Obama Concedes He Hasn't Brought Country Together

[boomerang]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/13/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Unity.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he has not succeeded in bringing the country together, acknowledging an atmosphere of divisiveness that has washed away the lofty national feeling surrounding his inauguration a year ago.
''That's what's been lost this year ... that whole sense of changing how Washington works,'' Obama said in an interview with People magazine.
The president said his second-year agenda will be refocused on uniting the country around common values, ''whether we're Democrats or Republicans.''

This line gave me the best laugh I've had all day. He must be delusional at this point. Certainly he can't believe this. This man is not capable of uniting the country.

I was going to list a few of the reasons why this man has polarized this nation, but what's the sense? We all know them.

I will give him credit for recognizing his own shortcomings. But, I must cancel that out for the sheer arrogance of making such a remark.

 

[JSt0rm]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/13/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Unity.html



This line gave me the best laugh I've had all day. He must be delusional at this point. Certainly he can't believe this. This man is not capable of uniting the country.

I was going to list a few of the reasons why this man has polarized this nation, but what's the sense? We all know them.

I will give him credit for recognizing his own shortcomings. But, I must cancel that out for the sheer arrogance of making such a remark.

I knwo. It's sad the republicans vote against anything and everything he is trying to do. They fear some of these policies actually working so they vote no to try and get in power again. That and 30% of the country hate black people.

 

[Specop 007]

So after trying to force all kinds of shit down our throats we didnt want and pissing off most of the country he wants to make nice?

Fuck him. Fuck Democrats. Fuck Liberals. Fuck Congress, Pelosi, Fuck Reid, House....You know, fuck anyone left of Ted Nugent in fact.

 

[Jaskalas]

So after trying to force all kinds of shit down our throats we didnt want and pissing off most of the country he wants to make nice?

Trying to ply us to bend over I see? Won't work, best just keep doling out that stimulus to buy people off.

 

[fskimospy]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/13/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Unity.html



This line gave me the best laugh I've had all day. He must be delusional at this point. Certainly he can't believe this. This man is not capable of uniting the country.

I was going to list a few of the reasons why this man has polarized this nation, but what's the sense? We all know them.

I will give him credit for recognizing his own shortcomings. But, I must cancel that out for the sheer arrogance of making such a remark.

Obama has not polarized the US, it was polarized before he ever got here. He made a good faith effort to reduce partisanship and it didn't work.

Such is life.

 

[GoPackGo]

Its the economy stupid!

 

[fskimospy]

So after trying to force all kinds of shit down our throats we didnt want and pissing off most of the country he wants to make nice?

Fuck him. Fuck Democrats. Fuck Liberals. Fuck Congress, Pelosi, Fuck Reid, House....You know, fuck anyone left of Ted Nugent in fact.

If by 'pissing off most of the country' you mean that his approval rating is almost the exact same percentage that he got on election day... sure.

You and Ted represent the extreme right wing lunatic fringe, nobody cares what you think. You can whine and foam about it all you want, but no one will ever care what you think and that's never going to change, because you're off the deep end.

Oh, and you've also shown yourself repeatedly to be a racist. Have a nice day!

 

[spidey07]

It seems every day he does something to piss the people off so I'm not surprised. His approval ratings keep sinking lower and he hasn't realized we don't want what he's pushing.

 

[sandorski]

Kind of hard to unite something when just under half of it refuses to unite. It's not Obama's fault that some just want to continue the Failed policies of the previous 8 years.

 

[woolfe9999]

obama has not polarized the us, it was polarized before he ever got here. He made a good faith effort to reduce partisanship and it didn't work.

Such is life.

qft.

 

[JSt0rm]

It seems every day he does something to piss the people off so I'm not surprised. His approval ratings keep sinking lower and he hasn't realized we don't want what he's pushing.

interesting he won in a landslide promising more then what has been able to squeeze out of that little asshole called congress. I think the majority want what he is offering.

 

[woolfe9999]

. This man is not capable of unitin...even possible to unite the country? - wolf

 

[Patranus]

interesting he won in a landslide promising more then what has been able to squeeze out of that little asshole called congress. I think the majority want what he is offering.

What he is offering is not what he offered during the election.

See facial responsibility.

 

[StageLeft]

I think politics in this country are every bit now as bad as Bush's dark days (read: most of his terms).

 

[Zebo]

Out of curiosity, who do you think *is* capable of uniting the country? And by that, I am asking for something like a name.

Here's another question - do you think it is even possible to unite the country?

- wolf

Yes you have Obama. We all know y'all are crooks now. I think prior many people felt it but not coalesced as much as now.

I don't know why I quoted you Wolf:awe:

 

[fskimospy]

What he is offering is not what he offered during the election.

See facial responsibility.

What is facial responsibility?

 

[Zebo]

What is facial responsibility?

Yeah Obama has aged 5 years in last one, bad on him

 

[werepossum]

Out of curiosity, who do you think *is* capable of uniting the country? And by that, I am asking for something like a name.

Here's another question - do you think it is even possible to unite the country?

