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Worst Speech Ever?

By NewHampster on January 21, 2009 at 10:10 AM in Inauguration Day, Obama

President Obama I wanted you to lift me up. I was really hoping that finally I would feel what my wife feels, hear what my co-workers hear. I wanted to be inspired.

I wanted reasons to get on board, reasons to join those other 84%.

Today, you did not succeed.

This entire country, Dems and Repubs, want you to succeed, yet you have squandered the moment in the interest of keeping expectations low. If we wanted low expectations and whining we would have chosen Dennis.

We are Americans and we want to shoot for the moon, we want incredibly high expectations that we can beat, because we always do.

In the car just now I listened to BBC world on NPR. It was 3 AM for the brits. They described the speech as “somber”.

The English called you somber!!

Don’t sell America short President Obama. Give us impossible goals and we will shatter them. Give us nothing and that’s what you’ll get back.

cross posted from Partizane

Tess

So the Brits called the (world’s greatest)speech “somber” (maybe Favreau is in treatment?) and Canada refused permission for Ayres to enter the country.
I tell ya, the O is right: there’s Hope after all.

DawnelleHeartsMaeWest

Hampster Hey!

but dude Dennis would have been a thousand times better than Bambi, omg! No one ever gave that guy a chance and he’s mui smart and like some mini-me version of the last best fighter for truth justice and the american way kind of thing…….. a reverse ron paul sorta?

lol

I even liked the other Dem running from Alaska! He knows his shiate as well. No chance for him either. It was so rigged from the get go. dammit.

Animal Control

To quote Jed Clampett: Piiiitifull!
As for Dennis as “Mini Me” he reminds me of Muhammad Ali when, after the first Liston fight he said “I’m a bad Man” (meaning not afraid of anyone or anything).

Dawnelle

Our own Napolean with integrity?

beebop

PUH-LEZ …. I am from Cleveland. What you don’t know about Dennis ….

Dawnelle

this is in comparison to BAMBI

Beebop not trying to push Dennis but found him most willing to be honest and forthright both times he tried running –

hey compared to biden, richardson and bambi????

dennis is a star imo

beebop

Dennis is in a world of his own. He can lie to your face and not bat an eye. I have personal experience. Did you watch him with Hillary? PUHLEZ. He’s got little man’s disease in a huge way.

Dawnelle

lol @ little man’s disease

ok beebop I’ve never met him so I can only go by what I’ve watched

doesn’t matter anymore cuz we’re stuck with Barry

Dennis would have been better imo
that’s all
jmo
but a LOT of people would have been better than Bambi

Elsie

That is why a lot of kids fail in school because of low expectation. In the adult world, we expect the same to happen. Is it not that inner city school children have high rates of failure? Obama should be aware of this because it is happening right there in DC. No wonder the Obama children will never go to public school in the DC area..

wodiej

I agree and I will add, it is widespread. I live in the midwest and it is a problem in our school system too. Students don’t fail a grade, they just get pushed onto the next. When I questioned a board member about this their answer was it’s called social promtion. If the kids don’t have the credits by the time they reach 12th grade, they don’t graduate. Wow….I don’t call that social promotion. What a bunch of friggin’ morons. Our society is lacking adults who will put their foot down and show leadership. Private and christian school students do fine. The public school system is the problem. No accountability.

brodie

The public school system in this area seems more interested in money than in graduating students. I work in literacy & we could help the school system so much, but they won’t refer the older students to us. They babysit them until they can cast them out when they are no longer sources of income- no matter what they know or don’t know. Meanwhile, we have incredibly high illiteracy rates and widespread poverty. These kids want to learn, but they aren’t being reached. What’s happening in some of our schools is a national disgrace.
Diana L. C.

As a teacher of ninth grade English, I got students from the middle school who had failed every subject and were promoted to the high school. We spent much of the time teaching them the “credit” system. How many credits they needed to graduate and how many for each subject were required. They began to understand; but by ninth grade, their study habits were non-existent.

I then spent much of my time gathering names first of the ones who just weren’t turning in work, then contacting parents of those kids and setting up email and phone contacts. It was very time consuming. Only those kids whose parents really took the time to nag and hold the kids’ noses to the grindstone every time I nagged were able to make it through my class to get the credit. I also set up a way for the parents to get the assignment when the little monkeys pretended they didn’t know what it was.

But it took effort on my part. And the real thing that made it possible for me to get them through was to dump all those rules that many of the teachers had about counting off for late papers or not accepting late papers after a certain time. (Since I did really grade papers (and believe me, I knew teachers who didn’t and just gave points for turning in work), I didn’t worry about copying someone else’s paper because I could tell when a paper was one I had already been done.)

I felt it was more important that they did the work at any time to learn the subject and put it on the parents to “teach responsibility” as the other teachers thought they were doing by setting up those rules. But it cost me many hours of grading papers that were due plus all the various late papers I was getting.

It’s teaching the study habits that is important, and sadly that is NOT happening in elementary and middle school really. A habit is something you acquire from repeating an action over and over until it becomes natural. That’s what learning to study takes.

I actually had parents tell me that they wanted me to fail their children rather than allow them to do make up. Of course those kids failed and then didn’t graduate. The parents didn’t want to help with the process of teaching study habits.

But the parents who worked with me always showered me with Starbucks gift certificates and other little thank you gifts. They said they had felt so frustrated with the whole system. They had been asking their children what homework they had only to be told “nothing.” Then they would find out too late that the child was not turning in work, only to be told it was “too late” for him/her to turn it in. It’s a vicious cycle.

The social promotion thing is way out of hand. I can remember being in elementary school–me the world’s biggest nerd–and sweating every time that last report card of the year was given out. We’d all look at the back to see if the magic word “promoted” was there. Of course I was promoted, but I sweated it because I knew several who had not been through the years. It didn’t traumatize them really, and most were held back only one time.

But here’s the main point: I burned out faster than most teachers and took an earlier retirement than I should have; and that is the reason I ended up working after retirement for some time.

BernieO

On the other hand…..
I grew up on the edge of Appalachia so we had a lot of poor rural white kids in our school. There was no social promotion. Many of these kids, boys especially, had no interest in school so I had nearly-sixteen-year-old boys in several of my elementary school classes. They were just waiting to turn sixteen so they could drop out of school There was a boy in second grade who over six feet tall! (My husband was freaked out the first time he saw my class pictures.)
I have a feeling that this wouldn’t happen with middle class families since this would not be socially acceptable the way it was for these kids’ families.

