In a stirring but sober speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, an emphatic President Obama cast himself as a determined leader who kept his promises to Americans, but who needs four more years to finish the job and to stop Mitt Romney from taking the country backwards.
“I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never have," Obama told a packed audience in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he officially accepted the nod for a second presidential term. "You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one."
Obama, introduced by his wife Michelle Obama, stressed that Americans are faced with a choice—"two different paths for America"—rather than the election being a referendum on his presidency so far.
Obama painted a picture of what a second term would look like.
He promised to reduce the deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade and laid out specific goals on manufacturing, energy, education, national security. His plan includes creating one million new manufacturing jobs by the end of 2012, cutting the growth of college tuition in half over the next decade, recruiting 100,000 new teachers and investing in the economy with the money the government is no longer spending on war.
He touted what he's done in the last four years, including cutting taxes for the middle class and small businesses, reviving the auto industry, creating half a million manufacturing jobs, ending the war in Iraq and winding down the war in Afghanistan. And of course, killing Osama bin Laden.
The president, who is in a tight race with Romney in national polls, joined Vice President Joe Biden in blasting his opponent as weak on foreign policy, an ally of Wall Street, and a man who wants to gut education, turn Medicare into a voucher system and eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor, disabled or elderly.
He dinged Romney for not releasing concrete plans on how he'd fix America. At the RNC in Tampa, he said, GOPers were "more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn't have much to say about how they'd make it right. They want your vote but they don't want you to know their plan."
The president argued that his plan, on the other hand, "may be harder, but it leads to a better place." He continued: "And I’m asking you to choose that future. I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country—goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real, achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation. That’s what we can do in the next four years, and that is why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States.”
He ended his speech by reemphasizing that Americans have a choice.
"If you turn away now—if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible … well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make for themselves."
"Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only you have the power to move us forward."
Leave a Comment:
We should vote for him and we should fight with him. Our children and their children deserves better. OBAMA2012!
Fired-up ready to GO!
Obama/Biden 2012
Rodham-Clinton/Wasserman-Schultz 2016
Maude-I stand with you! Go to the following. It is a great parody called "One Term More", a parody from Les Miserables "One Day More" with great singers.A Parody With Great Voices
It did not print the link, but go to "One Term More" and you might be able to see it.
The best line of President Obama's speech was
"And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades."
Well, I thought that President Clinton had fixed everything when he was in office? So President Obama is saying that Bill Clinton was part of the Problem, or he is out of touch with reality, because I thought that Bush was in office for 8 years, and before that is was Clinton for 8 years. So if he is talking about decades in the plural, he is talking about Bush, Clinton, and Bush. Or if he means 3 decades does he include Reagan too?
So if you believe Clinton was a good President, and left office with the US having a surplus, then what is President Obama talking about. Since President Clinton left Office The Republicans held the White House for less than one decade. President Obama, as good of speaker as he is, has no clue of what he is doing, even to the point that his argument for needing more time to finish what he started, claims that President Clinton was part of the problem he is trying to fix.
INSPIRATION doesn't even begin to describe what my president just did.....4 MORE YEARS!
Very powerful speech...by the President....I think this is going to come down to who people blame for the current situation we are now living in.....Congress or Obama.
I will say this.....most of what he is promising sounds great! But so did what he promised back in 2008....
God Bless Mrs. Gifford....she looked great.
TAP
Think of how much we could have accomplished and how much farther we would be along if he had just a small amount of help from the other side.
It is not a matter of who the people will blame for the mess that we are in. It is written very boldly in the history books. The Bush/cheney administration can not deny what they did to destroy this country. History can not be re-written. Republicans will have to suck it up and admit it. You can fool all of the people part of the time, part of the people all the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time. They have had their lying time!! The end!!
John.....the past 29 months have seen job growth...small but some growth....is it the fact that Congress has not let Obama's policies pass or is it something that Obama has done that has brought these jobs?
Greatgran....it was both parties that brought us to where we are.....we have a government that has shared two party power. They have each had opportunities to prevent the economic meltdown and they both failed.
Don't forget that Clinton repealed Glass Steigle with GOP help. He passed NAFTA with GOP and Democratic Help. He passed the Affordable Housing Act. All of these things were huge contributors to the crisis. Bush should not have went into Iraq....that was a huge mistake....too many American lives lost to just do Nation building....
Small factors like tax cuts for small business has helped, the stim helped by creating 3 million jobs. But passing an infrastucture jobs bill that was paid for would have helped tremendously. Passing a bill to give tax breaks to corporations that bring back jobs from overseas would have helped.
So are you still voting for Obama or what.
I will vote for the person that demonstrates they will lead this country out of debt, eliminate crony Capitalism, that creates jobs in America instead of abroad, that will work for us instead of the highest bidder.
Passing a bill to give tax breaks to corporations that bring back jobs from overseas would have helped.
John....I thought tax cuts were bad???? I agree with you on this point ....but according to Obama tax cuts for the Rich Corporations are a bad thing right???
Tap I quess your not decided on who to vote for, But you are the only 1 that I have seen mention that WE should not have gone to Iraq, I respect that, Alot of the Repubs on here acknowledge ones service, But not one is willing to say that about Iraq.
Sarge....I don't want to vote for Obama for several reasons....
His influences in life....Rev. Wright, Communist and Marxist.....Not saying he is one but birds of a feather flock together...
His record of blaming others for his current situation....it's been almost 4 years....Your the most powerful and influential man in the world....solve the problem and solve it fast...especially when you have a majority in the house and senate for the first 2 years....
