"Well then lets give Mr. Obama the benefit of the doubt that the actions he is taking today will lead to a better tomorrow. (Thats meant figuratively, not literally)."
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I have no doubt "figuratively" he would like the country to be better off. I do have a concern that his approach will cause more long term problems than will be corrected. But what do I know I don't watch the news on PBS and I don't see the great things in poll after looking at the demographics of those polled.

"PanamaRed you proved that you have mastered cut&paste;"
Actually RAF it was copy and paste, besides everyone knows you are THE MASTER of cut/copy and paste.
What is this thing you have about mind reading RAF? No one can read YOUR mind, nothings there to read.

"The numbers in a poll “prove” nothing in the way of what is going to happen"
Wow, how did you come up with that jewel, RAF!
No kidding. Well then lets give Mr. Obama the benefit of the doubt that the actions he is taking today will lead to a better tomorrow. (Thats meant figuratively, not literally).

By the way, I watch Jim Lehrer New Hour on PBS, controlledchaos. They provide unbiased in-depth coverage of new events.

"Yes, polls are a bit of a problem"
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As is the absurd innuendo you placed on this page.

Yes, polls are a bit of a problem if you don't like the truth while the tea bagging "revolution" is going on.

Dawin 1 - your last post was excellent - lets not forget balooning the size of government spending to fight the war in Iraq - the WMD's should turn up any day now. The debt skyrocketed and the economy collapsed - Obama comes in and two months later the Republicans are teabagging, shame on you republican party. You are not fooling anyone.

You hit the nail right on the head RAF about panamared

PanamaRed you proved that you have mastered cut&paste; now you just need to work on your math skills, mind reading, and poll interpretation skills. The numbers in a poll “prove” nothing in the way of what is going to happen; heck Bush 41 had a approval rating at one point of 91%...how did that work out?

Panamared must have watched cnn, he seems to have all the answers and everything figured out. NOT

Darwin~ I will continue to pray for you.

I've been around since Kennedy and Bush II was definiatley the worst.

I did not infer that we should forget the past. More Americans are optimistic because Obama is breaking from how things WERE done and heading in a direction far different than the past. We must never forget the lives lost fighting a war which never should have been started in the first place. But focusing only on that does nothing to remedy or change the situation. You may not agree with Obama's methods and the results will not be known until later but one thing is for sure, he is giving us his very best effort. Are we going to give the same effort or sit back and whine about imagined wrongs and unfulfilled doomsday reports 100 days into a 1,460 day administration.

Yes, let's let bygones be bygones. Let's take our Ignoritol and pretend that the thousands of soldiers who died in a country that none of the hijackers came from didn't happen. Let's pretend that for the first six years the insurgency was in its last throws and that we don't torture and deficits don't matter. Let's unite against the guy who a vast majority of Americans elected into office by voting. Let's unite our government into an executive branch that undermines the other branches of government. Let's strip citizens of their rights.

No thanks. Unlike the Alzheimer Republicans I remember the last eight years all too well.

RAF: “Longer than it took you to flap yours.”
Yes RAF it took you a whole 18 minutes later to flap your gums.

RAF: “Someone brought rubber bands to a gun fight.”
It only matters, RAF, if you have the bullets to go with the gun. Too bad you don’t (metaphorically speaking, of course).

RAF: “Yes he has realized his dreams. But has his dreams being realized done anything for "us" to this point.”
Actually, RAF, Mr. Obama has been in office a little over 100 days. Your hero, George W. was in office approximately 2,920 days. If you are attempting to make a valid point, try to make use of a more reasoned comparison.

andre: “Sarcasm, name calling, derogatory lip service. Never debates or provides anything to support his rhetoric. Want to see an anti-American, look in the mirror NVgrf, MG.”
Here are some words of wisdom from that bastion of conservative intellectualism andre_linoge who calls other posters "mental midgets". Great insight, andre!

RAF: “I guess you missed the tax cuts by previous administrations…you know the ones that gave all taxpayers a cut.”
Too bad, RAF, he didn’t cut government spending at the same time. It’s tough trying to fund two wars and assigning no-bid contracts to private firms (formerly managed by Cabinet members) while reducing the revenue stream. No wonder the deficit grew so large. By the way, RAF, why did the wealthy get more money from their tax cuts than the poor? Here is a clue, most poor don’t have investments that generate capital gains.

controlledchaos and Wrenched1bad, get honorable mentions. Objective reasoning need not apply.