Diana L. C.

But that is not an issue of social promotion. That is when we have to say that mandatory schooling until 16 is not necessary. My father from an immigrant family quit at 13 because he was the oldest child and was needed on the farm. He was one of the wisest people I knew. He never understood why I liked to read or study, but he honored my wishes to be me. And I honored him because he knew so many things I could have never learned in school. He was a good citizen.

It should be more possible to tell kids who are taking up space and usually causing trouble that they can not attend school–especially if their families don’t make them. Then, the kid becomes a community problem (or not) and some other entity deals with it. Then the schools can become schools where people learn things rather than just babysitting services and dumping grounds for every social issue there is.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

thank you for the insight into the real world of teaching.

Diana L. C.

Thank you for “listening.”

I have always thought that the way to increase scores in schools is to get schools back to their roots as “academic” institutions that are open to all that want to be able to read, write, know history and basic science and math. We also need to offer vocational classes and options later.

Yes, we have to ensure that kids who want to learn CAN go to school by making early schooling mandatory so some parents can’t just prevent their child who may want an education from getting it.

All the basic academic skills one needs can be learned by almost every child who wants to learn by the time they reach 8th grade at the most. So we should make it mandatory that parents first have to allow their children that opportunity.

If certain kids and families who don’t care for that opportunity make it clear that they don’t want it, they should not take up the time of teachers or all the other kids who have to put up with their distractions in the classroom.

The problem is that people in education (like the Ayers type) want schools to serve as social indoctrination.

Quite frankly, the kids I mentioned in my first comment that I helped were the kids who had not “cheated” their way into good grades. They were honest kids because I knew that if they had been dishonest they could have found ways to pass by cheating, copying, etc. The kids I helped just had very bad habits.

I also had many who came into ninth with passing grades who soon learned in my class that they could not simply pass by turning in someone else’s work or by turning in completely sloppy work just to get credit for turning something in.

I was concerned about teaching them English–not responsibility, not social skills by allowing them to constantly work in groups, not sucking up skills, etc.

There are so many options now in our vocational schools, community sponsored alternative schools, and our community colleges for kids who blew it in public schools to make a change and make up for early bad decisions, but to force kids to stay when they are wasting their time and everyone else’s time is not helping them.

And it is harming kids whose class time is being wasted by those kids who are constant distractions during class and for the teachers.

Peggy Sue

I read your commentary with interest, Diane. I’ve never taught. I think I knew instintively I wouldn’t be good at it. But I admire people who are and some of my earliest role models were teachers, who pushed and encouraged me and many others. It should not sound revolutionary to teach the subject at hand, rather than “social skills.” And yet, I saw the same thing when my kids were going through the public school system.

I think we made a grave mistake when we decided “everyone” should be going to college, throwing the vocational school system to a second class status. Tradesmen are still needed in this country. And not everyone is geared for academic work.

I also have problems with the GED push, so that everyone can pretend that they have a HS diploma. I have a niece who went this route, after dropping out in 9th grade. She has a GED, but her education is no better than 9th grade [actually, I'd say no better than 6th or 7th grade]. Had she been encouraged to pursue a trade route, she could have had a living wage in a job she felt good about.

I think we have to get out of this PC notion that everyone is “equal” in all things. We simply are not. And academics is one of those areas. That’s not to say kids should not be encouraged, even given extra help to succeed or learn the basics, but pretending everyone is a genius serves no one. The kids the least.

I tip my hat to your service. Too bad we don’t have more teachers like you.

Alicia

Wow. I applaud you and wish there were more like you.

nancy sabet

hussein sounded like a 8th grade low average kid with words he could not understood.

Tuppence411

I find this all very interesting. Because yesterday’s speech was the only one from Barky Oblahblah that I have been able to tolerate from start to finish. Usually, I leave the room to vomit or shut off the TV in disgust because I don’t want to be hypnotized and turned into an Obot.

BernieO

I’m with you. I was glad that he renounced the failed dogmas of the past, a clear repudiation of the crackpot right wing free market fundamentalism that has wrecked our economy – and the world’s. His saying that we can’t be a prosperous country if we favor only the prosperous also resonated with me. And the fact that he clearly rebuked Bush and Cheney with them sitting there was also rich. Considering all the pandering he did about Reagan this was very refreshing. In contrast I have found the other speeches I could stand to listen to were filled with airy-fairy, vague platitudes like “change we can believe in” or “yes we can”. This speech was a welcome change. Now if he will only deliver on it.

HARP

I`m sure they will chisel it in stone somewhere and sell tickets to see it.

clare bee

It’s already printed on a plate being sold at QVC last night!!!!

I didn’t see the price as I immediately switched the channel.
andrew191

Nothing in the speech was worthy enough to be carved into a potato.

The Champagne bottle didn’t break as it clunked into the mushy bow of the good ship “Obama Presidency”.

wodiej

Our country really needed a boost after Bush, instead we have another president w no integrity. You can’t cheat and lie your way into blessings, favor and prosper. You get that from living a life of excellence. Obama hasn’t.

truthorconsequences

who says crime doesn’t pay? I’m sure it wasn’t a Chicago politician.

truthorconsequences

The Brits reference to somber is known in america as bummer. But Obama’s minnions are still up to snuff. The Rev J Lowery who gave the anaugurao benediction asked God to”

truthorconsequences

HELP THE WHITES EMBRACE WHAT IS RIGHT”.
something wierd going on with my machine this AM. Anyway it seems as if the race card is still in play–even at the inauguration.

bart

Absolutely. And it is said the poem that line is from is a favorite of BO.

I really hate mass blame. There are a lot of white people who voted for this bum and there are even more white people of good will. Yet white still has to “embrace what is right.”

brodie

So when are we gonna embrace what’s right w/regard to misogyny? Never? pffft!
beebop

I know people who voted for him who drop the “N” word with no hesitation and yet I — who shudder at it and voted for McCain get called a racist …. crazy upside down world imho. I guess voting for a record is now racist.

C.S.

