What Has Mr Obama Done?

[Siddhartha]

The question of what Mr Obama has done keeps coming up in threads, I am starting this thread to track his activities.

The Obama Presidency: Fifty Days And CountingIt's Barack Obama's 50th day on the job, so how come the economy's not fixed yet?

Unfair question? Sure. But it's also the inevitable question that he tries to answer at every opportunity.

"From the day I took office, I knew that solving this crisis would not be easy, nor would it happen overnight," said the president over the weekend in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Of course, nobody expected the crisis to be turned around "overnight," but what he's really telling us is "no time soon."

"We will continue to face difficult days in the months ahead," he cautioned.

Nevertheless, he remains confident and optimistic that the actions he's taking and policies he's implementing will ease the crisis and return the economy to growth.

"I also believe that we will get through this -- that if we act swiftly and boldly and responsibly, the United States of America will emerge stronger and more prosperous than it was before."

The economic quagmire has dominated his first fifty days in office, but a CBS News log of his daily activities shows he was determined to score points on other issues as well.

Here are some key dates: (with links to summaries and video from each day that appear in Hotsheet)

Tuesday, January 20 - Inauguration (See Full CBSNews.com coverage here)

Wednesday, January 21 ? Signs Executive Orders on Gifts and Lobbying

Thursday, Jan 22, 2009 ? Signs Executive Orders on Guantanamo Detentions

Friday, January 23, 2009 ? Signs Executive Order lifting Pres. Bush's ban on federal funding to international groups that perform or counsel on abortion

-Holds his first White House meeting with Congressional Leaders to discuss economic stimulus plan

Monday, January 26 - Issues Memoranda on fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 ? Attends House and Senate Republican Caucuses at the Capitol

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - House passes Stimulus Bill

- Meets with business leaders on the economy

Thursday, January 29, 2009 - Signs first bill into law: S. 181 ? The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009 ? Speaks to labor Leaders about the economy

- Issues orders on employee rights and government contracting

Sunday, February 1 ? Hosts Super Bowl party with members of Congress

Monday, February 2 - Confers with Defense Secretary about Iraq

- Meets with Democratic Congressional Leaders about the stimulus bill

Tuesday, February 3 - Tom Daschle Withdraws as HHS nominee

- Announces Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to be Secretary of Commerce nominee

- Visits local Charter School

- Sits for five network TV interviews

Wednesday, February 4 ? Discusses Mideast policy with Secretary of State Clinton and special envoy George Mitchell

- Addresses Senate Democratic Caucus meeting at the Newseum

- Second bill signing ceremony: SCHIP ? The State Children's Health Care Program

Thursday, February 5 ? Attends National Prayer Breakfast

- Visits Energy Dept to discuss stimulus bill

- Signs order creating Advisory Council on Faith

- Takes first rides on Marine One and Air Force One en route Williamsburg, Va., to address the House Democrats "issues conference"

Friday, February 6 - Announces members of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board; laments jump in unemployment rate to 7.6%

- Takes his family to the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at Kennedy Center

Saturday, February 7 ? Makes his first visit to Camp David with his family

Takes his family to the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at Kennedy Center

Saturday, February 7 ? Makes his first visit to Camp David with his family


(CBS)Monday, February 9 ? Conducts a Town Hall Meeting in Elkhart, Indiana

- Holds his first White House / Prime Time News Conference

Tuesday, February 10 - Senate passes Stimulus bill

- Conducts a Town Hall Meeting in Ft. Myers, Florida

- Sits for interview with ABC's Nightline

Wednesday, February 11 ? Makes case for the stimulus bill on visit to a construction site in Springfield, Va.

- Discusses Afghanistan with Defense Secretary Gates

- Attends performance marking re-opening of Ford's Theater

Thursday, February 12 ? Judd Gregg withdraws as nominee for Commerce Secretary

- Attends Lincoln Bicentennial in Capitol Rotunda

- Visits the Caterpillar plant in East Peoria, Il., to deliver another speech about the economy and the stimulus plan.

