Well Done, Mr. President

[bigrebnc1775]

His finest moment, no doubt.

He nailed it, and didn't use it for any agenda other than to heal and move forward.

This was, by far, the most Presidential he has ever been.

Totally agree.

The only problem was the length.

The Prez is the only one I cared to listen to last night and as you said. He was spot on with his speech. The rest of it seemed like window dressing to me.

What I liked was that he did not make it about him.

 

[bodecea]

I'm talking about all the hate and finger pointing from the last few days, have you noticed that too?

Maybe now, people from BOTH SIDES can stop trying to play the "blame game" and move on.


Let's hope, eh?

the blame game is lame so yes let's hope.

And we see where 'HOPE' Got us. He demeans the American people wherever he goes in the world...apologizes for us....I expect him to forget this in a matter of hours and follow the line, the call of many Congresscritters that have called for MORE abridgement of Liberty though LAWS...and will eagerly sign such legislation.

One good thing this thread has done is separate for us those who for valid reasons don't like things that the President has done or not done at times....and the partisan hacks and hucksters who could care less what the President does or doesn't do...they'll attack no matter what.

 

[M14 Shooter]

You made me proud. You showed empathy and made many of us feel better. Thank you.
"One does not win by making others lose."

Did He actually say that?
Really?
With a straight face?

Liberalism is defined, in part, by the idea that if some people cannot keep up with the Joneses, the solution is to bring the Joneses down to them - that to improve the lives of the have nots, one only need take from the haves.

This is exactly the OPPOSITE of His quote.

You are reading FAR too much into this my friend, and looking for any way possible to hate this man. He can't say anything anymore, or do anything, without a righty, and even some lefties, stepping on his heels. RELAX!

Had He actually said that - it turns out it was a quote interjected by the poster, not part of The Obama's speech - my post would have been spot-on.

 

[M14 Shooter]

While I certainly agree from the time he was elected up to September 10th 2001 there was a lot of people not willing to give him a chance on the other side. But after 9/11 he had the high approval ratings in history-people wanted to rally around him...somewhere along the line he just kind of dropped the ball.

Or, more likely, people that supported him in the heat of the moment became bored with, or simply forgot about, the crisis at hand and went back to playing politics. Bush deviated little from his post 9-11 rhetoric - that is, he did pretty much exactly what he said he would do - and so if support was lost along the way, its not because -Bush- moved away from what got him that support.

A lot of what he said was the same as what he said right after 9/11 you're right-except for one tiny thing...invading Iraq. I think that's what started pushing people away from him initially,

As you can see, GWB's approval rating started to drop immediately after 9-11 and then spiked at the beginning of the war - and, in fact, droped about as much from 9/01 to 3/03 s from 3/03 to his lowest point.

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/20071106_Bush_Approval_Chart_1rev.gif

So... your response is not supportable.

 

[M14 Shooter]

I didn't want Bush in office (I didn't vote for him) but we all gave him a chance, and then he shocked us all, but that was later.

You -have- to be kidding. There was no end to the seething, cynical, ignorant, bigoted, partisan, anti-Bush rhetoric from the day after the 2000 election to the day present.

THAT IS SUCH BULLSHIT. The situation was different, the circumstances were the different, and the stakes were MUCH higher... in case you forgot about the financial crisis. Don't even compare Bush, a white conservative President, to Obama, a liberal president who came in at one of the worst points in our nations history in a number of respects, for whom the expectations were beyond reasonable.

I'm really not sure how your post addresses what I said...?

 

[JamesInFlorida]

Or, more likely, people that supported him in the heat of the moment became bored with, or simply forgot about, the crisis at hand and went back to playing politics. Bush deviated little from his post 9-11 rhetoric - that is, he did pretty much exactly what he said he would do - and so if support was lost along the way, its not because -Bush- moved away from what got him that support.

A lot of what he said was the same as what he said right after 9/11 you're right-except for one tiny thing...invading Iraq. I think that's what started pushing people away from him initially,

As you can see, GWB's approval rating started to drop immediately after 9-11 and then spiked at the beginning of the war - and, in fact, droped about as much from 9/01 to 3/03 s from 3/03 to his lowest point.

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/20071106_Bush_Approval_Chart_1rev.gif

So... your response is not supportable.

According to your source his approval ratings were still in the 70% range for most of 2002, and never fell below 60% since 2004. That's a high rating for ANY president. Especially a president where most Americans voted for the other guy. So much for all the liberals/democrats jumping ship huh?

 

[Shadow]

I thought Obama was supposed to start uniting two years ago?

With the likes of yourself, Willow and Stephie around, that will never happen. All he can do is appeal to his constituants and the normal conservatives. The uber neocons can just move on over........

wow, thanks Dr. Grumpy. just had to get that cheap shot in there..

