The Obama Presidency - 2008 & 2012

[JediKooter]

bill1a.jpg

[JPhillips]

Despicable. From TalkingPointsMemo:

Some big-time political shenanigans in Virginia today. State senate Republicans surprised everyone in Richmond by pushing through a mid-decade redistricting plan that is likely to improve their chances in the 2015 Senate elections – but here’s the kicker. They were able to get it through the evenly divided (20-20) Senate only because one Democratic senator, a well-known, 79-year-old veteran of the civil rights movements, was in Washington for President Obama’s second inauguration.

Then they adjourned in memory of Stonewall Jackson. On MLK day.

[Thomkal]

wow that is pretty damn pathetic-hope the national media picks up on it and hammers them for it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Stonewall Jackson can't really help when his birthday happens to fall. Lee-Jackson Day has been celebrated in Virginia since 1904 and is now part of a 4-day state holiday weekend, having been merged as L-J-K day from 1983 to 2000 before it reverted back to being its own holiday on the Friday before the Monday.

[gstelmack]

Here in North Carolina the Democrats got the Lottery passed in part by holding a vote during what was supposed to be a non-voting informational session while 2 key Republicans were out of town. We did end up getting the House Speaker thrown in jail when they discovered all the corruption going on that led to that vote though...

[gstelmack]

So how many jobs did Obama create with that shindig last night?

For the record, I hate that we put on those kind of bashes regardless of the party in charge, I think it's overkill and a waste of money in this day and age. The way cities prepare for the conventions every four years shows how out of touch both parties are with the "average" citizen.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

So how many jobs did Obama create with that shindig last night?

For the record, I hate that we put on those kind of bashes regardless of the party in charge, I think it's overkill and a waste of money in this day and age. The way cities prepare for the conventions every four years shows how out of touch both parties are with the "average" citizen.

C'mon. The average citizen celebrates with lobster and bison.

First Course: Steamed lobster with New England clam chowder sauce, served on sauteed spinach with sweet potato hay.
Wine: Tierce 2009 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling (NY)

Main Course: Hickory grilled bison with wild huckleberry reduction, strawberry preserve and red cabbage, red potato horseradish cake, baby golden beets and green beans and butternut squash purée.
Wine: Bedell Cellars 2009 Merlot (Long Island, NY)

Dessert: Hudson Valley apple pie with sour cream ice cream and maple caramel sauce. Aged cheeses and honeycomb will also be served, including Toma Celena and Jersey Girl Colby from Cooperstown Cheese Company (Milford, NY).
Wine: Korbel Inaugural Cuvee (California)

I try to make it a point to have alcohol with every course of my meal.

Sarcasm aside, this isn't really any different from most Inaugural Dinners.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

C'mon. The average citizen celebrates with lobster and bison.



I try to make it a point to have alcohol with every course of my meal.

Sarcasm aside, this isn't really any different from most Inaugural Dinners.

except that the total calorie count was something like 3000.

As always: Do as I say, not as I do.

[RainMaker]

Did you want them to order out Pizza Hut and rent out a Bennigans? It's an inauguration for the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world. We aren't Mexico.

[molson]

I'm pretty sure every inauguration is the most expensive ever and every time some members of the losing party complain about the cost:

BBC NEWS | Americas | No expense spared at inauguration
Giving Bush a pass — again - Salon.com

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by finketr

except that the total calorie count was something like 3000.

As always: Do as I say, not as I do.

If Michelle was known for constantly devouring 3000 calorie meals, then this would make some sense. Otherwise you're basically saying that if she tells people to eat healthy, she can never have a high calorie meal ever again, which is pretty ridiculous.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Did you want them to order out Pizza Hut and rent out a Bennigans? It's an inauguration for the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world. We aren't Mexico.

This is basically my position. I mean its an inauguration for the President of the United States. A super fancy dinner every 4 years to celebrate the inauguration seems ok to me. You really expect no pomp and circumstance from the office?

[finketr]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

If Michelle was known for constantly devouring 3000 calorie meals, then this would make some sense. Otherwise you're basically saying that if she tells people to eat healthy, she can never have a high calorie meal ever again, which is pretty ridiculous.

she should be having a 834 calorie meal.. just like the ridiculous school lunch standards.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by finketr

she should be having a 834 calorie meal.. just like the ridiculous school lunch standards.