- Addresses a Lincoln Association banquet in Springfield, IL

Friday, February 13 - House approves latest version of the stimulus bill, but not one republican votes for it

- Addresses Business Council members on stimulus

- Obama family departs for long weekend in Chicago

Tuesday, February 17 - Travels to Denver to sign $787-billion stimulus bill

Wednesday, February 18 - In Phoenix, unveils plan to ease the mortgage foreclosure crisis


(CBS)Thursday, February 19 ? Makes first foreign trip of his presidency to Ottawa, Canada

Friday, February 20 ? First month in office

- Addresses nation's mayors on the stimulus plan

Sunday, February 22 ? Hosts dinner for nation's governors.

Monday, February 23 - Addresses governors about the economy and the stimulus plan

-Hosts "fiscal responsibility summit" with government, business and labor leaders


(AP)Tuesday, February 24 ? Delivers first Address to a Joint Session of Congress

-Hosts first foreign leader to visit him at the White House: Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan

Wednesday, February 25 - Names former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as latest nominee for Commerce Secretary

- Announces strategy for new regulation of financial industry.

- Hosts performance in tribute to Stevie Wonder

Thursday, February 26 - Unveils his federal budget plan and its $1.7-trillion deficit this year

- Hosts visit by his hometown Chicago Bulls

Friday, February 27 - Visits Camp Lejeune, NC., to announce timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq

- Attends Wizards-Bulls game at the Verizon Center

Saturday, February 28 - Plays basketball at Interior Department gym

Monday, March 2 ? Announces intention to nominate Gov. Kathleen Sibelius, D-Kan., to be Secretary of Health and Human Services

Tuesday, March 3 - Visits the Transportation Department to spotlight highway and transit projects in the stimulus bill

- Meets with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

- Takes part in event marking 160th anniversary of the Interior Department

Wednesday, March 4 - Announces new policy on federal contracting

- Presents new swing set to his daughters on the lawn outside the Oval Office

- Hosts dinner for congressional committee chairmen and ranking members

Thursday, March 5 ? Hosts Forum on Health Care Reform

Friday, March 6 ? Attends police graduation event in Columbus, Ohio, spotlight programs to be funded by the stimulus plan

Monday, March 9 - Issues Executive Order lifting Pres. Bush's ban on federal funding for new embryonic stem cell projects

Tuesday, March 10 ? 50th Day of his presidency

- Announces policy on education reform (read more here)

Other mile markets of the first 50 days:

-Unemployment soars to 8.1%.
-National Dept up $325-billion on his watch.
-Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted to 6,662.

But in an interview Friday with the New York Times, Mr. Obama said he knew in advance there were "going to be a lot of unexpected twists and turns" in his presidency and in the nation.

"This is still a human enterprise and these are big, tough, complicated problems," he said.

Further, he said he knows that if a problem makes all the way to the president's desk, it means it's hard to solve.

"So typically, if something's in my folder, it means that you've got some very big, difficult, sticky, contradictory issues to be wrestled with," he told the Times.

No complaints please, Mr. Obama. It's the job you begged us for. We'll check back at Day 100.

I will keep this thread updated.

 

[Siddhartha]

The Obama Presidency Day By Day

The Obama Presidency Day By Day
CBSNews.com is tracking the first 100 days of President Obama's administration.


Week Of January 20
Day 1 (January 20): Inauguration Day
Day 2 (January 21): Obama Moves Toward Government Transparency
Day 3 (January 22): Obama Moves To Shutter Gitmo
Day 4 (January 23): Another Busy Day For Obama
Day 5-6 (January 24-25): Obama, Biden Lobby For Stimulus



Week Of January 26
Day 7 (January 26): Obama Makes Move On Emissions
Day 8 (January 27): Obama Tries To Win Over Stimulus Skeptics
Day 9 (January 28): Obama Pushes Stimulus Plan, Meets With Joint Chiefs
Day 10 (January 29): Obama Knocks Wall Street On Bonuses
Day 11 (January 30): Obama Focuses On Middle Class
Day 12-13 (January 31- February 1): Obama Pushes Stimulus Plan, Attends Comedy Dinner



Week Of Feburary 2
Day 14 (February 2): Obama Expresses Stimulus Optimism
Day 15 (February 3): Obama Takes Stimulus Fight To Public As Nominees Drop Out
Day 16 (February 4): Obama Expands Children's Health Care, Limits Executive Pay
Day 17 (February 5): Obama Gets More Aggressive On Stimulus
Day 18 (February 6): Obama Pushes Hard On Stimulus
Day 19-20 (February 7-8): Obamas Visit Camp David For First Time