Bush is history. Its time to look forward. The article about the AP Poll results that indicate Americans are optimistic is great news. This country is more than democrat or republican. Our overall goal should not be determined by our political affiliation but by our desire to see everyone benefit. Sure, some will benefit more than others but our overall success will only come from working toward a united goal instead of from our own selfish self interests. Calling those who disagree with us “anti-American” is insulting. This country will never be “perfect” but we can’t move forward until we concentrate more on the destination instead of the route we take getting there.

thanks wrenched. Remember, we're in this together. How about we take the floor together?! United we stand!

Razor, darius I yeild the floor to you!

A great message for America! Awesome!
http://orrinwoodward.blogharbor.com/blog...

AMEN! razor! We live in a society where people are more interested in who get's the most credit for something. Here's a thought: why not forget who gets the credit and just go out and do what's right and WE all can take the credit?! Believe it or not, the last thing our govt. wants to see is people like you and me unifying and coming together on some common ground. There's a reason the democrat's and the republican's can't come to common ground themselves. It's called self serving, agenda driven mentality. They're supposed to be LEADERS and setting the example for us. These elected officials aren't interested in setting the right example, it wouldn't be profitable for them. That's a fact. If a prideful goof like me can drop their pride, anyone can. Just like RAZOR said, we need to focus on the solution and not the problem. I volunteer!

conversation, mindless blathering, six of one half dozen of the other!

cappyman give me back my goat!

Apparently you all just do not get the point. King obama wants you to rely on him for everything which you most likely do. King obama in 90 days ran up the bill for the American people faster than ANY other president has or ever will. King obama was put into power by the media pushing him on the American people as the cure all for the country. I do realize that the country will not turn around in 90 days. Clearly only a mental midget would not get that point. What I am saying is that he has set himself and our country as a whole up for failure not in just the present but aslo the future. Come on people PURE LOGIC tells you that! Hee, hee, hee! Yeah I get it, well maybe, man I don't know maybe the king can tell me what to think!

“More Americans will receive a tax cut than every before.”
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I guess you missed the tax cuts by previous administrations…you know the ones that gave all taxpayers a cut.

Yours is not a conversation it's mindless blathering

Typing slower? Brilliant! Got your goat do i?

Just in case some forgot: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/1...
Bush broke another of many inglorious records, during his term as president, spending 30% of his time in office on vacation.

Kings aren't elected Brainiac.
It was a pond and a continent.
The numbers skyrocket on planet Fox News.
He was an editor for a newspaper. What do you think editors do (Clearly you don't think)? They plan future articles for the paper amongst other things.

PURE LOGIC tells us there's no way things could ever turn around in less then 90 days. He has done more in 3 months then Bush did in 8 years. There is no perfect way to fix ALL of the problems in front of him. People want to condem him for being in the spotlight, well he could be on vacation!?

chainsaw

More Americans will receive a tax cut than every before.

Unless you are in the top 5%, make room in your wallet because the American President FINALLY cares about you. Those in the top 5%, your tax rate is being returned to what it was in the 1990's... you will be OK.

The Middle-class rebuilding process has begun.

cappyman way to add to the conversation. Oh I will type slower so you can read this!

cappyman the feeling is mutual

Oh good Lord almighty Bush was wrong for bailing out the auto industry. He was not wrong in going across the pond to straighten out the mess that Saddam and the boys started. Clinton would have done the same thing if it was popular at the time. Pride has nothing to do with not liking king obama. Pure logic tells you that he is wrong and he does not have a clue how to run a country let alone an auto industry, a bank or anything that requires planning or forthought. He is going to be the worst president in American history. Will you admit to this? I agree Mckain and company were no better than king obama. They all need to get their heads out of their backsides and lookout for the country instead of themselves! By the way 56 million did not like king obama and the number is skyrocketing!

While most Bush supporters talk about pride, why don't you look in the mirror and put YOUR pride aside and admit he was wrong. Why does it bother people so much that Obama is liked?
I don't claim to be a part of either party and I heard BOTH sides out during the election. I have watched Fox news many times. I formed my opinion because of the hateful nasty ways of the McCain campaign. This country is already full of enough of people who are always ready to "throw the sink" at anyone and everyone!

