of Iraq, relations with Arab nations is unlikely to improve without genuine pressure on Israel in addressing their continual human rights violations against Palestinians and the removal illegal settlements. Unfortunately, this won't ever happen because the pro-Israeli camp is too powerful in America.

It will be interesting to see if he has the cojones to enforce restrictions on Israel. I hope he will but I doubt it.

[passinginterest]

Anyone else reading/read his books? I got them both for Christmas I've finished "Dreams from my Father" and just started into "The Audacity of Hope". Dreams is a remarkable memoir in many ways, I found the first and last sections totally enthralling, although it lagged a little in the middle. The fact it was written before he had gone into politics and reveals so much that most politicians would desperately try to hide makes it a very worthy read. He admits to being a troubled young man, experimenting with drugs over indulging in alcohol and generally getting in trouble. He experienced life in Indonesia and saw a whole other culture, unlike the average American president. He was and, I'd say, still is a religious skeptic I get the impression he only attaches himself to a church because it's the only way to get anything done. What comes through in the book is a genuine empathy and compassion for people, from a man who has had great struggles with his own identity, spending some formative years in Indonesia before struggling to adapt to living as a black man in a mainly white community. Before reading the book I wasn't that confident that he was capable of doing much, but afterwards I couldn't help but be hopeful. He's a really pragmatic guy, he seems to realise that he can't just rush in a alienate all the Republicans, he want's to keep them as close as possible while implementing more liberal policies. He's willing to compromise on issues to make progress rather take a with me or against me approach and that's what America has been crying out for. If he get's a second term, and the Democrats maintain a majority, I think real change will happen, until then it will be fairly gradual but hopefully it'll help to move US politics back towards the centre and away from the extremes that it seemed to be embracing.

[dahamsta]

I bought The Audacity of Hope before the election as a way of (legally) supporting his campaign, with no intention of reading it, but I read the first few pages and actually found myself a good few chapters in before it got too manifesto-like. I guess I should have started with Dreams from my Father!

[passinginterest]

I bought The Audacity of Hope before the election as a way of (legally) supporting his campaign, with no intention of reading it, but I read the first few pages and actually found myself a good few chapters in before it got too manifesto-like. I guess I should have started with Dreams from my Father!

I've noticed that Audacity has a much more polished feel to it, but having read Dreams makes it more believable, rather than just being a convenient manifesto he's talking about genuine beliefs. His views have become more rounded and solid, while his core principles seem to have been maintained.

Unfortunately he's only one man so the chances of him bringing about a sea change in American politics are still fairly slim.

[dahamsta]

Very true, but any change is progress. Where progress = moving America back towards where it should be, of course.

[Reality Bites]

Obamas speech last night was I thought a good rallying cry to the nation and a damning critique of the banking culture - why people here keeping requesting the same from Cowen is beyond me - he is incapable of doing so and besides is part of the problem anyway with all his buddies in the development game.

[pete]

Mixed reaction to Obama stimulus plan as seems to be a bizarre collection of infrastructure as well as pork barrel spending.

Obama saying he will cut federal deficit by half by 2012. Unless he is using fuzzy Maths to exclude bank bail outs & stimulus plan spending that is an impossible task in a recession.

[dahamsta]

The phrase "pork barrel" doesn't apply to New Deal economics. That kind of spending is the whole point of the theory.

[pete]

The phrase "pork barrel" doesn't apply to New Deal economics. That kind of spending is the whole point of the theory.

Do you it doesn't matter what you spend on as long as inject money into the economy?

I still think Obamas comments on cutting budget deficit were bizarre.

[dahamsta]

Do you it doesn't matter what you spend on as long as inject money into the economy?

Strictly speaking, no. Injecting money into the economy is the key. Obviously it would be better if the injection was to the greater good, if only just to give people a feeling of accomplishment in the process.

What exactly of the spending are you objecting to?

adam

[pete]

Makes no difference to me what the US spends its money on just suggesting the honeymoon is over...

Click

Items Republicans want stripped from the measure include $25 million for all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trails, $20 million to remove fish passage barriers, $400 million for preventing sexually transmitted diseases, $34 million for remodeling the Commerce Department and $150 million for honey bee insurance.

I like this one.

Obama is either Hitler or the Anti Christ

That clip is a p**stake but also covered by mainstream media. Would hardly say surprising but still a bit shocking that they would give airtime to these theories...

[superfrank]

Nice move on the Iran front. Have to see how it pans out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7954211.stm

[pete]

Nice move on the Iran front. Have to see how it pans out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7954211.stm

Talking to Iran might not be widely popular in the US so this is the best time for Obama to start that process while he has "political capital".

In other news I heard Obama is the first sitting US President to appear on a chat show (Jay Leno last night).

[Pike B]

In other news I heard Obama is the first sitting US President to appear on a chat show (Jay Leno last night).

He still has a way to go to match this guy's TV record:

[pete]

I guess this will the last time a sitting President appears on a chat show.