Week Of Feburary 9
Day 21 (February 9): Obama Back On The Trail
Day 22 (February 10): Stimulus Passes Senate, But Obama's Still Selling
Day 23 (February 11): Obama Lauds Stimulus Compromise
Day 24 (February 12): Obama Celebrates Lincoln, Loses Commerce Pick
Day 25 (February 13): Obama Mourns Crash Victims
Day 26-28 (February 14-16): President?s Long Weekend Back Home in Chicago



Week Of Feburary 17
Day 29 (February 17): Obama Signs Stimulus, OKs Troop Increase
Day 30 (February 18): Obama Unveils Mortgage Relief Plan
Day 31 (February 19): Obama Makes First Foreign Trip, To Canada
Day 32 (February 20): Obama Warns Mayors Not To Waste Stimulus Money
Days 33-34 (February 21-22): Obama Hosts Governors At The White House



Week Of Feburary 23
Day 35 (February 23): Obama Vows To Cut Deficit In Half
Day 36 (February 24): Obama Addresses Joint Session Of Congress
Day 37 (February 25): Obama Names Commerce Secretary (Again)
Day 38 (February 26): Obama Unveils His Budget
Day 39 (February 27): Obama Lays Out Iraq Withdrawal Plan
Days 40-41 (February 28 - March 1): Obama Takes On Lobbyists



Week Of March 2
Day 42 (March 2): Obama Taps Sebelius For HHS
Day 43 (March 3): Obama Meets With Brown, Talks Stocks
Day 44 (March 4): Obama Overhauls Contracts, Picks FEMA Head, Unveils Mortgage Program
Day 45 (March 5): Obama Hosts Health Care Reform Forum
Day 46 (March 6): Obama Lauds Ohio Recruits, Prepares Move On Stem Cells
Day 47-48 (March 7-8): Obama Signals Openness To Talking To Taliban



Week Of March 9
Day 49 (March 9): Obama Reverses Bush Action On Stem Cells
Day 50 (March 10): Obama Lays Out Education Priorities
Day 51 (March 11): Obama (Reluctantly) Signs Spending Bill
Day 52 (March 12): Obama Says Not To Waste Stimulus
Day 53 (March 13): Obama Says Economy Causing "Incredible Pain"
Days 54-55 (March 14-15): Obama Meets With Brazil's President, Names FDA Chief



Week Of March 16
Day 56 (March 16): Obama Takes Aim At AIG
Day 57 (March 17): Obama Celebrates St. Patrick?s Day
Day 58 (March 18): Obama Calls For More Regulation
Day 59 (March 19): Obama Pushes Agenda In California
Day 60 (March 20): Obama Appeals To Iran?s People
Days 61-62 (March 21-22): Obama Interviewed On 60 Minutes



Week Of March 23
Day 63 (March 23): Obama Lauds Energy Entrepreneurs
Day 64 (March 24): Obama Holds Prime Time News Conference
Day 65 (March 25): Obama Pushes Budget On The Hill
Day 66 (March 26): Obama Holds Online Town Hall

 

[MovingTarget]

:thumbsup:

Good list. Hopefully we will get some actual discussion going on about his presidency instead of the partisan tripe we have been getting lately. Please keep updating!

Edit: 10,000th post? If so, congrats...good subject to start lifer status with.

 

[sandorski]

Ya, but that's not 5 things!! :laugh:

 

[soccerballtux]

Could you update the first post like the 2nd post? 1st post is very hard to read!!!

This thread is a great idea.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Could you update the first post like the 2nd post? 1st post is very hard to read!!!

This thread is a great idea.

Will do.

For more information, click the links provided.

 

[Fear No Evil]

Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

 

[blahblah99]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

Please post information about Mr Obama's activities, with links, as POTUS.

 

[Siddhartha]

Week Of March 30
Day 70 (March 30): Obama Lays Out Auto Plan
Day 71 (March 31): Obama Flies To Europe
Day 72 (April 1): Obama's Whirlwind Day Of Diplomacy
Day 73 (April 2): Obama Wraps Up At G20

 

[Siddhartha]

House, Senate Pass Big Obama Budget Plans


(CBS/AP) Acting in quick succession, the House and Senate approved budgets Thursday night drawn to President Obama's specifications and pointing the way toward major legislation later this year on health care, energy and education.

