Obama can't do everything! He can't fix Iran!
I'm sick of those petty criticisms of Obama, coming from the left and right. He can't do everything! He can't please everbody. It seems like whatever he does, he get criticised for it. Either he does too much at the same time or too little. I know that criticism applied to Bush, too. But not in his first year, much later after Iraq became a big blunder. It's understandable that people are frustrated these days. We're living in some pretty dark times. Obama was seen as a kind of messiah, who will snap his fingers and the whole recession will go away. But in the end, he's just human. He's placed in a rigid system, where he only has small room to do something he's proposed last year. He must overcome all the obstacles at home and abroad, deal with a world that's partly in shambles. He fixed a lot, he will fix a lot, but he can't fix everything. And the latest petty criticism comes from people who want him to do more or say more on the Iranian election and events after. Why? Should he give a fiery speech like George Bush would do, talking about axis of evil and urging the regime to give the power to the people? If he does so, the regime will use it to fire up the nationalists, who support Ahmadinejad and they'll repeat that America is behind everything, America wants to put Iran in shambles... It's much more smart to be cautious and let the events unfold without meddling. What could America do anyway? Start another war? Impossible. So there's two options left: Be pragmatic and stay in the background, let Iranians solve the issues with their government or try to interfere, give strong speeches, threaten with sanctions. Well, I think he's doing great so far. I rather see him not go out there up front and start another conflict. And ain't it funny, if he doesn't do it, there's nobody else who would wanna play a 'George Bush'. You have the French president, the British prime minister or German chancellor - they are all quiet and observing the events in Iran to unfold! Is that the new pragmatism? Or just a normal common sense? I don't know for sure, but what I do know is, we have enough conflicts in this world and the West can't solve all of them. Middle East, Afganistan, Pakistan, China, Korea, Burma, Darfur, Kongo - we're living with these problems and we'll have to live with them for a long time and the US president won't be able to solve them, the West won't be able to solve them - the people there will have to solve it themselves.[Photo: Source]
10 KAFKAESQUE COMMENTS:
Oh, Nino, I hope you will learn. America is special because of its Bill of Rights that guaranty every American the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This applies to all Americans - from the small and defenseless, even the unborn, to the biggest and proudest.
The government is by the people for the people. We did not elect Obama to reverse our constitution or bill of rights to be by the people for the government. But sadly, this is Obama's core belief. Obama believes that government should control everything and so far he has taken over General Motors, dictated the bank operations and is now trying to nationalize our health care industry. Today he send sweeping financial system changes to congress. A government produces no capital goods and services and by its very nature is inflationary. Taking over private industry is the gravest error of any government and chokes the economy, and ironically, it chokes off the very sources of revenues that the government relies on to operate, because government run industry is inefficient and wasteful and non-competitive. Beyond that, one can only print so much money until the currency becomes worthless and we are burning the printing presses for all the money we are just printing and spilling into the economy. Its highly counterproductive.
Obama is no expert on anything including community organizing, having failed at that in Chicago - but as an idealogue, Obama with a congress that worships his persona, can have his way until like the wonderful Iranians, we Americans realize that we have let the fox into the henhouse and act to relieve ourselves of the [Obama] problem. Remember one thing. The economy is successful only as long as there are strong small businesses making and selling goods and services and making a profit. Because business persons re-invest their earnings in their business and seek to expand and do well. A low tax basis fuels economic health for the obvious reason that reduced taxes keep more money circulating through the economy, and is therefore taxed at a smaller rate many more times than at a higher rate only once. Cash flow is the blood flow of our economy. If you shut that off, then the economy will eventually die. Obama is acting like this is what he wants. Virtually none of the "Stimulus moneys" have been allocated to increased job growth in the US. Texas as a state has largely refused any stimulus money and is the only state in the US that is enjoying job growth.
I hope you do not worship a person in our "Oval Office" who is the most radically leftist in all of the US Senate. I suppose we deserve what we vote for do we not??
We shall see how Mr. Obama works out as Pres.
I hope he is a success and America is better for it.
I wish you well.