So, that line is one of his favorites, eh? Maybe he’s embraced it because Obama is more white than black. That is one fact he forgot to lock up because, according to genealogists who investigated, he’s 1/2 white, 3/8 Arab and 1/8 black; a pretender in all things Obama.

truthorconsequences

Well now. That explains how Obama can be all things to all people or half right and half wrong. This means the O only has to half way embrace what is right and the other 3/8 and 1/8 of him can do as he damn well pleases? LOL!!!
Luck of the Irish (the white half) I would suppose.

wodiej

no shit, the blacks will no longer have to sit at the back of the bus?? Blacks haven’t had to do that for decades. I realize the speaker was elderly but it doesn’t bode well when the first “black” president has just been elected in front of him and he still thinks race relations are the same as they were 40 yrs ago. I was wondering if electing a “black” president would finally end the victimology 101 but it appears white people will be having this beat over our heads indefinitely. It’s unfortunate for everyone.

Ferd Berfle

As I said on an earlier thread, the beatings will continue until their attitude improves.
http://! stodgie

look there is a whole generation of aa leaders who make a living off the past. they tell their followers all the time how bad they have it etc. a new generation of leaders is needed in my view.

MBC

Really? He really said this? OMG!

barb

I found Rev. Lowry’s comment on white people totally insulting. Who is he to give moral authority over my entire race! My ancestor died fighting to free the slaves and after Lowry’s comments I wish my ancestor had done the “wrong” thing and fled to Canada instead. I do as much right as everybody else and I don’t need a sermon from Rev. Lowry! Plus, it was a stupid statement in any regard. Yellow be Mellow? What in the world does that mean?

socalannie

That so call “prayer” or “invocation” or whatever the hell they want to call it was the nadir of the entire inaugural extravaganza. Absolutely racist and insulting to millions. There was no excuse to include that trashy, low class prayer in what should have been a dignified All-American ceremony.

Well, after leading the most divisive primary campaign in history, this is what I have come to expect from Obama. Divide and conquer. Thugocracy politics.
http://www.georgianindex.net/Napoleon/coronation/coronation.html trixta

Yeah, “yellow be mellow” was pretty hokey and disrespectful to Asians. What, are Asians not mellow? Anyway, what’s the opposite of mellow? Is it high strung or uptight?

sudarshan

Coming from a bunch of guys who swoon over a shopping diva like Sarah Whinehouse Palin, is indeed rich!

Peggy Sue

Oh, of course–shopping diva Palin [$150,000 presumably spent on a campaign clothes] or Emperor Obama [$150,000,000] on inaugural expenses.

Who sounds more extravagant to you? My take? Hope is wa-a-ay overpriced these days.

truthorconsequences

GADS! I thought I was being robbed when I had to pay $3.98 for my new WalMart shirt. ;(
http://www.georgianindex.net/Napoleon/coronation/coronation.html trixta

The irony of it all, Peggy Sue. You are spot on. 150K v 150M+ !!!!!!!

Funny how the Obamas can have expensive color- coordinated designer clothes and an obscenely pricey inaugural celebration, while the Palins are slammed for what little the RNC spent on their clothes in comparison.

Ldyoung

I find Lowery’s comments highly insulting. Yes, race relations have been terrible for centuries. Enslaving people is not a humane practice, which is an understatement of gigantic proportions. But didn’t we just elect the first African-American President? Not that it’s THE answer or makes every other transgression magically disappear — but it certainly is a step in the right direction (where race matters are concerned). Since the African-American population is about 16% in the US — I can only conclude that MILLIONS of white people voted for Obama. Was it necessary to lecture us at that moment in time when history was being made? And what exactly does it mean to “embrace what is right”? “Right” by whose definition? Okay — I need to stop now…

Kathleen Wynne

When will the country “embrace what is right”, when it comes to “real” equality for women at every level of society? If obama is about change, wouldn’t this be one of the most historic changes he could embrace? After all, obama’s the new face of feminism, right?!

We have been constantly lectured either by obama or his supporters about the injustice of racism in this country throughout the primary and the GE, but NO ONE has made any mention about the terrible injustices women still face today at every level. Perhaps, because the double standard of it being taboo to discuss, much less lecture, the country about sexism or misognynism, but not to lecture us about racism still dominates. Why is that, when both “isms” are abominations (no pun intended)?

Why hasn’t anyone lectured us about how wrong it is that 100,000 young women and girls are still sold into sex slavery every year and not only in third world and islamic countries, but here in America too. Where’s the outrage about this ongoing criminal behavior against women? Why is it totally overlooked, ignored, even accepted that there are still countries which sanction slavery of women but interestingly enough, NONE sanction slavery of men?

So, what we have now is, instead of a white man telling us what to do, we now have a black man telling us what to do and basically what to think.

Nothing’s changed, as far as women are concerned. Same horse, different color and women are still relegated to the back of the bus.

Real change will only come when, as Hillary so eloquently expressed it during her confirmation hearingspotential: “If half of the world’s population remains vulnerable to economic, political, legal, and social marginalization, our hope of advancing democracy and prosperity will remain in serious jeopardy.”

Let’s embrace that!

http://! stodgie

or the injustice of inequality with corporations in treatment by the federal government!!!!!! that is a big one!

Kathleen Wynne

stodgie,

As a woman, I’m most interested in obtaining a level playing field, equal pay, equal opportunity and the right to speak out against any perceived sexism that gets in the way of such progress, without being silenced. I want the same rights that Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton (or any man for that matter) have to speak out against injustice.

As I said, Hillary put these feelings in the best context — it’s about the marginalization of half the world’s population and the consequences we are forced to bear as a result.

In other words, NO ONE WINS, as long as women are treated as mere vessels to the male gender.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

Thank you Kathleen. I personally believe in resurrecting the ERA. http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/

It can and still should be done because you have to start somewhere and if we don’t do it why should we expect the rest of the world to change?
somerset

As women, Kathleen, you and are aren’t allowed on the playing field, even or uneven. Those multi-millionaire football players and baseball players are all men. The prime time sports are all played by men, many of color, and racially integrated for over 60 years now. No women in baseball, no woman MLB umpires, no women doing the play by play. Have fun watching the Super Bowl if you are interested in seeing how badly AA men have it…they will be on their field making their millions. Then it will be Major League Baseball and more of the same. Very high paying jobs, none of which include women.
http://! stodgie

kathleen that is my kind of post! thanks and i agree.

wodiej

I second that…well said

Doc99

Lowery’s Aricept dosage needs tweaking.

Touchet

There is something going on in this country that is historical, but it isn’t because a black guy got selected by those in power to be president. There is a movement in this country toward despotism through fanaticism. Each side is trying to silence the other through propaganda. This is a dangerous time in our country, because it could go either way.

The Real HC

I agree, this is not the America I used to know. I have started re-reading de Tocqueville – probably hated by most here – but whatever, I’ll bore you with some timely quotes:

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

“A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.”

“Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”

AMERICA R.I.P.

You don’t REALLY think this is still AMERICA do you? America is long gone. It’s now the United Republic of Obama and a fascist state. The Dems destroyed us this election. It’s done. I’m sure the Obamas went home and had fun burning that horrible “flawed document,” the Constitution. Maybe for a little late night “whoopie” they shredded the Declaration of Independence, which Obama says he has to throw out too. And all day yesterday the American Flag was defaced, and not one American said anything about it. America? ROFLMAO. Yeah, right. I don’t even care anymore. I just hope anyone with money, who can leave, does so immediately.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

You mean that my side just out did the GOP at their own game and it scares the crap out of me.

I really don’t want to kneel down to:
His Oliness, Charlatan I
http://www.georgianindex.net/Napoleon/coronation/coronation.html trixta

Touchet, it’s called fascism, which can exist on either side of the political spectrum.

Ldyoung

Interesting comments, Touchet. It’s an uncertain time — that’s for sure. For the good of our great country I hope whatever happens benefits all Americans. So many people need help right now.
http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

“President Obama I wanted you to lift me up. I was really hoping that finally I would feel what my wife feels, hear what my co-workers hear. I wanted to be inspired.”

You lie, Hampster. If you haven’t been inspired by Obama’s barn-burning speeches up till now… why would you expect it to be different on Inauguration Day?

Perhaps the problem isn’t with the President’s mediocre performance yesterday. It’s with the two tin ears you’ve been operating with for the past 12 months.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

Did you think it was a great speech?

The Real HC

That depends what you mean by “think”.
http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

No, I thought it was a poor speech. But without the great speeches he’s already given, President Obama wouldn’t be in the White House right now.

I’m more concerned right now with NewHampster’s disingenuousness. “President Obama… This entire country, Dems and Repubs, want you to succeed…”

Say wot? Does Hamp not read this blog??

http://! stodgie

ubm, toddle off to the wh web site and write what the president needs to do to help everyone in this country no matter what their color instead of trying to argue all the time. your guy won and yet you are the most bitter person on here in my view.
http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

Agreed about the speeches.

I don’t think Hampster is disingenous at all. People always think that every writer here shares exact beliefs. There are many people who wish for success, for the benefit of the country. And true, many don’t. But, not everyone here thinks the same.

DAB

I do believe that Hampster is genuine in his desire to see what his wife sees, but as I told my daughter when we disagreed about Obama, you can’t be forced to fall in love or view the world through another’s eyes.

I personally would like to feel happiness and joy about the current situation — God only knows I, like so many others, have waited so long to see that helicopter take GWB away. But you can’t unring a bell and having seen what I have seen happen leading up to this day makes it impossible to take any comfort in what lies ahead.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

UBM – i agree with your comments on your blog about the ceremony vs. the parade walk.

http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

I appreciate that, American Girl.

Just don’t get me going on the First Lady’s wardrobe choices… especially the evening gown.

But you know what Michelle does have good taste in? Men.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

her first outfit reminded me of my old couch hand me down from my grandparent. the second, ugh. maybe they were pretty in person, but the color of the first, and the cut of the second were awful. And she is tall and slender, she should be able to pull off great dresses!

I think she is pregnant. She doesn’t look like she has gained weight, but more like she has got a bump. Both dresses disguised a bump.

I did see the designers on Today this morning. The gold dress was designed by a 26 year old *nobody*. And the other, a Cuban American designer.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

I think she is pregnant. She doesn’t look like she has gained weight, but more like she has got a bump. Both dresses disguised a bump.

Now that could be interesting. Little bambam

Thinker

So I finally forced myself to actually look at Michelle in the now infamous awful dress.

Michelle Obama is pregnant.

She will get praised for keeping her baby, and we will remember how Palin’s daughter was criticized for keeping hers.

http://www.georgianindex.net/Napoleon/coronation/coronation.html trixta

Sarah, I think she is pregnant too.

http://deleted Buzz Latte LaRue

Obama is a man?

http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

You never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, do you, Buzz?

That’s all right. I love you anyway.

AMERICA R.I.P.

Good thing that someone regurgitating OTHER PEOPLE’S words, using a teleprompter, is criteria to get elected to the most important, powerful job in the world. UBM, you slay me. What a joke.

brodie

Hey, UBM- piss off, yet again.
http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

give me credit. It’s been over two years in New Hampshire.

and I have never listened to one of his speeches before this one. Except maybe the DNC in ’04.

He’s the only candidate I did not see in NH and I walked out while he was speaking the only time I was in the room.

You see, I have an addictive personality and I did not want to submit myself to his power.

truthorconsequences

GOOD ON YOU—just say no!!! My TV even has an automatic BHO MUTE. Even my omeprazole stomach meds aren’t strong enough to control the Obama queeziness.
http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

Sounds like a lot of people agreed with you.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4302726/Barack-Obama-inauguration-Bloggers-and-analysts-divided-over-speech.html

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

Nice find AG

I like this:

“We…need no condescension from the President of the United States telling us that we ought to act our age, not our shoe size,” wrote Pejman Yousefzadeh, a conservative blogger, on politico.com.

“This inaugural address had a whole host of faults. It fell well below expectations for its inability to connect with the issues of the day, its apparent characteristic of having been written by committee, its vagueness and generalities, and the fact that it puzzled more than it enlightened.”

http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

“He’s the only candidate I did not see in NH and I walked out while he was speaking the only time I was in the room.”

Ah. So you weren’t being honest with this post. You weren’t hoping Obama would inspire you yesterday. Indeed, if he had giving a rousing, unforgettable address, you’d be finding reasons to knock it today.

I’m told by a friend who was there yesterday that the crowd (unlike me) was hanging on the President’s every word. She said it was an amazing feeling to be among one million people, all absolutely silent.

oowawa

She said it was an amazing feeling to be among one million people, all absolutely silent.

Awesome and scary. But mostly scary. It’s really frightening to find intelligent people who do not see the danger in huge enraptured crowds under the spell of one man.

http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

oowawa, it was about more than the man, though. My friend said that after the speech, a total stranger just turned and hugged her.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

Yeah, and I’ll hug you and hope we have a roaring successful few years under the stewardship of President Obama. Does that mean I won’t watch his every word?

