Obama's 2nd Inaugural Address

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Was at the inaugural - with a pretty good piece of standing room just outside the seating area... (not bad really)

Loved the speech. Love the conk freakout. Love watching that party implode in slow motion...

[UNI88]

Was at the inaugural - with a pretty good piece of standing room just outside the seating area... (not bad really)

Loved the speech. Love the conk freakout. Love watching that party implode in slow motion...

I will admit that I admire Obama's driving a wedge between moderate republicans and the tea party types. He takes them to the brink on key issues where the tea party wants to take a hard-line stand but the moderates can't so they end up caving and Obama gets what he wants. They need to get their sh!t together (i.e. the tea partiers are going to have to realize that they can't take "our way or the highway" stands and get the party to hold the line) or this is going to be a long year for conservatives.

[AZGrizFan]

Was at the inaugural - with a pretty good piece of standing room just outside the seating area... (not bad really)

Loved the speech. Love the conk freakout. Love watching that party implode in slow motion...

While the country (being run by donks) implodes in fast motion.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Was at the inaugural - with a pretty good piece of standing room just outside the seating area... (not bad really)

Loved the speech. Love the conk freakout. Love watching that party implode in slow motion...

I will admit that I admire Obama's driving a wedge between moderate republicans and the tea party types. He takes them to the brink on key issues where the tea party wants to take a hard-line stand but the moderates can't so they end up caving and Obama gets what he wants. They need to get their sh!t together (i.e. the tea partiers are going to have to realize that they can't take "our way or the highway" stands and get the party to hold the line) or this is going to be a long year for conservatives.

That was exactly the way I heard that speech as well. "I will work with rational actors - otherwise piss off"

When Boehner said "he wants to annihilate the GOP" I couldn't help but laugh... the GOP is doing that all by themselves. Dems are just analyzing the situation to see which faction of the breaking apart GOP is going to win out... we don't have to do shit to "annihilate" them...

[AZGrizFan]

I will admit that I admire Obama's driving a wedge between moderate republicans and the tea party types. He takes them to the brink on key issues where the tea party wants to take a hard-line stand but the moderates can't so they end up caving and Obama gets what he wants. They need to get their sh!t together (i.e. the tea partiers are going to have to realize that they can't take "our way or the highway" stands and get the party to hold the line) or this is going to be a long year for conservatives.

That was exactly the way I heard that speech as well. "I will work with rational actors - otherwise piss off"

When Boehner said "he wants to annihilate the GOP" I couldn't help but laugh... the GOP is doing that all by themselves. Dems are just analyzing the situation to see which faction of the breaking apart GOP is going to win out... we don't have to do shit to "annihilate" them...

And by "rational" he means someone who's willing to completely cave in to HIS way of thinking. Because, after all, HE WON.

[YoUDeeMan]

Clarification: Man made climate change is real.

And what if it is?

Warmer, wetter winters in the northest? Just grow different crops and save money on fuel bills.

Colder Europe? Good, that will slow down the crazy drivers on the Autobahn = less deaths and better fuel consumption.

Warmer in the upper Mid-West? Fantastic...my family has a lot of land up there and we won't just visit in August. It wil also will mean longer and more productive summers = a wider range of crops.

More flood in Bangladesh? Great...nature's own population control method.

Seriously...who cares? Mankind will adapt...we have and always will. Of course, we will need to spend BILLIONS to build up a system of sea walls along the East Coast in order to maintain ridiculously located beach houses, but that will mean millions jobs in the construction industry and teen agers will still get to work part-time for 2 1/2 months out of the year while getting drunk and laid.

Seahawks...you are an idiot...a Chicken Little. "Oh...look out...the weather is changing! We are helpless and hopeless in the face of adversity. Please, everyone, stop what you are doing and listen to me! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Grow up.

[AZGrizFan]

Clarification: Man made climate change is real.

And what if it is?

Warmer, wetter winters in the northest? Just grow different crops and save money on fuel bills.

Colder Europe? Good, that will slow down the crazy drivers on the Autobahn = less deaths and better fuel consumption.

Warmer in the upper Mid-West? Fantastic...my family has a lot of land up there and we won't just visit in August. It wil also will mean longer and more productive summers = a wider range of crops.

More flood in Bangladesh? Great...nature's own population control method.

Seriously...who cares? Mankind will adapt...we have and always will. Of course, we will need to spend BILLIONS to build up a system of sea walls along the East Coast in order to maintain ridiculously located beach houses, but that will mean millions jobs in the construction industry and teen agers will still get to work part-time for 2 1/2 months out of the year while getting drunk and laid.