"It's going to take a lot of work to clean up the mess we inherited, and passing this budget is a critical step in the right direction," Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said. "Staying true to these priorities will help turn around the economy for the many Americans who are underwater right now."

Republicans in both houses accused Democrats of drafting plans that would hurt the recession-ravaged economy in the long run, rather than help it, and saddle future generations with too much debt.

"The administration's budget simply taxes too much, spends too much and borrows too much at a moment when we can least afford it," said the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.

But a Republican alternative fared poorly in the House, where 38 Republican lawmakers voted against a plan supported by their own leadership.

On a long day and night, the House was first to vote, and approved its version of the budget on a 233-196 roll call that fell largely along party lines. It calls for spending of $3.6 trillion for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, and includes a deficit of $1.2 trillion.

The Senate acted a few hours later, voting 55-43 for a slightly different blueprint that calls for spending $3.5 trillion and forecasts a deficit of $1.2 trillion.

Both deficit forecasts are exceedingly high by historical standards. But they would represent an improvement over this year's projected total of $1.8 trillion, swollen by spending and tax cuts designed to rejuvenate the economy as well as steps to bail out the financial industry.

The day's events capped a busy three months for the Democratic-controlled Congress that took office in January.

Moving with unusual speed, lawmakers have enacted a $787 billion economic stimulus measure, cleared the way for release of $350 billion in financial industry bailout funds, approved an expansion of children's health care and sent Mr. Obama legislation setting aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness.

While the votes in both chambers represented victories for the administration, the budgets merely cleared the way for work later in the year on key presidential priorities - expansion and overhaul of the nation's health care system, creation of a new energy policy and sweeping changes in education.

Major battles lie ahead, particularly over health care and energy. And while Mr. Obama made a series of specific proposals to fund his initiatives, congressional budget-writers avoided taking a position on his recommended curtailing of Medicare spending, for example, or imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in new costs on the nation's polluters.

The budget plans do not require Mr. Obama's signature, but the House and Senate will have to reconcile the two versions before they can move onto the next phase of the presidential agenda.

Here's the full text of a White House statement issued after the House vote, hailing the results:


Tonight, the House of Representatives took another step toward rebuilding our struggling economy. This budget resolution embraces our most fundamental priorities: an energy plan that will end our dependence on foreign oil and spur a new clean energy economy; an education system that will ensure our children will be able to compete in the economy of the 21st century; and health care reform that finally confronts the back-breaking costs plaguing families, businesses and government alike. And by making hard choices and challenging the old ways of doing business, we will cut in half the budget deficit we inherited within four years. With this vote comes an obligation to pursue our efforts to go through the budget line-by-line, searching for additional savings. Like the families we serve, we must cut the things we don't need to invest in those we do.

 

[Siddhartha]

Week Of April 6
Day 77 (April 6): Obama Reaches Out To Muslim World
Day 78 (April 7): Obama Makes Surprise Visit To Iraq
Day 79 (April 8): Obama Does?Very Little
Day 80 (April 9): Obama Encourages Refinancing, Hosts Seder

 

[Siddhartha]

Obama to Appeal Detainee Ruling
WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight.

In a court filing, the Justice Department also asked District Judge John D. Bates not to proceed with the habeas-corpus cases of three detainees at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Judge Bates ruled last week that the three ? each of whom says he was seized outside of Afghanistan ? could challenge their detention in court.

Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing the detainees, condemned the decision in a statement.

?Though he has made many promises regarding the need for our country to rejoin the world community of nations, by filing this appeal, President Obama has taken on the defense of one of the Bush administration?s unlawful policies founded on nothing more than the idea that might makes right,? she said.