[EagleFan]

Wow, people are complaining about this now? My biggest complaint is that i wouldn't eat a damn thing on the menu.

When the country wises up and elects me the inaugural dinner will be a traditional thanksgiving style feast with turkey and all the normal sides. Either that or cheese steaks. . Then maybe the largest LAN gaming party ever. Need to have some fun and let off steam before it's down to business.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

When the country wises up and elects me the inaugural dinner will be a traditional thanksgiving style feast with turkey and all the normal sides.

Ew, turkey? Our nation deserves better from its president.

[larrymcg421]

First: Bacon Cheese sliders.
Main: BBQ Spare Ribs, Country Style Baked Beans, Macaroni and Cheese
Dessert: Banana Pudding

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by finketr

she should be having a 834 calorie meal.. just like the ridiculous school lunch standards.

Is 834 low for a kid? I'm not getting the complaint or what is ridiculous. Or why every single meal she eats for the rest of her life needs to fit within those standards.

Or is this just all pouting?

[stevew]

That desert sounds amazing.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'm not sure why they are doing this vs picking the fight now, but I like the part about them not getting paid.

House Republicans agree to vote on bill to raise debt limit for 3 months - The Washington Post

'Cept for two things. The first is that, Constitutionally, spending bills have to originate in the House.

Which means the Senate can't just pass any old budget (even if the Republicans would agree not to filibuster). The House has to pass something first. The Senate can then pass something *different*, but they're still working off of the Tea Party's wish list.

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'm not sure the 27th amendment would allow that.

Then there's that. No change in pay can take place until the next election of Representatives. You can't just dock pay at the federal level the way you can at the state level (California comes to mind, I believe). It's great red meat for the base who'll go "Yeah!! Dock their pay if they don't do their job!"

But the Constitution doesn't actually allow it. Primarily to avoid Congress voting itself instantaneous pay raises, but partly also to prevent one house from trying to punish the other for whatever reason.

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Wow. That is almost a reasonable action by the House. Bravo.

The article I read earlier made me skeptical that's actually the case. The explanation it gave was that the debt ceiling would basically be retroactively raised in three months. The country goes about business as usual until three months from now, at which point, if the Senate has passed a budget, a vote is held to retroactively raise the debt ceiling to whatever the debt level is in three months, and another vote is held on a longer-term extension (with the idea that an agreement has been reached by then to avoid sequestration and to enact additional spending cuts).

Difficulty: the aforementioned filibuster. All it takes is one Republican who's confident that SCOTUS would throw out the 'no budget, no pay' clause who's willing to filibuster any budget that isn't ideologically similar to whatever comes out of the House.

Boehner gets his political cover since the Senate couldn't pass a budget, the Senate still gets paid because the pay clause is unconstitutional, and we face an umpteenth case of the Republicans holding the nation's ability to pay its bill hostage as a political football.

I'd like to think that the Republicans are being reasonable and giving themselves breathing space for a compromise both parties can live with to follow that sets the stage for the next four years.

I don't have any actual confidence that will happen.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm pretty sure every inauguration is the most expensive ever and every time some members of the losing party complain about the cost:

BBC NEWS | Americas | No expense spared at inauguration
Giving Bush a pass — again - Salon.com

Oh I know, but I will point out that "change" is 1/3 of this president's slogan (the other two being "hope" and "and").

And it's not just the dinner, this was a HUGE shindig, in the middle of what is allegedly a horrible recession.

[JPhillips]

I don't understand why Obama lives in such a lavish home.

Hope and change my ass.

[miked]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Oh I know, but I will point out that "change" is 1/3 of this president's slogan (the other two being "hope" and "and").

And it's not just the dinner, this was a HUGE shindig, in the middle of what is allegedly a horrible recession.

Proof that people will bitch about anything. Get over it, this happens every 4 years and he didn't run on a campaign not to celebrate his inauguration as everyone else in (recent) history has. If you want to bitch about the fact that he hasn't changed a lot of things he has promised, I'm all about it, but this is laughable.

Maybe he should have had an extra value meal and gotten back to work. I'm sure you would have found something wrong with that as well.

