I gotta say, every time I get some one on one time with that guy, which is basically what the SOTU is- an opportunity for the President to speak to America, I just want to vote for him early and often. The contrast between Obama and the crowd of miscreants in the GOP running to replace him is just striking.
One of the things I found interesting is that if you are a political junkie, you will find the speech from Obama a little bit feistier than those who are casual observers of the political process. I caught the references to Solyndra and telling the Republicans to back off on that nonsense, I got the DADT references, and so forth.
But most of all, every time I hear him speak, I am still aware of all the things I disagree with him on, but think “That is a good man doing what he thinks is best.” That is really all you can ask for from someone, because as far as I can tell, I’m the only one who agrees with me 100% of the time. And as you all know, if you give me a week, I’ll disagree with myself.
We really don’t deserve him. We really don’t.
r€nato
agreed, 110%.
JPL
What the hell is he talking about?
garbo
Amen and ditto.
Paul W.
I got nothing to add, you said it all John. This guy is the only president I can stand right now, and I best chance to ride out the end of the suicidal GOP party as it tries to drag us over the cliff with them.
r€nato
watching Obama deliver the SOTU reminds me what an excruciating, soul-crushing experience it was to endure that semi-literate Texas yahoo dimestore cowboy deliver the SOTH when was occupying the White House.
Obama could have read the phonebook and I’d have been thrilled.
lamh35
umm, so the journos on twitter are saying Daniels response ain’t that bad.
I’m werided out by his half profile shot towards the camera.
Plus is he using a “teleprompter”….!!!!
Also, I don’t see the pugnaciousness of this response that MAddow was talking about.
geg6
Maybe you don’t deserve him, John, and I’m sure a lot of Americans don’t deserve him, but I sure do. I’ve worked in Democratic politics for over 30 years to get a man like this, so groundbreaking and so inspiring to me. And I want him for another four years.
Meanwhile, Mitch Daniels has all the charm and charisma of Bobby Jindal.
lamh35
umm, so the journos on twitter are saying Daniels response ain’t that bad.
I’m werided out by his half profile shot towards the camera.
Plus is he using a “teleprompter”….!!!!
Also, I don’t see the pugnaciousness of this response that MAddow was talking about.
This is the guy who’s supposed to “save the GOP” from Mittens and Newt?
fleeting expletive
I love the dude. He said some really, really good shit tonight. Even Boner and Cantor had to applaud a couple of times. He didn’t do that smarmy stuff of recognizing each of the First Lady’s guests, as I recall. He hit all the right points but I would have liked a less-oblique reference to the OWS/99% phenomenon. He makes me proud. Clinton made me proud, Carter made me proud. I am most proud that FDR was a Democratic President. R’s have no one to make them proud since Ike, and Lincoln.
An excellent SOTU.
Cain
Fly magical unity pony! Fly!
I I didn’t catch all of it. I will have watch it again. But yeah he is a good man.
Palli
A slight variation: we deserve him-
they, the uninventive, unempathetic, unproductive republicans, don’t deserve him.
Carolina Dave
But, but but, son’t you miss; Hydro-cars! missions to Mars! Axis of Evil! Yellow cake!
Preach it brother Cole. An inspiring speech, with lots of Clintonesque policy details and areas of unifying obviousness. Oh, yeah. Under this guy we actually finished a war, killed Bin Laden, decimated Al-queda, and are recovering at last from the greatest economic collapse brought on under the last guy (see above references).
The Dude has done a good job, tonight was a good reminder of that and a look forwrd on what can and needs to be done.
Carolina Dave
But, but but, son’t you miss; Hydro-cars! missions to Mars! Axis of Evil! Yellow cake!
Preach it brother Cole. An inspiring speech, with lots of Clintonesque policy details and areas of unifying obviousness. Oh, yeah. Under this guy we actually finished a war, killed Bin Laden, decimated Al-queda, and are recovering at last from the greatest economic collapse brought on under the last guy (see above references).
The Dude has done a good job, tonight was a good reminder of that and a look forward on what can and needs to be done.
Palli
A slight variation: we deserve him-
theythe uninventive, unempathetic, unproductive republicans, don’t deserve him.
ImJohnGalt
OMG! Mitch Daniels didn’t say “God Bless America!” at the end of his response. Was he wearing a flag pin? TRAITOR!
r€nato
@lamh35: Mitch Daniels sounded semi-moderate and decent for about half the speech. He made clear that Obama didn’t make this mess of the economy; he just hasn’t fixed it like he said he would.
But then Daniels blamed Obama for divisiveness, oh please. And then he prattled on about light bulbs and the government helping you decide what mortgage to get or what doctor to go to. Well considering how the last several years worked out, yeah I don’t mind the government being on my side.
Still, after months of Republican debates with one candidate trying to out-wingnut all the rest, he actually sounded pretty good.
beltane
An old Republican friend of my mother’s finally broke down and told her he couldn’t vote for either Romney or Gingrich, not in the primary (NY) or in the general election. He was a bit depressed about it but I think some sort of line was crossed during the past few debates.
phil
Watching the republican response right now – I’m really struck by the difference in tone between President O and Mitch Daniels. Obama was all optimism, really delivered some positive, uplifting rhetoric. Daniels served up a 15 minute slice of boohoopie – all dark, pessimism, America is failing, etc. Apparently Americans go for the former type of rhetoric, so, well played President, well played. Also too – struck by how Obama effectively defused many of the Daniels criticisms beforehand; didn’t they have access to the SOTU transcript beforehand like the rest of us? Very… minor leagues…
JPL
@JPL: My comment was meant toward Daniels.. Did he not listen to the speech? I thought he was awful…
lamh35
and of course Tweety loved it, but I’m glad Rachel rebutted him on it.
DCLaw1
This is going to sound really wanky-body-language-experty of me, but it’s undeniable: all the non-verbals of the speech communicated unequivocal strength and conviction.
JGabriel
@lamh35: I’m weirded out by how Daniels’ forehead and eyebrows look like an outtake from digital animation.
.
Mary Jane
With the exception of the trolls here, we do deserve him, John, About half of our shit for brains countrymen don’t, but they’ll likely get lucky in November despite their ignorance and tiresome habit of voting against their best interests.