{{{{{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}}}}}}

http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

I hug you back, bro.

oowawa

Then let’s say it’s about the all-inclusive aura of togetherness generated by the man that makes a huge crowd of people feel like a single entity. A warm glow permeates the entire mass. Still very scary. This large mass of humanity is ready to be manipulated in whatever way the leader sees fit.
oowawa

(4th & final attempted version to get Ineffable
Spam Filter really pissed)

Still Scary! Danger!

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

email susan when you get spammed – don’t keep reposting. reposting makes it worse.

oowawa

I hear ya, Sara! Won’t do it no more! I should have known by now, it’s useless to struggle directly against the All-Powerful Spam Filter. Beseech an anointed intermediary for succor.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

it just makes it worse because if we recover one spammed post, and you made several attemtps, then we have to recover ALL attempts, for the filter to quit spamming you. does that make sense?

oowawa

Yes–Thanks for your diligence.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

No I did not lie and you do not know what I think or do.

I am an American and I am quite sick of fighting the last two years. Mostly with my wife.

I wanted to get inspired so I could cheer for him for the next 4 or 8 years. Now I just I just accept him as my President.

and yes, I give him my Allegiance but not my Fielty.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

I heard on the news this morning (or last night) that Obama wrote this speech himself. Anyone else hear that?

The Real HC

I have heard this news about just about all of Obama’s speeches.

He is really trying to make himself into Lincoln 2.0 for some reason, so maybe he did. Apparently Lincoln did in fact write his own material.

I am absolutely sure we will never get a straight answer on it one way or the other. Remember that ridiculous story about how he “mind-melded” with Favreau?

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

I thought i heard someone say that he actually wrote this one himself, but apparently not.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech

I thought it sounded like all of his other speeches.
beebop

Maybe the problem is he came off as Lincoln VISTA and we all know what kind of problems MicroSoft is having with that …..
oowawa

Remember that ridiculous story about how he “mind-melded” with Favreau?

Vulcans! I always suspected as much. A simple ear operation, and they can easily pass among us.

candymarl

White guilt will be used to stifle any and all criticism. Don’t agree with an Obama policy? If you’re white then you’re not doing what is right.

Funny thing is, no one wants to mention the elephant in the room. The fact that some blacks got wealthy selling their black brothers and sisters. Or the fact that Africa had a slave trade system in place when the Europeans arrived. Does that excuse the evils of slavery? No. But it’s a historical fact that Europeans were not the first to institute slavery. It is also a fact that non-whites benefited financially from this system.

As to the speech, what I heard of it was less than inspiring. I expected a rousing “we can do it” speech as Obama has been compared to FDR and Lincoln. This was more of a “suck it up we’re doomed speech”.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

Very Jimmy Carter

http://! stodgie

jimmy carter really believes what he says and writes. i don’t agree with him on everything and i am deeply disappointed in him for his hostility to the clintons.
Docelder

Well, unfortunately we seem to be all out of “Ronald Reagan” this time around. No hope, no change … just hope upon hope itself that we might “spend our way out of debt”. Right.
DAB

Maybe Obama should have worn a cardigan sweater instead of a suit.

truthorconsequences

Anyone who has read the Lincoln/Douglas Debates of 1858 laughs at the idea that Obama is retracing Abe Lincol’s footsteps. If Lincoln could have had his way, Obama would most likely be living in Liberia today.

Fran

The freed slaves who went back to Africa and founded Liberia proceeded to dominate, use and put down the indigenous people there. They did not literally make them slaves, but treated them poorly. It is the descendants of those freed slaves who are the dominant class to this day.

wodiej

Finally….a piece of history conveniently left out.

http://! stodgie

i personally don’t care if obama gives great speeches. i don’t care if he is green with little yellow spots. i don’t care if his children love him. i don’t give a dang. i don’t care if 90% or so of aa’s voted for him. i feel sorry for them for voting along racial lines. there is no excuse for that. sure i applaud their feeling included as long as i am not excluded. noboby is special.

what i care about is not speechifying but the dims getting off their self satisifed collective butts and doing something for americans. call me a bitter. call me self centered as one poster wrote yesterday. i don’t care. i want americans to have a chance at the american dream again no matter what their color. if that makes me a bitter none obot, then i believe i’ll have a lot of company.

i am sick of hearing about the ceos pessimism all the while they are awarding themselves millions of dollars. screw them and those in congress who allow it. i am for a rising of people in their country demanding EQUAL treatment and no one claiming they are special based on race, gender, sexual views religeon or what happenend to their ancestors.
Ldyoung

Guilt is a powerful weapon.

http://! stodgie

as a former debater i know a good line when i see it. i can also see the holes in it as well. shame on those who use false guilt or real guilt as weapons.
beebop

Not if you get terribly tired of it. After a time, you are an enabler … and we all know how that ends ….

http://! stodgie

tired or not beebop, i still don’t plan to march lockstep with any group with whom i don’t agree. also once you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, the last thing you do is enable. those who want to go along and get along enable.

pm317

Obama is our waffle man, he is the great wimp and an apologist. The Islamic blackmailers everywhere should rest assured and continue their terror activities while Obama will psychoanalyze them as to the root causes of their behavior.

Did you all notice this?

From AmericanThinker blog,

One quick comment on the Inaugural address. Was it only me who noticed that Obama spoke of America as a nation of “Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and the non-believers”, in that order? Usually it is Christians and Jews that get paired, and mentioned first. There are 2-3 times as many Jews as Muslims in America, so alphabetical order and group size do not explain Obama’s order. I think this was a throwaway line to make nice to Muslims abroad who do not much like America (or Jews). It was not the only one in the speech.

AMERICA R.I.P.

Yes I have a ton of Jewish friends that were waaayyyy WTF about that Christians and Muslims thing. But, then again, any Jew who voted for him might seek mental health care.

http://! stodgie

new hampster, i don’t think you missed anything. there is a saying “i can’t hear what you are saying because of what you are doing.” something like that but the meaning is the same.

let these dims get to work and prove themselves or kick their sorry selves out of office in 2010. we have nothing to prove, they do. most of americans are working hard. i stayed up till 2 this morning working. i don’t need to apologize to anyone for being hard working bill paying and critical of obama. 99% of can be convinced if he and congress do their jobs. to indicate that we should do otherwise leaves me saying wth!

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

O/T a little but here’s what I just wrote over at my patizane.com blog
———
Obama did not flub the oath

I think he did exactly what he wanted to do.

I just can’t get beyond the fact that I think Obama and his wizard Axelrod plan these things down to the smallest detail. Obama does not make mistakes. Obama creates distractions.