Americans must be high if they like the way king obama is leading us. Apparently the toilet looks pretty good to those people. The truth is most of your media outlets are schills for the king obama reign. I wonder why this is? Maybe because they wanted him in office really bad and did what ever they could to get him there. I thought it is fair and unbiased reporting. Ha! Ever since Kennedy got into office there has not been fair and unbiased reporting. Yeah they wanted him in also and yes he was a radical in his times too. Just once it would be nice to see both sides of the story reported. The truth of the matter is his popularity has shrunk overwhelmingly and they(the media) refuse to report on it because they are so into king obama.Remember after you tax the heck out of the rich when it is all said and done they are no longer rich and then where do you think the money comes from? The so called king obama mindless sheep need to get off their backsides and take responsability for their own problems like the rest of us. Oh that is right they can't they are poor and can't think for themselves and need us to take care of them, wash them, cloth them and wipe their backsides as needed because they have no drive to do anything because of king obama. Instead of looking for a handout look for a handup!

True, things are bad enough at its current point. The staggering proposed further escalation of spending on top of what has already been done (by parties on both sides) will lead to increased problems...this is what many people are complaining about. What is done, yep, is done. That does not mean we close our eyes and follow blindly as this continues. The coming debts will be much easier to fix now, by not spending, than corrected later via creative accounting, berating the currency, and increased fees and taxes; paid by those people that still can.

INDEED JOE!
In fact the money supply increased over 200% the last year alone! Now with all that $$$ created, we have seen people buying houses, cars, tv's, ext; right? (sarcasm)
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All the $$$ has been essentially parked (hoarded as people wait for the clouds to blow over), and when any signs of recovery to this recession appear, all that $$$ is likely to just come pouring out of the woodwork. It's really scary stuff when you look into some of the numbers. All the things being done by the FOMC, and treasury, are totally in un-charted territory.
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Sure you can try to compare it to era's of the past, but no comparison really fits what has been done here in this crisis, and done so quickly. This really is NOTHING like deficits of WWII, Carter, Reagan, Bush, or what Japan did. I always get a laugh when people keep siting those things. They do have some parallels, but it's really not anything close to what we have just done in the past 6 months (done under both Bush, and Obama). The problems that arise from all this could be catastrophic, no one really knows just what the effects may all lead to.

Completely, absolutely 100% agreed... buried in my lengthy comments was this:

"The government is effectively printing additional money..."

As in already, right now. Scary stuff.

Joe:
No; taxes are not being raised much at all, because all the government obligations are being financed via mass deficit spending by borrowing from are good friends the Chinese our oil rich Arab buddies. When we get bogged down far enough in debt, and these countries begin to stop buying our treasury bills, that's when you get hit with the tax. A tax that will not be a tax on income, but in the form of inflation. As we will simply create (print) the $$$$ to pay for our massive government obligations (that grow larger each and every year, while GDP stays stagnant) that can no longer be financed by borrowing. When that happens everyone's purchasing power will be hit by the inflation that this money printing creates. Inflation is a great way to tax without actually raising anyone's income tax.

Yes, controlledchaos, Obama was burned not unlike Bush retracting Miers for the Supreme Court, Clinton retracting Zoe Baird, ....

The President or his staff were obviously not privy to Killefer's (and others') tax situations.

These several examples are exactly why Presidents must submit their nominations to Congress! We have Presidents, not Kings.

Would Rumsfeld say that 'you go with the nominations you have, not the nominations you want'?

How about the fact that he is an optimist? He is trying many things different. The fact that he is always trying to shake the next man's hand while looking for an answer to whatever problem in front of him is admirable! While most of you go back and forth with your rude superior attitudes, he is one man who has proven to always be willing to embrace anyone. I think it's time we have a president that shows us, our children, and our neighbors an example of how to to treat our fellow men.

Sigh.

RAF - yes, the ad hominem is in a single comment to which you have now twice referred. The only such personal attack I have made in over 200 comments in this forum and one of only a handful that I have ever made in my life. I strive to be thoughtful, informed and informative, persuasive and persuadable. I have made and will again make mistakes both in the factual accuracy of my comments and in the usefulness of responding to a comment or an article in the first place. In this case, one could argue that I should have ignored such a ridiculous comment in the first place.

