Official Inauguration Day Thread

[70Chip]

I thought Obama gave a good speech. Good but not great. I think he is at a disadvantage because the press has built him up as a great orator and it is difficult to deliver greatness everytime. Of course as a conservative I am biased, but I thought the best bit was the part about outlasting those who would seek to destroy us and extending the open hand if they will unclinch the fist.

I was watching the little lunch they have for the new president in Statuary Hall and Tim Gietner(sp?) was pacing and talking on his cell phone. More good economic news no doubt. I wouldn't trade places with that guy for anything. Obama will be judged completely on the economy. Everything else is a sideshow.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

I thought Obama gave a good speech. Good but not great. I think he is at a disadvantage because the press has built him up as a great orator and it is difficult to deliver greatness everytime. Of course as a conservative I am biased, but I thought the best bit was the part about outlasting those who would seek to destroy us and extending the open hand if they will unclinch the fist.

I was watching the little lunch they have for the new president in Statuary Hall and Tim Gietner(sp?) was pacing and talking on his cell phone. More good economic news no doubt. I wouldn't trade places with that guy for anything. Obama will be judged completely on the economy. Everything else is a sideshow.

On the economy or fixing the economy? What if there is another terrorist attack? Whatever happens someone is always going to try to "cut off his nuts."

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by saden1

On the economy or fixing the economy? What if there is another terrorist attack? Whatever happens someone is always going to try to "cut off his nuts."

If he can turn this economy around, they will repeal the 22nd? Ammendment and he will be President for life.

In terms of terrorism, it's a question of scale. If they bomb an embassy and kill tens of people, it won't sidetrack his administration. He will do a more vocal version of Clinton. If there is a large scale attack in this country, then he has a two-headed monster to deal with (economy and national security). My take is that Al-Quada has been weakened to the point that they cannot mount a large scale attack. Most of the other groups are Sunni and Sunnis only attack if they get the go ahead from some authority like Khameni in Iran or Nasralah, the Hesbollah Chief. I don't think they will percieve that it is in their interest to go on the offensive in the near future - at least not against the U.S. I think they will sit tight for now. If they were to attack an Obama led U.S., surely world opinion fron Beijing, to Moscow, to Western Europe, to the developing world would turn savagely against them. There is nothing in it for them in that regard.

The only thing that scares me is that $35 oil may drive the Iranians to create trouble in the usual places in order to drive up the price. A continual series of small scale actions might have this affect. Kidnappings, assasinations and the like.

[budw38]

Originally Posted by Daseal

If this were a socialist country, I wouldn't be paying 1000 a week for health care, trample.

If you were in a socialist country , you couldn't afford 500 a month for health care . If you pay 1,000 per week , you must make a hell of alot of dough , congrads . I would shop around , you could find much cheaper health care .

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Daseal

If this were a socialist country, I wouldn't be paying 1000 a week for health care, trample.

Good Lord that's a buttload for coverage. You must be exaggerating or mistaken. That's $52,000 a year on health insurance alone. You'd have to make $100-120K (before taxes) just to get by.

I assume you meant $1000 a month.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Good Lord that's a buttload for coverage. You must be exaggerating or mistaken. That's $52,000 a year on health insurance alone. You'd have to make $100-120K (before taxes) just to get by.

I assume you meant $1000 a month.

Maybe he doesn't mean insurance but actual care is costing him a grand a week.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by saden1

Roberts messed up. He went out of turn and he actually managed to rearrange the words of the presidential oath of office.


I'm pretty sure conspiracy theorist from both sides are brewing a neat theory. The wingnuts will most certainly go with "he's not president because he didn't take the oath properly" and the moonbats will concoct a theory along the lines of "Roberts intentionally tried to ruin the swearing in ceremony."

What was I thinking to think Obama messed up, sorry my bad.

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

If he can turn this economy around, they will repeal the 22nd? Ammendment and he will be President for life.

In terms of terrorism, it's a question of scale. If they bomb an embassy and kill tens of people, it won't sidetrack his administration. He will do a more vocal version of Clinton. If there is a large scale attack in this country, then he has a two-headed monster to deal with (economy and national security). My take is that Al-Quada has been weakened to the point that they cannot mount a large scale attack. Most of the other groups are Sunni and Sunnis only attack if they get the go ahead from some authority like Khameni in Iran or Nasralah, the Hesbollah Chief. I don't think they will percieve that it is in their interest to go on the offensive in the near future - at least not against the U.S. I think they will sit tight for now. If they were to attack an Obama led U.S., surely world opinion fron Beijing, to Moscow, to Western Europe, to the developing world would turn savagely against them. There is nothing in it for them in that regard.