Zagloba
Shorter SOTU: y’all motherfuckers in congress haven’t found your asses with a treasure map and a Klieg light in the year since you took office, so we’re doing this in the Executive branch now. Feel free to join the party whenever.
cmorenc
Mitch Daniels is personifying the fundamental character of the current GOP, in a pugnaciously assertive, yet superficially much politer form than Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney. It’s a massive rationalization for why the financial welfare of the 1% is in the best interests and will ooze down to benefit everyone, or else we’ll run out of money in this country. He wants to alter Social Security and Medicare to convert them to indigent welfare programs, to undermine their long-term support. His whole speech was a repeated rationalization for social tough-love to take the place of government, only wealthy people can create that job for you, so do them right, you’ll be right. A society organized this way is a happy society, for those who deserve it. BTW, have I mentioned yet that you shouldn’t be envious of those wealthy folks who are bringing you the jobs? I think I did, but just in case, I’m emphasizing that. Otherwise we’ll all drown in debt. No mention that the onset of runaway deficits started with the Bush tax cuts, two unfunded wars, and an unpaid-for senior drug coverage bill.
fleeting expletive
<Just why oh why couldn't CNN see its way clear to quietly drop Gergin, or Gerghin, or whatever his name is? He has never offered anything of insight or analysis, he just spouts "political speak" with no weight whatever. I have to change the channel whenever I see his very old white shaved visage on the tv.
joeyess
I was thinking the exact same thing.
He is a very measured, thoughtful, decent human being, doing what he thinks is best. He is also a politician and if he didn’t disappoint in spectacular fashion from time to time my gob would be permanently smacked.
clayton
white guys complain about taxes right off the bat on my teevee.
While I don’t share your hesitancy, I appreciate your somewhat guarded praise, Mr. Cole.
Did you see W take it to the demmoncrats in quite the same way in those foggy years?
Did you see the commentators take it all so personally so quickly as you have each one of these years?
The one thing we agree on is that this democracy — wait republic — doesn’t deserve this man as a leader.
Perhaps more of the old white guys will look back at some point and understand what he was all about.
My favorite line was, as always, “send me a bill and I will sign it.” In other words, get off your asses.
Perhaps it is because he is of my generation and he did something about South Africa. That means a lot to me. I know where his heart is.
r€nato
I guess I heard a different Daniels speech than y’all. He sounded like a sane Republican to me. It’s almost as if someone wasn’t drinking the Kool-Aid over at the RNC and realized that people like Obama personally, and that the wingnut rhetoric only appeals to the 27%.
kvenlander
Boner: “Because the president clearly cannot run on his record, he has regrettably turned to the politics of envy and division.”
Republicans really have their head so deep in their behinds that they think “politics of envy” is a winning argument in these times.
I mean, WTF?
geg6
Oooo, Rachel and Tweety might have a cage fight. Tweety felt a tingle from Daniels.
Anyone saying Daniels is some sort of reasonable moderate should step back, remember what he’s doing to working people in IN and what the unemployment rate is there, and then re-think how stupid the thing they are saying is.
Ron
John, you pretty much summed it up. I guess that’s why I keep coming here.
TaMara (BHF)
Yup. What John said.
The Dangerman
Real change in America takes a long damned time; it’s incremental and it’s literally built into the system. In other words, it took at least a Generation to fuck up the country; it’ll take a decade or two or three to clean it up…
…and then the fight will be to keep it from getting fucked up again (shit, we’re still arguing about SS and Medicare how long after it was enacted?).
banders1
Agree with this sentiment entirely. Eric Cantor’s hands are pretty.
SuzieC
@fleeting expletive:
I was thinking the same things during the speech, especially after seeing the new Kennedy tapes on NBC News tonight. Democratic presidents, especially this one , have made me proud, have inspired me, have moved the country forward.
I said to The Husband (who doesn’t really like Obama but agrees he gave a great speech) that the President threw the gauntlet down. Can any Rethug pick it up and run with it? No, no, no.
SuzieC
@fleeting expletive:
I was thinking the same things during the speech, especially after seeing the new Kennedy tapes on NBC News tonight. Democratic presidents, especially this one , have made me proud, have inspired me, have moved the country forward.
I said to The Husband (who doesn’t really like Obama but agrees he gave a great speech) that the President threw the gauntlet down. Can any Rethug pick it up and run with it? No, no, no.
Davis X. Machina
Not a single mention of the public option, I noticed.
Typical. I’m staying home in November.
Ron
One of your strongest points there is the same I feel the need to point all the time. I don’t agree with Obama on everything, but I’m not going to find a politician I do agree with on everything. And the “Oh, Obama is really just as bad as the GOP on issue X” things I see from the left from time to time just piss me off. Does anyone think that any republican candidate would be better overall than Obama? Do they think primarying Obama will really accomplish anything?
Thoroughly Pizzled
Bush’s budget director should be crucified every time he dares to mention the deficit.
JPL
My opinion of Daniels’ might be tainted by the fact that he tanked our economy. I’m not sure he did much more with Indiana considering they are above the national average in unemployment. Of course there are trolls among us willing to lick his private parts so there is that.
ksmiami
Again I feel like I am repeating myself, but here goes
THE GOP HAS NOTHING POSITIVE TO OFFER US – IT’s ALL HATE/GREED/FEAR ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME. Please Tunch, make it stop.
And yes, Obama is a good, thoughtful president unlike many.
middlewest
Guardian on Daniels:
r€nato
@The Dangerman: No, no, NO! I WANT MY CHANGE RIGHT NOW! OBAMA BETRAYED US! NO DIFFERENT THAN BUSH!
Culture of Truth
Great speech.
Now with regard to Mitch Daniels – what the fuck. Yes, I’m biased, but he’s Mr. Excitement? That was…. what’s the word? Terrible.
clayton
@r€nato: Oh, yes, a sane republican congratulates the sitting president for setting a good example. The man whose personal life kept him out of the race.
OK, dude.
fleeting expletive
I meant to say “I wish” CNN would etcetera, fire David Gerkin.
Spaghetti Lee
It wasn’t a speech in which I agreed with everything, but I know he’s speaking to a more moderate audience. Some of the stuff he just has to say to keep the warboner and Likudboner types from pitching a fit. For a warning-shot, I’ll-take-you-all-on speech against the GOP, it was pretty good, and as a convince-independent-voters speech, well, I think it was good, but then I’m not an independent voter.
BO_Bill
I really like Barack Obama.
Anonymous
As a fan of Obama in general and his speeches in particular, I find myself fairly unimpressed by this speech. Surprising, as this seemed like an important moment as any to swing for the fences and connect.
The biggest policy & narrative sections were taken piecemeal or wholesale from the American Jobs Act, the Osawatomie speech, and even the last SOTU.
The new stuff was either highly improbable (Congress-passed refinancing bill paid for by a financial transactions tax) or just odd (asking states to make kids stay in school until 18). None of it was big, even to the scale of the AJA.