[JPhillips]

Obama wears a suit just like Bush did.

and Hitler.

[gstelmack]

So I'm the only one that thinks we have "leaders" that are disconnected from the people, and that's a huge part of why we can't get anything fixed? That there's a certain amount of "let them eat cake!" going on here?

I'm also pretty sure I was specific that both parties are out of touch with events like this, this isn't an attack on Obama but on our government in general.

[JPhillips]

Yes, the populace and the media are far too enamored with the idea of having a royal family, and inaugurations tend to bring out the worst.

But you're the one that made the hope and change comment.

[miked]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

So I'm the only one that thinks we have "leaders" that are disconnected from the people, and that's a huge part of why we can't get anything fixed? That there's a certain amount of "let them eat cake!" going on here?

I'm also pretty sure I was specific that both parties are out of touch with events like this, this isn't an attack on Obama but on our government in general.

Well, I guess I'll scan through the threads to see your comments regarding every party thrown by those in office and how lavish they are.

I agree that all these idiots are out of touch, but having ribs for the inauguration dinner wasn't a platform of hope and change, nor is it really business as usual. It's apparently tradition and I'm not really sure it's fair to criticize the president over it.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by miked

I agree that all these idiots are out of touch, but having ribs for the inauguration dinner wasn't a platform of hope and change, nor is it really business as usual. It's apparently tradition and I'm not really sure it's fair to criticize the president over it.

Again, you're focusing on the meal which was brought up after, not the entire multi-day affair, with gushing over Michelle's gown (and what the girls were wearing), all the Hollywood stars, etc. Tons of money was spent on this event.

My initial comment was "how many jobs were created?". At least we'd get something out of that.

If you're going to search back, I've made comments on the conventions (cleaning up the city because heaven forbid they'd see what's REALLY happening), and most Olympic opening / closing ceremonies, for similar reasons.

[panerd]

It’s a plutocracy where the leaders in both parties laugh and have their lavish parties and then throw barbs out to the commoners about the rich (I love the "99%ers" who can look at Obama's inauguration guest list with a straight face and still think he stands for them) or guns and let them fight amongst themselves while they all rob us blind. Has been happening throughout history have no idea why anyone thinks it doesn’t happen in this country. Before Miked or somebody gets bent out of shape about Saint Obama the GOP Bush dynasty and others have done the exact same thing.

[stevew]

The Obama campaign did not take federal funds in either general election, so fuck them for saving the taxpayers any money there.

[miked]

I'm not really bent out of shape over the whole Obama thing, I'm not really overly thrilled with much he's done, let alone anyone there. But let's not be silly and nitpicky over stupid shit. I understand it represents everything that's wrong with Washington, but let's not pretend this is against some hope and change slogan to have a party that everyone's had.

And the fact that you sarcastically refer to him as Saint Obama belittles your position. I can't find any reference to anyone calling him a saint and it makes you sound silly and petty.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by miked

I'm not really bent out of shape over the whole Obama thing, I'm not really overly thrilled with much he's done, let alone anyone there. But let's not be silly and nitpicky over stupid shit. I understand it represents everything that's wrong with Washington, but let's not pretend this is against some hope and change slogan to have a party that everyone's had.

And the fact that you sarcastically refer to him as Saint Obama belittles your position. I can't find any reference to anyone calling him a saint and it makes you sound silly and petty.

You were going to do a thread search because you felt gstelmack was being too hard on him. I have a hard time believing any of what you posted in the first paragraph if you are willing to go to those lengths to "expose" gstelmack.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

And it's not just the dinner, this was a HUGE shindig, in the middle of what is allegedly a horrible recession.

The recession ended in the summer of 2009.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by cartman

The recession ended in the summer of 2009.

Exactly. Obama made it end so that he can throw big parties.

[JediKooter]

Hitler also ended a recession...

[miked]

Originally Posted by panerd

You were going to do a thread search because you felt gstelmack was being too hard on him. I have a hard time believing any of what you posted in the first paragraph if you are willing to go to those lengths to "expose" gstelmack.