Seahawks...you are an idiot...a Chicken Little. "Oh...look out...the weather is changing! We are helpless and hopeless in the face of adversity. Please, everyone, stop what you are doing and listen to me! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Grow up.

This is what I picture when I think of you:



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7X2_V60YK8[/youtube]

[TwinTownBisonFan]

That was exactly the way I heard that speech as well. "I will work with rational actors - otherwise piss off"

When Boehner said "he wants to annihilate the GOP" I couldn't help but laugh... the GOP is doing that all by themselves. Dems are just analyzing the situation to see which faction of the breaking apart GOP is going to win out... we don't have to do shit to "annihilate" them...

And by "rational" he means someone who's willing to completely cave in to HIS way of thinking. Because, after all, HE WON.

1. You really do roll your eyes more than a 14 year old girl at the mall with her dad.
2. What crap... the fiscal cliff deal is Exhibit A of what I said above. RATIONAL ACTORS got that done... nobody LOVED that deal... but it got done... the fringe right, who cannot ever seem to get over the fact that the guy has won two national elections by solid margins has any legitimacy... and by embracing that thinking - they've sacrificed their own legitimacy. Obama is reaching across the aisle... but only far enough to get the job done - and in doing so is writing off an element of the GOP that has gone round the bend and can no longer be worked with.

[AZGrizFan]

And by "rational" he means someone who's willing to completely cave in to HIS way of thinking. Because, after all, HE WON.

1. You really do roll your eyes more than a 14 year old girl at the mall with her dad.
2. What crap... the fiscal cliff deal is Exhibit A of what I said above. RATIONAL ACTORS got that done... nobody LOVED that deal... but it got done... the fringe right, who cannot ever seem to get over the fact that the guy has won two national elections by solid margins has any legitimacy... and by embracing that thinking - they've sacrificed their own legitimacy. Obama is reaching across the aisle... but only far enough to get the job done - and in doing so is writing off an element of the GOP that has gone round the bend and can no longer be worked with.

Yeah, he's reaching across the aisle. WAFJ. That deal was a fucking abortion. Period. It solved exactly NOTHING, accomplished NOTHING, except placating a bunch of potential voters by sticking it to a group of people who already pay 5x their "fair share".

[kalm]

Clarification: Man made climate change is real.

And what if it is?

Warmer, wetter winters in the northest? Just grow different crops and save money on fuel bills.

Colder Europe? Good, that will slow down the crazy drivers on the Autobahn = less deaths and better fuel consumption.

Warmer in the upper Mid-West? Fantastic...my family has a lot of land up there and we won't just visit in August. It wil also will mean longer and more productive summers = a wider range of crops.

More flood in Bangladesh? Great...nature's own population control method.

Seriously...who cares? Mankind will adapt...we have and always will. Of course, we will need to spend BILLIONS to build up a system of sea walls along the East Coast in order to maintain ridiculously located beach houses, but that will mean millions jobs in the construction industry and teen agers will still get to work part-time for 2 1/2 months out of the year while getting drunk and laid.

Seahawks...you are an idiot...a Chicken Little. "Oh...look out...the weather is changing! We are helpless and hopeless in the face of adversity. Please, everyone, stop what you are doing and listen to me! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Grow up.

You left out draught, famine, water shortages, and mass migrations. Tranquil under-inhabited edens like mine would be flooded with southerners and retired mid-westerners fleeing the desert southwest. No thanks!

[AZGrizFan]

You left out draught, famine, water shortages, and mass migrations. Tranquil under-inhabited edens like mine would be flooded with southerners and retired mid-westerners fleeing the desert southwest. No thanks!

I thought you were in Spokompton?

[kalm]

You left out draught, famine, water shortages, and mass migrations. Tranquil under-inhabited edens like mine would be flooded with southerners and retired mid-westerners fleeing the desert southwest. No thanks!

I thought you were in Spokompton?

I'm in Cheney. Even more of an eden!

[TwinTownBisonFan]

1. You really do roll your eyes more than a 14 year old girl at the mall with her dad.
2. What crap... the fiscal cliff deal is Exhibit A of what I said above. RATIONAL ACTORS got that done... nobody LOVED that deal... but it got done... the fringe right, who cannot ever seem to get over the fact that the guy has won two national elections by solid margins has any legitimacy... and by embracing that thinking - they've sacrificed their own legitimacy. Obama is reaching across the aisle... but only far enough to get the job done - and in doing so is writing off an element of the GOP that has gone round the bend and can no longer be worked with.