That said, was the original author even remotely correct in his assessment of a news outlet or of the current President? Does he have a firm grasp of the meaning of "communism"? Is Obama somehow the first President to use a teleprompter?

Is Obama the first President to deficit spend? During a recession? During wartime?

Are taxes REALLY being astronomically raised?

The hue and cry of the right on this last issue is truly mind-boggling, natch utterly disturbing to me. Taxes, in all brackets for both individuals and corporations, are well BELOW the historic average.

During the past administration I cannot honestly recall anyone on the right attacking deficit spending; there are certainly a great many instances defending the practice. Suddenly it is in vogue to attack this fiscal policy.

The ability for some to magically ignore the impacts for the last eight years, both good and bad, on the current economy and our international relations bothers me. The polarization of discourse, e.g. the comment which I attacked, bothers me.

However I am grateful that we have the technology to conveniently debate publicly as the Founders envisioned and I cherish the freedom of speech which allows both myself and others with whom I may considerably disagree to express our opinions.

and they say he picks people for those high positions based on their skills? HA HA HA What a joke

What about the guy he picked for one of those high positions who convienently forgot to pay his taxes the last few years?

These polls have a very high % error. The sample size and demographics are often very skewed, and the sample size is often very small. This is nothing like a presidential tracking poll where accuracy is with in a couple %. The Rassmussen Report has much different results then does this poll (Obama shows much less favorable results), but it's really all irrelevant. The polls often skew heavily to recent events. The stock market has rose about 25% in the last month and a half, and people believe things are starting to recover a little. Most (including myself) would just say the market rally is just a technical recovery from over selling to fast, and shorters covering positions. Time will tell.
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Obama also has got some pretty good press from the G20 summit, and most of the media has always been in his corner to promote his agenda. His real problems will come as unemployment continues to rise. Almost all your analysts are predicting over 10% nation wide unemployment this year. You also have a commercial real estate collapse that is lagging behind the residential housing collapse, that will hit any time this year. Combine that with holes all over the credit markets, international problems looming in the middle east, n Korea, Russia...Well, you get the idea. It's just a matter of time before things really get heated up. Before the presidential election, I proclaimed that whoever won was pretty much screwed; as there is no way to deal with all the problems that loom, and they are going to be hammered in the public eye, when it all implodes under their watch. I stand by that prediction; and I think it will just be a matter of time before you see public sentiment backfire big time against all elected officials.

kettleblack - yes, indeed, the hole dug by Bush and Greenspan's Keynesian economic policies.

Was it okay for Bush to (propose budgets which relied on) deficit spend during the last eight years? To propose tax cuts during a time of war? For Bush and a Democrat Congress (of which both Senators McCain and Obama were members) to pass, last fall BEFORE the election, the first bank bailout? You know, the $350,000,000,000 one that contained zero oversight provisions?

Because all Obama has done is this (short version: nothing different):

- Deficit spend to reduce the impact of a recession. Reagan did this to ameliorate the 1982 recession and then deficit spent the entire rest of his Presidency. Bush Sr. continued the trend, particularly during the 1991 recession (also recall "read my lips: no new taxes"). Bush Jr. took deficit spending to a new level, doubling the total debt in a mere eight years. Was it wrong for those three Presidents? Now, there is only on way to reduce total outstanding debt: spend less than the government takes in. It is possible (certainly debatable) that higher taxes can speed that process up -- particularly if the economy is healthy and robustly growing. That is not the case, the Greenspan-Bush housing bubble popped and that has led quite directly to the loss of jobs in other sectors, e.g. automotive. Discretional spending on wars over the past eight years has also taken a serious impact on the economy. I am not saying it is right or wrong; I am stating the fact that spending has outstripped receipts. The government is effectively printing additional money to give to the banks in an effort to maintain the credit markets. If this were not done, all parties, left and right, agree that the economy would have shed even more jobs.

- Tax cuts during a time of war, unless you make more than $250,000 per year and / or are completely incapable of reducing your tax burden (investments, IRAs, donations, mortage deduction, ...). I am in the 33% tax bracket and just paid only 11% tax for the 2008 tax year. The tax rate is just that, a set figure which is the MAXIMUM tax rate that an individual pays, there are a myriad of methods for reducing that tax burden.