/sarcasm

[Autumn]

Lobster's actually not that expensive these days. Lobstermen here in Maine are getting killed by the rock bottom prices. They're bringing back more each day than ever before, and hardly paying their expenses. So if Barack bought a whole bunch of them for dinner, kudos to him.

[larrymcg421]

I can't wait until March when we can do the annual complaint about Obama taking a half hour to fill out on NCAA bracket, which is one of the few things even more petty than bitching about the inauguration.

If Obama had a very small inauguration, it certainly wouldn't change my mind one bit whether I felt he was in touch with people like me or not. I wouldn't suddenly think that Obama wasn't a millionaire. And I see no problem with a lavish celebration of the fact that we've had 236 years of peaceful turnover in this country.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Guess I'll stick this here under the reasoning that this kinda serves as the catch-all thread for matters D.C.

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss to announce retirement | Political Insider

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Guess I'll stick this here under the reasoning that this kinda serves as the catch-all thread for matters D.C.

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss to announce retirement | Political Insider

Not surprised.

[cuervo72]

Heh, I was waiting for that post.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Yes, the populace and the media are far too enamored with the idea of having a royal family, and inaugurations tend to bring out the worst.

But you're the one that made the hope and change comment.

One of the issues in having the Head of State being the Head of Government as well. Other countries tend to separate the role, whether its a Constitutional Monarchy (a la, the United Kingdom) or having the Prime Minister be Head of Government with a separately elected President with little power being the Head of State (a la, Germany).

When both are in one package, the pomp and circumstance that flows to the Head of State (after all, it is indicative of the desire for the representative of the country to be shown off in glory to make the people feel better about their country or to show off to other countries).

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Guess I'll stick this here under the reasoning that this kinda serves as the catch-all thread for matters D.C.

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss to announce retirement | Political Insider

There's going to be a lot of bat shit crazy in that primary.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

There's going to be a lot of bat shit crazy in that primary.

Over/Under on how many references to rape and women's reproductive rights and how many times they want big government to minimize interference in people's lives?

[mckerney]

Al Qaeda Commander Killed for the Third Time - ABC News

It's about damn time we got tough on Al Queda and let them know we aren't going to let them off easy by only killing them once or twice.

[Edward64]

I don't see why we are hesitating to help out the French with refueling tankers. Just as long as there are no combat troops on the ground seems like low risk, high reward (fighting AQ and building stronger ties with France).

The last paragraph is somewhat ironic about our campaign in Iraq.

U.S. Weighing How Much Help to Give France’s Military Operation in Mali - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is debating how much more aid it can give the French military forces who are battling Islamic militants in Mali, weighing the benefit of striking a major blow to Qaeda-linked fighters in Africa against concern about being drawn into a lengthy conflict there.

The immediate issue is whether and how to supply American aerial refueling planes that would allow French jets to provide close-air support to ground forces moving north into territory held by the extremists. French and American officials have been in discussions for days, according to American and European officials, and administration officials say they expect a decision soon.

All indications are that the administration is trying to find a solution, but that any refueling would probably be approved only with restrictions.
:
:
Mr. Obama’s aides say that the model under way in Mali now — with the French taking the lead, and a force from the region backing them up — is exactly what they want to encourage. But some officials say they believe the French went into Mali hastily, in the words of one official “before they understood exactly what they were biting off.”

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Al Qaeda Commander Killed for the Third Time - ABC News

It's about damn time we got tough on Al Queda and let them know we aren't going to let them off easy by only killing them once or twice.

Time to go to plan B. The Drone-Strike Double Tap.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Yes, the populace and the media are far too enamored with the idea of having a royal family, and inaugurations tend to bring out the worst.

But you're the one that made the hope and change comment.

Well if the damned merchants wouldn't have fucked everything up for the aristocracy, we wouldn't be in this global corporate cocksucking mess we're in.

[miked]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Over/Under on how many references to rape and women's reproductive rights and how many times they want big government to minimize interference in people's lives?

Well, in New Mexico they proposed a law to make getting an abortion be a felony for tampering with evidence. These guys just can't stop talking about rape if they glued their mouths shut. Let's not forget the doof from Georgia (who is an OB doctor) that said there was truth to what Akin said.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Over/Under on how many references to rape and women's reproductive rights and how many times they want big government to minimize interference in people's lives?

fifty.