Yeah, he's reaching across the aisle. WAFJ. That deal was a fucking abortion. Period. It solved exactly NOTHING, accomplished NOTHING, except placating a bunch of potential voters by sticking it to a group of people who already pay 5x their "fair share".

yep. Elections have consequences. Voters said in November they wanted the wealthiest to pay what they paid under Clinton (3% increase in their taxes, which accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit). That view won the day, and now will be policy... amazing as it is... the system worked. It was bumpy... but it worked.

[ASUG8]

Yeah, he's reaching across the aisle. WAFJ. That deal was a fucking abortion. Period. It solved exactly NOTHING, accomplished NOTHING, except placating a bunch of potential voters by sticking it to a group of people who already pay 5x their "fair share".

yep. Elections have consequences. Voters said in November they wanted the wealthiest to pay what they paid under Clinton (3% increase in their taxes, which accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit). That view won the day, and now will be policy... amazing as it is... the system worked. It was bumpy... but it worked.

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

Obama and his employees managed to do one great thing in this whole election debacle...they managed to somehow perpetuate more of the "hope and change" message, preach unity, and somehow nuance those two messages with class warfare and divisiveness. For that you should be applauded - expert marketing.

[kalm]

yep. Elections have consequences. Voters said in November they wanted the wealthiest to pay what they paid under Clinton (3% increase in their taxes, which accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit). That view won the day, and now will be policy... amazing as it is... the system worked. It was bumpy... but it worked.

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

Obama and his employees managed to do one great thing in this whole election debacle...they managed to somehow perpetuate more of the "hope and change" message, preach unity, and somehow nuance those two messages with class warfare and divisiveness. For that you should be applauded - expert marketing.

I agree on the spending issues, but isn't that like 50-60 billion/year over the past decade? So all we're doing is returning to the old level without paying for the lost revenue over that time span. And I seem to recall that the CBO estimates of the cost of the Bush tax cuts were over a trillion. I'm not saying it's going to solve the situation, but a trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you're starting to talk about real money.

[ASUG8]

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

Obama and his employees managed to do one great thing in this whole election debacle...they managed to somehow perpetuate more of the "hope and change" message, preach unity, and somehow nuance those two messages with class warfare and divisiveness. For that you should be applauded - expert marketing.

I agree on the spending issues, but isn't that like 50-60 billion/year over the past decade? So all we're doing is returning to the old level without paying for the lost revenue over that time span. And I seem to recall that the CBO estimates of the cost of the Bush tax cuts were over a trillion. I'm not saying it's going to solve the situation, but a trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you're starting to talk about real money.

As I was typing "$50-60B" and saying it was small potatoes I thought it was funny too. It's all based on scale as you know.

[Ivytalk]

yep. Elections have consequences. Voters said in November they wanted the wealthiest to pay what they paid under Clinton (3% increase in their taxes, which accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit). That view won the day, and now will be policy... amazing as it is... the system worked. It was bumpy... but it worked.

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

Obama and his employees managed to do one great thing in this whole election debacle...they managed to somehow perpetuate more of the "hope and change" message, preach unity, and somehow nuance those two messages with class warfare and divisiveness. For that you should be applauded - expert marketing.

Well said. Except it was about as "nuanced" as a kick in the balls.

[AZGrizFan]

yep. Elections have consequences. Voters said in November they wanted the wealthiest to pay what they paid under Clinton (3% increase in their taxes, which accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit). That view won the day, and now will be policy... amazing as it is... the system worked. It was bumpy... but it worked.

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue?

Yes. He REALLY believes that.

[kalm]

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

Obama and his employees managed to do one great thing in this whole election debacle...they managed to somehow perpetuate more of the "hope and change" message, preach unity, and somehow nuance those two messages with class warfare and divisiveness. For that you should be applauded - expert marketing.

Well said. Except it was about as "nuanced" as a kick in the balls.

[UNI88]

1. You really do roll your eyes more than a 14 year old girl at the mall with her dad.
2. What crap... the fiscal cliff deal is Exhibit A of what I said above. RATIONAL ACTORS got that done... nobody LOVED that deal... but it got done... the fringe right, who cannot ever seem to get over the fact that the guy has won two national elections by solid margins has any legitimacy... and by embracing that thinking - they've sacrificed their own legitimacy. Obama is reaching across the aisle... but only far enough to get the job done - and in doing so is writing off an element of the GOP that has gone round the bend and can no longer be worked with.

Yeah, he's reaching across the aisle. WAFJ. That deal was a **** abortion. Period. It solved exactly NOTHING, accomplished NOTHING, except placating a bunch of potential voters by sticking it to a group of people who already pay 5x their "fair share".