- wolf

The only way to unite the country would probably be to be a true centrist making no quick radical societal changes either way. It wouldn't actually change any opinions, but the majority could then safely go back to sleep politically. As long as people are fighting to radically change the nature of the country, those who fundamentally oppose that particular change (whether it be complete socialization of health care or a constitutional ban on gay marriage) are forced to come out and oppose it. It's possible that a Reagan type might come along and persuade a clear majority to a particular viewpoint, but I think if that were still possible, Obama would have done it, as he has the full force of the media (less Fox News and a couple of papers) behind him.

I don't know that I could give you a name as that person would have to not only be a centrist, but also be seen as a centrist - not necessarily the same thing. And I suspect that you and I would not agree on who would qualify as a centrist, and that the majority of Americans would agree on someone in between those you and I select. But I'll suggest Condoleezza Rice as a smart political outsider who might be acceptable to both parties.

 

[Fern]

Obama has not polarized the US, it was polarized before he ever got here. He made a good faith effort to reduce partisanship and it didn't work.

Such is life.

Yes, it was polarized before he took office. However that's what his promise was all about, no need to talk about uniting unless that polarization existed. But I do believe he has further contributed to it since it's gotten worse under his admin.

And I don't believe he has made good faith efforts at uniting. For the most part (stimulus, health care reform etc) he has let Pelosi & Reid run the show, and they've made no attempt at uniting or being transparent etc. Those two are highly partisan.

In many areas Obama's words during the campaign just don't match the reality of his administration, legislation to be publicly published in advance? Never happend. The HC debate an open process televised on CSPAN? Never happened. AIG records sealed until 2018? That's the transparency and accountability he promised? He said he would sit down and go over HC reform line-by-line with Repubs, yet he has refused to do so even though some Repubs have requested it.

This year hasn't been about any "good Faith" effort and everyone knows it. It's been about ramming through the Dem agenda since they hold these historic majorities and know they are temporary.

There won't be any good faith efforts until they suit him and he needs it due to slim or no majorities in Congress (or election polls). It's naive to think otherwise.

Fern

 

[woolfe9999]

The only way to unite the country would probably be to be a true centrist making no quick radical societal changes either way. It wouldn't actually change any opinions, but the majority could then safely go back to sleep politically. As long as people are fighting to radically change the nature of the country, those who fundamentally oppose that particular change (whether it be complete socialization of health care or a constitutional ban on gay marriage) are forced to come out and oppose it. It's possible that a Reagan type might come along and persuade a clear majority to a particular viewpoint, but I think if that were still possible, Obama would have done it, as he has the full force of the media (less Fox News and a couple of papers) behind him.

I don't know that I could give you a name as that person would have to not only be a centrist, but also be seen as a centrist - not necessarily the same thing. And I suspect that you and I would not agree on who would qualify as a centrist, and that the majority of Americans would agree on someone in between those you and I select. But I'll suggest Condoleezza Rice as a smart political outsider who might be acceptable to both parties.

I'm not so sure that centrists can unify very well. The first problem is that no one agrees as to who or what is a centrist. The "centrist" is a commie to the right and a fascist to the left. He or she may be hated by both sides. The other problem with this formulation of making no big changes is that this is essentially a status quo position, and people may feel like there needs to be change, but not agree on what change is necessary. Finally, the status quo position is really the conservative position anyway - conservatives tend to prefer to leave things as they are, with some exceptions. So I would argue that your status quo formulation of the centrist is really more of a right leaner. Bottom line is that your centrist can probably be popular in good economic times, but will be hated as much as the ideologue in bad economic times.

I think we could be united if we were invaded by a hostile enemy. We can also be temporarily united over limited issues like outrage over 9/11. But that is about it.

Oh, and a cultural change would do the trick - if we as a society learn to think more critically, and especially to question our own assumptions, we would likely disagree less, and when we did disagree, we would do so less...disagreeably.

- wolf

 

[boomerang]

Out of curiosity, who do you think *is* capable of uniting the country? And by that, I am asking for something like a name.

Here's another question - do you think it is even possible to unite the country?

- wolf

Good questions.

I don't know who is. But I do know who isn't.

Yes, it's possible to unite the country. However, it may take some extreme measures to do so.

 

[Zebo]

Centrist means status que oligarchy. I'm surprised we don't outsource Americans yet. After all HC in some countries is cheaper than a days pay here. And you could live pretty well on a $300 SS check in Bangladesh.

 

[Darwin333]

Obama has not polarized the US, it was polarized before he ever got here. He made a good faith effort to reduce partisanship and it didn't work.

Such is life.

LOL. Seriously?

 

[Specop 007]

If by 'pissing off most of the country' you mean that his approval rating is almost the exact same percentage that he got on election day... sure.

You and Ted represent the extreme right wing lunatic fringe, nobody cares what you think. You can whine and foam about it all you want, but no one will ever care what you think and that's never going to change, because you're off the deep end.

Oh, and you've also shown yourself repeatedly to be a racist. Have a nice day!

I know I'm a racist, hell I admit it in my sig!

I dont approve of Obama because of his policies but because hes black it makes me racist. This is common knowledge.

As for his approval, you are spot on. The country loves him.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...a_administration/obama_approval_index_history

 

[Modelworks]

Kind of hard to unite something when just under half of it refuses to unite. It's not Obama's fault that some just want to continue the Failed policies of the previous 8 years.

All the lies he told about not negotiating behind closed doors was not his fault ?

http://www.breitbart.tv/the-c-span-lie-did-obama-really-promise-televised-healthcare-negotiations/