 

[Siddhartha]

Week Of April 13
Day 84 (April 13): Obama Talks Piracy, Administration Lifts Cuba Restrictions
Day 85 (April 14): Obama Talks Economy, Unveils Bo
Day 86 (April 15): Obama Talks About - And Releases - Taxes
Day 87 (April 16): Obama Travels To Mexico, Declines To Prosecute CIA Officials

 

[Siddhartha]

Analysis: Week of change for Obama

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent ? 1 hr 15 mins ago
WASHINGTON ? In a whirlwind week of change, President Barack Obama jettisoned Bush administration policy on greenhouse gases, shone an unforgiving light on its support for torture as an interrogation tactic and eased its restrictions on Cuba.

But there are limits, even to this new president's power, and a campaign pledge to seek a ban on assault weapons is an early casualty as a result.

And while the promise of change was arguably Obama's single most powerful asset in last year's campaign, the week demonstrated anew how carefully he calibrates its impact.

"We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history," the president said in a statement that accompanied the release of once-secret memos outlining torture techniques the Bush administration allowed.

"But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

That was designed as a reassurance to the CIA employees who carried out waterboarding, which simulates drowning, and the other harsh interrogation techniques that former President George W. Bush once sanctioned and that Obama has now banned ? much as his decision to leave combat troops in Iraq a few months longer than he once promised was a bow to the Pentagon.

"I will always do whatever is necessary to protect the national security of the United States," he said in a statement on the torture memos that could easily have been written about the troop withdrawal.

Attorney General Eric Holder added one more assurance, announcing the administration would pay legal expenses for anyone in the intelligence agency who needs a lawyer as a result of carrying out interrogations covered by the memos.

Holder also formally revoked every legal opinion or memo issued during Bush's presidency that justified interrogation programs, a largely symbolic step since Obama had already said his administration would not rely on them.

The release of the documents had been the subject of a long, fierce debate, with a deadline looming as the result of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

No lawsuit drove the timing of the new Cuba policy, which was released in the run-up to Obama's first presidential trip to Central America. And here again, Obama went further than some wanted and not as far as others had hoped.

Under the new policy, the administration lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland and freed U.S. telecommunications companies to seek business there.

Some of the changes specifically undid what Bush had imposed: tightened travel restrictions on Americans wishing to visit relatives in Cuba; limiting payments to immediate family; and bans on seeds, clothing, personal hygiene items, veterinary medicines and ? later ? cell phones from humanitarian parcels.

But the broader embargo remains in place as it has since the Kennedy administration, its existence meant now as then to prod the Cuban government into democratic reforms.

In response to the announcement, Cuban President Raul Castro said he is ready to put "everything" on the table in talks with Americans, including questions of human rights and political prisoners. If so, that would mark a change from decades of Cuban insistence that those issues were not subject for discussion.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pronounced Castro's comments an overture, and said, "We are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond."

Still, despite sentiment within the 15-member Caribbean Community to lift the U.S. embargo, Jamaica's prime minister, Bruce Golding, said the organization had agreed not to push Obama too hard on the issue.

By contrast, there was little that was nuanced about the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement Friday that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases emitted by cars and many industrial plants "endanger public health and welfare."

It was prompted by a Supreme Court ruling two years ago that said greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act and must be regulated if found to be a danger to human health or public welfare.

Confronted with the high court's decision, the Bush administration stalled, leaving for Obama an issue he was only too happy to seize. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said while the agency is prepared to move forward with regulations under the Clean Air Act, the administration would rather defer to Congress.

"The (EPA) decision is a game changer," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who is involved in drafting legislation to limit greenhouse emissions.

For all the changes Obama has piled up since taking office 87 days ago, his retreat on assault weapons is hardly unique. He has already yielded on other relatively minor issues, giving in to veterans groups during the budget debate, for example.

Pressed by Mexican President Felipe Calderone to help stem the flow of military-style assault weapons from the United States, Obama said he still believed that the ban made sense. Any yet, he added: "None of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy." He said he would focus instead on using existing laws to stop the flow of weapons prized by elements of the Mexican drug trade.

If anything, Obama's closest allies in Congress are probably relieved.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California signaled as much several weeks ago after Holder said the administration wanted to renew a ban that lapsed and that the powerful National Rifle Association opposes strenuously.

"One good place to start would be to enforce the laws that are on the books right now," she said on Feb. 26. "And I think the evidence points this out, that the Bush administration was not enforcing law."

 

[Alistar7]

He didn't get my vote (McCain more of a thorn in the GOPs side lol) but no complaints about the job he has done so far. He keeps it up, he will get it next time....