June 18, 2009 6:56 PM
@Anonymous, I don't worship any politician. But yea, I was impressed by Obama's campaign and by Americans who for the first time didn't elect a white man as their president, but someone who has good ideas and is well educated. But I have real expectations from him. And yeah, it's easier to be a leftist in the Senate, but once you're president, you need to find a middle ground. That's why I'm not disappointed that he's less liberal now than before.
I respectfully disagree on your reproaches! I am a leftist or liberal myself and I believe Obama is doing too little on liberal issues, but I know he can't do everything and so far he's done the best within his means. He has the best economic team and I think his economic policies are good, but we'll see how they work out. You had your lack of oversight in the past years, now you can harvest the fruits of those failed conservative policies that resulted in a devastating recession. And you're talking about small businesses. Obama is not against small businesses, he's done nothing to harm them. Infact, I think your taxes are too low already. In Europe we have higher taxes, but we have health care covered and when I study at the university here, I don't pay anything! You Americans need to pay for everything, you indebt yourselves way too much just because your taxes are too low. And if someone wanna raise the taxes, he's labelled a socialist. But you will learn. Bush was so anti-environment, now the USA wanna be no. 1 in environmental issues. You made a great step forward with Obama, but I know he won't be able to push through all the necessary changes. He's a transitional figure.
You're a conservative and the things you said all sound like a year ago from Palin and McCain - more of the same. Same conservative misinterpretations and baseless fear mongering. Can't you understand that you need change something if it doesn't work? Why would you wanna continue with failed policies? If Obama wouldn't have pumped so much money into your banks and some other companies, this recession would be even deeper abd graver. I'm glad he did that. And I hope Americans have learned a lesson and won't indebt themselves in the future. You needed some reality and cleansing there, unfortunately the world economy was brought down with you and everyone is suffering, too. I guess some of the blame goes to Europe, too, our policies and behavior failed, too.
Anyway, I agree with your last two sentences. Let's hope he does fine. :)
June 18, 2009 7:41 PM
'Interesting' colors you got here..
But it does load fast!! :p
June 18, 2009 8:42 PM
It's all about colors, my friend. You got that right :)
June 18, 2009 9:12 PM
You know what Nino? Every time I think, 'Nino's a smart guy' you put out a post and a comment like the ones above and I think, 'Damn, Nino's smarter than I thought!' Not in a bad way, but damn man you really put some good thought into this one.
I'll have to agree with you that Obama can only do so much, and you're exactly right when you say that he's more of a transitional figure. I only hope that the next president will follow in his footsteps.
I know the US has been going down the same path for quite a while, and people are used to things being a certain way, but those policies have obviously failed us. Conservatives have failed us. Because of them we're sitting in the shitter with no toilet paper. We're stuck in a war we can't seem to get out of. Our economy is shot to hell. It's about time the government makes some radical changes to the system to get things working again.
I think what people are afraid of is that the government will gain too much power over what used to be completely autonomous businesses. People always fear the government. It's a little late for that though, what with conservatives legalizing spying on Americans already. I'm living in a country now with a government that damn near micromanages everything, but guess what? The country is rich. The country has barely any crime. The people you see on the streets are happy. All they have to complain about are taxes. And who doesn't complain about taxes? The only time people should really be up in arms about what the government is doing is if it tries to alter the constitution or the bill of rights. Other than that, let the government do what it was made to do. Govern our country to make it successful, whatever it takes.
June 18, 2009 10:11 PM
**On topic**
I'm a Reagan Republican who jumped ship to support Obama. I have realistic expectations about what he can really achieve. Turning America into a "Green" and "Eco-friendly" technology leader in this global economy would be what I hope for the most.