Additionally, the tax "hikes" that Obama is "making" are not tax hikes at all. He is merely allowing the original Bush tax cut sunset provision to go into effect. Yes, that means that nearly a decade ago, when the tax cuts were announced, they were supposed to be "temporary" in order to boost the economy by spurring individual investment and spending. You may recall that Bush and the Republicans in Congress fought to make these tax cuts "permanent." They failed and that is why certain marginal tax rates are set to increase, i.e. return to the levels at which they were when Bush entered office in 2001.

- Continued the bailout process, started under Bush; however, they have tried to include more stringent oversight provisions, some retroactively.

"Dig us out of a huge hole dug by Bush?" Ha, that's a good one.... digging us out of a hole by burying us, as well as several future generations, in debt by the billions? Sorry, I'm sure you'd love your new math to compute... don't hold your breath.

While a lot of people think this period in President Obama's presidency is a scary proposition, I for one think it is a refreshing return to a period of time where we all had a voice in what is going on. So far we have determined conclusively that it helps to graduate from college with good grades. It helps to be able to articulate what you want to do while you run for president. It helps to be honest and as open as possible to the public. It makes sense to pick people for high positions based on their skills and experience.

At this point, if the man fails to achieve some of his goals, I'll still give him an A for trying. In my lifetime, I could not say that before and I almost voted for Goldwater (almost).

Mr. President, good luck and god speed.

As I said when I started this blog, the right wing nut job anti-American crew is again out in force. But America will succeed in spite of their attempts to see our nation fall. The best to our President as he attempts to dig us out of the huge hole dug by Bush.

Oh yeah, it's an "AP' poll.... aka, sheer propaganda... no way is this deceiver's approval rating anywhere near that touted level. I mean, look who was polled for crying out loud! And "optimism?" Give me a break.... is there no end to the koolaid?

I still would like to see his birth certificate that noone seems to ever not see proving the country he was born in, and as for his political carrer he had alot was tied in with Illinois and Chicago "ha ha" if tells you anything about crocked politics.

"The "what have you done...?" barb was the end of a decidedly ad hominem attack -- something I am usually loathe to do."
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Like the remark before this one " I do not normally stoop to ad hominen attacks but you sir are an idiot and incapable of thinking or researching for yourself."

... what? Details please.

GE already makes $$$ off gov't contracts, as does Halliburton, Northrup Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, ...

Immelt, MSNBC, GE, Obama, Cap & Trade, this makes Watergate look small. NBC and GE are going to make money off of Government contracts. Remember how everyone spazzed about Haliburton? This is actually the real thing.

And I'd agree RAF that Obama realizing his goals does not necessarily mean a hill of beans for any of us; however...

> How has his choice of going to Harvard helped anyone?

... since he was able to become the first black Preisdent of the Law Review, it has perhaps opened doors that may have remained closed longer. This is of course pure speculation on my part.

The "what have you done...?" barb was the end of a decidedly ad hominem attack -- something I am usually loathe to do.

Couldn't have said it better m'self...

RetiredAirForce-admittedly I can't read minds, but it seemed that joeflint responded to this statement from controlledchaos "Obama= what a joke, take away the teleprompters and the left wing media, and other such groups who hype him up and HE IS A GREAT BIG NOTHING, well he still is a great big nothing anyways." (capitalization is mine for emphasis).
I don't know if it was exactly what joeflint meant, but for a great big nothing, he's accomplished a lot-and wasn't carried by important family members-and wasn't afraid of "public service", so even though he hasn't had a lot of time to prove himself as president of the U.S.A.-his potential is far from "a great big nothing".
How'd I do, joeflint?

"Say what you will about his politics and his policies but he realized the American dream: he grew up relatively poor and has achieved great things. What have you done for us lately?"
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Yes he has realized his dreams. But has his dreams being realized done anything for "us" to this point. How has his choice of going to Harvard helped anyone? There are many politicians in past/present history that have done more harm than good; history judges them all differently at the end. Asking a poster on a blog what they have done for "us" lately is quite the red haring (would any response be worthy in your eyes).

Ah why not... Global Warming longer version...

Global warming: the facts are indisputable. It is the interpretation of those facts where politics and ideologies (right *and* left) quickly veer into fantasy. For instance, while some may say that the bitter cold in Wisconsin makes the theory "Gore-Bull" I provide the contrasting data point that it was 61 degrees at 7,000 feet in Sequoia National Park on Sunday. Data points are meaningless; trends are what are important. The interpretation of why a trend is occurring is the "art" of science.

