A New Hope

[Rocksoup]

Palin doesn't bother me really....she's not making horrible policy after horrible policy, nor is she spending my tax dollars at a rate never before seen in American history. Not sure if there is a single person alive with the skill set to deal with the certain problems we are facing at the present, and much worse in the near future.

[gman]

The president is going to get our financial house in order. We're not going to spend more than we take in. That's an easy fix. We just have to take more in. Grab your ankles.
And, all that money we're borrowing to make the interest payments on our debt, it doesn't add to our debt. It does, except it doesn't because I'm the president and I can redefine what it means to add to our debt. We're also going to invest, but we're not doing earmarks anymore. It looks like an earmark, it smells like an earmark, but let me be clear, it's an investment.
Chris Christie continues to say he's not running in 2012, but if he does, or anyone like him, the president is going to get his clock cleaned.

[Rocksoup]

If Chris Christie runs in 2012, I'm going to be voting more than once. I love the way that guys gives the unions the finger with one hand and slams a cold cut hogie with the other. I hope his audacity catches on soon. We need more of that. I'll admit, I don't know much about him, but what I've seen so far...I like.

[gman]

Chris Christie is the man. He'd get my vote everyday. He's nothing like the dope who thought he could govern the diner capital of the world and outlaw runny eggs. You can pass all sorts of assinine laws and target just about anything, but it's career suicide to touch the people's eggs in NJ.
These clips from his recent D.C. speech are fantastic.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gov-chr ... tial-buzz/

[CatNamedManny]

Christie seems like a smart politician. He's going to have to balance the weakness of the current group of Republican candidates/likely candidates (easier for him to win the nomination) with the fact that he's going to be facing what is likely to be a popular incumbent president in a healthier economy. I suspect he has his sights on 2016, when it will be easier for Republicans to take the White House.

[executioner]

It is clear that Obama is a one term president, his closest comparison is Jimmy Carter and Carter had better poll numbers than Obama. I don't think the Dems will have the White House after 2012.

[executioner]

Christie seems like a smart politician. He's going to have to balance the weakness of the current group of Republican candidates/likely candidates (easier for him to win the nomination) with the fact that he's going to be facing what is likely to be a popular incumbent president in a healthier economy. I suspect he has his sights on 2016, when it will be easier for Republicans to take the White House.

Facing a popular incumbent? Man what are smoking? This President has been a disaster from the get go; even his croonies from Hollywood have abandoned him.

[p-freak]

And I was thinking that this would be a very interesting thread about Star Wars. A New Hope! Oh well...

Christie seems like a smart politician. He's going to have to balance the weakness of the current group of Republican candidates/likely candidates (easier for him to win the nomination) with the fact that he's going to be facing what is likely to be a popular incumbent president in a healthier economy. I suspect he has his sights on 2016, when it will be easier for Republicans to take the White House.

Facing a popular incumbent? Man what are smoking? This President has been a disaster from the get go; even his croonies from Hollywood have abandoned him.

??? I don't exactly know what Obama is doing in the States, but internationally he's doing loads and loads better than Bush. Bush has destroyed much of the respect that the States had with his wild goose chases in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially when it turned out that the wild geese were actually never there. Obama is clearing the international mess that Bush has made. And as far as I can see he's also clearing some of the internal mess. But feel free to disagree with me

[gman]

I'll respectfully disagree. I believe Donald Trump is right that President Obama is making a joke of the United States. Unemployment is still high, gas is still high; which he did say he was okay with. He's weakened the dollar quite a bit, which is causing inflation across the globe. He's also dissing Israel.
I guess it's a matter of perspective. A lot of people in the U.S. don't like the direction we are going. We're not really getting tough on spending and the economy at this point. I'm pretty sure Trump believes that a strong U.S. is good for the rest of the world, and we're not very strong right now.

[Rocksoup]

Gman, what part of PA are you from?

[brent]

Fellers, the president is a puppet. He does not DO anything. He makes speeches and writes checks we cannot cash. He does not control the dollar. He does not control oil prices. He does not control employment. He cannot do anything directly, singularly to affect these things.

Oil prices are based on supply, demand and the value of the dollar. A little while ago, without the knowledge of the USA, the middle eastern and euro countries got together and decided that the dollar will no longer be the currency of choice for oil purchasing. Before, all countries had to convert their currency to US dollars. Now, some countries, including Mexico, France and others are no longer exchanging for US currency, because the dollar has systematically and purposefully devalued. This has been done originally to appease other nations. Since we do not know who the Fed is, and we don't know REALLY who is behind the powers that rule the world, we are along for the ride and the US government cannot do jack crap about it, short of war.

The next presidency will be about inclusion and when this happens, things will only get worse, no matter who is in the whitehouse.