I can appreciate the preemptive/reactive political arguments (Solyndra, American exceptionalism, strong/effective foreign policy), but beyond that, the speech didn’t do much for me.
It seemed like a wasted opportunity and I can’t fathom why Obama and his team didn’t seize it, especially given the current disarray of the GOP nomination race.
Cap'n Magic
So I was in a fit of pique and I watched Sully’s liveblog. Sully has a sad, and was railing on Obama’s loading up on tax breaks for damn near everything. He then posted some of his readers reactions-one of them took him to task and reminded him that Obama is trying to plat the Long Game, and reminded the transplanted pommie the odds of Obama getting ANYTHING through Congress is slim to none.
The one thing that sounded remotely promising is announcing that NYS AG Schniderman will be leading the States efforts over the mortgage servicing/robosigning quagmire. Whether the DOJ will actually do their jobs for the millions of individuals who got robbed by the criminogenic elements in the banking system (rather than being Big Media’s bitch for taking down Megaupload and shredding the cloud computing model in the process, proving SOPA/PIPA was not required) remains to be seen.
Omnes Omnibus
Bullshit. What we don’t deserve is what has been done to this country, primarily by Republicans, for the past 32 years.
DCLaw1
@Culture of Truth: From what little I saw of his rebuttal speech, Daniels served as the Austere Ghost of America Past, there to soothe jittery Republicans and conservative “independents” with tight-lipped calls to get a haircut and get a real job, young man.
In other words, as most salves are, it will very quickly be forgotten.
Seanly
I didn’t see the SOTU. Why get myself depressed hearing about great programs that will never happen? Or why get even more depressed hearing him agree with the Republicans on their stupid policies?
All I saw of it was Chris Wallace jizzing on the screen about Mitch Daniels’ promise to finish fucking the middle class and turning the USA into a third world hellhole. Luckily I was just flipping through the channels…
Spaghetti Lee
Did some CNN-type really call Daniels’ speech “A glass of warm milk with a fly in it-boring and depressing?”
MikeBoyScout
Well said Cole.
Nylund
Honestly, there were some ideas in there I didn’t like. That being said, I’m absolutely positive this president really does care about the middle class and the average American. I may not agree 100% with his ideas about how to get there, but I truly believe he just is doing what he thinks is best for the country.
The GOP, on the other hand, always strikes me as nothing but a bunch of lying weasels who offer empty platitudes in their quest for more power and money for themselves.
Well, to be fair, some Republicans aren’t like that. Some are just trying to shove their religious views down everyone else’s throats.
BO_Bill
It is really neat having a President who enjoys snorting cocaine. And hating the police is a nice touch. It is also cool that there are no lobbyists in his Administration, just like he said.
DCLaw1
Oh DEAR GOD, Sully wanted to make sure Barack knew that he has a new boyfriend and he likes him sooooo much more.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/01/the-daniels-response.html
You’ll be sorry you alienated me, Barack! You’ll be sorry! Look how happy I am with Mitch now!
beltane
I can’t believe none of you watched Herman Cain’s Tea Party SOTU response. For shame.
JPL
@BO_Bill: Go to bed…you got nothing…
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@r€nato: I think what people are hearing is Daniels talking while knowing the kind of shit that he is.
beltane
@BO_Bill: People would like Mitt Romney more if he enjoyed snorting cocaine if only because it would show he was capable of enjoying something.
OzoneR
Obama hating friend posted on Facebook that she thought it was stupid to require people to stay in school till age 18.
“And then what happens at 18? they drop out? That solves nothing!”
Till I pointed out that you probably can’t force someone of legal age to stay in school- wouldn’t hold Constitutional muster and reminded her of her opposition to requiring us to have healthcare, despite her vague support of “universal healthcare” i might add, and she said “but we’re forced to pay taxes?”- I told her “Constitutionally mandated,” “but we have to serve jury duty”- “Constitutionally mandated” eventually she just deleted the status.
Villago Delenda Est
@r€nato:
Just this. The contrast with the deserting coward is so striking.
r€nato
@clayton: dude, when we’ve spent the last several months listening to Republicans try to outcrazy one another, talking about how sick people should pay MORE health insurance premiums and if you get sick it’s entirely your own fault, and raped women who become preggo should thank God for the gift the rapist gave them… yeah, Daniels sounds almost like a decent Republican for not screaming about birth certificates and not laying the entire blame for everything that’s wrong with the economy at Obama’s feet and actually giving credit for taking out Osama
The Dangerman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Reagan didn’t start it; he just put a Grandfatherly face on it and accelerated it.
Mike Goetz
Mitch Daniels looks EXACTLY LIKE Martin Short as Nathan Thurm from Saturday Night Live. “I’m not being defensive. You’re the one who’s being defensive.”
He’s the Republican Adlai Stevenson.
And all these Republicans really, really, really need to stop comparing us to Greece. We’re not goddamn Greece!
Lojasmo
@BO_Bill:
Fuck off.
GregB
Mitch Daniels, was he the wise man who told us the Iraq war would cost 50 billion dollars?
That Mitch Daniels?
No wonder his wife was banging someone else.
rikyrah
@Zagloba:
hee hee hee
fleeting expletive
Davis X. Machina, please don’t not vote. It’s way too important. The Supreme Court is everything. You don’t want Mitt or Gnewt to be nominating SC Justices.
JPL
@DCLaw1: England is taking his advice. Did he mention how well they were doing? Just curious.
OzoneR
@BO_Bill:
LOLWUT!?!?
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus:
This, also. The rot set in, hard, with that shitty grade Z movie star.
r€nato
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): well, all I know about Daniels is that he was Bush’s budget director and he was the idiot who said that the Iraq war would cost $80 billion, tops.
Karen
@Spaghetti Lee:
Yeah Paul Begala.
Montysano
Wait…. That was the Mitch Daniels, the fervently-desired savior of the GOP?
Really?
Anya
@DCLaw1: Did he forgot Daniels turned a surplus into deficit? Sully is an idiot.
trollhattan
@DCLaw1:
WTF? Does this mean Mitch Daniels is the new Paul Ryan adult conversation starter?
Sully has brainworms, that’s the only explanation.
WeeBey
Well said, John.
r€nato
@OzoneR: here, let me decode that for you from wingnutese:
1) Obama admitted that when he was college, he did some drugs. As did many (but not all) of us.
2) Obama’s remarks about the incident with Henry Louis Gates and a cop, which were probably ill-advised.