Indisputable facts:
The earth has been predominantly warming in the past 13,000 years, that is since the "end" of the last ice age that carved those rolling hills east of Janesville and east of Whitewater. Tree ring and ice core data show a strong correlation that the global climate has generally become drier and wetter over the past 13,000 years; these data mesh well with data from ice cores that indicate the climate cycle during the past 800,000 years. There is zero doubt that the polar ice caps and glaciers (from the poles to the equator) are collapsing and vanishing. Do a google image search for some striking comparison photographs over the past century.

Correlation is not causation; however, there is zero doubt that the burning of fossil fuels has increased global atmospheric CO2 levels. Evidence of this is again seen in the tree ring and ice core data over the past 150 years as well as in the past 50 years with direct measurement and satellite monitoring; however, no one yet knows nor can yet predict what the effect of CO2 loading is on the atmosphere. One discovery in the past two decades has been that the oceans can sequester atmospheric carbon. So there is yet another climatological cycle at play over grander scales than daily / weekly / monthly weather.

The most salient fact is that the *rate* of warming has suddenly and *indisputably* increased in the past 100 years. An analogy is if I took ten minutes to go from 0 mph to 55 mph and then suddenly was doing 65 mph only a few seconds later.

Interpretations:
Now, the interpretation of this data is on what some people have (foolishly, amateurishly) staked their professional and/or political reputations. That includes Al Gore and that includes those who claim that it is a hoax.

Now, continuing the analogy... did I press the accelerator to the floor? Or, was I going up a steep hill and then suddenly in the last few seconds going down a steep hill? Did I do nothing at all and the accelerator got stuck all by itself? Other possibilities?

If we were outside of the car and could see the big picture, the answer would be obvious.

So, when you hear someone say we understand global warming or that it does not exist, they are lying and/or trying to sell you something. No one knows. We do not have enough data; we do not have enough knowledge; we do not yet know the big picture.

Off-topic: nemesis... that's pretty funny... except CO2 does cause planetary warming. It is the primary constituent of the atmosphere of Venus (~95%) causing a surface temperature of about 860 degrees F.

It was in fact Venus where the effect of CO2 warming was first really discovered and understood in the early 1960s... this was one of Carl Sagan's first big discoveries in fact.

It is also a fact that the Earth has been MUCH warmer in the past, consistent with and due to higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere (ice core data as well as carbon ratios in rocks).

Now, to be more precise about your point: the source of the documented current increase in atmospheric CO2 is up for debate, i.e. what is Man's impact versus other natural processes?

The same people who are high on Obama and the direction america is going under his leadership are probably the same ones who watch Oprah and Dr. Phil religiously, believe Co2 really does cause global warming, and the US constitution does have the words "separation of church and state" in it.

Joeflint-fantastic summary-followed by a fantastic question to which I look forward to the answer!

> well he still is a great big nothing anyways.

You know, I do not really subscribe to many of the current (or last) administration's policies but that statement is patently rediculous. I do not normally stoop to ad hominen attacks but you sir are an idiot and incapable of thinking or researching for yourself.

A brief bio of our President:

Graduate of Columbia and Harvard Law.
President of Harvard Law Review.
Civil rights attorney in Chicago.
Constitutional Law professor at University of Chicago.
Illinois State Senate (three terms).
U.S. Senator (one term).
U.S. President... no small feat, there have only been 43 others.

Say what you will about his politics and his policies but he realized the American dream: he grew up relatively poor and has achieved great things.

What have you done for us lately?

I understand the idea of giving the stimulus money directly to "the people" but like all things it is easier said than done. It is like ending starvation. The problem isn't the amount of food it is distributing the food: it gets stolen or spoils. It's the same way with money.

It seems that everyone likes to complain about the system however I rarely hear anyone actually coming up with something better or an alternative to the current system. Yes, government is wasteful at times, however, what is the alternative? Not to try at all? Clearly, RAF was right in a previous post about how agencies are funded based on the previous years use. However, what is a better alternative? Personally, I think that WE need to improve transparency and accountability at all levels of government and even private enterprise especially when they are publicly owned. We need to beef up Anti-trust enforcement so that companies can't get so big that no one understands how they are run.

