Sure. It's Bush's fault. But... how is that relevant?
Obama is in charge now, and is therefore in charge of fixing it. He knew the situation when he entered office. He knew what it was when he campaigned for another four years. Instead he followed many of Bush's fiscal policies, and increased spending across the board, while cutting deals with Congress to get around their mandated duties of creating a federal budget. He's also the only president to have turned in his budget plan late on consecutive years, the only one to have done so for three out four years of his term, and the one who turned it in latest (98 days).
Bush made a lot of poor decisions. Obama should probably try to not remake those decisions and actually work on getting this country on track.
President Obama is the head of the US government. For better or for worse, he will be the one history points to.
I have a different perspective than most, because in my line of work, it doesn't matter if Private Joe schmoe and his buddy's Larry and Curly are shitbags of the highest degree. If they mess up, their boss gets the blame.
The GOP has pulled some dirty shit in order to prevent things from happening. But that's what their constituents want them to do, unfortunately. And in terms of the budget and fiscal issues, they at least talk about the issue.
Note: I am not a Republican. I want Congress to do their goddamned job. I don't care whose hand is on the tiller as long as someone is actually steering the ship, and pointing away from the goddamned reef.
But that's what their constituents want them to do, unfortunately.
Er, no. Most of the polls done reflect more and more that their constituents are very annoyed about how the Republicans are conducting themselves and WANT there to be bipartisanship and responsibility.
However thanks to heavy gerrymandering in 2010 and rigging the state / local elections, the Republicans only have to care about a more conservative candidate getting them in the primaries.
tl;dr version: Most people are tired of this shit too and want the government to function. But the current party that is clogging up the wheels has a deathgrip on power that they are going to do everything to keep.
At the time that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, polls had people against it slightly in the majority. When the Republicans continually move to repeal it, it's because that's what makes their voters happy, so that's what they do
( ... )
I think both parties need to come back to the middle, most definitely but idk - to me it's incredibly disingenuous to say "This is what your constituents want" in relation to Republicans because they have since 2010 had the opportunity to rig the system their way, meaning there is no need for them to answer to either their constituents or to even worry what the general populace thinks. In my home state they're pretty blatantly trying to kick any and all Democratic senators out of Richmond for no other reason than to keep a majority. So it's very hard for me to see to see where exactly they're serving anyone but their political party anymore.
Oh I'm sure they would have - but I doubt they'd have done so as severely as the Republicans have (and continue trying to) because moderates were still welcome into the party at the time before the Tea Partiers wiped them out. Unfortunately, we don't know and I don't think we'll see until maybe 2020.
Frankly, I was hoping that the Tea Party would go fullhog and Bull Moose it up during the 2012 election, so that they could get their asses kicked, and the GOP could go back to being sane. Hell, it says something when the most rational and effective portion of your party, the Log Cabin Republicans, is part of a group that a large portion of your base systematically oppresses.
Oh yeah. I won't lie about it - if John Huntsman had gotten the nod and had actually shown some knowledge in terms of economic health and you know, not shown his arse in the Great Rape Debate of 2012 I might have had a harder time deciding on who to vote for. But what worries me now is that the Tea Partiers really aren't going anywhere unless people get really, really sick of them. And even if they do, the districts they represent don't have enough of a split for the Democratic challenger to even have a chance. And that even if they do, the Republicans have enough control on a state level that they can just adjust the districts again in their favor.
I really, really want to see people get pissed off enough about it that we get a very neutral redistricting so that both parties HAVE to answer to the people they represent, instead of their just their party. I don't see it happening though.
I hear that. It would've been nice to have a candidate that didn't go around pissing off our allies on a world stage. Mitt Romney couldn't be in a country five minutes without sticking his foot in his mouth, and President Obama's snubbing of Israel and Pakistan... I liked Huntsman's foreign credentials a lot.
One of my friends jokingly suggested that we elect people by randomly opening up a phonebook and throwing darts. Is it bad that I feel like that might actually accomplish something?
Yeah. I place a LOT of emphasis on how someone handles things on an international level because the President ends up being "the face" of America and by and large has to deal with the world at large whereas most of the laws and whatnot that they talk about - that whole "LOWER GAS PRICES! TAX CUTS!" is going to come from Congress anyway.
I kind of feel like they just need to rid them of all those nice government benefits they get and make lobbying a hell of a lot harder. Those seem to be the two perks pretty much everyone wants to run for anyway so if they can't receive them, it would weed out the career politicians. Also - grading by your constituents determines your bonuses.
Let us of course forget that a good part of that deficit was brought about by George W. Bush's tax cuts, which greatly benefitted the wealthy.
(i) 'How the deficit got this big': http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24sun4.html
(ii) (Some Bush tax cut details) http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/19/weekinreview/19marsh.html?ref=bushtaxcuts
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Obama is in charge now, and is therefore in charge of fixing it. He knew the situation when he entered office. He knew what it was when he campaigned for another four years. Instead he followed many of Bush's fiscal policies, and increased spending across the board, while cutting deals with Congress to get around their mandated duties of creating a federal budget. He's also the only president to have turned in his budget plan late on consecutive years, the only one to have done so for three out four years of his term, and the one who turned it in latest (98 days).
Bush made a lot of poor decisions. Obama should probably try to not remake those decisions and actually work on getting this country on track.
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(The comment has been removed)
I have a different perspective than most, because in my line of work, it doesn't matter if Private Joe schmoe and his buddy's Larry and Curly are shitbags of the highest degree. If they mess up, their boss gets the blame.
The GOP has pulled some dirty shit in order to prevent things from happening. But that's what their constituents want them to do, unfortunately. And in terms of the budget and fiscal issues, they at least talk about the issue.
Note: I am not a Republican. I want Congress to do their goddamned job. I don't care whose hand is on the tiller as long as someone is actually steering the ship, and pointing away from the goddamned reef.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
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Er, no. Most of the polls done reflect more and more that their constituents are very annoyed about how the Republicans are conducting themselves and WANT there to be bipartisanship and responsibility.
However thanks to heavy gerrymandering in 2010 and rigging the state / local elections, the Republicans only have to care about a more conservative candidate getting them in the primaries.
tl;dr version: Most people are tired of this shit too and want the government to function. But the current party that is clogging up the wheels has a deathgrip on power that they are going to do everything to keep.
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I really, really want to see people get pissed off enough about it that we get a very neutral redistricting so that both parties HAVE to answer to the people they represent, instead of their just their party. I don't see it happening though.
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One of my friends jokingly suggested that we elect people by randomly opening up a phonebook and throwing darts. Is it bad that I feel like that might actually accomplish something?
Reply
I kind of feel like they just need to rid them of all those nice government benefits they get and make lobbying a hell of a lot harder. Those seem to be the two perks pretty much everyone wants to run for anyway so if they can't receive them, it would weed out the career politicians. Also - grading by your constituents determines your bonuses.
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