[CatNamedManny]

Obama's approval ratings: Better than Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's at this point in their presidencies, and they both cruised to re-election by moving to the center and benefiting from economic recoveries that hadn't fully taken hold at the time of their respective midterm shellackings in 1982 and 1994. The parallels between those administrations and this one are striking, actually, in terms of a president coming into office in an economic downturn (recession of 1979-80, recession of 1991-92) on the heels of a deeply unpopular president (Carter, George H.W. Bush), getting slammed in his first midterm as his approval rating plummeted... History is funny that way, and the rules of political science are rarely broken: If the economy is good, the incumbent wins. If it isn't, he doesn't. It takes a major situation like a war to break that rule.

Like I said, absent a disaster, the economy will be good enough in 2012 for Obama to win re-election fairly easily. Even if unemployment remains high by historical levels -- which it almost certainly will, given the historical precedents for these kinds of economic collapses -- he can point to x jobs created in the past three years or what-have-you. Obama remains the most popular politician in America today, the only one with favorability ratings even close to 50 percent (49 percent, while Boehner is at 23 percent, McConnell at 30 percent, Romney at 33 percent, Palin at 34 percent, Gingrich at 27 percent). He is ahead of every potential Republican candidate in every swing state he carried in 2008 in the early head-to-head polling, including ones, like North Carolina, I figure he'd lose regardless of the overall result. I know it's not what you hear from the right-wing echo chamber these days, but that's the truth. A lot can happen between now and then, and if the economy double dips or we have a terrorist attack or something else calamitous (that I'm sure we can all agree we hope will not happen) actually happens, then this all goes out the window, but Obama is in good shape for 2012. Sorry to break the bad news, but there it is.

[Poll data here: http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com ... rable.html
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com ... tates.html
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com ... -over.html
http://www.dailykos.com/weeklypolling/2011/2/11
http://www.pollingreport.com/l.htm#McConnell]

[ErioL]

I think its rather naive even some of the arguments put forth here.

"Conservatives don't hate, liberals do"

"Yes they do, liberals are rational, conservatives are hate-filled!"

Dude, BOTH sides do it.

[ErioL]

And I was thinking that this would be a very interesting thread about Star Wars. A New Hope! Oh well...

Christie seems like a smart politician. He's going to have to balance the weakness of the current group of Republican candidates/likely candidates (easier for him to win the nomination) with the fact that he's going to be facing what is likely to be a popular incumbent president in a healthier economy. I suspect he has his sights on 2016, when it will be easier for Republicans to take the White House.

Facing a popular incumbent? Man what are smoking? This President has been a disaster from the get go; even his croonies from Hollywood have abandoned him.

??? I don't exactly know what Obama is doing in the States, but internationally he's doing loads and loads better than Bush. Bush has destroyed much of the respect that the States had with his wild goose chases in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially when it turned out that the wild geese were actually never there. Obama is clearing the international mess that Bush has made. And as far as I can see he's also clearing some of the internal mess. But feel free to disagree with me

Initially this was true. Obama's election and first year were a honeymoon for Obama and the world. Our approval numbers around the world were boosted significantly. However, in the last year that has began to decline. Some countries still view us extremely positive (compared to Bush-era numbers) but many have begun to "lose respect" once again. Not to the level of Bush, but the notion that it is "loads and loads" better is an overstatement. I have the statistic somewhere, maybe ill try and dig it up.

[executioner]

And I was thinking that this would be a very interesting thread about Star Wars. A New Hope! Oh well...

Christie seems like a smart politician. He's going to have to balance the weakness of the current group of Republican candidates/likely candidates (easier for him to win the nomination) with the fact that he's going to be facing what is likely to be a popular incumbent president in a healthier economy. I suspect he has his sights on 2016, when it will be easier for Republicans to take the White House.

Facing a popular incumbent? Man what are smoking? This President has been a disaster from the get go; even his croonies from Hollywood have abandoned him.

??? I don't exactly know what Obama is doing in the States, but internationally he's doing loads and loads better than Bush. Bush has destroyed much of the respect that the States had with his wild goose chases in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially when it turned out that the wild geese were actually never there. Obama is clearing the international mess that Bush has made. And as far as I can see he's also clearing some of the internal mess. But feel free to disagree with me

Initially this was true. Obama's election and first year were a honeymoon for Obama and the world. Our approval numbers around the world were boosted significantly. However, in the last year that has began to decline. Some countries still view us extremely positive (compared to Bush-era numbers) but many have begun to "lose respect" once again. Not to the level of Bush, but the notion that it is "loads and loads" better is an overstatement. I have the statistic somewhere, maybe ill try and dig it up.

"Fool's Gold"