The only thing that scares me is that $35 oil may drive the Iranians to create trouble in the usual places in order to drive up the price. A continual series of small scale actions might have this affect. Kidnappings, assasinations and the like.

I wouldn't count Al-Qaida out. 9-11 was done on a shoe string compared to the military operations of a Modern Nation. Obama isn't stupid. Neither was GWB. He just played his hand wrong.
Obama knows were not going to talk Pakistan out of giving up the Taliban. Pakistan has used their tribal proxies like the Taliban against the Soviets, the Chinese, and the Indians. They're using them now in a guerilla war for Kashmir.
From what I hear we've been trying to make a deal with the Taliban die hards through the Pakistani Intelligence to give up Al-Qaida, in return they'd be allowed into Karzai's government. This is the Petreaus model of pay them off and keep them close. He used this with our old Sunni allies to snuff out Al-Qaida in Iraq.

A lot of the Taliban have already returned to power in Afghanistan, so have the warlords, Communists, and drug runners. Obama can send in Mercs, special ops, and Predator drones just like GWB did. But Pakistan will never give up the Taliban die hards. It's not in they're interest. It's speculation what kind of operations the Pakistani Intelligence allow them to execute. Seeing that we haven't been attacked probably none against us. That isn't the case with India.

But I speculate that Obama will continue to try and get the Taliban to sell out Bin Laden and Al-Qaida. It would be a win win for both of them. We could declare the war on Bin Laden over and return home and the Taliban could move back into the cities and get back some political power. They'd probably just change their names like the Sunnis did. They can call themselves an awakening group but everyone one knows they're old Baathist.

I just don't understand this cult of personality that surrounds Obama. How people believe he can do a better job in Afghanistan than GWB did short of nuking the place is beyond me. How we create green jobs is beyond me? You can't run a modern industrial society with wind. I think Obama and the Democrats play the game much better than the Whigs. They're been talking about energy independence since the first Arab oil embargo? I see the children singing songs to him like they do for Kim Joung Il and it makes me mad and scares me a little. This guy is a politician not a diety.

[Daseal]

No Schneed, I'm not insured. Thus hospitals charge me more than they would an insured person. Luckily I have some kind Doctors that give me their price on a lot of things. For instance, my blood work would cost 4 times as much as an insured person. Makes perfect sense to me!

The 900/week is for 2G of generic Rocephin IV bags and some tubing.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by firstdown

What was I thinking to think Obama messed up, sorry my bad.

It may seem he's infallible but he's not. Soon we shall overcome the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

[saden1]

Anyone else disappointed by Obama's speech? I thought it was uninspiring and said nothing we haven't heard before.

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by Daseal

No Schneed, I'm not insured. Thus hospitals charge me more than they would an insured person. Luckily I have some kind Doctors that give me their price on a lot of things. For instance, my blood work would cost 4 times as much as an insured person. Makes perfect sense to me!

The 900/week is for 2G of generic Rocephin IV bags and some tubing.

I have a similar set up with my doctor. You'd be surprised how much cheaper health care is when you give the doctor cash.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by saden1

Anyone else disappointed by Obama's speech? I thought it was uninspiring and said nothing we haven't heard before.

I wasn't really disappointed. In fact, I think in many ways his speech will model his Presidency, or should I say, what people expect from his Presidency and what he'll actually deliver on.

First of all, there wasn't a lot of pop and sizzle to his speech. I thought it was sobering, but not dazzling. Obama has now become a victim of his own success. He's sort of suffering from the Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant syndrome. People come to the game expecting you to drop 40 or 50 points a night and when you don't, "Kobe was off tonight." So there's some of that at play with Obama whenever he steps to the podium. My favorite line was, in fact, the same as 70's. Our enemies can't/won't outlast us. He also rejected the false choice in order to have safety we must compromise our freedom.

Personally, I'm glad it's over. I froze my ass off yesterday!

[724Skinsfan]

Originally Posted by saden1

Anyone else disappointed by Obama's speech? I thought it was uninspiring and said nothing we haven't heard before.

Not really dissappointed since I expected "pep rally" speak. I think people got pumped and excited, so hopefully they won't buy homes with mortgages they can't reasonably afford.

I did like the line where he said something like "People remember you for what you create, not for what you destroy". I thought that was a good message that I had not heard before from other inauguration/nomination acceptance speeches.

[MTK]

I thought it was a pretty good speech overall. Now it's time to get to work.