He wants to blame the GOP solely for the economic meltdown....when in fact it was both parties....examples....repeal of Glass Steigle by Democrats and GOP ....signed by Bill Clinton. Affordable Housing Act....Clinton....NAFTA....Bush, Clinton....Barney Frank's quote "there is no housing bubble" and his defense of Freddie and Fannie.
Sarge...thanks for your respect...I will always show you the same respect...
TAP
CROOKS AND LIARS:
Phil Gramm: Repealing Glass- Steagall didn't cause crash:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/phil-gramm-repealing-glass-steagall-d
This was a criminal act in my opinion!!!!!!!!
Hey cm....Hope your doing well....Phil Gramm should have his A$$ removed....that guy did soooo much harm to this country...the sad thing is he had a lot of support from both sides of the isle....Clinton sighed it into law the GOP pushed for it and the Democrats were split.....many voted for the repeal of Glass Steigle and some voted against it. Both sides to blame.
Hi TAP, I agree, Clinton got duped by not only Gramm but Larry Sommers and Robert Rubin, Gram is now advising Romney on financial matters, the guy should be in jail!!!! I agree, both sides to be blamed, but we don't want that guy's influence in another administration...
I did not know that Gramm was advising Romney....that is very troubling indeed....I hope he is using his council to find out what NOT to do....LOL...
A song for you cm....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHFmWtiEHYw&list=PL024923E4BDC04273&index=2&feature=plpp_video
TAP, thanks for the song, Gramm also advised John McCain, this Gramm , is bad news, try to find out as much as you can about Romney's plan before you cast your vote, as for me, I will not vote for Romney/Ryan, I do not like what they stand for and they do not stand for me or my family, all I heard from Romney was a threat towards Iran and Russia, nothing mentioned about what he will be for the economy, he said 12million jobs in 4 years, unless he is planning to use Obama's trade agreements, he has no plan, but I intend to investigate as much as I can about all the politicians..thanks again..see you later...
cm...I will look into Gramm....He for sure pi$$es me off....that guy should be in jail for what he did. Why can't our elected officials look out for us? We bust our a$$es to make a living and then they rob us of everything we work for....there is so much noise from both sides about who is on the correct side of this and who is not....it is hard to believe either side.....
Goodnight cm.
Your Friend TAP
Goodnight TAP, That exactly right, that is why we need to kick their AZZESS!!! to the curb whenever we find out they are crooks, investigate and get everybody opinions and not only one source and then pray we are making the right decisions..goodnight again...
tap,
i don't want to vote for Obama for several reasons...his influences in life rev. wright, communist and marxist
"the tea party movement's dirty little secret is that its chief financial backers (the koch brothers) owe their family fortune to the GRANDADDY of all their hatred: stalin's godless empire of the USSR. the tea party movement would not have the means to bankroll their favorite causes had it not been for the pile of money the koch family made by working for the Bolsheviks in the late 1920's and early 1930's".
"the tea party movement-and the koch family's obscene wealth go back more than half a century to grandpa fredrick koch, ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE FAR-RIGHT JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY, which was convinced that socialism was taking over america through UNIONS, COLORED PEOPLE, JEWS, HOMOSEXUALS, THE KENNEDY'S AND EVEN DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER".
do you find the tea party's connection to Stalin as disturbing as Obama's connection to rev. wright?
in case you want to read the article, 'the roots of stalin in the tea party movement'.
cm, #3.10......Gramm should be stoned for all the damage he has done in politics.
Mr. President - You Have Got My Vote -- These GOMERS- "The IGNORANT Ones" Are Out Of Touch and Have NOT Got A CLUE ...... They Are Just The YES-MEN For the Disgustingly Wealthy --- That's IT .....
Hey MD....are you fired up?
This tells the story of why Bush was so bad at the end of his term.
Don’t just skim over this, it’s not very long, read it slowly and let it sink in. If in doubt, check it out!!!
The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007 the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress. The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.
For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress. (hairy Reed & Nancy Pelosi) At the time:
The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.7.The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%The Unemployment rate was 4.6%George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTHRemember the day...January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy? BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!
Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.
And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA
And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? OBAMA and the Democrat Congress
So when someone tries to blame Bush..
REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 &2011............................Will someone on the left please tell us WHY Barack had shoes too small for his feet? Or why there was a rusty hole in his car, or why he went dumpster diving? Both of them worked at a law firm!!! HELLO? She was pandering to the people who want to continue to put all black people in a hole. IT was shameful and a lie.double speak and organized obfuscation of the real issue in the current election race.
Hey MD, I was looking for you, you still here?
sulley,
i don't have to read very far into your post to see the phrase "democrat party". i know exactly where you stand-with w. bush, with rush limbaugh, mitch mcconnell, eric cantor, john boehner, and etc., the REPUBS IN CONGRESS who pledged to each other to say "NO" to all economic policies President Obama pus forth.
"democrat party"-an ignorant slur against democrats. it is gramatically incorrect, and it sounds that way. you all sound ignorant and stupid when you use that phrase. i am not even interested in what you have to say, because i ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY.
we are the DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
suzette-3194003#4.4~~That is exactly the point, I stopped reading his post also. Democrat party was enough for me.
And Mr. Patrick. The Democrats never had a filibuster proof Senate. Remember the record GOP filibusters?
Not to mention the secret midnight votes the minority held without informing democrats after they lost both houses. Didn't here the baggers whine then about illegal power grabs.
@Patrick
The Great Recession started December 2007.
In January 2007, the damage had already been done. The fuse was lit.