That’s Brick Oven Bill, ya know… I thought we’d lost that troll?
Pavlov's Dog
Kudos JC. I praise Allah everyday before my Obamabot shrine that I don’t have to hear a SOTU or anything else from POTUS Juan McCain or the blabbering from the Wasilla Wingnut 24/7.
OzoneR
@Davis X. Machina:
I got an email from some pro-choice group complaining he didn’t make a defense of reproductive rights “in a time when they’re under assault nationwide” and my first thought was “are they for real?”
At the end of the day, the left wing in America, and probably the world, is really just a lose coalition of single issue voters.
Mike Goetz
@DCLaw1:
He thought Daniels was better than the SOTU? Daniels was slightly better than Jindal, but that’s it.
General Stuck
The wingnuts are whinging out over the Newtster surging to the gooper lead, and Obama gives an Americana speech that FDR could have made. So fucking normal it makes your teeth hurt.
Roll the cameras. And pass the popcorn
Elie
@fleeting expletive:
Oh please — leave him alone to sulk. He has his “standards” ya know… He rather thinks Republican administrations on the whole, aren’t that bad… he can live with it.
Moron
Roger Moore
@r€nato:
I’d rather have the government tell me which doctors I can go to than an insurance company tell me I can’t go to one at all.
iriedc
Thanks for the post, John C.
President Obama: a smart, good man whom I often disagree with and who I still think America deserves to have as President. Glad I voted for him, and will be proud to vote for him again.
barath
Sullivan’s probably having an extra sad today because he got reprimanded for talking about the SOTU before the embargo was lifted. (He mentioned this earlier today.)
jharp
I see it the same way.
DCLaw1
More than anything, I just love Andrew Sullivan’s constant babe-in-the-woods act with Obama. “Heavens! There’s trees in this forest and politics in these politics! Where oh where is my Burkean Knight, clutching his Sword of Middle Class Pain and riding his Steady Steed of Bipartisanship? Why am I so cold and alone??”
Mark S.
@DCLaw1:
Oh my god. Laffer curve, abstinence education, job creators, the Iraq War will pay for itself, there is no global warming, or if there is, it’s sunspots, shut up that’s why.
Fuck you with a rusty pitchfork Sully.
Linnaeus
Like you, John, I think the president is a decent person who is trying to do his best. But you know what? The Republicans would say the same thing about their guy, whoever that may be.
So it boils down to the issues. On the whole, the president is much, much better than his opponents. He is much more likely to do things I think should be done than any GOP candidate. That’s enough for me to support him. And sure, I won’t agree with any politician 100% of the time, but I’ll still voice that disagreement when I think it’s necessary. When I think the Obama administration does well, I’ll say it. When I think the administration does poorly, I’ll say that too.
I’m with Omnes Omnibus here. What we don’t deserve is what the Republicans have been doing to our nation for so long. And no politician is bigger than the polity she or he serves.
Valdivia
what you said. I was watching at the DNC and it was great how buzzed the room was. Young, old, all ethnicities. Packed room. Fun yelling back at McConell and Cantor when they appeared on the tv.
WaterGirl
@Davis X. Machina: I assumed that was snark. Am I wrong?
beltane
Nancy Pelosi just gave an interview where she emphatically said Gingrich will never be president http://dailykos.com/story/2012/01/24/1058196/-Pelosi-Guarantees-Gingrich-Will-Not-Be-President?via=siderecent
It seems she has something on him that is far worse than a sex scandal or your usual corruption. I wonder what it is.
TooManyJens
@fleeting expletive: @Elie:
I think you guys fell into the sarchasm.
cay
well said, sir.
mcmullje
Yes John – what you said. I’m not happy about everything he’s doing, but I also believe that he is one guy trying to do his best under the worst possible conditions.
Sully is wetting his pants tonight – must be out of weed.
Mike P
This is easy stuff and it pains me that Sully is having one of his periodic freak outs. Obama is a basketball player, so let’s use this to set things up…this is like vintage, Dean Smith, UNC shit. He’s going to the four corners right now: the ball is in play and he’s going to make the GOP work to get it. It’s keep away; Obama doesn’t have to do a whole lot right now, but just keep things moving…the other team is going to run itself ragged and give up easy scores by overextending and exhausting itself. We’re seeing this now…Mitt’s tax mess is largely self-inflicted, Newt is going to take care of the rest by himself.
It’s sad on the one hand that Obama didn’t “go big” in the speech, but on the other, he’s looking at the clock and it’s ticking down. By taking the easy offense when it’s there and playing good defense otherwise, he’ll win by a (respectably) comfortable margin. Game over, man. Game over.
Quincy
As has been observed at this site many times before, being a “sane” Republican is all about tone. And having the common sense to not be specific about the awful things you intend to do. I’d be amused that the entirety of Republicans’ job plan is to label whatever they intended to do anyway as “pro-growth policies” if it weren’t so depressing that the commentariat unanimously thinks it’s brilliant. How many times did Daniels use that phrase? Of course Daniels can afford to do that when he’s not trying to win voters in a primary election. Not that he’d have to provide specific policies to the 27 percenters, but he’d have to get a lot angrier. Before and after Daniels’ response Chuck Todd was desperately trying to pump air into the possibility of Daniels being drafted by a desperate Republican establishment. He was smart not to run though, that wimp would never have been able to match nasty with Newt.
r€nato
@DCLaw1: did he really write that? Really?
All those milky loads have waterlogged his brain.
Brian R.
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
THIS.
The balls on Mitch Daniels to lecture anyone about fiscal responsibility. Jesus Fucking Christ.
DCLaw1
@Mark S.: Exactly. That’s what makes his periodic, maudlin weeping over Obama’s failing to live up to his image of a fantasy conservative so fatuous.
BO_Bill
I am listening to this Sean Hannity guy. Another neat thing about Barack is that he is competitive in intellect with Sean, a guy with his very own TV show! But, I have to be honest. If I hear one more of these white females bragging to Frank Luntz on TeeVee that they voted for Barack (“I am not a racist ”), but will not vote for him again because they are disappointed in him, I will, perhaps, have to turn off the fucking TeeVee.
Either that, or covert to Islam. Islam has many redeeming characteristics.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@barath: .. and apparently he tangled with Colbert and lost. The difference between a wise fool and a wise man playing a fool.
@DCLaw1: Bravo, Madame or Sir. All the willful, delusional self-agrandizing naiveté of a fire bagger, ground into a soggy sausage (pious baloney?) of pretension and Oakeshott.
pattonbt
I didnt see the speech (am at work here down under), but it must have been good (even though I don’t think SOTU speeches utility in general is worth much) because Sully is having a serious sad. He’s so sad he even fluffs Daniels response.
