THREATS

A lot of people are giving him grades on his first 100 days. What does HHboard give Obama?
I think he is trying hard and is very intelligent. Unfortunately I disagree with his policies. The stimulus was rushed. There is too much spending, too much regulation. The government is growing. He has not offered transparency like he promised. Instead he has done things like release CIA sensitive info for political reasons after he said he doesn't want to. I think you can judge this better in a couple years. He has not been challenged by the media enough.
He has a lot of support and has great opportunites to push his agenda. So we will get to see where this leads us and if he actually makes the US safer. I give him a C.

June7

w/e it is..congrats on our first black president coming this far..hes got a long way to go and with time he will only get better...

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First Place Is Often The Worst Place But Fuck It I Love Here I Call It My Birth Place - Drake

ImmortalTechnique

I'd say he's damn near an A. I think that the stimulus probably wasn't big enough, but we'll have to wait and see. As for what he's accomplished thus far, we could start with...

► Ordered the closing of the Bush-Cheney torture facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

► Ordered the closing of the Bush-Cheney overseas Gulags (so-called "black sites").

► Banned the use of torture.

► Suspended Military tribunals of foreign detainees.

► Orders the withdraw of combat forces from Iraq by August 2010, with the residual force, between 35,000 to 50,000 leaving by December 2011.

► Passes $787 BILLION Jobs-Stimulus bill.

► Signed $32.8 billion bill for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, extending health care to 4 million uninsured children. A bill vetoed various times buy Bush.

► Told AFL-CIO union leaders in a videotaped address that the Employee Free Choice Act WILL PASS, pledging his administration’s FULL support. (Source)

► Overturned Bush administration's limits on embryonic stem cell research.

► Budgets $634 billion over 10 years as a down payment on health care insurance.

► Cancels government contract with Blackwater Mercenaries.

► Voids George W. Bush’s so-called "signing statements".

► Addressing Turkey's Grand National Assembly, President Obama states the United States "is not and never will be at war with Islam."

Signaling a thaw, the story is carried on the front page of Tehran’s daily newspapers.

► Announced the US will engage in direct group talks with Iran aimed at ending Tehran's nuclear program, marking another shift from former Bush's policy.

► Signed Lilly Ledbetter Act, making it easier for women and others to sue for pay discrimination, even if the discrimination has prevailed for years, even decades.

► Cancelled Bush decision to allow oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

► Cancelled Bush decision allowing oil and gas drilling in parcels near national parks in Utah.

► Started a $75 billion plan to help 9 million struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, offering refinanced mortgages or modified loans with lower monthly payments.

► Announces plans to drastically cut the world's NEW-CLEAR arsenal.

► Began negotiations to reduce NEW-CLEAR arms with Russia.

► Persuades G-20 to open $1.4 trillion fund to restore international credit.

► EPA moves, for the first time, to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for the warming of the planet.
► Unveiled his administration's blueprint for a new national network of high-speed passenger rail lines.
► Halts DEA medical marijuana raids.

► Authorizes daring hostage rescue off the coast of East Africa.
► Overturned gag rule, restricted federal money for international organizations that promote or provide abortions overseas.

► Lifts Bush’s ban on over-the-counter sales of ''Plan B'' emergency contraceptive to women 18 and older.

► Overturned draconian 1996 Gingrich law restricting food stamp benefits to recipients with no dependents to three months of food stamps in a three-year period.

► Overturned Bush regulation mandating a waiting periods that prevented middle-income children from enrolling directly from a private health plan to a public program.

► Endorses legislation restricting credit card companies from imposing higher fees and interest rates on consumers.

► Released 1,991 Iraqi detainees held without charge by the United States on suspicion of links to insurgents or militants.

► Egyptian dissident, Ayman Nour, who was jailed after challenging the country's longtime President Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 elections, was unexpectedly freed after pressure from President Obama.

► Lifted the 18 year ban on media coverage of fallen soldiers returning to Dover Air Force Base (instituted by Bush Sr.).
► Lifted the ban on family travel, remittances and gifts to people in Cuba along with allowing telecommunications companies to pursue licensing agreements in Cuba. Begins to reopen channels of communication with Cuba.

► Katrina-No More: residents of Fargo, N.D., were impressed by how quickly and thoroughly the Obama administration came through on its pledge to help after a flood ravaged the town. Some were even calling it an overreaction, but a welcome one.