The key, to me, was that he committed to reasonable pushes as goals to accomplish. I am proud that he moved the left/right debate away form a war of talking points to an offer to have a serious conversation about the future direction of our nation. This required the President to take on the role of the adult in the room, and he filled that role to perfection.
Wonderful words and wonderfully presented! Considering the mess that was dumped on this president and also what he has had to endure, from republican-ts, he will go down in history most likely as the greatest president ever! I am so very proud of him, as ALL Americans should be, if they care for America at all.
two great presedents huggin each other and one is looking over them from haven (Kennedy) and saying our country is in good hands with that fallow called Obama. Yes, I care for this great country !!!Obama got my vote .Please donate you time or $ to reellact this great man .God blase Michell, their girls,Peresedent Clinton, V.P Biden, all of the speakers , and our military Yours truly middele class 15% income tax payer
DAG--DAG it feel as if i was in church three times this week----it feel so great<<>> have a good night my fellows MSNBC bloggers<<>>> so much to do beween now and nov. 3
November 6th, I do believe. Helps to vote on the right day, unless you are going to vote early, then, nevermind. ☺
Everyone who can vote early should. I always do....then I find other ways to help on voting day. In the past I have worked the polls.
Outstanding speech Mr. President! Proud to be an American, and a Democrat!
A night of great speeches by all actually.
John...It isn't often that we agree....but you are correct. The Democrats have some great speakers for sure. I'll give you that.
TAP
Change that to leaders and we'll agree.
John by title he is the leader of the free world. I think he has done some good things ... but has he earned 4 more years....I don't think so when he can only muster 1 meeting with his jobs council in over a year when that is his number one priority.....
Dont try and feed me that @!$%# teabagger. The teabaggers met the night Obama was elected and made a pact NOT to let anything pass. Just like a mechanic would say when your car is broke, 'There's your problem'. Grow up Tap.
John...If that is true...then shame on them....but still the President should continue to try and at least meet with his own jobs council.
Don't read the papers or internet much do you. It's been on several TV networks as well. The GOP met at an exclusive club and made a pact. It's only been reported on about 20 times in the last 2 years.
Thats like continually trying to start a car when you know the tank is empty. And if you don't know thats true then you better start educating yourself before you post.
They are masters at playing dumb 'eh Larry? Or maybe they're not playing.
No offense guys but I don't read the paper at all......most are too biased to even give my dog the training to go fetch it.
Always big on excuses short on actually knowing enough to form an opinion.
The jobs council met, studied the problem and came out with their proposals, so their work is done.
The President came out with his Jobs Act.
And ........... where is Congress on this?
So at that point ..... it's time to quit?
That is what the republican congress did, they went on vacation.
whom...what did Obama do?
Symbolism over Substance at it's finest!
Ask your loser leader about substance, and when he'll get some.
Robme/Ryan are the one with zero substance. I remember Robme being ask a question about the spending cuts and told the person "ask after the election". Whole lot of substance there. And then there's always, "trust me". Bunch of substance there.
It's a long road for President Obama to carry all that load and clean-up the mess that was passed on to him and knows that it wasn't going to be that easy but he's definitely heading the right way and I'm tagging along so,
if you want to CHILL OUT vote for President Obama
if you want to PUSH a BUTTON then vote for Mitt Romney
This tells the story of why Bush was so bad at the end of his term.
Don’t just skim over this, it’s not very long, read it slowly and let it sink in. If in doubt, check it out!!!
The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007 the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress. The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.
For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress. (hairy Reed & Nancy Pelosi) At the time:
The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.7.The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%The Unemployment rate was 4.6%George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTHRemember the day...January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy? BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!
Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.
And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA
And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? OBAMA and the Democrat Congress
So when someone tries to blame Bush..
REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 &2011............................Will someone on the left please tell us WHY Barack had shoes too small for his feet? Or why there was a rusty hole in his car, or why he went dumpster diving? Both of them worked at a law firm!!! HELLO? She was pandering to the people who want to continue to put all black people in a hole. IT was shameful and a lie.double speak and organized obfuscation of the real issue in the current election race.
Patrick....oh how true........!!!!!!
Everyone should read your post and verify it for themselves....please!
sulley,
blah blah blah.
mitt, where are your taxes?
suzette....who cares about his taxes....I hope he took every loophole possible by law. i want a President who is smart enough to save money to give it to charity. Government will just waste it.
Nearly the whole damn country cares. And Robme's going to find that out November 6
John you could be correct....that is a chance that he is taking...
He's a dumbass teabagger, what would you expect tap?
tap,
i care about his taxes-i want to know what he is hiding.
the repubs badgered President Obama for his birth certificate. they did it day in, day out for the first couple of years of his Presidency. in this instance, TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY.
i have listened to mitt and ann talk about releasing thier taxes. they like to bring up the fact that they give to charity. it sounds like they think they give enough to charity, so why pay taxes?
whatever the reason, we have a right to know. if you don't want to know, that is fine. i bet you wanted President Obama to show his birth certificate though, didn't you?
didn't you?
suzette....sure I wanted to see his birth certificate....Every president has to prove that he or she is born in the USA to become president....and there was some legitimate concerns that he wasn't.....
That being said....he met the requirement and so has Romney on his taxes....I don't need more proof from Obama and that is what you folks want from Romney...more..
So, TAP, I assume you didn't vote for John McCain in 2008 since he was born in Panama.
So, TAP, I guess you didn't vote for McCain, since he was born in Panama?
That's news to me......Prove it.
MSNBC: The PLACE for ONE-SIDED Politics! Zero News integrity!
And I know you're going to say Fox Lies isn't. Right.
Pres Obama has my vote, I hope we can vote in some people along with him that will help him keep the country moving in a positive direction.
