While he can't do it by himself, pushing Congress to pass the Jobs bill he proposed last year would be nice. He's already pulled us out of Iraq and is pulling us out of Afganistan, so there's not much else he can do that I'd want him to do without a Congress he can work with.
BlkPaladin said: Get the bond rating back up. Which means he cannot continue the spending spree he and the legislative branch has been on these past 4 years. The lower the bond rating the higher the interest rate on mortgages and credit cards. That one drop from the summer is going to cost the average American thousands of dollars per year. |
No, it means that Republicans can't hold the debt ceiling hostage again next year. It wasn't spending that caused our lower bond rating. We've been big spenders and deficit makers since the 1980s, after all, and much of the current deficit was caused by policies of the previous administration (two unpaid wars, two rounds of unpaid taxes, increased spending and reduced taxes caused by the recession, higher interest caused by higher debt, and of course the debt left over from the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton) that Obama has been blamed for for the last few years.
Cutting spending and raising taxes is the last thing you do in a weak economy. Our primary goal for the moment needs to be reduced taxes and increased spending. Government can use a lot of services and create a lot of jobs, which is exactly what you want to do in a weak jobs market. It's what we typically have done during recessions in the past. And if you want to keep our bond rating from going lower, DON'T take the debt ceiling hostage.
Kasz216 said:
You do realize every president including Obama up until about half a year ago was anti-gay... correct? Hell, i'd argue Obama is still anti-gay since he now holds the same gay marriage position as Dick Cheney. Which is... "It's a state issue." A cowardly statement that's complete bullshit when you consider the fact that their are tons of federal benefits tied to marriage... and well... every other fucking thing doing with marriage has been a federal level event.
Unless Obama is willing to say Loving vs Virginia was ruled incorrectly and interracial marriage should be a state issue to. |
Dick Cheney isn't anti-gay, though. He actually endorsed gay marriage back in 2009. Obama isn't anti-gay either. He campaigned in 2008 on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He went out of his way to make sure it he got to repeal it in 2010, taking unneeded political risk when he didn't really need to due to the Supreme Court decision. He signed a hate crimes bill that defined anti-gay acts as hate crimes. He expanded the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover gay parents who adopt children, and later extended health coverage to those children.
Obama was never anti-gay. He was just, like every politician, measured in his support of gay rights in order to ensure he doesn't alienate a large swath of the voting block which, until a few years ago, WAS pretty anti-gay. He hasn't been a perfect candidate on this issue, but he certainly isn't "anti-gay", and he is certainly no more cowardly then ANY other politician who's ever successfully run for a presidential nomination. If anything he's shown more balls then most, given that Republicans have been able to use it as a political cudgal to energize their base, a cudgial he didn't need to give them. There is little, if any electoral upside to this position for him.