No matter how many times his beloved right leaning ways have been shown to be disaterous to the goals and objectives he states he actually supports, he can’t help but fall back into his little Tory / Republican schtick.
What a dramatic clown. I hope his clutched pearls give him solace.
stinger
Gotta love ABC’s Nooner pursing her wrinkly lips, shaking her head, and tsk-tsking that Obama used the word “I” too much.
Violet
I loved Obama’s speech. The policy wonk stuff sounded good to me. I especially loved the “Congress, do your fucking job!” drumbeat he kept hitting over and over. Sully can go to hell. I watched the first few minutes of Daniels’ speech and he was standing all funny, sort of sideways to the camera. He looks like a leprechaun. Uninspiring.
Hal
Mitch Daniels looks like Mr Burns in middle age.
As for him being sane, sure. Just wait until he’s running all over Indiana and the midwest for Newt and suddenly can’t find anything objectionable about Obama’s penchant for food stamps.
Davis X. Machina
@WaterGirl: Me? Snark? About the single biggest issue facing America, in this second decade of a new century?
Narcissus
I think Sullivan might be bipolar.
clayton
@r€nato: Pretty low bar if you ask me. Mitch Daniels congratulating Obama on a happy home life? DOG WHISTLES. Sorry it’s just that.
Fuck whatever else he said.
Elie
@beltane:
There is not mystery about what Nancy “has” on Newt… anyone who has been around this man and for sure anyone who has had to work with him in any serious capacity already knows that he is incapable of doing this. He is ILL. His good behavior — when he has it, cannot be sustained. I am not a psychiatrist so its inappropriate for me to talk about a diagnosis, but he can’t maintain a balanced emotional and cognitize state… My thought is that he knows it too — but is too hungry for the affirmation and the euphoria to stay away from the exposure to come..
He will not be President. He will not win the nomination.
When I feel less anger towards him, I actually feel sad.. he is in line for great disappointment and rejection…
trollhattan
@beltane:
I know one thing, Newt doesn’t have the stones to challenge Nancy SMASH to “show us what you’ve got.” She’d nut him like a 20-pound lamb.
Hill Dweller
Daniels was Bush’s budget director.
Sullivan loved Paul Ryan.
Those facts disqualify both of those men from doling out advice.
pseudonymous in nc
The context was pretty smart: rope in the GOPpers in on natural gas, and point out that the feds have backed experimental petrochemical projects in the past. The world’s in the process of deciding where the nexus of alternative energy is going to form, in terms of supply chain, innovation and employment, and Mitchy Dan shows up to yuck about the right to choose a 60 watt bulb that’s barely changed since Edison.
JGabriel
@DCLaw1:
I’m sure Obama’s thoughts on reading that (IF he reads it, which is a big if), will be, “Dude, like I fucking care. You’re as fickle as a 14 year old Lana Del Rey groupie.”
.
Roger Moore
@beltane:
FTFY.
dww44
@fleeting expletive: Thanks. I agree with all as I’ve been voting Democrat even longer and I’ve been pround since LBJ. Obama’s speech was long on specifics, long on optimism, and short on anger and pettiness. He was Presidential and no one on offer from the right can come close to filling that bill. While there may indeed be some of us Dems who don’t deserve this President, I know a whole lot of them on the right who sure as hell don’t.
Question: what was behind all that interaction he had with Scott Brown both on the way in and on the way out? Their exchanges piqued my interest.
pseudonymous in nc
And Josh is right at TPM: after weeks of the Klown Kar portraying Obama as Muslim O’Communist, it’s nice to have him show up and, y’know, be himself.
Donut
These are the words I thought of as the President closed his speech tonight. This is the spirit he was invoking. It was an excellent speech. The GOP was prepared for an OWS tirade and instead the President planted himself firmly in the center, and asked, “what is holding this country back?”
Mitch Daniels’ sad, pessimistic, depressing response said it all. It was as if he was reciting a GOP Mad-lib of Obama attacks. I hope and believe that shit has finally worn thin.
As Cole said, got plenty of disagreements with the President, but I CANNOT WAIT
Davis X. Machina
@Mike P: They’ve already started the fouling on every possession…
fleeting expletive
Roger, I’d just ;\like to be able to afford to go to a doctor. I pay a ridiculous amount of money every month for BCBS not very good insurance That would rationally make me go ahead and see a doctor, since I am paying so much for it, but realistically BCBS won’t pay much if I did. There is no rational explanation for the existence of insurance companies to be involved in health care.
I had a health care issue back in April. I fell and had a pelvic fracture. I scooted on my bottom for a day until a friend arranged for a wheelchair, then a walker. I had my own cane. I can walk but it isn’t like other people walk.
that experience cost me about 1500 and my BCBS about 1000 , best I can tell from the EOBs and what not
Insurance fucking suck.
WaterGirl
@Davis X. Machina: My answer is still “yes”. Though you do say some things that surprise me, especially at Booman, so maybe I’m wrong?
Carolina Dave
Sorry to hear about Sully. I checked in on the live blogging and he was getting quite pissy about Obama not offering to simplify (flat)the tax code. Funny, Jim DeMint said the same thing on CNN. Sullivan is a good writer, but his rubbing back and forth on the fence is getting annoying.
DeMint brought me back down to earth, however. Since the Repubs control the house and paralyze the senate through holds and fillabusters and have pledged and acted in every way to try and make Obama a one term president as their one stated primary goal.
Thus,Nothing will happen in congressional action this year. Repugs know discipline, and this is the last year of the four Obama earned. They will fight, lie and obstruct even harder in the 4th quarter of this game.
Obama has shown some fight with executive action recently, I’ll think he’ll have to do more to advacnce the agenda he outlined tonight.
Citizen Alan
@OzoneR:
In their defense, he has cultivated a reputation (fair or not) as being someone who is willing to treat abortion rights as just another chit to be traded in exchange for something he considers more important. And abortion rights are under unprecedented attack today, what with all the fetal personhood nonsense. In fact, I saw an astonishing video today at Slacktivist featuring a fundie suggesting that we should ban fucking epidurals on the grounds that Genesis makes it absolutely clear that God wanted women to suffer during childbirth.
That said, every pro-choice group in the country knows the score. If a GOP president replaces Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then abortion rights will effectively cease to exist. OTOH, if Providence smiles on us and Obama replaces Kennedy or better yet one of the Four Horsemen, abortion rights will be secured for a generation at least.
