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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:57 pm Post subject: Barack Obama |
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In November, Americans have two choices for President: Barack Obama and John McCain. That's who the Democrats and Republicans selected in the primaries. And the Democratic primaries were long and exhausting. You can grumble about the options, but that's it. You, and the world, are going to have to live with one of them for a term of four years.
Frankly, I wouldn't want the job. I don't see any solutions to the mess America is in. But at least America can conduct itself with dignity and come together in a period of crisis.
Both candidates promise change, both candidates have talked about ending partisan squabbling.
What has made America great is its diversity, and its ability for people of different beliefs and cultures to get along, and come together in a great melting pot.
There is room in America for people of all sorts of beliefs, as long as they respect the beliefs of other Americans. -- That's what I would like to hear from the candidates, and not just as lip service.
That's what Obama seemed to be talking about earlier in the campaign. Where'd that Obama go?
Last edited by Gatsby on Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:03 pm Post subject: Re: Barak Obama |
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| Gatsby wrote: |
Frankly, I wouldn't want the job. I don't see any solutions to the mess America is in. |
Camon. Every problem has a solution. The economic problems are complicated but can be fixed. The country isn't burning, it is just on the 'wrong course'. I have no doubt that America will move onwards and upwards. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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This seems like the proper thread..:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/15/brazil.barackobama
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Walk into a polling station in Belford Roxo, an impoverished city on the fringes of Rio de Janiero, on October 5 and you will be faced with an historic choice. You could vote for Alcides Rolim, the Workers' Party mayoral candidate promising a "city for all" or Elizeu Pitorra, a local communist who believes it is "time for a change". Most voters, however, will probably opt for Barack Obama, a 39-year-old Brazilian who, until recently, was known as Claudio Henrique dos Anjos.
Welcome to Obama-mania, Brazil-style. Few countries have embraced the idea of the US's first black president as enthusiastically as Brazil, a country with one of the largest Afro-descendant populations on Earth yet where black faces remain a minority in politics. Obama T-shirts are everywhere while chat shows and newspaper columns are filled with talk of the 47-year-old Illinois senator.
Now even Brazil's politicians are lining up for their piece of the pie. Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves "Barack Obama" in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections.
"In truth it was an accident," says Belford Roxo's Obama, an IT consultant who is bidding to become the city's first black mayor. "I'd been on the television wearing a suit and people thought I looked a bit like him so they started calling me Barack Obama. They'd see me in the street and shout: 'Hey! Barack!" So I decided to register it."
Like his illustrious American counterpart, who has relatives in Kenya, Brazil's Obama also has one foot in Africa. His grandfather was the descendant of slaves.
He admits he has also been looking to his namesake's speeches for inspiration. "I say the same things. I talk about political renewal, change, about transforming the city."
Despite their similarities the two Obamas have yet to meet although the Brazilian Obama says that as mayor he would "extend an invitation" to the real Obama to dine in Belford Roxo. "It would be great if he could come and see our reality," he beams. "Just imagine." |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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Easy. He'll cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. He won't cut investments in those missile defense systems that have proven themselves. Next question. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:46 am Post subject: |
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I thinik Mr. Obama plans to cancel most of the Pentagon's future weapons projects. Including stuff that would really scare Iran. It is not the message you want to be sending Iran. Negotiations work better when there is leverage.
Predator drones were once a future weapons project.
Not a winning strategy.
Being nice to your enemies will not make them be nice to you. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:42 am Post subject: |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
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| I thinik Mr. Obama plans to cancel most of the Pentagon's future weapons projects |
Let me give you a bit of advice, Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee:
Don't thinik.
You might hurt yourself. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:12 am Post subject: |
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| Gatsby wrote: |
Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
| Quote: |
| I thinik Mr. Obama plans to cancel most of the Pentagon's future weapons projects |
Let me give you a bit of advice, Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee:
Don't thinik.
You might hurt yourself. |
Well I was smart enough to know about Iran and Al Qaeda and you were ignorant enough not to know about it.
By the way if you were really smart you would have come up with a better joke than that.
Obama said he slow our development of future combat systems . I am not making it up
See for yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COl4soeox6Y
No it is not a good idea.
US airpower didn't break Serbia
Israeli airpower didn't break Hezzbollah ( which could a small scale model of a US - Iran war )
Intel reports say US airpower would not break Iran.
So we can conclude that the US needs something better than it has now.
Under Obama the US won't get that.
He is wrong. and his policy will not improve the US negotiating position via Iran.
Mr. Obama is wrong here, and it is right to point it out.
Sorry Gatsby. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:52 am Post subject: |
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Irish bookie calls US race over, pays off on Obama
The Associated Press
Published: October 16, 2008
DUBLIN, Ireland: The race is over as far as Ireland's biggest bookmaker is concerned.
Paddy Power PLC says it is so sure Barack Obama will win the U.S. presidential election next month that it paid off Thursday on all bets it had taken backing the Democratic candidate. It said it shelled out more than �1 million, about $1.35 million.
"We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama � your winnings await you," the company said in a statement.
Paddy Power has a long tradition of winning free publicity by paying off early, particularly on political contests � and it also has a recent record of getting the result spectacularly wrong.
In June, the company paid out early in favor of people who bet Irish voters would approve the European Union's latest treaty in a referendum. The next day, a "no" result sent shock waves across the 27-nation EU, and cost Powers a hefty sum since it ended up paying off both sides of the bet.... |
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/16/europe/EU-Ireland-Obama-Bookmaker.php
If you look at the electoral map, I don't see how McCain can pull it off. And I get the feeling McCain is running out of steam. Maybe he doesn't really want the job anymore.