Ways were not better off than four years ago.
• Median incomes: These have fallen 7.3% since Obama took office, which translates into an average of $4,000. Since the so-called recovery started, median incomes continued to fall, dropping $2,544, or 4.8%.
• Long-term unemployed: More than three years into Obama's recovery, 811,000 more still fall into this category than when the recession ended.
• Poverty: The poverty rate climbed to 15.1% in 2010, up from 14.3% in 2009, and economists think it may have hit 15.7% last year, highest since the 1960s.
• Food stamps: There are 11.8 million more people on food stamps since Obama's recovery started.
• Disability: More than 1 million workers have been added to Social Security's disability program in the last three years.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/04/1127525/-Paul-Ryan-s-defense-against-charges-of-lying-is-that-he-s-a-weasel
Paul Ryan continues trying to blunt the credit President Barack Obama gets for saving the American auto industry by asking voters to look past the major jobs resurgence at Chrysler, GM, and Ford and see only the closed GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin. Ryan's big reponse to Vice President Joe Biden saying that "Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive" is that "General Motors isn't alive where I come from in Janesville."
Since the rest of the world has by now pointed out that Ryan is railing about Obama not saving a plant that had closed before he ever became president, Ryan is putting the "weasel" in "weasel words" to talk his way out of that little problem:
It's true, if you reach Ryan's speech with the full understanding that he's a weasel, you'll be able to parse his statements about the Janesville plant fine enough to make it not be a lie. What Ryan said was "Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: 'I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day." Ryan did not directly say that the plant closed under Obama. He just implied it. Strongly. But is the fact that that wasn't the only statement he could defend in this same weasel way really an advertisement for him to be vice president?
Ryan's full of @!$%# on this in two other ways. A minor point but one right at the level of sentence-parsing Ryan is applying to his own words is that General Motors is not, in fact, entirely dead in Janesville. Yes, the plant remains closed and, though it's on standby, may never reopen. But there's a Chevrolet dealer in town, and that's a sign of life. But whatever. We need not play at Ryan's level of trying to extract small truths from big lies or vice versa to see his full of @!$%#ness. The big point is that in 2008, Mitt Romney, the number one to Ryan's number two, called for a plan that would have closed not just the Janesville plant but General Motors itself. That's the real thing that Ryan is desperately trying to get voters to forget even as the auto industry continues to rebound strongly.
TM...your guy gave a great speech...I like watching great speeches....Clinton was even better....that being said....speeches are nice but results is what I'm after....I guess it will come down to who is to blame for our very slow recovery.....
This is the question....
The past 29 months have shown some small job growths....probably not even enough to keep up with population growth....but was the job growth due to Congress stopping Obama's policies or is it due to something he did?
If it was something he did.......what was it?
TAP I look at the Congressional approval rating, 13-15%, what does that say? Is that compromise? willingness to WORK for the Country? Mitch MCconnels comment's about pres Obama being a 1 term Pres. from day one? How is that doing what is Best for You and I? for the nation?
Hey Sarge...hows it going???? Maybe some Apple Pie is in order eh???LOL......
Approval ratings are not what I'm after...I would like some logical explanation for the job growth that Obama is taking credit for....That's all. Sometimes doing nothing is better that doing something wrong.....That's my point.
TAP I believe from Day one it was decided not to work with the Pres. Considering Not to much cooperation, Job's have been produced, Why no job's bill?
I think it comes down to this....either we believe that congress made a pact to not vote for anything the president puts on the table ....... or they did not pass what he presented because it was bad for the economy......
Keep in mind the President's Budget proposal was not given a yea vote by one person ....democrat nor republican...does that say the president is out of touch when it comes to finance or is it something else????
Goodnight Sarge....It was a pleasure chatting with you...
A little tune just for you....
AC/DC Have a drink on me...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7v0V58V3Uw
TAP Thank's I will go with the comment about the Pact.
OK....fair enough...goodnight Sarge...
True American Pat#13.2~~Auto Bailout, Stimulus, and you may want to note, both of those were done, when Nancy Pelosi was speaker, over the most productive congress in history. That was prior to the do nothing congress, whose speaker is John Boehner
Hey GreatGran....I hear you but the stimulus was a very expensive experiment that may or may not have worked??? very debatable. and very expensive.
Here is a couple things about the Auto Industry Bailout that you may not have heard from the left leaning media...
In 2011, GM made record profits of $7.6 billion and paid nothing in federal income taxes. And as part of the bailout deal, GM will pay almost no federal taxes for years to come.
In the last three years, GM has created 14,000 jobs in China, and continues to invest more than One Billion Dollars in China each year.....
Tappy, the top 100 corporations in this country paid no taxes, year after year. But you single out GM. At least they're trying to get back on track. So you don't read the paper huh? Where do you get your info from? You're FOS Tap and you know it.
John....I don't appreciate you nasty talk towards me. I try to have a good chat with you and you start with the mud slinging......
I don't believe that anyone should pay zero taxes ..... except people who make zero dollars and spend zero cents....
I know you don't like me John.....but at least be civil.
TAP....I'm going to bed
LOL..You're a fake Tappy. You play like you want to be civil and not just post BS from Fake news info but in the end you can't help yourself. I know teabaggeritis is a sickness but try and seek help.
I should have expected that from you John....Nasty and hateful.
