I am Barack Obama, President of the United States - AMA

[BigRedBuster]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House and politics in America has improved to allow for truthful debate/interviews and honest discussions.

It might be a miserable four years for you . . .

 

How do you define worst president of modern times?

 

Much to your probably surprise, I thought Bush was horrible too. It is amazing that Obama has been even worse.

[carlfense]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House and politics in America has improved to allow for truthful debate/interviews and honest discussions.

It might be a miserable four years for you . . .

 

How do you define worst president of modern times?

 

Much to your probably surprise, I thought Bush was horrible too. It is amazing that Obama has been even worse.

Why would that surprise me? How do you define worst president of modern times?

[sd'sker]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House and politics in America has improved to allow for truthful debate/interviews and honest discussions.

It might be a miserable four years for you . . .

 

How do you define worst president of modern times?

 

Much to your probably surprise, I thought Bush was horrible too. It is amazing that Obama has been even worse.

if you hated bush and you hated obama, there is a good chance you will hate the next president, and the one after that, and the one after that, and so on and so forth.

[BigRedBuster]

I'll even use a liberal site to prove my point.

 

Government debt right now is the biggest threat we have to our livelihoods. It is crushing us and it will crush our children even more unless we get it taken care of. This should be our government's #1 priority.

 

This is a graph of national debt per President. I was not happy with spending under both Reagan and Bush. In fact, Bush's spending is the primary reason why I think he was so horrible.

 

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

 

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

 

In the article, it claims that conservatives blame congress for this in the Reagan/Bush era. I don't. Everyone involved is to blame and the President needs to lead the country in the right direction. Now, I am still a fan of at least Reagan but not because of his spending. That is for another thread.

 

Look at the green line. The author claims that this is what would have happened if Reagan and Bush had balanced their budgets. Now, look at what happens when Obama comes to office. When he came into office, he had a prime chance to right the ship. A major part of righting the ship is tackling entitlements. What did he do? He put in place probably the largest entitlement program in the history of the country. We don't have the money to pay for it even if we raise taxes on the rich.

 

On top of that, there is crap in this bill that is flat out morally wrong and a total lie.

 

Here is a graph specifically comparing Bush II and Obama. Bush's last two years absolutely stunk. I think most of this is because of TARP which was one of the dumbest bills ever and Obama helped Bush get it passed and then continued the farce.

 

We are in a world governmental debt crisis. Europe is falling apart because of governmental spending with no way of paying for it. This is mostly due to entitlement programs. Ding ding ding......See a trend here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/07/28/the-truth-about-obamas-budget-deficits-in-pictures/

 

A video that Knapp posted in another thread very well spelled out what the problem is with our budget. It isn't wars and it isn't tax cuts and it isn't pork put into budgets. It is entitlements. Again, not only does Obama not tackle the current entitlement problem, he adds to it. Look at the CBO estimates in the chart above. It is outrageous.

 

Europe is showing us precisely what happens when you don't take care of this. Obama had the opportunity to do that he failed miserably. The Hopey Changey crap has failed. The problem is that he has put in place programs that will virtually be impossible now to get rid of even if it crushes us.

 

If you want to blame Bush's deficit on tax cuts...fine. Bud you know what? If congress wants to change that, all it takes is a bill that raises their tax rates and it's taken care of. It's not that easy with this idiotic bill.

 

It scares the hell out of me what he will do when he doesn't have to think about getting reelected.

[carlfense]

Government debt right now is the biggest threat we have to our livelihoods.

 

Obama had the opportunity to do that he failed miserably.

Let me get this straight . . . you are arguing that the deficit is your measure of presidential failure . . . and you conclude that Obama is the worst president in modern history? Wow.

[ZRod]

Can I just point out that the first graph is a little misleading since it's using the debt as a % of GDP. From 2008 to 2009 there was a $400 billion loss in GDP, which wasn't recovered until mid 2009, and that combined with stimulus spending is going to skew the graph no matter who your President is. I'm not going to go into the whole stimulus right or wrong argument I just wanted to point that out.

[krill]

Government debt right now is the biggest threat we have to our livelihoods. It is crushing us and it will crush our children even more unless we get it taken care of. This should be our government's #1 priority.

 

Job creation and a growing economy should be our #1 priority to attack the deficit on two fronts. More jobs = less spent on unemployment benefits, growing GDP = higher tax revenue, more good paying jobs = less spent on unemployment benefits and social services for the working poor. It's not that difficult to understand, yet it seems to be impossibly difficult for some.