Brian R.
Is that the same reality in which Mitch Fucking Daniels was the budget director for the Bush administration that pushed through the largest and third-largest tax cut in American history and then piled two massive wars and the single greatest government entitlement program onto the country’s credit card at the same goddamn time, thereby creating the vast bulk of our current debt?
The president who offered a four fucking trillion dollar deficit reduction deal to the Republicans, who then slapped his hand away? The president whose health care plan is going to reduce the deficit by another trillion? The president who wants to restore the tax rates on top earners to what they were in the glory days of Bill Clinton and refill our coffers like we did then, creating the surpluses that asswipes like Mitch Fucking Daniels blew on an orgy of unfunded wars? Is that the president who refused to tackle debt?
I’d tell you to go fuck yourself, Andrew Sullivan, but it seems like you’re already pretty fucked.
pseudonymous in nc
@beltane:
She’s trolling the shit out of the GOPpers. She does this really well.
Roger Moore
@OzoneR:
I don’t think that’s really true. Any party in a first past the post system will have a bunch of single issue voters who are sticking with the rest of its program because they think they’ll get a better hearing there. But they also have a bunch of multi-issue voters who define what the broader coalition looks like by their collective views on the issues the single issue people care about. So the left has single issue reproductive rights, environment, minority rights, pro-worker, etc. voters, but it also has a bunch of people who think all those issues are important. Just as the right has single issue voters who care about low taxes, hating minorities, imposing Old Testament law, etc. and a core who hold enough of those views to cement the coalition together.
Davis X. Machina
@WaterGirl: I’m just baiting Arthur Gilroy and seabe.
hamletta
I don’t think Nancy SMASH is holding any cards on Gingrich, I just think she’s an experienced politician who knows him well and knows he’ll never make it to the White House.
He doesn’t have the temperament; he’ll implode at some point, if he hasn’t alienated half the voting population in the meantime.
duck-billed placelot
Does anyone else read that last line and thing ‘Stockholm Syndrome’? Jesus, John, EVERYONE deserves political leaders who are decent people trying their best.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
For those on FB, there is a graph floating around showing how much the debt grew during the last five presidencies. Something else to keep a link to and annoy your fbfriends with.
WaterGirl
@Davis X. Machina: Ah. Glad to know! I have done a few double-takes over there. Really, glad to know. Thanks.
starscream
I would love to hear Sullivan answer two questions
1) Why should the president campaign so forcefully for deficit reduction when nobody gives a shit about it?
2) Why should Democrats try to reduce the deficit when we know for a fact that Republicans will fuck it up when they get back in power, as they have every other time?
David Koch
The Professional Left is gonna kick you outta the club for saying this Cole.
different-church-lady
You know how Steve Jobs had a reality distortion field? Obama’s got a reality correction field.
Unfortunately it only works when he’s giving a speech.
gwangung
This is from the twit who champions The Bell Curve while disdaining any knowledge of statistics?
Loneoak
I dunno, I didn’t really agree with the part where Obama called for Gay Sharia. But the rest of the stuff was fine.
Karen
@fleeting expletive:
Don’t bother Fleeting. Davis has a point to prove after all and when Romney is President or even Newt, gee we’ll sure learn our lesson that we better do everything Davis and his buddies want on that checklist or they’re going to stay home give us the hell we deserve!
And if women die because abortion is no longer legal and get back alley abortions, well that’s just on Obama for not being perfect.
Davis is the kind of person who would rather starve if he can’t have the whole pie only he’d let his family and friends starve too.
So don’t waste your energy on him. Nothing you say will ever convince him. We’ll just spend our energy on registering more people to vote, arranging more people’s rides to the polls and work the phone banks.
Davis isn’t the one who will become crippled because the drugs for Rheuamtoid Arthritis is $1500 a month and when the ACA will be killed, it’ll just be cheaper to put them in a wheelchair. What does Davis care? Davis has a point to make!
lamh35
The best part of the SOTU aside from Obama’s delivery, was before he even uttered a word. It was when POTUS greeted Congresswoman Giffords and they shared a long hug. It made even my inner wuss get a little verklempt
VIDEO: Gabrielle Giffords At The State Of The Union Address
Brian R.
The Onion nails it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brian R.:
Oh, and btw, Daniels didn’t raise a peep when the deserting coward decreed that his two wars be placed “off budget” so they wouldn’t make his deficits look even worse.
When Obama put the wars back “on budget”, the numbers looked pretty bad. And, what do you know, the drooling asswipes who are the wingtards immediately started screaming that Obama was the one who spiked the deficit…because he ended the deserting coward’s lie.
OzoneR
@Citizen Alan:
Did he just decide not to grant religious organizations exemptions from contraceptive coverage? I really don’t understand this.
El Cid
That conservatives would seize upon such a middling representative of Bush regime incompetence and venality (Mr. Bush Jr. budget director as vigilant against deficits) and bad governance as some heroic leader is just pathetic. Sad.
And for someone who believes himself to be of such enormous intelligence and insight, like Andrew Sullivan, to get excited over a politician with such a shitty record (but hey, it’s Republicans, so we grade on the curve against the super-crazies!) would be laughable if it weren’t sad that people paid attention to his rants.
GregB
Pelosi knows that attacking Gingrich will rally the wingnuts to his side. They’ll want to prove her wrong and humiliate her.
Just like Gingrich knows that attacking the media rallies the nutters.
She is helping to divide the simpletons.
Bravo. Smash!
Rob L
As with it every Obama speech my FB page lights up with Obama bashing. Really should unfriend those people I grew up with but I am holding out that they will develop their critical thinking skills and unhinge their partisan hate. Sadly, I realize that its just the tip of the iceberg.
Thanks for keeping me sane.
freelancer
@BO_Bill:
“I’ve been trying to figure something in my head, and maybe you can help me out, yeah? When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you’re insane? Maybe you’re just sitting around, reading “Guns and Ammo”, masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, “Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!”? Yeah. Do you guys do that?”
Scott P.
Sullivan labors under the conclusion that his priorities are shared by the broad mass of voters, when in fact they are shared only by the tiny slice of gay, white, male, wealthy, middle-aged, conservative (with a small ‘c’), self-employed, East Coast dwellers.
driftglass
I had no idea this would be my SOTU reaction when I wrote it.
http://bit.ly/wY3Zt7
Scott P.
And then he complains about Democrats appealing to “special-interest groups”.
DCLaw1
A friend of mine – reasonable conservative, but with friends who are less so – recently posted something on FB criticizing Gingrich for his serial adultery, the fact that all his colleagues (and even staffers) in Congress hated him, etc.