► Directs $900 million in aid to help rebuild Gaza.

► Pledged $302 million in aid for Haiti, who is struggling from last year's devastating storms.

► Reversed Bush administration regulation allowing health workers to refuse to take part in abortions.

► Summoned bank CEOs to the WH, and informed them of the public's anger over the financial crisis, warning them "my administration is the only thing between you and the pitchfork." (Source)

► Announced plans to buy 17,600 American-made, fuel-efficient cars and hybrids for the U.S. government fleet.
► Joins UN declaration calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality, a major reversal of Bush administration policy.

The U.S. joins 66 other UN member states condemning human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
► Cuts off funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project.

► Released Bush Justice Department’s torture memos.

► Released minutes of Bush administration’s torture interrogations.

► Receiving a rave response, the President tells CIA personal, intelligence agents must hold themselves to a "higher standard" when dealing with the nation's most unscrupulous enemies, even when they believe adhering to anti-torture policy makes it more difficult to protect America from attack.

► Declined to rule out prosecutions for Bush officials who authorized torture, saying Attorney General Holder should determine whether they broke the law.
► Al-Qaida suspect trial moves to civilian court, in an abrupt change in policy from the Bush administration. The suspect had been held in a military brig in South Carolina for more than five years. The Bush administration had argued that he could be held indefinitely without being charged.

► Met with families of the September 11th attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole to explain his decision to suspend military tribunals.

► Increased troop levels in Afghanistan by 17,000.
► Passed the LARGEST middle-class tax cut in US History -- $282 billion. Wage-earners who don't make enough to pay income taxes would get a reduction in the Social Security and Medicare taxes they pay.

► Cut income taxes for 95 percent of families and 97 percent of small businesses. Raising taxes on couples that make more than $250,000.
► Addressed the nation of Iran on New Year’s eve:

Today I want to extend my very best wishes to all who are celebrating Nowruz around the world.

This holiday is both an ancient ritual and a moment of renewal, and I hope that you enjoy this special time of year with friends and family.

In particular, I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nowruz is just one part of your great and celebrated culture. Over many centuries your art, your music, literature and innovation have made the world a better and more beautiful place.

Ending the address with a Farsi saying, Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak -- which translates to "have a happy New Year".

► Proposed eliminating decades old subsidies to college loan middlemen, replacing them with direct financial aid to students, saving $48 billions.

► Created a White House Council on Women and Girls, to help eliminate the challenges they face and to ensure that cabinet level agencies coordinate their policies and programs that affect women and families.
► Created a $15 billion initiative to spark lending to small businesses.

► Began the process to establish worldwide regulation of hedge funds and tax havens.

► Proposes to tax Off-Shore tax shelter of US corporations.

► Allocated $11 Billion of Stimulus funds to build Smart Electric Grid.

► Allocated $45 billion to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

► Allocated $8 billion in state and local weatherization and energy efficiency efforts.

► Calling on Americans to volunteer, the President signed a $5.7 billion national service bill Tuesday that triples the size of the AmeriCorps service program over the next eight years and expands ways for students to earn money for college.

► Launched a $200 billion initiative with the Federal Reserve to jump-starting lending to consumers and small businesses.

► Allocated $87 billion of Stimulus funds to the states for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, and unemployment.

► Allocated $100 billion of Stimulus funds over two years for public schools, universities and child care centers.
► Expands Pell Grants to a maximum award of $5,550 in the 2010-11 school year.

► Allocated $19 billion to digitize medical records.

► Allocated $60 million to the National Endowment for the Arts
► Releases 250,000 pages of White House papers from Reagan and Bush Sr. era, overturning Cheney’s ban.

► Reversed Bush administration regulation, in part, removing the gray wolf off the endangered species list in Montana and Idaho, but leaving the animal under federal protection in Wyoming.
► Signed a series of executive orders to "level the playing field" for labor unions with management.
► Passed $410 billion 2008-2009 budget with significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research, and other programs, over McSame’s crybaby hysterics.
► Conducted his first television interview with Arabic language television station Al Arabiya.

► Conducted a town hall meeting in France.

► Conducted a town Hall meeting with Muslim students in Istanbul.

► Expanded Medicare's coverage of off-label drugs for cancer treatments.

► Suckers drug-addict Rush Limbaugh into a fight, branding the fifthly swine as the face of the waning –Whig- Republican party.