Well sure...cuz you know... the problem could NEVER also include his nasty attitude.

 

[M14 Shooter]

A lot of what he said was the same as what he said right after 9/11 you're right-except for one tiny thing...invading Iraq. I think that's what started pushing people away from him initially,

As you can see, GWB's approval rating started to drop immediately after 9-11 and then spiked at the beginning of the war - and, in fact, droped about as much from 9/01 to 3/03 s from 3/03 to his lowest point.

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/20071106_Bush_Approval_Chart_1rev.gif

So... your response is not supportable.

According to your source his approval ratings were still in the 70% range for most of 2002, and never fell below 60% since 2004. That's a high rating for ANY president. Especially a president where most Americans voted for the other guy. So much for all the liberals/democrats jumping ship huh?

Yes... and as you can see, GWB's approval rating started to drop immediately after 9-11 and then spiked at the beginning of the war - and, in fact, droped about as much from 9/01 to 3/03 s from 3/03 to his lowest point.

Thus: People - the people I described, for the reason I described - starting "pushing away" from him immediately - and not as a result of Iraq or the economy or anything else.that HE did.

 

[Ozmar]

You made me proud. You showed empathy and made many of us feel better. Thank you.

"One does not win by making others lose."

The speech left me with a feeling of hope, that maybe, just maybe, we can be united, instead of divided.

I thought Obama was supposed to start uniting two years ago?

Not with people like you around.

 

[Liability]

When I had a chance to get back to my office this afternoon, I got to hear a little of Rush. His criticism of the President's speech struck me as odd. I didn't hear everything the President had to say, and not in "real time," even then. But the parts I did get to hear (re-broadcast soundbites in the news) seemed pretty good to me. Parts were moving; parts were kind of conciliatory in tone.

It might be arguable that he injected a bit of politics into it, but the parts I heard sounded more like he was offering a cautionary note in that regard.

I am not a fan of President Obama, but it seems to me that he did a good job at this memorial "service." I think he was "Presidential" -- in the finest tradition of that term -- in a dark, sad moment in our history, with that speech.

Overall, I would offer him a high five on his performance. Nicely done, Mr. President.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

As you can see, GWB's approval rating started to drop immediately after 9-11 and then spiked at the beginning of the war - and, in fact, droped about as much from 9/01 to 3/03 s from 3/03 to his lowest point.

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/20071106_Bush_Approval_Chart_1rev.gif

So... your response is not supportable.

According to your source his approval ratings were still in the 70% range for most of 2002, and never fell below 60% since 2004. That's a high rating for ANY president. Especially a president where most Americans voted for the other guy. So much for all the liberals/democrats jumping ship huh?

Yes... and as you can see, GWB's approval rating started to drop immediately after 9-11 and then spiked at the beginning of the war - and, in fact, droped about as much from 9/01 to 3/03 s from 3/03 to his lowest point.

Thus: People - the people I described, for the reason I described - starting "pushing away" from him immediately - and not as a result of Iraq or the economy or anything else.that HE did.

You'd be correct if his approval ratings didn't increase at the start of the Iraq war. So even if people pushed away a few months after 9/11 (let's face it a 70% approval rating is still an unbelievable approval rating,) They stopped pushing away when the Iraq war was launched. So what caused them to push away some more? The wave that happened at first-nope, because that wave had a clear end, so something new had to spark it.

Let's be honest an approval rating that never dips below 60% in no way, shape, or form can be seen as even a neutral rating-let alone a bad one. It's not until the Iraq war has been going on for a while, and more importantly the economy starts to dip where his ratings start to really free-fall.

 

[American Horse]

You made me proud. You showed empathy and made many of us feel better. Thank you.

"One does not win by making others lose."--(author unknown)

His part was fine. The choice of venues was poor. The cheers, whistling, high jinks, the whole ambiance was wrong. He apparently was misled by his people. He should've made a first public appearance, best from the Oval office (maybe?) where the right somber and respectful tone would've been lent to his appearance. Instead “they” took too long tweaking the speech to make it match up with Reagan’s, or Bush’s, or Clinton’s Oklahoma City speech. His didn’t come up to par. It wasn't his fault, except in his choice of media people.

He was disappointed too, I could see that. He perhaps felt disappointed that this was going to come across as almost another Wellstone memorial, which was really quite raucous, noisy, and partisan. He wanted to seem, if anything, non partisan, and thoughtful, and that was effectively compromised by the audience, probably because of its size, there was no control to how they would react. He has to be upset with his people who put him into this situation, they ought to know better.

He should've attended the memorial, but that should've come after his initial fatherly statement, which should've been some fractional part of Arizona in size or content.

 

[M14 Shooter]

You'd be correct if his approval ratings didn't increase at the start of the Iraq war.

