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Obama a 1 term POTUS?

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
I bet he is.

Regardless of his abilities and skill at his job, though no fault of his own, his presence seems to have been....a little polarizing. Basically they need a super majority for just about everything. All votes seem to fall along party lines.

To be an effective leader, you need to be able to get everyone to work together. And despite his best efforts, I don't think he is a achieving that. I believe that he can be a great president.....but he's the president of the wrong bunch. (ie: too many mouth breathers and right leaning wingnuts etc....Because of their excessive numbers, Obama can't be an effective president.


That is my theory which is mine and belongs to me.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
89,399
27,622
media blackout
At the rate things are going, things are looking better and better for him to get a second term, not out of sheer popularity, but because his opponents are becoming fractured. (Part of the problem is that the majority of the GOP essentially refuses to work together. They think their views are the only correct ones.)With any luck, the Tea Party will succeed in forming their own political group and put up candidates for election. This will fragment the Republican party and it will lose strength. Come election time, they will be too fragmented to be effective and get someone nominated. Any candidate they put up will have the same effect on a Republican candidate that Ralph Nader did with Al Gore in 2000.

Divide and conquer my friends.
 
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Dartman

Old Bastard Mike
Feb 26, 2003
3,911
0
Richmond, VA
Yeah but he's accomplished more in 14 months than Dubya did in 8 years.

Of course a good bit of it was to attempt to fix the damage left over.
 

eaterofdog

ass grabber
Sep 8, 2006
9,207
2,728
Central Florida
He's picking up steam. Dems seem to be effectively transferring their momentum from health care to financial reform now, if they can pull that one off, I think the tide will turn. Too early to call really.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
I'll throw $5 on the fact that he'll be a 2-termer.

1) I doubt the Dems are going to lose both the House and the Senate in 2010. Boehner / Teabaggers are actually firing up the *Democratic* sides, and any 3rd candidate Teaparty candidates will only draw votes off of the GOP candidate. The "theoretical match up" is still almost even (45 Democrat, 47 Republican), so I'm not predicting a landslide to the GOP.
2) Economy. The economy really does determine 75% of a president's ratings, and (fingers crossed?) in another 2 years ours should be humming along beautifully. If it is, he's almost a shoe-in for winning re-election. If it's not, there's nothing he can do that would save him.
3) Current poll numbers. Obama's right around the 50% mark (usually a bellwether for reelection), and a new poll out today has him tied with a "hypothetical Republican". Unfortunately for the GOP, the "hypothetical candidate" ALWAYS polls better than an *actual* candidate. Nobody can say anything negative about a hypothetical candidate, but you can always bring up Romney's MA health care vote, or Palin's mental retardation, or Pawlenty's disastrous home state policies, etc.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
He's picking up steam. Dems seem to be effectively transferring their momentum from health care to financial reform now, if they can pull that one off, I think the tide will turn. Too early to call really.
Between now and November, he needs to concentrate on popular programs (financial reform, job creation) and FORCE the GOP to vote against it. We've already started to see Boehner's "HELL NO YOU CAN'T" played on various videos, and I would be shocked if the Dem's message this fall was "The GOP has transformed itself from the Party of No to the Party of HELL NO", replaying Boehner over and over again.

How exactly does the GOP look in the video below?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RpOUctySD68&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RpOUctySD68&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
 

rockofullr

confused
Jun 11, 2009
7,342
924
East Bay, Cali
Just cause the idiots, bigots, and extremists get a lot of news coverage doesn't mean that a majority of Americans agree with them.

I agree with the idea that as these people become more radical, fewer reasonable Americans will be willing to side with them.

The dems are setting themselves up as the party of reason, sanity, and acceptance. That's a pretty good look compared to a bunch of raving a$$ holes.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
But what I am saying is that because Obama is such a polarizing figure, he's driving the crazies to further craziness. Again, I'm not saying it's something wrong with him. But the fact the you've got the repubs pulling stunts like not working past 2pm....and nearly everything has to be filibuster-proof otherwise it just doesn't happen....that kind of thing.