That being said, I am a bit concerned about demographics. Without an influx of births or immigration how will we improve housing and stock prices with Baby Boomers set to retire thus liquidating these assets onto the markets thereby reducing their values.

As far as taxes are concerned we need to get schools to deal with their capital costs and stabilize or reduce property taxes. Maybe provide exemptions for people on fixed incomes or go to a pure sales tax thereby capturing all these immigrants who would then be paying taxes?

The AP Poll was probably taken mostly by CNN viewers so they could get there left wing twist on things. CNN= Communist News Network
Obama= what a joke, take away the teleprompters and the left wing media, and other such groups who hype him up and he is a great big nothing, well he still is a great big nothing anyways.

People thought Bush cared more about corporations??!! LMAO! Look at how much the corps got and look at your meager $20 from the "stimulus". HAHAHA man some people are friggin idiots. Enjoy the onerous taxation that is on the way to pay for the democrat purchase of your votes!

"lakennedy" said:
Are their financial losses a direct result of the Obama Administration? I don't think they are, and I think these people realize that. What they justifiably have problems accepting is the idea that people who haven't planned accordingly, people who have acted financially irresponsible are being bailed out. That's not fair."
..... IF only more people thought this way, we'd be much better off for doing so! Great post "lakeneddy"! It doesn't matter who the president is, we still need to take it upon ourselves to be responsible for our own actions and understand, actions have consequences. I too don't agree with everything Obama is doing, nor did I agree with everything Bush did, but, give me a break! Don't label the entire democratic or republican party based on these two men. Somebody posted that these two parties can't even come to common ground for the good of our country and they couldn't be more right!

i wish i knew the founding fathers. they grew hemp and actually MADE LAWS REQUIRING you to grow it. crazy old fools...

dr talk~ exactly! Being intellectual is fine, but if you don't have the wisdom to apply it to, it's useless.

Kleej~
TRUE! This isn't about Darwin1, this isn't about Andre, this isn't about CIM, this isn't about Dr. Talk or Zoom.....This is about ALL of us together. Just like those who make this all about Obama. I have as many dislikes for the republican party as I do the democratic party! What I don't have a dislike for is my country! What I'm high on is the people of this country and my faith that we can unite again without government's expertise or some magic pill that may be invented. There is no quick fix to any of this. The biggest fixes that need to take place are ourselves and how we can be better individually and as individuals we can come together and use our differences as strengths as opposed to weaknesses. It's all about community! We can learn to be united and succeed as a country or we can choose to stay divided and fall as a country. There's only one logical choice. Those who disagree and choose to stay divided need to move to a country that embraces socialism because the U.S. isn't the place for them!

darwin1,
You're being intellectually dishonest. andre_linoge didn't mention any of those things. He said socialism. Only one item on your list is socialistic: Social Security. It's redistribution of wealth. Would you take money from others to pay for your retirement or would you rather save up your own hard earned money for it?

Andre, don't even waste your time with Darwin1!
You see the typical responses that come back. This is what happens when a person allows pride to get in their way of moving forward in life. I won't deny that Darwin brought up some great points on personal accoutability with that post, however, I'm wondering when Darwin is going to hold him/herself to the same standard??

Huh. He had 53% nationwide, 56% in Wisconsin, 64% in Rock County, and 67% in the city of Janesville wards. And yet most of what you see from the posts on this website seems to indicate that he got 15% of the vote or so.

I agree andre they would be appalled: ending slavery, giving women the right to vote, adding states to the union, Social Security, vaccines, medicine, giving minorities the right to vote. It is appalling.

By the way which founder did you know?

So what direction did they say we are headed?
(WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worse-than-expected news on unemployment and home sales Thursday dampened optimism that a broad economic recovery might be near.)

Zoom: "Obama won the popular vote by about 56%"
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Obama did not win the popular vote by 56%. He won 53% of the popular vote. There's a difference. You could say he won the popular vote by 9.5 million.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

"46 democrat 28 republican. With the "even" distribution of respondents it provides more credibility to the numbers."

That's very close to the actual electorate, which is what the poll is trying to represent. Remember that Obama won the popular vote by about 56%, and using the numbers in the poll, 26% don't identify with either party. Half the country does not consider themselves Republican, so why should a poll?