 

Beyond that the deficit isn't the #1 problem our country is facing. If we were borroing at 7-10%+ like the 1980's, or Greece / Ireland / Portugal, yet it would be a problem. We are borrowing at less than 2% interest though, which is less than inflation, which means that people are quite literally paying the government to hold their money. We have a long ways to go before the federal debt reaches a point where it becomes borderline unmanageable like Japan, which holds over 200% debt vs. GDP and is faced with a more stagnant economy, an older population that lives longer, and big problems with natural resources and energy.

 

At any rate I would have an easier time at least acknowledge an argument to cut the deficit now with massive cuts if the Republicans actually had a plan to do that. Ryan's big plan just front loads a bunch of tax cuts right away that will increase the deficit even more while gutting entitlements for future retirees, which maybe will will reduce the deficit decades from now. So we really have a choice between deficits to pay for Medicare & Social Security, or deficits for more tax cuts...in liu of actual plans to stabilize government finances.

[ZRod]

Government debt right now is the biggest threat we have to our livelihoods. It is crushing us and it will crush our children even more unless we get it taken care of. This should be our government's #1 priority.

 

Job creation and a growing economy should be our #1 priority to attack the deficit on two fronts. More jobs = less spent on unemployment benefits, growing GDP = higher tax revenue, more good paying jobs = less spent on unemployment benefits and social services for the working poor. It's not that difficult to understand, yet it seems to be impossibly difficult for some.

It's not difficult to understand, it's just difficult to agree on a solution with all the pandering and egos in the room. I take that back, it's hard to even have a real discussion with all the pandering and egos in the room. The truth is if they are serious about balancing the budget right now someone somewhere is going to get hurt.

[knapplc]

It only becomes difficult to understand when people absorb and regurgitate nonsense like "We're the next Greece" without thinking what they're saying.

[JJ Husker]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House

 

His second term ended in 2008.

Seems a bit harsh considering what occured shortly after he took office on September 11th. Also seems really uninformed if you consider Carter as part of modern times. I know about half the country (and seemingly most of HB) disagree with me on this but Bush2 dealt with an unprecedented situation in a manner that I can only say was as good or better than any modern president could've hoped to deal with it. If you want to say he is the worst of modern times, well that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. However, it strikes me as highly unappreciative and naive of the situation he faced especially for someone who will go out of their way to heap praise on Obama for a jaunt into Pakistan. Did he take his eye off the economy? Yes he did. Did his administration get a little too bogged down with anti-terrorism? Arguably yes. But the worst? I don't think so. The closest I can come to agreeing with you on this is 3rd worst, behind Carter and Obama. On the plus side, I don't think Obama actually qualifies yet but after history has some time to see the results and judge his tenure, Carter might be movin up a notch.

[carlfense]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House

 

His second term ended in 2008.

Seems a bit harsh considering what occured shortly after he took office on September 11th. Also seems really uninformed if you consider Carter as part of modern times. I know about half the country (and seemingly most of HB) disagree with me on this but Bush2 dealt with an unprecedented situation in a manner that I can only say was as good or better than any modern president could've hoped to deal with it. If you want to say he is the worst of modern times, well that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. However, it strikes me as highly unappreciative and naive of the situation he faced especially for someone who will go out of their way to heap praise on Obama for a jaunt into Pakistan. Did he take his eye off the economy? Yes he did. Did his administration get a little too bogged down with anti-terrorism? Arguably yes. But the worst? I don't think so. The closest I can come to agreeing with you on this is 3rd worst, behind Carter and Obama. On the plus side, I don't think Obama actually qualifies yet but after history has some time to see the results and judge his tenure, Carter might be movin up a notch.

I look at it as the complete opposite of that. Without September 11 Bush would be regarded as an even bigger failure. His speech immediately after the attack was one of the lonely bright marks in his 8 years. That one presidential moment where he brought the country together draws some attention away from his spectacular failures in education, foreign policy, deficit spending, etc. etc. etc.

[JJ Husker]

Carl- I'm convinced that is the way you look at it and that you are not alone. We are all entitled to our own opinions. Your's and knapps just happen to differ from mine.

[carlfense]

Carl- I'm convinced that is the way you look at it and that you are not alone. We are all entitled to our own opinions. Your's and knapps just happen to differ from mine.

[Comish]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House

 

His second term ended in 2008.

Do you consider Jimmy Carter part of "modern times" ?

[carlfense]

I will when the worst President of modern times is out of the White House

 

His second term ended in 2008.

Do you consider Jimmy Carter part of "modern times" ?

I'm not knapplc . . . but I'd probably go back about 20 years for "modern times."