What do you expect tap you come in here spreading misinformation and whine nothing gets done yet you refuse to admit that it has been the republicans who have set up road blocks on everything Obama tried to move on they even road blocked things that they came up with, when Obama said ok lets do it your way the republicans said no we can't do that now, Obama agrees with it.
whom....despite what you think...I do not try to spread misinformation....I know from your perspective it seems that way....but you are looking at what I post from a far left leaning position. You say that I am misinformed/underinformed and maybe that is true....However, I would argue that you are misinformed and inundated with liberal spun nonsense. I am not saying that you are wrong all the time .....because you are not...I am saying you only see part of the story. On top of that the left leaning media puts a spin on it and so does the right.....they are both just as bad....I have learned a lot chatting with the folks on this blog....it creates questions in my mind that I research and come to my own conclusions. As much as possible I try to watch the individual speeches that people make.
True American Pat#13.11~~Why are you so concerned with GM paying no taxes and creating jobs in China? Republicans call big corporations, and the very wealthy "job creators" and should have big tax cuts, even down to zero, by hiding their money in off shore bank accounts. We the intelligent people know that is tax evasion, and costing the lower income citizens more in taxes.
#10.04~~But you do not care if Romney (presidential candidate) paid his taxes or outsourced jobs to China, or fired workers taking their total, present and future, livelihood from them.
Sounds like a partisan, political, opinionated comment to me.
No...it shows that the left is willing to close it's eyes when it suits them....It's OK for some but not others....I thought Obama wanted a country that everyone played by the same rules.....do you think that if you have a business that fails.....Obama is going to bail you out???? So much for everyone playing by the same rules.
The President perhaps dialed it back this evening. The arena still reverberated, and the crowd was simply emphatically positive and supportive.
The President doesn't need to sell himself. The President is a known quantity. He's not a mystery. He's not shrouded in fog. He's a guy that folks like. America likes Obama. Folks like folks they can trust. America trusts Obama, trusts Obama, trusts Obama. Tonight the echoes of trust echoed in the air and reverberated the crowd like an invigorating massage, because Obama was there. He dialed it back tonight and simply said stay the course, and the rafters reverberated, and the echoes of trust in President Obama filled the air.
And that should be reason enough to reelect him.
The President was subdued because he had been informed in advance what the Dept of Labor report at 8:00AM on Friday morning (just 12 hours later from his speech) was going to be...another dismal employment report of just 96,000 jobs estimated to be created in August (it take $160,000 just to cover the rise in population of adults reaching work age in our nation). And worse, it showed that 365,000 more people left the Labor Force in August, a long slide, due to inability to find work. And while that new 0.2% drop in the Labor Force (people working or looking for work) was reflected in a technical drop from 8.3% to 8.1% in the unemployment rate (one has to be looking for work to be counted as unemployed), that gives false hope, as the true number of unemployed is estimated to be 14+%, and 23+% for unemployed and underemployed. The number of people in the Labor Force is actually down to the same level of the 1970s under this failed President. And even more alarming was the 15,000 drop in Manufacturing jobs, which confims that this sector has been on a continued decline for the past 4 months now. And then there was the revision downward of another 41,000+ jobs created for June and July. All in all, that kind of news takes the starch out of an incumbant running for office, especially when he had promised 4 years ago that he would have the nation's unemployed rate under 6%, and never higher than 8% (it been over 8% for 45 months now since he took office, and it reached a high of 10.1% in October, 2010, a year and a half after his promised cure all $870 billion stimulus plan passed in early 2009). And the promise that he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his "first" term of office (instead he doubled it!). And that Middle Class families would see a rise in their incomes (they lost over $4,000 in annual income instead). Even during George Bush's challenging 8 years, the unemployment rate averaged 5.6%, while for Obama, that average is 8.7%. For family incomes, with an inherited recession when he took office in 2001 made worse by the terrorist attacks on our Finance Centers, Transportation systems, and consumer sentiment on 9/11, and the recession that began in late 2007 (which ended in 2009) due to the bi-partisan housing market bubble (1995-2005) bursting, Family incomes only dropped $1,000. And the unemployment rate was never higher than 7.6% under George Bush's policies.
Time for a change folks. And Obama knew that when he went to the podium on Thursday night! He's go two months to the election, three months left to serve, and he has run out of time to successfully turn things around. So his cocky statement after his election in 2008 that: if I don't have this turned around in 3 years, its a one term proposition for me!" About the only promise he got right!
Time to grow up Keith. Just as Clinton said, NOBODY could turn the disaster handed Obama into a prosperous economic climate in such a short amount of time....NOBODY. Time to stop the silliness and stop demanding a magic wand. You're a big boy now. Since you like to perceive yourself as a know-it-all, why not solve Europe's economic problems and give us a break?
Humble, honest, inspiring speech tonight from our President. His words reflect the compassionate, caring man he is, and the hope he has for the country and the American people that he loves. The President has had to face more difficulty than any President in my lifetime, and I am seventy-two years old. President Obama has had to face the enormous burden of wars, failure of our economy, the total opposition of a Republican controlled Congress intent on his total destruction, and a mountain of other problems that has all added up to the hardest job in the entire world. He faced these problems, one by one, fought for the American people, especially the middle class, seniors and the poor, and veterans as well as our active military, and made every decision not politically but as a real leader who cares about every person he swore to work for four years ago. Of course he couldn't keep all the promises he made four years ago. first of all he could never do it all alone, he needed the assistance from Congress, which he has never gotten. He also came face to face with political reality, this Republican Party taken over by right wing extremist called a 'Tea Party" would never allow him an ounce of co-operation. Quite the contrary actually, they fought him on everything, even tax cuts and their own ideas! The American people should know the many impossible obstructions laid before the President would take it's toll, and obstruct his efforts to keep every promise he made to us. The real blame for the 8% unemployment rate, the lack of more new jobs, the state of our current economy lies with the Congress. They have passed not one jobs bill offered by the President, they have allowed our credit rating to be lowered by their obstructionism and hatred of our President, and lastly they have allowed their political agenda along with their overt racism to take priority over their sworn duty to always act in the good of their country.
The President certainly has my vote, and my confidence that with four more years to accomplish it he will bring America and the American people back by moving us all forward. After all, it took the Bush Administration eight years to nearly totally destroy America so you deserve the same amount of time to repair their damage.
Lastly, the DNC stood head and shoulders above the RNC. The RNC was filled with lies, doom and gloom, war and pandering speeches. Romney/Ryan will never be honest with the American people because if they were honest no reasonable Republican would ever vote for them, let alone anyone else. Romney must want people to vote for him "in secrecy" because he is the most secretive candidate in our history. One tax return, no explanation as to his "plan" for America, just a "trust me" and elect me to find out what I will do after the election, give me a break. Ryan spells out what he will do, or try to do, and now runs away from his own words. When he can't run far enough or fast enough, he lies. What a pair!! Add hundreds of millions of dollars behind these two, add voter suppression, add totally untrue ads running endlessly, add "birthers" [racists] and so many lies one loses count and you have the sum total of the "new" Tea Party Republicans. We simply cannot allow millionaires and billionaires to further their own interests to buy the Presidency. Some believe they already "own" the Congress, and there is good reason to believe that, however, President Obama is living proof the people still "own" the government. Does it strike anyone but me that the Republicans always say "the government doesn't provide, and should not provide, jobs. Yet, Paul Ryan has had a "government" job for over twenty years, as has every Congressman/Women in office. Mitt Romney has spent years running for a "government" job! Romney/Ryan, who seem to hate the government have spent their adult lives, and millions upon millions trying to acquire one "government" job after the other. Go figure! Ryan is touted by his Party as the "smart figures guy", the budget wonder boy, and yet his cruel and crazy so-called budget doesn't even pass the math test. How can you lower the deficit by ADDING five trillion dollars to it by giving the wealthy even larger tax cuts than Bush gave them? I looked at the Ryan Budget as posted on the internet, and the highlights in it are scary, so the details in it must be horrendous. It clearly states what he refuses to admit at his campaign stops, that his budget was written by a true follower of Ayn Rand.
The Democratic Convention was awesome, our First Lady was awesome, and our President was awesome. So many speeches of inspiration, tributes to our military and their families, and Gabby Gifford's pledge of allegiance was so moving. The DNC knows how to conduct a convention like they should be conducted, uplifting, truthful and full of gratitude to our brave and wonderful military and the American people. Let's face it folks, Democrats are just more compassionate, caring and honest than Republicans! The Democratic Party is truly the Party of the People, it always has been and it always will be.
VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 AND MOVE AMERICA FORWARD IN HOPE & PROSPERITY
I'm proud to be an American tonight. Also a Democrat.Combining Obama's speech with last night's Clinton speech, how can anyone even remotely suggest that a return to the Bush-era policies - which the Republicans are championing - are good for our country? Obama is interested in our country as community. Republicans are in to a survival of the fittest capitalism. It is beyond comprehension.
Go Obama! Four more years!!!
oct. 3, 2012, 1st presidential debate.
mitt, maybe you will wear a wire like w. bush did during his debates with John Kerry?
hey mitt, where are your taxes?
Democrats are much more compassionate than the RNC who are pathetic. We can put most of the blame on the debt for our country on the two Bush wars that cost $4 trillion long term and the two Bush tax cuts that will cost over $2 trillion over the last decade. Neither of these Bush wars of Bush tax cuts were ever paid for by the GOP elsewhere in the budget. Then we had the costs of the Great Recession with the Federal Reserve required to give loan guarantees of about $16 trillion with a "t" in order to keep those "too big to fail" banks from floundering into bankruptcy causing our whole entire financial system to collapse.
The Romney/Ryan ticket wants to double down on trickle down economics. The Bush tax cuts will be made permanent costing a couple more trillion dollars over the next decade. Increased defense spending is called for by Romney/Ryan. The Medicare program will be destroyed if Romney/Ryan win, probably by 2016 as President Clinton said. Romney/Ryan also give the rich more tax cuts so millionaires and billionaires can get hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax cuts we can neither afford nor that they deserve. The rich should be required to pay for the Bush wars that will add $4 trillion to our national debt. Vote Obama/Biden because the country you save will be your own.
Rex- your posts are generally well said and thought out- that said- why should the "rich" be required to pay for the Bush wars? What is the connection or why in your view should a segement of the population be "punished" for the Bush wars?
The simple reason the rich should pay for Bush's wars is they're largely Republicans, and they voted for the jackass...
And you won't find too many who've served in the military, so the wars have had a disproportionate percentage of working class, African-Americans, and Native Americans. Check out the military service records of the Bush Administration if you need some adjustments to your thinking.
Since the 70s Cab Driver the military has been a career tract for those who volunteer for service. Even when I was a volunteer in the early to mide 60s the military was more concerned in retention of thos it spent a lot of time and money training, and with the end of the draft in the 70s, that has been the emphasis, and our Defense Department, civilian leadership and military officers much prefer it that way.
But I do agree with you that most of our businessmen are Republicans. And that includes most Hispanic and most Afro-American businessmen and most businesswomen too! The party and its Presidential candidate that is distrusted by the buiness sector is the Democrat Party and Barrack Obama. And that is a badge of honor for the business community, when you look at the failures of the Democrat Party and Obama's anti-business rhetoric and agendas.