 

[Jschmuck2]

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

 

[Fear No Evil]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

Well if it wasn't OK for Bush to do it, is it OK for Obama to be doing it again? Possibly even MORE so than Bush? Oh thats right, this is 'different' spending. Like throwing 25 billion down the drain at GM..

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

Well if it wasn't OK for Bush to do it, is it OK for Obama to be doing it again? Possibly even MORE so than Bush? Oh thats right, this is 'different' spending. Like throwing 25 billion down the drain at GM..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7791999.stm

Bush unveils $17.4bn car bail-out


Bush: 'Bankruptcy would not be responsible'

The US government has said it will provide $17.4bn (£11.6bn) in loans to help troubled carmakers General Motors and Chrysler survive.

You are such a partisan hack its just sad really.

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

Well if it wasn't OK for Bush to do it, is it OK for Obama to be doing it again? Possibly even MORE so than Bush? Oh thats right, this is 'different' spending. Like throwing 25 billion down the drain at GM..

Yep. It's NOT OK to raid your kids college fund for an expensive weekend at the strip clubs, but it IS OK if you buy a new couch

 

[JSt0rm]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

Well if it wasn't OK for Bush to do it, is it OK for Obama to be doing it again? Possibly even MORE so than Bush? Oh thats right, this is 'different' spending. Like throwing 25 billion down the drain at GM..

Please take this with the utmost respect but would it be possible for you to shut the fuck up every once and a while

 

[Fear No Evil]

Originally posted by: blackangst1

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

Well if it wasn't OK for Bush to do it, is it OK for Obama to be doing it again? Possibly even MORE so than Bush? Oh thats right, this is 'different' spending. Like throwing 25 billion down the drain at GM..

Yep. It's NOT OK to raid your kids college fund for an expensive weekend at the strip clubs, but it IS OK if you buy a new couch

If you are implying Bush's spending would be strippers and Obama's couches, I'd agree. Bush's spending would help single mom's trying to better themselves and support their familes. Obama's would help manufacturing in China..

Good example..

 

[Fear No Evil]

Originally posted by: JSt0rm01

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: blahblah99

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Is triple the deficit and double the national debt in there?

No, because he wasn't president 2000-2008.

ZING!

Well if it wasn't OK for Bush to do it, is it OK for Obama to be doing it again? Possibly even MORE so than Bush? Oh thats right, this is 'different' spending. Like throwing 25 billion down the drain at GM..

Please take this with the utmost respect but would it be possible for you to shut the fuck up every once and a while

Nope.. not possible.. Got to love the Intarweb.

 

[Siddhartha]

Despite Major Plans, Obama Taking Softer Stands

Washington Memo
Despite Major Plans, Obama Taking Softer Stands

DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and JACKIE CALMES
Published: April 18, 2009

WASHINGTON ? President Obama is well known for bold proposals that have raised expectations, but his administration has shown a tendency for compromise and caution, and even a willingness to capitulate on some early initiatives.


Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Obama, at Georgetown University last week, has many wondering what he will fight for.


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It was inevitable that Mr. Obama?s lofty pledge to change the ways of Washington would crash into the realities of governing, including lawmakers anxious to protect their constituents and an army of special-interest lobbyists.

Mr. Obama has not conceded on any major priority. His advisers argue that the concessions to date ? on budget items, for instance ? are intended to help win the bigger policy fights ahead. But his early willingness to deal or fold has left commentators, and some loyal Democrats, wondering: where?s the fight?

?The thing we still don?t know about him is what he is willing to fight for,? said Leonard Burman, an economist at the Urban Institute and a Treasury Department official in the Clinton administration. ?The thing I worry about is that he likes giving good speeches, he likes the adulation and he likes to make people happy.?

So far, he said, ?It?s hard to think of a place where he?s taken a really hard position.?

In some of his earliest skirmishes, Mr. Obama eventually chose pragmatism over fisticuffs.

Congressional Democrats effectively killed his proposal to slash farm subsidies by nearly $1 billion a year, and forced him to retreat partially on a plan to require private insurers to pick up more of veterans? health costs. They also got him to shelve the idea of a commission to buttress Social Security?s finances.