► Replaced Bush’s office of faith based initiatives with a new office that will reach out to organizations that provide help "no matter their religious or political beliefs" and that are conduced by BOTH secular and faith-based organizations.

► Gates cut several major weapons programs, including F-22, and the new White House helicopter. Gates says his budget will "profoundly reform" the way the Pentagon buys weapons and does business.
► Banned on lobbyists discussing economic stimulus projects with federal officials.

► Addressing the EU, President Obama recommends the admission of Turkey into the European Union.

► Turkey moves to reopen the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary, which was closed to new students in 1971, at Obama’s request.



pretty good start for someone "so inexperienced" and "not ready for day one"

he has gotten the government out of where it doesn't belong, cut taxes, started investing in our country and fixing our infrastructure, and started rebuilding our alliances around the world that were demolished over the last eight years. We're safer than we were under Bush, and we're on a road back to prosperity after Bush and his Reganomics decimated our economy.

₪RapSody₪

the stimulus wasn't big enough? ok paul krugman. the biggest spending bill ever which allocated $650 million to the switch from analog to digital TV, $1 billion to the census bureau, $600 million to convert all federal automobiles to hybrids, $448 million to build a new headquarters for Homeland Security, etc. (none of which creates any jobs or helps the economy in any way) didn't spend enough ?

the road to prosperity? where the hell are you living, most people i know can't find jobs or are getting laid off. just because the stock market came up slightly hardly means we're on the road to prosperity.

how bout the fact that he has defended Bush's position on the states secrets privilege despite claiming to be for transparency, has gotten us deeper into another un-winnable war despite claiming to be for peace, has endorsed Bush's illegal wiretapping programs despite claiming to be for civil liberties, and has still allowed the DEA to raid legal medical marijuana facilities despite claiming to be against it and to have stopped the raids just for starters? and don't worry, i don't expect a response anyway.

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we're prepared to shed blood and die as martyrs for the roundtable

THREATS

ps didnt he campaign about no earmarks?

ImmortalTechnique

no, that was John McCain

ImmortalTechnique

guess what? you're a libertarian. we get that. doesn't mean that the end all standard of judging policies are by how libertarian they are. A lot of people disagree with you, not just on policy, but on first principles. Most Americans, in fact.

I'm a liberal. So is the President. So let's start with what you said here...

well, I haven't won a Nobel Prize in Economics like Dr. Krugman, but I do happen to agree with him on this


the biggest spending bill in history, in reality, is the authorization to go to war with Iraq. Sure the President lied about how much it was going to cost, never budgeted for it, and hid the costs in "emergency supplementals" but the Iraq war has cost and will cost far more than this stimulus, and without creating any jobs or investments in the country (while decimating our military and making us less safe, to boot). But anyways, it was a very large spending bill. We have a very large economic crisis. The notion that building cars and buildings and technology improvements don't create jobs is, frankly, ludicrous, and I'm gonna just let you think about that one for a while longer. You have a different theory of economics. I understand. You think spending is bad, while I (and most economists) happen to think that when demand is down, you create demand by spending, and the government is the only body with the ability to spend the kind of money needed to get the economy going. Its already happening, and supply side economic theory has been pretty much decimated by facts and history, both now and in the Great Depression, so I'm gonna stick with facts and history and not nonsensical conservative economic theory.

the road to california could still start in Ohio. I don't mean that we're prosperous again yet. The damage of Reaganomics, deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, and the sustained attack on the middle class represented by conservative economic theory will take more than a few months to fix. but we're moving in the right direction, finally, hence being on the road to prosperity again... not prosperous


didn't happen. the DOJ advanced the same argument that Bush was making in that case in order to get a ruling on it. The ruling came down against States' Secrets priveleges, and Obama said he agrees with the decision. He felt that the argument Bush and Co made about States' Secrets was too broad and blunt. Good try, though...


another lie. I know its hard to defend your positions, since they're mostly antithetical to reason or facts, but you shouldn't lie so blatantly. Obama never claimed to be for "peace" in the sense you seem to be suggesting. He actually campaigned, during the primaries and the general election, on his Afghanistan plan. You feel its an unwinnable war. You could be right. He doesn't think that, and neither do most Americans who voted for him, and currently support the plan he has laid out. He never claimed to be against all wars, just dumb wars. You need to make the case that Afghanistan is a dumb war, or an unwinnable one. You don't get points just for shouting that its so.


his support for the FISA bill and retroactive immunity is probably by far and away the worst thing Obama has done. He hasn't done a great deal with regards to the wiretapping issue since taking office, and we will have to see what, if anything, he does to address the issue. Half a point for you.