It never ceases to amaze me how uneducated people are about how our democracy works, Sully. Most people like you Repubs think you are making a brilliant point i.e. your lengthy expostulation on the "Democrat" majority in Senate and House. So my standard Civics lesson: Congress has 2 houses,Senate and House of Representatives. For a bill to become law, it must pass both with identical language. The Repubs in Senate have filibustered every thing President Obama proposed on the economy thus requiring not 51 votes but a supermajority of 60 votes in Senate. The Democrats did not have 60 members in Senate anytime in recent memory (and I'm no spring chicken) if ever. As to your breathless ignorance as to why he would have a car with a hole in the door or shoes to small, clearly a) you've never been poor, b) lawyers who work for charities and public interest organizations make less than a good secretary, c) law school is a HUGE debt that most of your income goes to for a VERY long time, and d)drumroll please, I never bought a car for a guy I was dating so why would Michelle!? Conservatives make me so tired.
Used to be in the Midwest (I came from Wisconsin), they put 'salt' (chemicals) on the roads in winter to get rid of the ice. These chemicals flew up on the car body when you drove over it; they rusted out the lower edges of doors and sometimes floors and caused holes. This is true. I had a car my folks bought me from Wisc and it had rusted hole in floor where when it snowed water flew up in the car.
Democrat's held a super majority in the Senate once Al Franken was sworn in and before Senator Brown of Massachusetts was sworn in, as the Independent and Independent-Democrat caucsed with them, and voted with them. That is why Rham Enamuele counseled Obama early in his Presidency as tonot taking any input from the Republicans on his early legislative agenda, like the $870 billion stimulus bill, and ObamaCare, for example, his two largest failures. (Emanuel's words to Obama were: "F..k them, we have the votes!"
When Bill Clinton had his first term excesses trimed and his ears pinned back by the Republican off term Revoultion at the polls that gave them control of Congress in 1994, just as the Republican's did again to Obama in 2010 for his excesses, Bill Clinton had the good sense to tack to the center of American politics, and benefited for that. He also was a master at compromising with the Republican leadership in Congress, just as Mitt Romney was a Governor of Massachusetts with it's 87% Democrat dominated State Legislature. But Obama has no use for compromise, unless compromise means the other guy coming over to his side of the fence, as was evident in the failed negoitiations with John Boehner last year, cwya!
Anne: Obama had spent 3 years at Harvard in Boston, MA and followed with his job in the law firm in NYC. His car's rust was not a product of salt used on Chicago's roads in the urban environment he lived and worked in after graduation from Columbia University, which also was in NYC. But that myth of the too tight shoes, rusty car, and heavy debt from college (we know nothing about his financial assistance nor Michele's for their BA and Law School years on afirmative action admissions to those Top Level Ivy League schools, as he has kept those records under lock and key). But it made for a nice, touching story for this guy who never had to work a as mech as a part time job while attending to his education, from the day he entered an expensive Prep School in Hawaii to Occidental College to Columbia University, to Harvard Law!
Hey Keith - Tell us about the ironing board Ann and poor Mitt had to use for a kitchen table when they ate their tuna sandwiches? Wait. Let me get a tissue first.
Proud army veteran & democrat voting a second time for Barack Obama. Eat your heart out, teabaggers!
Thank's for your Service,
Obama presented a logical presentation about the reality that is America. He said what everyone already knows, you can't fix 8 years of destruction of the economy in 3 years. Even an individual who files bankruptcy requires 10 years to rebuild. How can a country expect less? We have improved, with so much going against the president. Obama did not mention an obstructionist Congress that lowered our credit rating and who has denied change at every opportunity. The Republicans have made every effort to to make the economy worse so they can crow that Obama failed. Their purpose is evident to anyone who assesses the situation logically. They do not care about the country, they are willing to destroy it in an effort to unseat Obama. Look at what they have done over the past 4 years!
Obama must realize there are people in America, known as Tea Party members, who will not accept facts; they deny math, science and empirical research evidence because they are NOT reasonable. You cannot present reason to individuals who will not accept anything except what they feel. As such, he must accept, as Hubert Humphrey did, there are people whom cannot be reached or changed. Their hate is entrenched too solidly. I live in the south and I have heard an individual say they would rather die than receive blood from a Black donor; this same reason goes with the president, they will never accept a Black man in the position of authority so they must believe he is an illegitimate president. These people do not rely on anything the president has done or said, they rely instead on their emotions and believe that everyone must think just as they. And anyone who disagrees with them is "unamerican" or "unpatriotic". It is a moronic mindset.
Saying this, Barack's speech was amazing. Will it change minds that are set in stone? No, that is an impossible task. For the few independent minds out their who actually think, the facts are out there if they will choose to look at them. We are better off than we were 4 years ago. All anyone has to do is pull out their old 401k statements to see the improvement.
CNN's commentators, including the venerable Wolf Blitzer, were much less enthusiastic than the folks at MSNBC on the hits and misses of the Big Speech. CNN's folks general praised Obrama for toning down his usual flowery language, and gave him credit for briefly mentioning "failings of the past". But they found Obama's speech as lacking in specificty, and especially lacking in providing any vision of what he proposes to do differenly if re-elected to another 4 years. In the words of Wolf Blitzer, "there was a 'vaporous' quality to the content of the speech", and the general consensus was that it was not one of his better speechs, especially with the stakes of being involved in an extremely tight election with succesful business man and former Governor Mitt Romney. in fact locked in a dead heat tie in overall support, and the number of swing states expanding, instead of shrinking. As John Stewart put it on the Daly Show last night, the "This Man of HOPE, has been reduced to the man trying to COPE! And from earlier in the week, the new Obama mantra is "Yes We Can, BUT..."
