Comments on: Unhappy America

By: bellagerens

bellagerens — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:51:51 +0000

I’m puzzled by the whole bowing-to-the-Saudi scandal. It’s not been that long since Obama met Queen Elizabeth – did he bow to her, as is the protocol? If so, then bowing to the Saudi king is no worse. If not, well, then it might be a problem.

By: bellagerens

bellagerens — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:23:51 +0000

Yup, that’s me.

By: John Trenchard

John Trenchard — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:26:02 +0000

You can probably track back to where Obama started going wrong when he did that bow to the Saudi King.
Americans were certainly NOT impressed with that. The President of the Republic does not bow to anyone.

With the rise of the Tea Party movement during the summer, you can argue that Obama has kept at least one pledge – “change you can believe in”. And by golly are the Tea Party activists about real change when it comes to rolling back the federal government.

By: The Great Simpleton

The Great Simpleton — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:41:19 +0000

Fighting battles on many fronts is a textbook mistake. When at war, we should focus on the war; when in recession, we should focus on the recession; when the immediate problems are dealt with, then we can focus on the reforms– as long as we’ve done our research.

I like that, is it yours or are you quoting someone?

By: bellagerens

bellagerens — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:56:23 +0000

Thanks! Restraint is easy from a distance. You should think about expatting to Mexico with Hrothgar!

By: bellagerens

bellagerens — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:55:21 +0000

Yes, he is certainly discovering just how much the president cannot do, as well as how difficult it is to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Now that Gitmo exists, there are all sorts of problems involved in making it un-exist. But still he could have given it a go, and explained to the American people why it’s such a thorny issue.

But this healthcare reform – not the right priority at all. Fighting battles on many fronts is a textbook mistake. When at war, we should focus on the war; when in recession, we should focus on the recession; when the immediate problems are dealt with, then we can focus on the reforms – as long as we’ve done our research. Which nobody had bothered to do about healthcare, thus borrowing the worst bits from other countries while simultaneously retaining the worst bits of the system already in place. Argh.

By: bellagerens

bellagerens — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:49:53 +0000

Word.

By: bellagerens

bellagerens — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:49:35 +0000

I didn’t mean so much ‘sans lobbyists’, just that the ‘consultation’ has not been the sort of questions one might have expected. Rather than asking the industry what they think the main problems are and what solutions they might be able to suggest, Congress has made up its own solutions and ‘consulted’ the lobbyists about how best to make them go along with it. I would not characterise that as proper listening to people on the front line.

By: CC Truckston

CC Truckston — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:41:59 +0000

Excellent commentary and analysis–well-written and insightful. It is a far better piece than I could have written, and exhibits far more restraint than I could have mustered in the event.

By: The Great Simpleton

The Great Simpleton — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:22:43 +0000

Cato had a podcast a few months ago that predicted he would become one of the most unpopular presidents ever. The reasoning was that expectations were so high that it would be impossible to live up to them and that he would be overtaken by events, dear boy, events. This would lead to a massive backlash that he would find difficult to turn around.

Having followed the health care debate fairly closely (for a Brit) I’m surprised he has any credibility left at all. They seem to have taken the worst parts of the NHS, medicare, medicade and the existing and added multiple layers of bureaucracy.

Gitmo has been an introduction to real politik and it was obvious during the the election that he was setting himself up on this one. I suspect, though, that he has also been let down by EU and other countries. During the campaign they all made noises about how they want to help the new messiah overcome the wicked, evil, neo cons but nobody pointed out to him that they were all lying to bathe in his reflected glory, but there was no way they would take any of the terrorists and make themselves unpopular at home.

This is a good piece: http://thelibertypen.blogspot.com/2009/07/obamas-waterloo-by-wayne-allyn-root.html

It looks like he’s going through a faster rise and fall that St Tony, that’s some achievement.