Things can change in Presidential elections at the last minute. But I suspect the shift, if any, might be toward Obama.
Obama seems to be relaxed and full of energy. And his campaign seems to be running with military precision.
The only poll that counts is on election day. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:09 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Now even Brazil's politicians are lining up for their piece of the pie. Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves "Barack Obama" in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections.
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I missed this post the first time. That quote is just a stunning little piece of information. It says so much while being...well, I don't quite know. Something.
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| If you look at the electoral map |
Everyone who knows anything has and McCain has been pulling back for a week or more now, defending turf that should have been automatically his. He's fighting to avoid humiliation. He's fighting to hold off an Obama landslide. He's fighting a holding action of fear and hate to avoid a generation of Democratic ascendency. Silly boy. If he were the maverick he has claimed to be, he'd openly admit that he has contempt for the right wing of his own party. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Now even Brazil's politicians are lining up for their piece of the pie. Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves "Barack Obama" in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections.
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I missed this post the first time. That quote is just a stunning little piece of information. It says so much while being...well, I don't quite know. Something.
| Quote: |
| If you look at the electoral map |
Everyone who knows anything has and McCain has been pulling back for a week or more now, defending turf that should have been automatically his. He's fighting to avoid humiliation. He's fighting to hold off an Obama landslide. He's fighting a holding action of fear and hate to avoid a generation of Democratic ascendency. Silly boy. If he were the maverick he has claimed to be, he'd openly admit that he has contempt for the right wing of his own party. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:37 am Post subject: |
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There's an interesting piece on the history of Obama's early political career on NPR.
There's a full transcript, but you can listen to it. Here's the part that really stuck out in my mind:
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How Chicago Politics Shaped Obama
by Michele Norris
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Jones knew that even though Obama had limited appeal in his district, he had wide appeal beyond the South Side.
And Jones offered this story to make his point: Back when Obama was running for his U.S. Senate seat, Jones was traveling with the candidate in southern Illinois, an area known for being white, rural and conservative. Jones said he sat across from an 84-year-old woman who said she hoped she lived long enough to vote for Obama, because he "is going to be president one day," Jones recalls. "And that was her first time meeting him." |
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95797455
This is not a puff piece, but it is very insightful. The lesson is anyone who underestimates Barack Obama does so at his own peril. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:09 am Post subject: |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| Gatsby wrote: |
Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
| Quote: |
| I thinik Mr. Obama plans to cancel most of the Pentagon's future weapons projects |
Let me give you a bit of advice, Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee:
Don't thinik.
You might hurt yourself. |
Well I was smart enough to know about Iran and Al Qaeda and you were ignorant enough not to know about it.
By the way if you were really smart you would have come up with a better joke than that.
Obama said he slow our development of future combat systems . I am not making it up
See for yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COl4soeox6Y
No it is not a good idea.
US airpower didn't break Serbia
Israeli airpower didn't break Hezzbollah ( which could a small scale model of a US - Iran war )
Intel reports say US airpower would not break Iran.
So we can conclude that the US needs something better than it has now.
Under Obama the US won't get that.
He is wrong. and his policy will not improve the US negotiating position via Iran.
Mr. Obama is wrong here, and it is right to point it out.
Sorry Gatsby. |
Well, the Pentagon spends over 630 billion dollars. That is double what used to be spent in 1989 as far as I can recall when the Cold War was still going on. Has inflation been that high to wear the budget needs to be that high for the Pentagon? I prefer some of that money go to paying off the deficit, investing in technology, investing in alternative energy, giving tax payers tax breaks if they use alternative energy sources to heat their homes etc... Why is the budget so high? I suppose because of the two wars we're involved in at the moment. Well, at least, then, the Iraqi Government needs to start spending more on itself, and the US needs to reduce its spending there. I am not sure why the budget is extremely high, but it seems ridiculous to spend 630 billions dollars i.e. more than double what was spent in 1989 or so. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:27 am Post subject: |
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It's a sad irony of the situation that if we weren't involved in two wars and spending a fortune on the military on top of that we would have the money to deal with our domestic problems, perhaps even the economic crisis. The terrorists have won without killing another American within the U.S.
In other news, the Washington Post has announced its endorsement for President. It makes interesting reading:
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Barack Obama for President
Friday, October 17, 2008; A24
THE NOMINATING process this year produced two unusually talented and qualified presidential candidates. There are few public figures we have respected more over the years than Sen. John McCain. Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.
The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations and concerns, almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama's relatively brief experience in national politics. But we also have enormous hopes.
Mr. Obama is a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building. At home, we believe, he would respond to the economic crisis with a healthy respect for markets tempered by justified dismay over rising inequality and an understanding of the need for focused regulation. Abroad, the best evidence suggests that he would seek to maintain U.S. leadership and engagement, continue the fight against terrorists, and wage vigorous diplomacy on behalf of U.S. values and interests. Mr. Obama has the potential to become a great president. Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good.
The first question, in fact, might be why either man wants the job.
.... |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101603436.html
Whether you like it or not, it is very likely that Obama is going to win. It's time for Americans to begin putting the partisan rancor of the Bush years and of the campaign behind us. We have enormous problems facing the United States, and the only way we will be able to solve them is by working together. We must do this not only for ourselves, but because of the consequences economic problems in the U.S. have on the rest of the world. |
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