Look for this attack line from the Romney/Ryan ticket: for someone that is claiming to be the champion of the middle class, he has pursued attitutes toward the business and and finance sectors that have resulted in the worst job growth record coming out of a recession of modern times, and plunged more members of the middle class below the poverty line during his Presidency because of those attitudes, with the average family losing $4,000 of annual income.
The raw data is known, of course.: the recession lasted from late 2007-2009, was over in 2009, and yet the unemployment rate continued to rise to a high of 10.1% by Oct, 2010 even in the face of the $870 billion stimulus pushed through by the Democrat Party controlled congress, with the President rejecting any Republican input when he took the extremely partisan tone by addressing Congressional member Cantor of Virginia in the Oval Office with these words: "Elections have consequences, Eric". Of course, the promised to be a bi-partisan transformational President had listened to the counsel of Rahm Emamuel, who had always bridled under Bill Clinton's willingness to negotiate and compromise with the Republicans, summed up when he told Obama: "F..k them, we have the votes". (Note: I see Emanuel has been severed from the Obama campaign now, and is off raising funds for a new PAC he will head up, and you can bet its contribution to the Obama re-election efforts will the the dirtiest and nastiest of advertising possible), from this Chicago "hit man" politician.
I saw nothing in the Obama speech that told me he has changed one bit in his prior unwillingness to consider different attitudes, different strategies, different outcomes. And that makes him a suspected loser.
Just have the new numbers for August Employment coming in, and its not good at all: under 100,000 new jobs (takes 160,000 just to cover the rise in population of adults of working age each month). The Labor Force lost 365,000 active participants, as people continue to just stop looking for work in this moribund economy. The Manufacturing Sector lost 15,000 jobs, in keeping with the ISM figures released Tue. this week, that showed Obama's vaunted upturn in manufacturing (especially autos) activity at its lowest levels in August in over three (3) years. And the revision downward for June's and July's Non Farm Employment numbers were also especially troublesome. All in all, because of the loss of 0.2% of the Labor Force as unemployed people are just sitting out the summer with the lack of job availability, the headline figure of a decrease from 8.3 to 8.1 Unemployment Rate will get some crowing from the Democrats and the liberal media, but that is a false note that rooster is sounding, as there are no eggs in the hen house!
On the absolutely terrible news, the Commodities prices are going up, especially Gold and Oil, investors are counterintiuitvely going back into the risky financial assets as the Federal Reserve is talking about a third round of accomodation needed to try to boost the economy (when the much more potent first two rounds were failures). and our moribund economy is dropping more people from the middle class daily to below the proverty line.
Something has to change folks, and if the Democrat President and his colleagues in the Senate show absolutely no desire to change the approaches they have been trying and failing at, they have to go. We have to let them go! The news that our US Economy has been downgraded to the 7th place in ranking of competitiveness and stability just this week, the fourth straight year of decline from our once top of the heap in the global economies, due to 1) the national debt, 2) the inability of the leadership of our government to solve the huge annual deficit spending driving us further in debt, and 3)the resulting distrust by the business and consumer sectors of our govenment are the three strikes that tell us the words are necessary: "YOU ARE OUT"! Batter strikes out out, next batter"!
You can say all the BS you want above: FACT:
With OBAMACARE, people with pre-existing conditions cannot be turned down by Insurance Companies: e.g of Pre_existings Conditions: HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, DIABETES, ASTHMA, ALLERGIES, ACNE, ANY CONDITION, and all you PRO-LIFE PEOPLE, DID YOU KNOW THAT PREGNANCIES ARE CONSIDERED BY INSURANCE COMPANIES AS A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION? If people are not healthy they cannot contribute in a vibrant economy, SICK PEOPLE CANNOT WORK, Romney/Ryan is not the choice....Romney has promised to REPEAL OBAMACARE, where will all those folks go? I suppose the Republicans are expecting them to just die, and do not respond and say they can go to the emergency rooms, that just makes you the biggest "ID*OTS."
Hi cm...I hear what you saying about Obamacare....definately something needed to be done with the issues you presented....My family fell into some of the categories you mentioned. However, Romney and Ryan not only said they would repeal it .....they would replace it....Now the part this isn't clear is...with what? That's what I want to hear more about....
Have a great day cm....
It certainly would be nice if people in the Middle Class could afford the pricey new Health Insurance plans they are cooking up in Katherine Sebelius's Conferance Rooms at Health and Human Servies in Washington DC, with the average family insurance packages on the market now up an average of $2,000 annually due to ObamaCare (gee, I though Obama promised a $2,500 a year reduction, seems he was off by $5,500?). And that isn't counting the tax increases in Payroll and capital gain taxes and penalties that will be assigned to help pay for this incredibly stupid piece of legislation.
There were some scattered issues of concern as to availability of health insurance in our society, but no children or adults were going without health care...and the provisions of SSI/SSDI and Medicaid/Medicare for seriously medically ill and incapacited individuals of all ages according to their entitlements have always been available as the safety net for obatining the security of needed longer term medical care.
So get off that high horse, cm, and realize that its the basic economic security of a good job that is of prime importance, and when that is obtained, the benefits of insurances and security come with it! Always have, since the late 1940s in this country.
It may seem like strange analogy of what we are going though. But H.G. Wells may hold the answer to what we are going though. The Time Machine & War or the Worlds...
Only for inquisitive minds....Logic holds.
On the other hand...Who gives a rats ass!
Fired-up Ready to GO!
Obama/Biden 2012
Rodham-Clinton/Wasserman-Schultz 2016