Excuse me... YOU said:

A lot of what he said was the same as what he said right after 9/11 you're right-except for one tiny thing...invading Iraq I think that's what started pushing people away from him initially,

Explain the pre-Iraq war drop from 9/01 to 3/03 - a drop that equalled his post 3/03 drop to his lowest point.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

You'd be correct if his approval ratings didn't increase at the start of the Iraq war.

Excuse me... YOU said:

A lot of what he said was the same as what he said right after 9/11 you're right-except for one tiny thing...invading Iraq I think that's what started pushing people away from him initially,

Explain the drop from 9/01 to 3/03 - a drop that -equalled- his post 3/03 drop. to his lowest point.

I said invading Iraq is what initially started people to push away from him-this doesn't mean the push happened right after we invaded Iraq. Point out where I said that. What I meant was invading Iraq was the first issue that really caused people to push away from him (this is proven by the popularity of the Iraq war dipping the longer the war went on)-and if you remember the 2006 elections it was the biggest issue.

His post 3/03 drop to his lowest point was a drop of roughly 70% down to 35%,, or a drop of 35% his drop from 9/01 to 3/03 was roughly 90%-60%, or a drop of 30%. So we have a 35% drop, and a 30% drop. In politics 5% is a big deal-and can make or break you.

What's more important is you're ignoring the actual numbers. While a 30% is drastic, it only plummeted down to 60%. When you have the highest presidential approval rating of all time, guess what-of course you're going to have a big fall after that. There's no way not to have a big fall when you're approval rating is around 90%. At 60% it's inaccurate to say that half the country was against him, at 35% it's accurate to say most of the country was.

 

[M14 Shooter]

You'd be correct if his approval ratings didn't increase at the start of the Iraq war.

Excuse me... YOU said:

A lot of what he said was the same as what he said right after 9/11 you're right-except for one tiny thing...invading Iraq I think that's what started pushing people away from him initially,

Explain the drop from 9/01 to 3/03 - a drop that -equalled- his post 3/03 drop. to his lowest point.

I said invading Iraq is what initially started people to push away from him

Yes... and -I- asked why people started pulling away from him in September of 01, as evidenced by his popularity immediately dropping.

-That's- what you need to explain - and since Iraq wasn't an issue until 2002, Iraq does't cover it.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

Excuse me... YOU said:

Explain the drop from 9/01 to 3/03 - a drop that -equalled- his post 3/03 drop. to his lowest point.

I said invading Iraq is what initially started people to push away from him

Yes... and -I- asked why people started pulling away from him in September of 01, as evidenced by his popularity immediately dropping.

-That's- what you need to explain - and since Iraq wasn't an issue until 2002, Iraq does't cover it.

Well people started pulling away after 9/11 once the honeymoon was over, and as the country's both sides started bickering again (as what happens in all times of crisis, and when they end). That's normal. I will admit I was initially wrong however.

But they didn't abandon the president though, as the Democrats still worked with him. The senate voted 77-23 to allow Bush to use military force in Iraq, and 296-133 in the House.

 

[M14 Shooter]

I said invading Iraq is what initially started people to push away from him

Yes... and -I- asked why people started pulling away from him in September of 01, as evidenced by his popularity immediately dropping.

-That's- what you need to explain - and since Iraq wasn't an issue until 2002, Iraq does't cover it.

Well people started pulling away after 9/11 once the honeymoon was over, and as the country's both sides started bickering again.

This is what I said. Thank you.

 

[American Horse]

Excuse me... YOU said:

Explain the drop from 9/01 to 3/03 - a drop that -equalled- his post 3/03 drop. to his lowest point.

I said invading Iraq is what initially started people to push away from him

Yes... and -I- asked why people started pulling away from him in September of 01, as evidenced by his popularity immediately dropping.

-That's- what you need to explain - and since Iraq wasn't an issue until 2002, Iraq does't cover it.

Never before (except Lincoln) has a president been so ridiculed, mocked, and eviscerated by the media, and then the public polled to produce media events to constantly analyze his imputed fall from grace. They hated him so much because they believed Gore should've been there and not him, and because he was not of them.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

Yes... and -I- asked why people started pulling away from him in September of 01, as evidenced by his popularity immediately dropping.

-That's- what you need to explain - and since Iraq wasn't an issue until 2002, Iraq does't cover it.

Well people started pulling away after 9/11 once the honeymoon was over, and as the country's both sides started bickering again.

This is what I said. Thank you.

I clearly said "I admit I was initially wrong".

 

[M14 Shooter]

Well people started pulling away after 9/11 once the honeymoon was over, and as the country's both sides started bickering again.

This is what I said. Thank you.

I clearly said "I admit I was initially wrong".

And I clearly thanked you.
:shrug: