Obama Make A Difference?

[ks8829]

Do you think Obama will make a difference in his presidency?

Our economy is in it worst shape since the depression, what do you think?

[Fat Slice]

Somebody had to clean up this mess. It's going to take a whole lot of work from people inside and outside of government. Obama will have to lead, but he'll have to have a lot of cooperation as well as individually inspired efforts across the board. I give the guy a good a chance as any to get things back on track. The thing is, first he has to stop the bleeding, and then he can rebuild the economy, etc. That whole process may take longer than one term. We shall see...I wish him and his team good luck - we ALL need some results!

[mako224]

Whatever he does you can bet the main street media will be propping him up. The biggest change you will see durring his presidency will be the media changing from one that has done everything they could to tear down our country and its president to one that fawns over its chosen president. Should be interesting to watch.

[ganjagolfer]

he hasn't even taken office yet and already the stock market is rebounding, clearly he is going to be a great president, maybe we should start thinking about chiseling his image on mt. rushmore

[Awsi Dooger]

Whatever he does you can bet the main street media will be propping him up. The biggest change you will see durring his presidency will be the media changing from one that has done everything they could to tear down our country and its president to one that fawns over its chosen president. Should be interesting to watch.

Bush got a comparative free pass during the 2000 election season and early in his presidency. The media didn't turn on Bush until it realized how blatantly his administration had been using the media to plant false stories and manipulate opinion, specifically leading up to the Iraq war. Judith Miller was Example A. She was coddled and teased and given supposed scoops which she would print in the New York Times on Sundays. Then later on the same day Bush administration officials would appear on the Sunday talk shows and cite from her bogus articles, a double phony disgraceful whammy with disastrous consequences.

This administration earned every bit of intense negative scrutiny, particularly post-Katrina.

[bogeyhitter25]

Stock market getting back on track, and the gas prices up here are finally lowering (less than $2.00. Hasn't been in years). I'm hoping he'll keep it going when he takes office.

[mirv]

i've got a good feeling going into his presidency. if kerry had won in 2004, even though i voted for him, i wouldn't have felt very confident i don't think, because that was strictly "i'm voting against bush" and not "i'm voting for kerry."

with obama, i feel like he's totally intent and capable of getting stuff turned around.

[mako224]

Bush got a comparative free pass during the 2000 election season and early in his presidency. The media didn't turn on Bush until it realized how blatantly his administration had been using the media to plant false stories and manipulate opinion, specifically leading up to the Iraq war. Judith Miller was Example A. She was coddled and teased and given supposed scoops which she would print in the New York Times on Sundays. Then later on the same day Bush administration officials would appear on the Sunday talk shows and cite from her bogus articles, a double phony disgraceful whammy with disastrous consequences.

You are apparently living in fairy tale land or something. Bush never ever got anything even remotely close to favorable media coverage. The media has resented him from the first day he came on the national scene. The only exception was about a 1-week hiatus after 911.

Next you're gonna tell me there wasn't unprecidented media bias in favor of Obama in the recent election. As for Katrina, surely you must be joking right????? Let me guess you're one of these people who think that Bush sent the hurricane to Louisiana and that Bush blew up the levies and that all of the local, state and fema beurocrats are without fault since of course its all Bush's fault. Hell, Bush even sent down commandos in blackhawk helecopters to chain up all of these school buses so the good old boy mayor Nagen couldn't use them to get those charming NewOrlinears out of harms way.

[Smallville]

Stock market getting back on track, and the gas prices up here are finally lowering (less than $2.00. Hasn't been in years). I'm hoping he'll keep it going when he takes office.

I thought everyone was saying the gas prices went down because the republicans were trying to keep themselves in office prior to the elections. Now it's because of Obama? And the stock market? It's still a roller coaster ride and we haven't seen bottom yet. How is that getting back on track? Oh yeah, Obama's doing it all from OUTSIDE the oval office. He's the savior, I forgot.

[zeg]

all of the local, state and fema beurocrats are without fault since of course its all Bush's fault.

There's plenty of blame there to go around, but Bush rightly deserves a healthy dose of it through FEMA's incompetent reaction. After all, HE is the one who thought it was a good idea to appoint an unqualified buddy to lead it as a political favor.

To keep this on topic, I think that regardless of our political affiliations, we all better hope Obama and his administration are capable of leading us out of this mess. If not, we are all going to suffer. Personally, I think he's the best qualified of the candidates in the recent election, and I think he's as likely as anyone to do it. Still, I don't know that it's enough. This could be beyond the power of any single president to pull us through.

[bogeyhitter25]

I thought everyone was saying the gas prices went down because the republicans were trying to keep themselves in office prior to the elections. Now it's because of Obama? And the stock market? It's still a roller coaster ride and we haven't seen bottom yet. How is that getting back on track? Oh yeah, Obama's doing it all from OUTSIDE the oval office. He's the savior, I forgot.

I never said the Obama was the reason for the low gas prices. I said "I hope he keeps it going when he takes office".

[EquipmentJunkie]

I thought everyone was saying the gas prices went down because the republicans were trying to keep themselves in office prior to the elections. Now it's because of Obama? And the stock market? It's still a roller coaster ride and we haven't seen bottom yet. How is that getting back on track? Oh yeah, Obama's doing it all from OUTSIDE the oval office. He's the savior, I forgot.