We saw it throughout the campaign when at a high point for his opponent he would distract the media the very next day or hour with something totally unimportant. Like flipping off Hillary the day after a good debate for her. It pissed us off, pissed off the bots because we made a big deal of it and completely distracted us and the media from his crappy performance in the debate. There are numerous examples too numerous to list but also so numerous that it has to be a conscious plan.

Messing up the oath is what the world is taking away from the speech. Messing up the least important part of the day’s events. Messing up is distracting from the empty speech and the empty suit giving the speech.

Somebody please tell me what he said, if anything.

truthorconsequences

Silence is golden
oowawa

Obama does not make mistakes. Obama creates distractions.

Why, that would make him a con-artist, a magician, a prestidigitator, a charlatan, a bamboozler.

Although I am inclined to believe these possibilities, wouldn’t that mean that the Chief Justice was in on the act? Could he have bamboozled Roberts into being an unwitting participant? I just don’t think he’s that clever, but that’s just what a Master Deceiver would want you to think.

obamaphobe

Maybe Roberts purposely messed him up. He potentially may have to re-take the oath due to the flub. Considering that the case concerning his eligibility to be POTUS is still pending before the supreme court, and if he is ultimately found ineligible due to lack of citizenship, then we will not have sealed our doom. Because, as it stands, he is not our President until a re-do. Roberts may have saved us from a constitutional crisis.

James

Even Jon Stewart argued that his speech was simply Bush rhetoric disguised in lofty oration.
tango

Jon Favreau wrote some wonderful campaign speeches. So did he choke and Obama just wasn’t able to save the speech (casting doubt on Obamas great writing skills) or did Obama in fact write the majority of the speech but is letting his loyal speechwriter Favreau take the credit since the speech is only rated average to good at best?

The cynic in me says if the speech was an immediate resounding success, Obama would’ve been the writer, NOT Favreau.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

The cynic in me says if the speech was an immediate resounding success, Obama would’ve been the writer, NOT Favreau.

well duh! haha I think we know that for fact.

James

I was watching ABC and they said that Favreau wrote the rough draft and Obama took care of the rest and rewrote a lot of it.

So I guess Obama isn’t such a great writer.

http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com Undercover Black Man

That sounds about right, James. A line like “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off” would never have been written by a professional speechwriter. Did no one want to hurt Obama’s feelings by telling him that line sucked?

oowawa

pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off

Nah, I think that’s just Favreau channeling his inner rapper. It’s obviously a gesture that’s already in the Obama playbook.

truthorconsequences

The way he dusted Clinton off? Okay, the campaign is over–I WON– now we can all kiss and make up? Piss on Obama.

Sandi78

I was waiting for him to burst into song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUsRGuZb6k

Docelder

He’s just a man, though many expected and hoped upon hope for something more. I guess this is the problem with electing somebody solely on the basis of the delivery of some speech writer’s work… and on the media’s portrayal of it. Electing a President on qualifications would have probably served us better. But, we may never know that for sure as it probably won’t happen.

fif

What 84%??? You actually believe media polls?

All that 84% means is, “Thank God Bush is gone, nobody can do any worse.”

And how does anyone justify that he cheated to win the nomination, using race, sexism, and homophobia to his advantage? I’m amazed by the “I’m willing to get on board now, because we have to move forward” line that so many are pitching now. Of course we wish the country well, but he is unethical–no undoing that.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

agreed but even when Bush stole the Presidency I supported him as my President until he proved me a fool like so many others.

KintheNorthwest

I too supported Bush, even though I thought he stole FLorida. In the end I was disappointed with him though, but always felt he truly loved all of America and ALL Americans.
With Obama I’m one of the people that still feel there are too many unanswered questions about him. Until those questions are answered I will not be able to feel that Obama is truly President. Questions about his past have not and are not being answered.
I am also upset with all the money that Obama is just throwing away; his convention speech, the Chicago party the inauguration.
Looks like his first move will probably mean a few more Billion to taxpayers pockets too. Did you guys also see the article that “Obama seeks halt to Guantanamo trials” http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…amo_trials
If this happens and they are tried in American courts instead of Military courts do you realize the cost to Americans.
The trial of the 12th 9/11 attacker was close to if not over a million dollars due to his lawyers. Guess who paid for it, not the attacker; he had no assets. So what will be the cost of this mess if Obama gets his way — Hundreds of Billions???
By the way peole the White House site is already being white washed….
If Obama learned anything in his campaign he sure learned how to white wash sites.
beebop

I never, ever supported shrub except in those days after 9/11 and then it was for the sake of my country. Then, when it was obvious that he only intended to use that event to invade Iraq, all bets were off. His eight years are a blot on the history of the presidency. Only Cheney is worse.

Sassy

I respectfully boycotted the entire process yesterday, for the first time in my adult-hood, so I can’t comment on the speech.
My allegiance is to my flag and my country.
Each President in my memory has taken office facing opposition…rightfully so.
They are, after all, temporary employees of the American people.
What I DO expect to see is a combined effort from both parties to pull this country out of our nose-dive!

truthorconsequences

“My allegiance is to my flag and country”. That is because you are a patriotic citizen of the United States of America, but what does that say for the man who is now president of the United? States who turned his back on the American flag, refusing to acknowledge it and it’s symbolism, during his campaign to be president of the nation over which that very flag flies?

AMERICA R.I.P.

Does anyone REALLY think the American Flag will even be around in a year? This whole thing is the biggest joke ever in the history of the world. Ever. It’s going to take a lot of work by the patriots of this country to undo the damage once we get him out of there.

oowawa

Well c’mon A-RIP, for a long time now the American Flag has been cluttered up with all those stars and stripes–how redundant! Let’s simplify, and soften it up a bit. Let’s replace some of those harsh stark straight lines with some curvy motifs–a big O would loosen up the design substantially. Remember, the motif is Change We Can Believe In! Let’s start by softening up the old symbol so that we can be PROUD of what we are saluting!

AMERICA R.I.P.

oowawa…How about this? We change the flag to be a group pic of NQ nekkit butts with O’s purple lips plastered on them? That would make any American proud!

oowawa

Sounds like your design will have lots of nice curvy lines . . . Run it up the flagpole, and let’s see if anyone salutes it!

AMERICA R.I.P.

It’s a busy day at the White House, so I don’t know how it will fit in the agenda.