June 18, 2009 11:51 PM
PART 2: So, here's the thing. Obama is pragmatic and intellectual, which is great, because the times need someone like that. He's not an economist, so what? More important is that he has a good economic team that is not ideological, but does what is right. If it's better to pump money into the economy than not, I guess we need to do it then. Wait and see how it all goes even faster down the hill is no solution. And we can judge him after the measures bring about some effect. You can always say: Oh, what he's doing is bad. Wait and see. If it wasn't done before, how can you know? Nobody likes a government that's involved in people's lives in a way they disagree. But what if it works? If government governs the way that it's good for the people? So far I haven't seen anything that would somehow rewrite the constitution. The only thing he's doing is changing the systems that failed, be it the economy, financial instituations, credit cards, the foreign policy and soon he'll tackle the health care and many more. These things are not ideological, they need to be done, need to be improved. And again, he won't be able to do it they way he wants and he always says he'll bring all kinds of people to the table and negotiate. So why do people label him as extreme when he's moderate and seeks the middle ground? Some things I just can't understand, because I am not an extreme ideologue. I consder myself liberal, but in a moderate way. I try to keep my expectations low and real, because in life one man can magically change the whole world. But he can be a role model, a guiding figure giving directions. We need to change. And I believe that was part of his campaign speeches. He wanted people to engage. He has a movement behind him and that's his biggest asset. What he won't be able to change for better, the people will. Those now and many after. Because he is a transformational figure. I believe that presidents after him won't ever go back to the secrecy and lies of the Bush administration.
June 19, 2009 2:36 AM
@Brad, thanx. I always put effort in these serious topics. I don't know how I attracted that conservative Anonymous above, but I'm glad if a debate sparks and I can defend myself.
PART 1: What I think is that people in the far right and far left have either unreasonable fears or unreasonable expectations. What is in USA considered a 'most liberal Senator' would be a centrist in Europe. You can't just label Obama, which the right wing tried since his rise started. He was a liberal, baby killing Muslim, terrorist, socialist, communist, Arab... I mean, that's so ridiculous, I don't even wanna comment things like that. I mean, what did he do so far? Judge him on his actions. He'll never make the far right or far left happy, but he'll be a decent centrist president, one of the best in recent years. I mean, he's perfect for America in this moment! Can you imagine with McCain and Palin, how would they solve the problems with NKorea or Iran or the recession? I really think it would be more of the same, plus Bush would be more vocal, which wouldn't help America at all.
Let me tell you a story. 2001 we cried with America in Europe! We were shocked and felt like on 9/11 the whole West is like one. We were closer than ever. Then came Iraq, Bush's lies, fear mongering and fiery speeches. Europeans hated America! Especially after Bush won again. I think I wouldn't wanna be an American and travel around the world in that time, it seemed that you only had one ally - Britain. Maybe those Americans, who never travel, have no clue what Obama did for USA. Suddenly everyone loves you! We admire you, we still can't believe how you can elect Bush on the one hand and Obama on the next. It's that American spirit, that you can do better, learn from mistakes from the past. And that is Obama! Obama fits in perfectly into the Online-generation. He campaigned with the help of social media like no candidate before. He's the best you've got. He even put Hillary as secretary of state. He is the president of the generation that is unlike any other and McCain could never be change. And you needed it really badly. He will always be the first African American president, but also the first who Web 2.0 president. People will copy his campaign in the future, that's for sure.
June 19, 2009 2:36 AM
I think if McCain had made it into office he would be screaming and pushing for more war. War with Iran, war with North Korea...
McCain would have finished what Bush started, the utter destruction of the US through economic collapse and warfare.
Obama said change was coming and he was right. He's doing what he can to change the way institutions in the US work, to make them better, since they're obviously screwed up the way they are.
Plus, Obama does the right thing by making his decisions transparent. People like to know what's going on. They don't want to have to guess or just hear it on the news. They'd rather see it all for themselves. Social media is good for that.
I think his biggest asset is that he's not a warmongering asshole. He just wants to get things put back together, and after 4 years of things settling down I think even the people that didn't vote for him will realize that he's done nothing but good things. Maybe even some of them will vote for him to stay in office. Then again there are always those that will vote conservative no matter what, because they can't make themselves think outside the box. WTF good is party loyalism if it almost ruined our country?
Fuck Bush and fuck Republicans. It'll be a long time before I trust one of them bastards again.
June 19, 2009 5:16 AM
@Brad, I totally agree with you. You said it right the way it is. These Bush's wars and lies really destroyed your reputation. Now Obama needs to fix that as quickly as possible. I think he can do it, but he'll face many obstacles. Well, if you wanna know how would it be in oval office, if Obama had lost, check this website :)[Click on various stuff]
June 19, 2009 5:28 AM
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