He's not a "unifier"....so far anyway. And in happy, fun, flower-child land, that's how it's supposed to be no?
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
89,399
27,622
media blackout
But what I am saying is that because Obama is such a polarizing figure, he's driving the crazies to further craziness.
But there are moderate republicans who don't want to be associated with this craziness. It's starting to create a rift. With any luck the Tea Party (far right Repubs) will split off, do their own thing (which will be functionally nothing, as their numbers are nowhere near large enough to get anyone elected, or at least not enough of a presence to be effective in their goals). This will also take away votes from the more moderate republicans.

But the fact the you've got the repubs pulling stunts like not working past 2pm
And this is what is going to drive moderates (who don't vote the party line, also known as "swing voters") away from republicans and towards the democrats. or at least we hope.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
But what I am saying is that because Obama is such a polarizing figure, he's driving the crazies to further craziness. Again, I'm not saying it's something wrong with him. But the fact the you've got the repubs pulling stunts like not working past 2pm....and nearly everything has to be filibuster-proof otherwise it just doesn't happen....that kind of thing.

He's not a "unifier"....so far anyway. And in happy, fun, flower-child land, that's how it's supposed to be no?
Well, as a huge Obama supporter, STFU and shove a Tim Horton's cruller down your gullet.

But the Republicans have chosen to adopt (not create) the psycho rhetoric of the tea party.

The question really is will the moderates and undecideds decide to listen to the sound bites when they are in the election booth.

Obviously the 2010 midterm elections will be a portent to 2012. While the majority party always loses seats in the midterms, will the Republicans storm the Congress?

I'm not sure about that. In 2009, they won 1 senate seat and 2 governorships. However, Martha Coakley was fitting her crown while Scott Brown pressed the flesh, and Corzine was just very unpopular in NJ.

But the 23rd District, the Independent House candidate who was endorsed by Sarah Palin forced out the Republican candidate who endorsed the Democratic, who ended up winning the election.

I'm curious to see who wins and loses.

Outside of California, I'm watching the Michelle Bachmann and Betsy Markey races. Markey was elected in a very conservative district because the previous Representative was one of the worse in Congress, but that was then, this is now.

Bachmann is just a total kook, so I'm looking forward to a battle royale.

BTW, did I tell you to STFU?
 

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
But what I am saying is that because Obama is such a polarizing figure, he's driving the crazies to further craziness. Again, I'm not saying it's something wrong with him. But the fact the you've got the repubs pulling stunts like not working past 2pm....and nearly everything has to be filibuster-proof otherwise it just doesn't happen....that kind of thing.

He's not a "unifier"....so far anyway. And in happy, fun, flower-child land, that's how it's supposed to be no?
The last time a Democrat was the President, Gingrich shut down the government. This isn't new.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
But there are moderate republicans who don't want to be associated with this craziness. It's starting to create a rift. With any luck the Tea Party (far right Repubs) will split off, do their own thing (which will be functionally nothing, as their numbers are nowhere near large enough to get anyone elected, or at least not enough of a presence to be effective in their goals). This will also take away votes from the more moderate republicans.



And this is what is going to drive moderates (who don't vote the party line, also known as "swing voters") away from republicans and towards the democrats. or at least we hope.
Did you see what happened to David Frum? Apparently his conservative think tank didn't take to kindly to him calling Obamacare the GOP's Waterloo, and fired him. Way to go big-tent party!!

http://www.frumforum.com/so-what-happened
 

splat

Nam I am
Yeah but he's accomplished more in 14 months than Dubya did in 8 years.

Of course a good bit of it was to attempt to fix the damage left over.
I'm Not sure I agree with you there m He really hasn't done much at other than Bamage control from Dubya.

2) Economy. The economy really does determine 75% of a president's ratings, and (fingers crossed?) in another 2 years ours should be humming along beautifully. If it is, he's almost a shoe-in for winning re-election. If it's not, there's nothing he can do that would save him.
I think you hit the nail right on the head there.
 
The last time a Democrat was the President, Gingrich shut down the government. This isn't new.
Not quite.

The collision of Clinton and Gingrich led to the two of them cooperating quietly to accomplish reforms that could be argued to be moderate.

Had not Clinton's blow job exercise interrupted things, the might have managed to tackle Social Security reform - that was their next agreed-upon target.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
My point is (I guess) similar to one my boss made to me a while back. I had been lamenting the less that stellar performance of one of my employees. He told me that "it's easy to be a good poker player if you're only ever dealt a full house". As in, being a good leader it easy if everyone just naturally excels at everything and never needs guidance.