First, there’s the raiding of all elderly citizens’ 401ks so Nancy Pelosi can redistribute the wealth to illegal aliens. Then, there’s the opening of all of America’s borders with a free driver’s license booth and free welfare check stop. Then there’s lunch with Rashid Khalidi, Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers and Louis Farakhaan to discuss how stupid Americans really are.

After lunch it’s a nap and a few hours shooting hoops before the afternoon check writing ceremony. The honorary first Obama check will be to ACORN for 50 Billion Dollars, in thanks for the voter fraud. Next, the payoffs to GE-NBC-MSNBC – hey thanks guys for getting me elected. CNN gets a big check, then ABC, CBS, and the biggest check of all to SCOTUS.

Early evening will be the plot to destroy the American Banking System, and the dollar, to replace them with the Hussein Currency and the United States Bank of Big Brother, where we will ALL be forced to deposit our cash, paychecks, 401ks, and any other assets. Only to find that magically all of those funds were transferred overnight to the “Global Poverty Fund” in the Bank of Kenya.

Great day at the White House!

oowawa

Sounds busy. I’ll have to choose–shall I watch all of these activities on TV, or should I curl up with the kitty-cats and take a nap? Hmmmm . . . tough choice . . .

AMERICA R.I.P.

Me? I’d take the cats…

KintheNorthwest

What was done to the flag yesterday was horrid. From what I have read it is illegal too.
Putting his face on the flag is very unpatriotic.

JB

What was illegal?

Ferd Berfle

My allegiance is to the Constitution. When I served, I swore to uphold and defend that wonderful document. Flags are nice but are only a symbol. The Constitution IS our country.

Bush was very good to the flag and wrapped himself up in it; he wasn’t so good to the Constitution. I believe That One will be more of the same.

I’m a Linda too

woohoo! Stated straight!
NoQtrSucks

President Obama I wanted you to lift me up. I was really hoping that finally I would feel what my wife feels, hear what my co-workers hear. I wanted to be inspired.

I wanted reasons to get on board, reasons to join those other 84%.

No you didn’t.

Ferd Berfle

I should point out to you, Mr. Obamabot, that gainsay does not constitute argument or debate, not that you would care given the sort of mindless crap you’ve been wasting good comment space on.

You would be right at home over at HuffnPuffPo, so I invite you to go pollute their blog for a change.

Here’s a bone for you, Chip, and there’s the door.

Peggy Sue

I’m not so sure this was “the worst speech, evah,” but beyond the rousing conclusion [that had more to do with delivery than substance]it was pretty ordinary. But then, I haven’t been a big fan of Obama’s speeches anyway because the style has always trumped the content.

The 84% approval/popularity poll is a total sham. Many people are relieved that the Bushies have left the building.

But we always have to careful what we wish for! Obama has the stage now. It remains to be seen what sort of acting chops he has. Or lacks. Either way, we’re stuck with him for the next 4 years.

Oh, happy days!

I’m a Linda too

Oh, it’s a push poll in sorts. They are asking “do you support the way pebo is handling his transition”. WHAT A LAME A88 question. And they try to market that as an aproval rating. lol

prieur

I liked his speech because for once I had an adult discussion with another adult, for once a politician *- sorry second time around but I was not yet born when Churchill spoke in `1940- a poltician tells the things as they really are.
Economy is dismal, foreign policies are in a bad shape, education is bad and illetteracy is soaring. Too MANY AMERICANS ARE ACTING AND POSSIBLY WORSE ARE INDEED MORONS THAT BECAUSE EDUCATION IS CONSIDERED LESS THAN MTV
IT is time we are reminded that what is the real assets of our great country are
resilience and stamina
truthorconsequences

I am not sure I want Obama to succeed in his endeavors because I am not sure what those endeavors are at this point in time. He has hung out with criminals, socialists, communists, terrorists, and anti-Americans in general. So I am not at all certain that I wish him the best of luck in those endeavors he hopes to accomplish. NO!
NW Country

NH, thank you for your post. I wanted exactly the same thing from the speech yesterday and was terribly disappointed. You put into words what I was feeling.
http://spiral-gate.blogspot.com Janis

The speech was, inexplicably, meant to lower expectations rather than inspire action. It was filled with negative imagery – cold winds, sagging confidence, blood in the snow. How tough it is right now and the hard work it will take to “maybe” fix it.

He also made clear he was holding us responsible for any failures. It was long on platitudes about change and short on solutions.

And he seems to think there are only 4 religions in the U.S. and the rest of those who aren’t one of the “big 4″ are nonbelievers. That gaffe shouldn’t have made it past the first draft.

It’s a rookie speech, but the MSM is hailing it as the Best.Speech.Ever, of course. But then, nobody takes them seriously!
Maria3

Barack Obama inauguration: his worst speech

As soon as the applause had died down, an African American standing man near me on the Mall said to his friend: “I thought the speech was shit.” Another woman said, correctly, that “we had heard it all before at other events”.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/alex_spillius/blog/2009/01/20/barack_obama_inauguration_his_worst_speech
DAB

I think that the problem with Obama’s Inauguration Speech was that he has given way too many speeches, so that they all begin to sound the same. I prefer my inspiration to be served up in small doses and hopefully at unexpected moments and maybe be tied to some actual action(s).

Obama has made such a cottage industry out of high-falutin rhetoric, that it has already become old and tired no matter what he says or how he and his minions try to reconfigure his words to make them appear fresh.

Now that he’ll have to actually have to get down to the work of governing, we may be spared these outbursts — at least for a little while.
What goes around

The chronic negativity some are displaying around here is beginning to suggest the possibility of dysthymia. There’s nothing good about Obama. The country is screwed. Any change will be change for the worse. Hope is a joke, and anyone displaying it is a tool or a fool.

I reject this mindset. It’s depressing and defeatist. It’s the very opposite of wearing rose-colored glasses. Like wearing rose-colored glasses, it’s a distorted attitude, not a reality. It’s just another cup of Kool Aid, no less poisonous than the one more commonly mentioned.

Ferd Berfle

It’s just another cup of Kool Aid, no less poisonous than the one more commonly mentioned

.

Don’t criticize us on an ability to see through the smoke and mirrors simply because you lack that ability.

And if you find this blog so negative, why are you here? I get the idea you’re just another in a long line of obamatrons who regurgitates whatever talking points botHQ uploads to your hard drive, and you only come here because the owners are kind enough to allow your sort of dreck to be posted.

beebop

I smell a barky voter who is trying to keep his own courage up …. sounds like the cowardly lion talking to himself on the yellow brick road.