I don't think he was claiming the positive changes are due to Obama, more or less that he hopes to see positive trends continue once Obama is in power.

[RocketSauce]

i hope Obama will make a difference. i dont see how he could do any worse than Bush, thats for sure. this country went to sh*t with Bush in office and i think people for the most part are sick of it. i dont know if Obama will make a difference, but i certainly hope he does.

[Golfiante]

I´m agree. My hopes are in his hands.

[Blades4me]

Do you think Obama will make a difference in his presidency?

Will Obama make a difference? I certainly hope so; sometimes a change is as good as a cure.

Our economy really sucks and IMO its going to get worse. I also think we are looking at a year and a half, maybe more to hit bottom. The last 8 years have been an express way to recession and inflation so it will take awhile to turn around. Bill didn't do us all that many favors, but at least he left money in the bank.

[mako224]

Our economy is in it worst shape since the depression, what do you think?

You really don't have a clue do you????? You are typing on a golf forum and you think this is the worst since the depression. Look around you. Our "poor" people are fat. Our poor have cable television, laptop computers and cell phones. This is not a bad economy. Its just a dip in the road. Keep watching the network news though.

[EquipmentJunkie]

You really don't have a clue do you????? You are typing on a golf forum and you think this is the worst since the depression. Look around you. Our "poor" people are fat. Our poor have cable television, laptop computers and cell phones. This is not a bad economy. Its just a dip in the road. Keep watching the network news though.

I'm not saying that you're incorrect however, statistically in developed countries where inflation is not an issue, people eat more during tough economic times. Look at alcohol and fast food sales they are on the rise. As far as "typing on a golf forum," the Admins created this area for off topic banter so I don't see a problem with the discussion at hand. It's been pretty civil until the opening comment of your last post.

[PEZGolf]

Do you think Obama will make a difference in his presidency?

He will make a difference and here is one of the keys: the people who are advising him and his selections for Cabinet posts. Tim Geithner is a great choice for Secretary of the Treasury. Unlike Hank Paulson, he is not pre-disposed to give preferential treatment to the financial corporations (Paulson made his huge wealth with Goldman Sachs, and his buddies are investment bankers and brokers). Geithner realizes, based on his past experiences at the Treasury and as President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, that loose regulations were a major cause of the problems in the finance industry. We can blame Phil Gramm, the US Congress, and the laissez faire Republicans for starting this with the replacement of the Glass Steagal Act with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Act in 1999. It basically said that the finance industry should be "let loose"---bankers can do insurance, insurance companies like AIG can get create new instruments (credit default swaps), and mortgage loans can be bundled and "securitized".

The next culprit was "The Wizard"---Alan Greenspan, who thought that the finance industry would be well managed by itself and be good risk managers and therefore, the Federal Reserve Bank did not have to perform one of its main functions----supervise and regulate the banks. He has now admitted in testimony before the Congress that he was "dead wrong". Geithner was in the Treasury during previous crises and meltdowns and was willing to push back to Larry Summers, which is no easy task. This post, as we all know, was one of the most important that Obama had to fill. It is my hope that Obama's economic team will lean on the skeptics in Congress who were more than happy to let Paulson hand out $350 billion in "Rescue Plan" checks to Goldman Sachs, Bank of Amercia, Citigroup, AIG, and other units in the finance industry. This was done without making Bank of America completely cut out its dividend (the Board did cut it in half, but that is only a "half step"), cut Ken Lewis' salary to $1, and make Lewis, Pandit of Citicorp and the heads of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley testify in public session about why they deserved taxpayer assistance!!! And now, Senator Richard Selby and the "brave" members of the Senate want to roast the Big 3 Auto Companies, when the same Senators sat on their hands and let Paulson and Bernanke bail out bankers who should have been fired. Do you realize that Ken Lewis at Bank of America has engineered the purchase of Lasalle Bank, MBNA credit cards, Countrywide S & L (and gave a rich, golden parachute to the culprit of subprime mortgage loans, Angelo Mozillo), and now Merrill Lynch? The stock price has dropped from over $50 a share to $14 under his "leadership". He has admitted he has made "mistakes", and yet Paulson did not make it a condition of the Treasury investing $15 billion of US taxpayer money to cut his salary to $1 or have him fired???? I hope that Geithner and the new economic team are smart enough to realize that the bankers got a free ride from Paulson and the US Congress, and the failure to make loans or credit lines to the Big 3 auto companies jeopardizes 3.1 million "blue collar" jobs. Let the bankers lose their jobs. They made bad loans. They took mortgage loans that should not have been made and bundled them and sold them off, and laughed about it, while they got filthy rich. This new economic team will not be "in bed" with the finance industry like Paulson is. The US Congress needs to wake up, and Richard Selby is #1. Enough of the diatribe. This country is in huge trouble, and the economy will be in bad shape for the next 2 to 3 years. Will Obama make a difference? You betcha, and I pray it will be a good difference. Let me ask you this---compared to the Bush team, especially Hank Paulson, could it get any worse?