TTBF - that's not my perception of how the fiscal cliff deal got done at all. Obama didn't reach across the aisle to rational actors - he and/or his surrogates made proposals, Boehner tried to make counter-proposals but kept getting undercut by teapartiers trying to take a hardline. Finally it came down to sh!t or get off the pot time and the moderate republicans who stood to lose voter support if we went over the cliff caved and Obama got a great deal. If the teapartiers would have let Boehner negotiate they would have gotten a better deal but they had to be ideological dicks about it and it blew up in their faces. The moderates broke rank not because Obama reached out to them but out of good old fashioned self-interest.

And AZ's right, that deal solved nothing. It just delayed the inevitable financial reckoning while continuing to rack up huge bills to be paid with income that we, our children & grandchildren haven't even earned yet.

We would have been better off in the long-run if we'd gone over the cliff. Republicans might have been able to sell that message if they would have taken the time to try and been willing to take the risk that they might lose an election and actually lead .

[ASUG8]

Yeah, he's reaching across the aisle. WAFJ. That deal was a **** abortion. Period. It solved exactly NOTHING, accomplished NOTHING, except placating a bunch of potential voters by sticking it to a group of people who already pay 5x their "fair share".

TTBF - that's not my perception of how the fiscal cliff deal got done at all. Obama didn't reach across the aisle to rational actors - he and/or his surrogates made proposals, Boehner tried to make counter-proposals but kept getting undercut by teapartiers trying to take a hardline. Finally it came down to sh!t or get off the pot time and the moderate republicans who stood to lose voter support if we went over the cliff caved and Obama got a great deal. If the teapartiers would have let Boehner negotiate they would have gotten a better deal but they had to be ideological dicks about it and it blew up in their faces. The moderates broke rank not because Obama reached out to them but out of good old fashioned self-interest.

And AZ's right, that deal solved nothing. It just delayed the inevitable financial reckoning while continuing to rack up huge bills to be paid with income that we, our children & grandchildren haven't even earned yet.

We would have been better off in the long-run if we'd gone over the cliff. Republicans might have been able to sell that message if they would have taken the time to try and been willing to take the risk that they might lose an election and actually lead .

Maybe Congress can get off their collective asses and pass a budget.

[UNI88]

yep. Elections have consequences. Voters said in November they wanted the wealthiest to pay what they paid under Clinton (3% increase in their taxes, which accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit). That view won the day, and now will be policy... amazing as it is... the system worked. It was bumpy... but it worked.

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

ASUG8's right and I call BS. The tax break for the wealthy hardly "accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit." It was Dubya's entire tax break along with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which caused the deficit to spiral out of control. If the deficit was a major motivating factor in letting those tax cuts expire than Obama should have let all of them expire, not just the cuts for the wealthy.

[kalm]

Do you really believe that increasing taxes on a relatively small number of people while maintaining (or increasing) fiscal spending solves the deficit issue? What's the increase...maybe $50-60B/yr? I know you're still full of Kool-aid from the election, but seriously the math doesn't work. We have a spending problem pure and simple, and this taxation doesn't fix that - not really success IMO.

ASUG8's right and I call BS. The tax break for the wealthy hardly "accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit." It was Dubya's entire tax break along with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which caused the deficit to spiral out of control. If the deficit was a major motivating factor in letting those tax cuts expire than Obama should have let all of them expire, not just the cuts for the wealthy.

Agreed, but consumer spending by the middle class is more stimulative...or so the theory goes.

[ASUG8]

ASUG8's right and I call BS. The tax break for the wealthy hardly "accounted for a HUGE portion of our deficit." It was Dubya's entire tax break along with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which caused the deficit to spiral out of control. If the deficit was a major motivating factor in letting those tax cuts expire than Obama should have let all of them expire, not just the cuts for the wealthy.

Agreed, but consumer spending by the middle class is more stimulative...or so the theory goes.

Understood, but that wasn't TTBF's point. He noted that everyone voted for increased revenue by opening the tap on the wealthy. Get unemployment down in the ~ 6% range and you've got a middle class paying payroll taxes, state/federal taxes, FICA, refunding FUTA/SUTA, and using their wages to buy stuff from China.

[BDKJMU]

Where do you get THAT? I'm skeptical of ALL involved...they ALL have agendas. But the "right" (whatever that means these days) isn't the ones gobbling scientists' collective cocks on some vodoo science based off nothing more than conjecture.

They may not gobble cocks as much but they certainly pay for the opinions. Besides, it's kind of tough to find many that don't recognize the concerns. And I think it's a little bit beyond voodoo science and conjecture. BTW, the East Anglia email controversy was reviewed by 8 different commissions including one from NOAA and they found no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct.

And how many accepted global warming but rejected man made global warming, or were inconclusive on it?