And Thursday, Mr. Obama suggested that he would not fight in Congress to renew an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. It was the latest example of the pragmatic approach he adopted after winning the presidency by promising to challenge entrenched interests and put the public good ahead of political expedience.

Mr. Obama?s top aides dismiss suggestions that he has shied from confrontation, saying they ignore his achievements, the need to move quickly to address economic woes and the fights he has picked against some big interest groups in Washington, including components of the Democratic base, like organized labor.

Pragmatism, they add, is an Obama hallmark, and among the changes he promised ? and has delivered ? is a break from his predecessor?s often uncompromising style.

The extent to which he is willing to yield to lobbyists, Congressional committee leaders and interest groups, however, will be determined as the White House tackles health care and other big issues on a list that seems to grow: immigration, for instance, is now in the mix.

?We?re not taking on a fight; we?re taking on a multiple-front fight because we?ve taken on a series of entrenched interests across the waterfront ? from education to health care, and the defense industry, and the lobbying industry as a whole,? the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said. ?There will be a scorecard at the end of which ones we won and which ones we didn?t, but every one of those policy challenges have been initiated by us.?

Mr. Obama?s allies point to his winning the second $350 billion in financial bailout money from a reluctant Congress; a pay-equity law for women; expanded government health insurance for children, including ? at his insistence ? legal immigrant children; and the $787 billion economic recovery bill that reached his desk, as demanded, by mid-February.

All that may end up looking easy compared with the fight on health care, which will most likely require him to stand up to hospitals, doctors, insurance companies and their patrons in Congress. He might have to finance the plan in a way that raises costs for the middle class, perhaps by taxing employer-provided health benefits ? an idea he attacked in the campaign.

Facing Democratic opposition in Congress, the White House seems prepared to give up on several tax proposals, including a limit on deductions that the wealthiest taxpayers can claim for charitable donations and state and local taxes, which was supposed to help pay for health care legislation ? raising doubts about how the president will finance it.

Wider Democratic majorities in Congress, while beneficial to the White House agenda, also mean a wider range of demands to be met.

Representative Charlie Melancon, a Louisiana Democrat and leader of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition, praised the president?s willingness to make concessions. ?If you go into the budget, you?ll see there were concessions that were agreed to by the White House that were allowed to be put in by the Blue Dogs,? he said. ?There was a little pushback, but they understood.?

Experts on the presidency say that Mr. Obama, after promising profound change during the campaign last year, may have no choice but to continue talking big.

?If Obama is too timid, if the White House is too cautious,? said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian, ?it is going to make him look too opportunistic. He made all these promises during the campaign, he talked so boldly, he stirred all our hopes, and now he is not following through.?

On complex issues like health care, Mr. Dallek said, there is advantage in angling for the final say.

?It?s kind of a technique to keep power in your hands,? he said. ?Let these guys in the House, let the folks in the Senate battle with one another, battle it out. They are going to have to come to the president and have him adjudicate.?

Administration officials say the approach to the economic stimulus bill is likely to be a model for dealing with Congress and interest groups, reflecting a style that fits the president?s temperament and a West Wing with deep experience on Capitol Hill. Even before Mr. Obama took office, the stimulus started with a draft in the House that reflected his bottom line, his spending priorities and more tax cuts than many liberal Democrats wanted. Harder negotiations occurred in the Senate, where Democrats remain short of the votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

In the end, there was no grandstanding about big ideas. Instead, Mr. Emanuel and the budget director, Peter R. Orszag, set up shop in the office of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and worked through the final demands to get the votes to clinch an agreement.

The administration seems content to let Democrats like Senator Max Baucus of Montana, a moderate to conservative, and Representative Henry A. Waxman, a California liberal, take the lead on health care, knowing that Mr. Obama can flex his political muscle later.

It does not hurt that Jim Messina, once chief of staff to Mr. Baucus, is a deputy White House chief of staff, or that Philip M. Schiliro, Mr. Waxman?s former chief of staff, is Mr. Obama?s chief liaison to Congress.

 

[Jiggz]

Just wondering why the new 160% Tobacco Excise Tax was not posted on 1st April 2009? This is the date it took effect but was signed into law back in Feb. 04, 2009 as a part of the CHIP Re-authorization Act.