Is Obama a half-term president or a political genius?

[toymachines]

Is Obama a half-term president or a political genius?
By Colleen O'Connor, SDNN

...Santa Claus isn’t coming to town. The Grinch, Scrooge, and numerous bill collectors are already here-knocking on doors — looking for you, and the Democrats.

You need help. Better advice. And a new direction.

So, in my own, “audacity of hope,” I am giving you a Christmas present. It is a big box, with several items inside. The first item, is a dose of bare-knuckle truth...

...The U.S. is adrift, in the midst of a transformational period — one that pits the new “globalism” against a new “nationalism.”

While this may constitute a less violent civil war, it is still fracturing the country.

Your attempts to pivot the country’s attention away from the near intractable core causes of economic dislocation, is unworthy of any American President.

Using a scatter gun approach may be a clever strategy to keep criticism from gaining a footing. However, it mostly just confuses and alarms people...

Not a fan of all of her ideas, but I like the writing and she gives insight into what the aware and somewhat intellectual side of the conservatives are thinking. Gotta understand the opponent.

Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-12-14/politics-city-county-government/politics-opinion/oconnor-is-obama-a-half-term-president-or-a-political-genius#ixzz0ZmecOSaU

[MNDemNY]

1. He'll , at least, finish this term.

But "genius" no, sell-out? maybe, corporatist to the core? yup.(But I knew that going in.)

[natrat]

2. there is one ruling group-they own both parties,obama's failure is by design

naturally his failure benefits the ownership---maybe this is overly simplistic but this administration sure does wreak of bad acting and fraud. This was very apt-"You continue with your Chicago-style razzle dazzle, globetrotting and speechifying, while the country is engulfed in joblessness, foreclosures, escalating wars, and an economy that makes us poorer and more frightened by the day."
Chicago razzle dazzle more like cheesebag sellout freaks

[Locrian]

3. exactly - he is a product (in the truest sense) of the system - nt

[Grinchie]

6. I agree with you, but they are underestimating the people.

More a more, I see people discarding the marketing hype that we have grown accustomed to following for the past 15 years. We no longer run out to buy the latest new gadget, and actually question why items we purchase don't last as long as those built in the past, and cost 1000% more in parts cost, especially since the Powers that Be crow about "Increased Efficiency" and automation.

For example, I had a weedeater fail with a burned piston a few weeks ago. It took 2 weeks for the dealer to take it apart and look at it. The repair cost, 460 dollars, which consisted of a new piston and cylinder assembly, plus, labor costs. The parts would take 3 weeks to arrive because the distributor decided to consolidate for efficiency, and the original company is now controlled by Echo.

When one examines this simple scenario logically, you can see that the Corporations have lost touch with the fundamentals of the little people. While there may be some people that would submit to this nonsense out of sheer habit and training, there are many like me that will go out and buy a few goats to trim the weeds instead. In the three weeks it ook to get results and a diagnosis of the expensive device that I once counted on for weed control, I have fallen back to the age old method which costs nothing -- a simple, very sharp machete. It works, it shuts off immediately, it starts with a thought instead of a starter rope, and I no longer am subjected to exhaust gas, vibration damage to my hands, or the toxic noise, flying projectiles, hot filtration masks to protect against vaporised plant proteins, and I no longer kill lizards or other beneficial insects, frogs, toads etc.

I may spring for a new piston for 60 bucks, but that is highway robbery, and totally out of sync to production costs, unless they make them by hand, one at a time, which is about as likely as Obama actually reverting to Hope and Change as his governing platform.

I'm not the only one that it finding that the only way to fight these Corporate thieves is to not be typical consumers, and recycle and reuse everything we can. No longer do we run out and by something without having a definate, urgent need, and even then, we sleep on it, and in many cases dream up new applications for things we already have.

This mode of life is extremely liberating, and the necesseties of life dictate what gets done, how it gets done, and is life changing in the process. More and more people are finding that the Cost/Benefit ratio has reversed, and this includes the realization that loyalty to a Political Party is an illusion. We need to start taking care of ourselves and producing things instead of making believe that this incredibly lopsided social structure actually gives a damn about the common people

[KoKo]

4. Maybe he will pull a LBJ and announce he's not running in 2012...

and go off and make zillions at Goldman-Sachs or start a fund to help "emerging countries" and rake in the dough. I have to hope, though, that his ego alone will allow him to see how he is being used and he will remake his administration shortly before his first SOTU Speech.

HOPE springs eternal...

[Grinchie]

5. If it was my decision, he's have been replaced as soon as Michael Taylor was hired.

If I wanted Hilary Clinton and the DLC Corporate Clowns, I would have voted for her.

Obama has signed his own termination slip, but he was hired for the role of Crap insurance for the DLC lest Hilary be to unpalatable for the masses that actually did the research and reviewed her history, along with paying attention to her "Rhetorical Flourishes" a la Bosnia visits.

Well, it succeeded, but the catastrophic speed at which the DLC Crones sold out to the Corporate interests was shocking, and this Administration is in denial, shock, or both. The real chickens are coming home to roost soon, and it isn't going to be pretty.

Obama is damaged goods, and it the mandatory Health Insurance actually passes, people are going to revolt. It's like they think that people are going to forget a overfed Military, and the bottomless pit of expenditures for two wars, while inflation climbs and standard of living falls, augmented by eviscerated budgets for essential state service like education, police, and civil administration.

Don't forget that there are two legal systems at work. The one that nails you to the wall for an unpermitted structure, and the Millionaires Boys Club for the Corporate Trustees, who are accountable to no one.

[rury]

7. He is undoubtedly a political genius...

...OBAMA 2012!!!!