Someone chimed in something like “Well he’d still be better than the guy we’ve got in the White House now!” and then I saw all the “A-men”s roll in. Sad.
DCLaw1
Previous post was in response to @Rob L. Can’t edit, dammit.
Roger Moore
@fleeting expletive:
That is more or less my point. The criticisms of universal healthcare that come out of the Republicans are a sign that they’re not experiencing the same system the rest of us are. Most of us are happy to give up some control over what doctor sees us in exchange for confidence that we’ll get to see a doctor when we need one and the bill won’t bankrupt us.
Davis X. Machina
@Karen: Well, politics isn’t really about policy, now is it?
It’s more a form of self-expression, where I can tell the world how I feel by displaying my choice of consumer goods, in this case, presidential candidates.
Hell, If I could go down to town hall and change my voter registration to “Apple” or “Scion” — or maybe “Carhartt” — instead of this crappy “Democrat” and “Republican” stuff, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Because it is, at the end of the day, all about me.
cthulhu
Obama was fine and all but where are the damn human-animal hybrids I was promised!!
Roger Moore
@David Koch:
What, he’s going to be quadruple kicked out of the club now?
some guy
@Karen:
irony. still dead.
DCLaw1
@Scott P.: Exacerbating his condition is the fact that he’s a fickle attention whore.
It’s embarrassing. I’m obviously a Democrat and Obama supporter, but I could barely make it through Sully’s article in Newsweek or Time or who the hell cares – it was so lazy and rife with the same flighty, paper-thin reasoning as tonight’s outburst, I couldn’t even enjoy it as a “pro-Obama” screed.
Paula68154
I’ve only been following politics for four years. My observation is that the GOP is either crazy or craven. The lies they tell are something to behold.
There really isn’t much else to say that hasn’t been said here. It’s sickening.
driftglass
@Davis X. Machina:
“He spoke of trouble with the Senator from Du Pont Chemicals with his forty-five votes, and of an easy triumph over the Senator from Nash-Kelvinator with his six.” — From “The Space Merchants” which was still science fiction when it was written.
58 years ago.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-reminder.html
Old Dan and Little Ann
O/T but Elizabeth Warren was on the Daily show tonight. She kicks ass every times she’s on tv.
GregB
Think of those poor birther lunatics who had to watch their dear tea-party Cosmo boy Scott Brown hugging and chatting with President Obama and then they heard with horror, the voice of their Speaker of the House, Boehner, welcome the President of the United States instead of calling him a traitorous usurper who doesn’t deserve the title of President.
It must drive these idiotic rubes nuts to see him respected and deferred to in public.
Nom de Plume
See, here is why hyphens are important:
I struggled through that sentence about three times before I understood it. If you’d written “every time I get some one-on-one time with that guy”, I’d have known instantly what you meant. But grammar and punctuation aren’t important.
Pseudonym
I saw something about Romney giving a “prebuttal” to the SOTU in the news. That makes me wonder, will it be Ron Paul or Newt Gingrich who first responds to the SOTU with a State of the Confederacy speech?
flukebucket
@Nom de Plume:
I guess you have to be from the hill country. I knew exactly what he was talking about the first time he wrote it.
General Stuck
So everyone is back in love with Obama again. Small wonders.
MikeJ
@General Stuck: Everyone? I skipped over most comments because I knew there would be somebody with his knickers in a twist about Obama saying something like “America is the greatest country in the world.”
Splitting Image
@Carolina Dave:
Obama did offer to simplify the tax code. The most egregious obstacle facing the Flat Tax Ideal is that capital gains are taxed at a different rate than wage income. Anyone who wants to create a single tax bracket for wage income but leave a different one for capital gains (or eliminate it entirely) is not interested in a Flat Tax.
Not that Andrew Sullivan would appreciate the difference….
suzanne
“Politics of envy”, my ASS.
So yesterday I grew a set, and told my rich, materialistic coworker straight to her face, in front of others, that I had zero sympathy for her in regards to her taxes. She insisted, “Well, if you knew what we paid, you would definitely feel badly for us.” I replied, “No, I promise I wouldn’t.” It felt SO DAMN GOOD.
I realize that I am a psycho hose beast, but I am so happy that the issue of income inequality is out there in the public consciousness, so that people have a framework for thinking about it.
The SOTU was great. Gabby looks great. I’ll miss the crap outta her. Proud of the President for defining this issue tonight.
General Stuck
@MikeJ:
using “everyone” was not meant to be literal, but a little hyperbolic flair. “many” would be more precise.
FlipYrWhig
@Old Dan and Little Ann: And Colbert had… Andrew Sullivan. Who was effusive about the many wondrous successes of Obama. What a dillweed.
FlipYrWhig
@suzanne: Nicely done. Few things as irritating as rich people complaining about high taxes. It’s like complaining that the ski lifts are too slow in St. Moritz..
dead existentialist
@Davis X. Machina: 3 for 3. You’re on fire tonight.
Also too. Post here often, big boy? Tee hee.
dead existentialist
@FlipYrWhig: Ex-in-law lawyer used to wail about the taxes on his 6 figure income, and all of us educator-types on his wife’s side used to say, “Trade ya!”
He never had much of a response for some reason.
SlackerInc
This was so nice to read. I get weary of all the Obama bashing from the right and the left. I’m 42 and if I make it to 92, I don’t expect to be able to say there was a better president in my lifetime.
Roger Moore
@Pseudonym:
Gingrich. Crazy uncle is still afraid of being called crazy in public, so he’s doing his best to hide that kind of thing. The amphibian has decided that the best way of winning in today’s Republican party is to replace the dogwhistle with an air raid siren and let your freak flag fly.
Karen
@some guy:
To be honest, I’m just frustrated at the people who talk about how great Ron Paul is because he’s anti overseas war (or any overseas aid or anything) and just ignore everything else and my sense of irony or sarcasm or anything but literal has been burned out. I’m burned out.
Davis, I’m sorry I unleashed on you. Even if you were serious, which I don’t know, you didn’t deserve that.
cckids
@hamletta:
She’s got the unedited notes from the Congressional hearings that convinced him to resign, & says if he gets the nom they’ll be made public. Popcorn for everyone!!
boss bitch
So while the speech was happening:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/ap-sources-us-military-helicopter-raid-into-somalia-frees-american-and-danish-hostages/2012/01/25/gIQAxMuOPQ_story.html
Church of BC Worship
My reaction? The president is a cowardly, incompetent placeholder piece of shit. My advice? America, aim higher.