Again, another lie. Obama has ordered the DEA raids be stopped. AG Holder has said these cases will not be prosecuted. The DEA is an independent organization, however, where the President sets funding and some personell, not overall policy. While staffing continues, the DEA HAS, in fact, made raids in violation of the President's stated policy. As he continues to appoint people to positions, he is doing so with the policy that they will not be raiding legal dispensaries in violation of state law. Sorry, things don't just poof happen over night.

you should probably learn a bit more about politics and government, and facts and history, before you start spouting off like you're the end all be all of political thought and anyone who disagrees with you is automatically wrong just because the have a different political philosophy.
I mean, it was a good effort. For the people who don't regularly check this area out, you probably could have convinced a few people who don't know the facts that Obama is a really bad guy, just like Bush, whatever you were trying to do. The facts, though, don't really bear out your wild paranoid assertions. So better luck next time, I hope you have more success

₪RapSody₪

lol, first off.. it is the swedish central bank who owns the nobel in economics so it's no surprise they would give it to a statist like krugman. not that krugman is dumb, just most of his economic solutions are. that's like halliburton giving dick cheney a prize for energy policy.

but anyway, the iraq war may end up costing more.. this was still the biggest spending bill ever any way you wanna slice it and it will end up costing way more than the $700-800 billion projected as well. not to mention the fact that obama voted FOR almost all the iraq war spending, but that's beside the point i suppose.

converting federal automobiles to hybrids creates jobs? on what planet? building homeland security a new headquarters doesn't create jobs.. maybe it gives a few people a job for the time it takes to build that building but what do they do after that? we could give a lot of people jobs, just take a bunch of money and give it to people for digging holes and filling them back up.. they would have jobs, but they wouldn't be producing anything. it takes production to make jobs and an economy work. none of the things i mentioned produce anything of value.


the same people who were poor before the stimulus are still poor now. nothing has changed. and you honestly believe george bush governed like a conservative? wow.. he spent more than any other president before him by leaps and bounds. he had his own stimulus package if you remember correctly? but i guess that was a "conservative" stimulus so it wasn't as good as a "liberal" stimulus. bush almost doubled the size of government and you want to believe he shrunk the size of government and deregulated? keep living in your deluded little world.

you create demand by government spending? REALLY? you really honestly believe that? the only demand you create is for the things the government buys (hybrid cars, etc.) you don't create any demand for actual goods consumers are buying. in other words, you create demand for things people don't even want. that is what caused the housing bubble in the first place. government spending doesn't "get the economy going".. it may temporarily delay some of the problems associated with the bubble.. it is not going to make them go away.

and once again, george bush did not follow "conservative economics".. just because he said he was for free markets doesn't mean he actually was. you can't just blame everything in the world on george bush like paul krugman and obama and get away with it.

about the states secrets thing, your argument is just weak. you're saying they just took up the bush line in order to get a ruling? ok, sure. and bush didn't bomb iraq, the army did it.

on FISA, remember this: "I promise to filibuster any attempt to give retroactive immunity to telecom companies".. wait, what I really meant is I'll vote FOR it.

on Afghanistan, I'm not the only one who thinks it's unwinnable. The UK's top military commander agrees:



It's funny that you tell me to learn a bit more when it's obvious you are just spouting rhetoric that you read in the new york times or huffington post.

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we're prepared to shed blood and die as martyrs for the roundtable

THREATS

₪RapSody₪

i wonder , i tech.. since you follow "liberal" economics and most truly liberal economists are keynesians or neo-keynesians (like paul krugman).. do you agree that we could've ended the great depression by building a bunch of planes and bombs and then dumping them in the ocean?

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we're prepared to shed blood and die as martyrs for the roundtable

Dema Burt Redux

MotherFUCK obama

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Permanance cant exist in a temporary conscious

DOMiNATiON

foreals..
that nigga is juss doing tha opposite of wat he promised
you dumb mudafuckas

Mr Dillinger

ehhh...I think he gets a lot more hate then he deserves...but whatever hes not my president so who am I to say if hes good or bad...

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All it takes is one bad day to drive an average, modest man irretrievably insane.