Ferd Berfle

LMAO. I was imagining Beaky-Buzzard in the old Warner Brother cartoons.

http://deleted Buzz Latte LaRue

WGA, And who deemed you the psychiatrist of the internet, I might ask?

While the emotional pendulum swings widely when it comes to Obama, let people have their say.

If you don’t subscribe to doom and gloom. so be it.

Yes, some of the rhetoric is a little too in the basement on the gloom scale, but the antithesis of Obama being infallible and above the law is intolerable.

The middle ground on Obama is that he is inexperienced, he’s trying to make it look like he knows what he is doing and, yes, he is already effing up. That said, let’s get to some reality about Obama. Success will come on the backs of his cabinet and advisers, not Obama himself. He’s only the brand weenie.

1) Where are his documents?

2) Why has he not released them?

3) Why is he touting his transparency when we don’t know anything about him?

Realization: Why must America condone Obama’s personal fraud that he has perpetrated on the country?

Will he be a good president? Who knows. Certainly his minions are hoping so.
Those you call pessimistic may actually being realistic.

Get off the Hope Dope and get back to reality. That is, demand the real truth about Obama. WHO the F**K IS HE?
Sandi78

This is a little off-topic, sorry, but I didn’t know where else to put it.

I read on The Scotsman site that Obama blew of the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball last night. That’s the one that is attended by Medal of Honor recipients. It seems that 48 of them were in attendance last night and for the first time in 56 years, since the Ball was begun by President Eisenhour, the newly-inaugurated president didn’t attend.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/01/the-one-blows-o.html

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=7224

You’d think after those slick salutes Bambi was giving during the parade that he’d find time to visit with real heroes.
Sandi78

I’m sorry, I misspelled Eisenhower.
LDW

I thought Obama’s speech was OK. If he follows through on the intention and tone of this speech, he could make an adequate president. America needs more than a placeholder, of course, and there’s nothing in Obama’s past to suggest he’ll be anything more than just adequate, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised. I hope he really, really wants to be remembered as a great president, and hope this leads to boat-rocking reforms in health-care, energy policy and financial reform. I hope he takes steps to restart the manufacturing economy, both by creating green jobs and levies tariffs against goods made abroad or at home in sub-standard working conditions.

I did hear a number of ‘man-on-the-street’ interviews before Obama’s speech, with each adoring fan predicting Obama’s speech would set a new benchmark in oratory. Well, it didn’t. Not even close. There’s probably not even one quotable line. Still, the substance of the speech was OK, and the job now is to ensure the Obama administration follows through on its promises.
I’m a Linda too

The good part is, everyone keeps saying “let see what he does”.

His speech, as inappropriate as it was, not pleasing either side- his supporters or his opposition hoping to see something that would give them a better feeling over these next years, his words don’t mean much anyhow, because his actions are always so different.

I’m sure we remember when he gave his Democratic Nominating speech. All of the sudden he was speeking of general democratric principles, not much of what he campaigned on. Then, no sooner, he started backtracking on the most baisc of his campaign promises, let alone any democratic principles.

So, forget his speeches. They’re all reused and recycled words from Axelrods play book and everyone else before him. His actions will be fun.
http://! stodgie

obama froze federal pay today. i assume that includes congress. i approve of that so far. i bet the congress critters don’t. hehehe

AMERICA R.I.P.

I heard that he only froze anyone making over 100,000. And, so, socialism begins.

KintheNorthwest

Yet he was to get pay for his wife on top of all this.

Peggy Sue

I thought the freeze was strictly on the WH staff, Stogie. It’s a symbolic gesture [I'm sure none of these people will have trouble paying their utilities]. But it certainly beats the eagerness with which Congress has voted itself a pay hike, regardless of financial conditions on the ground. The restrictions on lobbyists that he signed will be determined on how well [and if] they’re enforced. The other points were about “accountability, transparency and tapping the private sector for ideas to solve our problems.”

Somewhat vague. But he received polite applause.

These were hardly bold, sweeping measures. I think we can all agree that government officials should work in an “ethical” manner. But there was nothing announced today to rock the boat or kick up dust.

A limp beginning from where I sit. We shall see.

AMERICA R.I.P.

I think it’s ridiculous. Yes, it was his staff. But it’s what is to come. Everyone in this country will have to be “equal.” Does that mean that the limit for ANYONE in this country to make salary wise is $100,000? It’s socialism. I can’t applaud it. He is, yet again, punishing SUCCESS. I’m sure the insane left doesn’t understand that the WH bathroom attendants don’t deserve to make as much as the Chief of Staff. It’s ridiculous. Here we go destroying what America was founded on.
AMERICA R.I.P.

PS It doesn’t matter whether people can “pay their utilities.” In this country, we reward success. It’s completely inappropriate to do this. If he wants to be “fair” then he should make it a sliding scale that EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the White House takes a percentage of a pay cut. Punishing only those who make over $100,000 is insane and it’s the first sign that he is one big ole COMMIE.

http://! stodgie

on obama’s speech and speech mishap. it seemed to me that obama was terribly nervous with all the hoopla and hopes laid on him. i would never want to be president for that a number of other reasons. as i recall a number of past presidents grew into office and speaking as they became more comfortable. i don’t hate obama. i just don’t want to be told how i am supposed to think or respond. i hoped bush would be better than he was and he wasn’t. i told people in my family not to vote for him and some did. at least he is more of a thinker and not a reactor like bush. time will tell. as i said i have no problem with anyone saying “give the guy a chance”. just don’t lay guilt trips on us that aren’t ours.
lark

This entire country, Dems and Repubs, want you to succeed

I don’t want him to succeed. His success mean bankruptcy for everyone. I prefer to see him to continue to lie and keep everyone believing in his lies.
stefystef

Hi Newhampster!!! So good to see you again.
I was just telling someone that I missed your posts.

As usual, you hit it right on the mark.

Everyone was looking for a “I Have a Dream” speech. Obama is no Dr. King and never will be.

http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

I’ve been here, just not posting every day. If you want to read more of my misspelled, ill conceived snark the please drop over to partizane

CG

NH, did your wife gush about Obama’s speech, and you two disagree? ha, ha. You are absolutely right, there were no shoot for the moon moments. I have to believe it is a very calculated move though on Obama’s part (Axelrod’s part), very calculated… I’m embarrassed to say I chuckled in moments when Obama seemed somber, but maybe it’s because nothing he says seems genuine when he turns his head from teleprompter to teleprompter…