Tim I
John, even though you can be somewhat of a dick on occasion, you are spot on with this comment. This is what keeps me coming back.
MikeJ
@boss bitch: Damn Obama and his military overreach!
I’ll bet they used drones for intel, which makes it doubly evil.
xian
@clayton: anyone pick up a whiff of “credit to his race” in the way Daniels praised Obama’s intact family in lieu of true acknowledgement of his policy successes?
xian
@Mike P: good call… Obama also makes very very few unforced errors.
Mike S.
Bernanke, Summers & Geithner, Daley & Lew, Immelt?!? Holder!!!
Obama exhibits a total disregard of both common sense and his own campaign promises, vis:
Absolute Failure to Prosecute Banking Fraud Under Current Law in the Face of Overwhelming Evidence.
Failed to Support the Public Option once in office.
Failed to speak out against extending Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich until the very last week before it was set to expire.
Medical Marijuana?
Extra-Judicial Killings? (even of citizens)
Indefinite Detention? (even of citizens)
Begging the Iraqis to let the US stay?
Gitmo?
Gov’t Transparency? (Thomas Drake! Bradley Manning!)
HAMP/HARP? (totally ineffective, but servicers were given free reign to engage turn both into opportunity for systematic abuse against lenders)
Robosigning? (pressuring the 50 State Attorneys General to give banks immunity for pennies on the dollar w/o even investigating)
BP Oil Rig? (lying about NOAA science, using the Coast Guard to keep out the press)
Read something, anything, by Bill Black and then commit yourselves to the insane asylum.
This blog is really heading for the crapper.
Balloon-Juice and Fox News: enantiomers, resolved long ago.
TuiMel
@Spaghetti Lee:
If he/she did, it describes perfectly my own reaction.
Mike S.
@Mike S.:
*against borrowers, fixed
TuiMel
@Elie:
Hey Seuss H Christ
Tune up your snarkometer or hang around long enough to know your fellow commenters better.
Suffern ACE
@Mike S.: So?
David Koch
@MikeJ: Laugh, but this hostage rescue was illegal as it violated the rights of the kidnappers by not reading them their rights!
This kind of gross affront to kidnappers would never happen under Ron Paul!
Cactupuss
Obama is a great man.
KS in MA
@driftglass: Wow, that’s a marvelous post.
Bludger
We really don’t deserve him. We really don’t.
This should be his campaign slogan.
El Kabong
@Rob L: I think Charles Pierce addressed your dilemna back in October. Link
El Kabong
@Rob L: I think Charles Pierce addressed your dilemna back in October. Linked here
Omnes Omnibus
@FlipYrWhig:
Well, they are. So there.
slightly_peeved
@OzoneR:
Wrong, OzoneR. The left wing in the rest of the world is organized labor. If you want one reason why America can’t have the nice things the rest of the western world does, that’s probably it.
liberal
Are you out of your f*cking mind?
Before coming over here to comment, I got this in an email from MoveOn.org:
Aside from “I’ll believe it when I see it” (in terms of criminal sanctions), this is how many years after the horse fled the barn?
You wanna argue that emo progs/Firebaggers et al. should get behind Obama, because the Republicans are pure filthy evil, that’s fine. But to go all rhapsodic about Obama is just plain laughable.
NB to morons like Stuck et al.: no, I didn’t vote for Hillary in the primaries; I voted for Obama and gave him $1000 in the primaries and $1000 in the general.
liberal
@Mike S.:
Buh…buh…but…as the Obots have pointed out, the onus is on doubters like us to show there was anyone out there who could have been picked instead of Geithner, who would have been confirmable, who wasn’t a complete shill for the FIRE sector!!1!
Mr Furious
I just got out of the car after listening to NPR fact-check and analyze the “truth” in Obama’s SOTU address, with the clear implication beforehand that they’d find something, and despite the hosts prodding, every claim the investigated turned out to be true. Every one.
The few facts they checked from Mitch Daniels turned out to be 100% false, with the job creation one being off by a McArdlesque exponential factor.
OzoneR
@Mike S.:
They were set to expire in September, 2010?!?
OzoneR
@liberal:
If that’s your (pathetic excuse) for a complaint, then why have you been bitching about it for so many years if it doesn’t matter now? If I had to guess, it probably has more to do with the housing market and the economy stabilizing.
This is why few people take you people seriously, because you bitch about something, then when you finally get what you want, you bitch about it coming late. Excuse us for thinking that maybe you just want to bitch and aren’t serious.
General Stuck
@liberal:
You sound bitter, and pouty this morn. IOW’s, normal
xian
@OzoneR: uh, he ran against extending them.
Angry Egilsson
The only decision I have is whether to vote early for Obama or wait until election day to savor the vibe at the voting booths.
Susan
That’s exactly what I told my husband last night. The reason John Boehner was sitting there looking as if his orange head was going to explode is because after 8 years of a free for all with Bush, Boehner knows that Obama is a good man who is only trying his best to do the right thing. And while Boehner watches and listens to President Obama, he is reminded that at some point, he has lost his very soul.
Susan
That’s exactly what I told my husband last night. The reason John Boehner was sitting there looking as if his orange head was going to explode is because after 8 years of a free for all with Bush, Boehner knows that Obama is a good man who is only trying his best to do the right thing. And while Boehner watches and listens to President Obama, he is reminded that at some point, he has lost his very soul.
grandpa john
@suzanne: Well if she feels like she is overtaxed, she could always move to Somalia and not pay any, but by the time she payed for a small army of security guards, an armored car and a well defended fortress to live in, it would probably be cheaper to pay the taxes
metricpenny
John, I agree with you that he’s doing what he thinks is best, but also doing it in a manner that’s not selfish, shortsighted and slighting.
I do think we deserve him. But at times don’t think he deserves us.
Too often Americans make the perfect the enemy of the good. (Yep. I stole that from him. Trying to make best use of it in my every day living.)
Mak
@Narcissus:
I was gonna say schizo, but bipolar is probably more accurate.
Mike P
@Davis X. Machina: Intentional fouls, obviously. O’s just gotta knock down the free throws.
Deb T
Such a relief to hear Obama speak after this season of the Republican Follies (aka primary run). This is how a leader makes a speech with none of the cheap shot negativity we hear from Mittens and Newton.
I have bones to pick with Obama, big bones, but he’s till head and shoulders above the opposition.
James Hulsey
@OzoneR:
Freudian typo?
The Raven
“That is a good man doing what he thinks is best.”
That’s what Reagan persuaded the public he was.
Croak!