This poll is as laughable as Jumpy Janet the Security Guard. It proves the old adage don't believe what you read and only half of what you see.

I think it's great to see confidence rising once again in the office of the President, and in our economy. Obama hasn't been President for even 100 days, we need to give him more time. He still has 3 years and 9 months to go...give him a break.

"I do what I can using the only weapons at my disposal: reason and ridicule with a little sarcasm and some mocking thrown in."
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Someone brought rubber bands to a gun fight.

I am sorry, I have grown tired of the rhetoric and name calling from the right while I am supposed to be nice and sweet. Their morality is of convenience to their bigotry and self-righteousness. So, I do what I can using the only weapons at my disposal: reason and ridicule with a little sarcasm and some mocking thrown in.

Everyone is upset by TARP. However, once the money is authorized to Treasury, Treasury is out of bounds because it is a separate entity because the government long ago thought it important to separate politics and monetary policy. The purpose of TARP is to shore up the banks to prevent a run and get credit flowing again. Now it has worked imperfectly and their have been problems as their always are and people should be outraged. We put the screws to the politicians and the politicians put the screws to the banks. Now if you are unhappy about your representatives vote against them, recall them, even consider running yourself to bring up these issues or to change things.

I never thought Obama was the messiah like so many on the right claim. I have frequently found myself disagreeing with him, however, I am not naive enough to believe my ideologies are all important. He has to serve us all the best way he can and I believe from what I have seen that he is trying to do that. Economies don't turn around in three months. He has been doing a good job at playing good cop around the worldHe did boost guns sales, the right should be happy about that?

Thats because he hasn't started taxing you to death yet........................people are so ignorat..........just wait........its gonna get worse.......Obamanomics has just begun......hold on to your wallets......

STAY SAFE!!

Interesting when you look at the poll (http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/pdf/AP-GfK_Pol...), page 21 shows the break down with party ID's. 46 democrat 28 republican. With the "even" distribution of respondents it provides more credibility to the numbers.

brwe~ You make total sense. Pride is something that most people can't over. People need to get over this "I'm always right" mindset and move on. If you'll notice many of the opinions in favor of Obama, the people can't come up with a valid argument as to what he's done that's so positive at this point, but, they'll shoot others down by using George Bush as their ammo. The sooner people in this country wake up as to what's happening to them right under their noses, the better off we'll all be. We can all start right now by understanding it's not about republican's vs democrat's like our political "leaders" want everyone to think! Don't people understand these politicians want us to be divided?? Think about it. If our presidential parties can't come together on some common ground with each other for the good of this country, how are they possibly going to make the best decisions for the betterment of our country once they're in office?? It's not rocket science to figure this out! It's not up to our so called leaders to get this right! It's up to us! If we just take the words that Obama used during his fantastic acceptance speach and took the political aspect out of the equation, we, the people could turn this country around without govt. intervention! The principles are that good! The question is, how many good people are left out there that are willing to stand on principle??!! Think about that!

AND, can't we dispense with the stupid, worn out argument that--the fact that I want (what I see as)socialistic & immoral policies to fail makes me a bigot, a racist, or a traitor? You guys on the other side won the presidency, control of Congress, & the blessings of most of the media, & I'm STILL not entitled to express my opinion?

American's are high on something if that's what they truly believe.

64% of respondents approve of his performance, yet only 48% think our country's headed in the right direction. I think that says something about how much thought goes into the process of forming opinions.

I will say that I have noticed more hope in general when I go out and socialize. I know that sounds cliche.
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That being said, a lot of people who I know, who are at the age of retiring, and are at a time in their lives when they should start reaping the rewards of their careful financial planning, are anything but hopeful. Are their financial losses a direct result of the Obama Administration? I don't think they are, and I think these people realize that. What they justifiably have problems accepting is the idea that people who haven't planned accordingly, people who have acted financially irresponsible are being bailed out. That's not fair. I'm not saying that life is, but what an incredible slap in the face.

No he doesn't, Darwin. No more than you or I, we all have different views about what this country needs. You two really go after each other, though, and I'm not sure what either of you are looking for...for the other to say "okay, you're right?" Because, that's not going to happen.
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So, RAF admits he hates America and wants it to fail.

Longer than it took you to flap yours.

How long will it take for the right wing minority who want to see the President and America fail to begin flapping their gums here?