Obama almost got one by me
 

When I heard about his budget "freeze" I thought at first it was a good idea but I spoke too soon before I really knew what was going on. Charles Krauthammer explained what we really need to understand about this gimmick.
Ok so last year departments like EPA for example were given a over 20% increase in budget spending so compare that to an average of 4% give or take for yearly increase and they are YEARS ahead of normal budget increase guidlines. So this "freeze" doesnt affect 60% of our spending (Veterans, Pentagon, Social Security, Medicare, aid for other nations and so on) but the 40% he "froze" is far and away better off than they should have been to begin with. Way to go Obama.........your a real piece of work.

It might be wise for Dr. Strangelove to wait until the plan is actually announced before he tells us what's wrong with it.

John

Whats wrong with it????????????? The fact he is freezing something that he bloated to an extreme level last year IS whats wrong. The fact he thinks the public is too stupid to figure it out is also whats wrong.

You are insulting Charles Krauthammer? Interesting cause he is truely a brilliant man and a voice of calm reason anyone could aspire to even if you dont agree with all his opinion. Make no mistake he is infact brilliant and admirable for overcoming a disability most would give up upon suffering from.
Here is a bio I pulled on him that looks to me like a guy we would all be proud to know.

Charles Krauthammer, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, writes a nationally syndicated column for The Washington Post Writers Group. Charles Krauthammer, also winner of the 1984 National Magazine Award for essays, began writing the weekly column for The Washington Post in January 1985. It now appears in more than 150 newspapers.


Charles Krauthammer was born in New York City and raised in Montreal. Charles Krauthammer was educated at McGill University, majoring in political science and economics, Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. in 1975). Charles Krauthammer practiced medicine for three years as a resident and then chief resident in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In 1978, Charles Krauthammer quit medical practice, came to Washington to direct planning in psychiatric research for the Carter administration, and began contributing articles to The New Republic. During the presidential campaign of 1980, Charles Krauthammer served as a speech writer to Vice President Walter Mondale.

Sort of difficult to find a way to insult a man of this caliber.
I think he should get a pass on being critical of our President seeing how he is more qualified for the office.:D

Yes, I am.

If that makes you feel better then go with it, its sad, pathetic and doesnt speak highly of your intelligence but go with it. As always I respect your right to be wrong.

I guess winning a Pulitzer prize is almost as impressive as winning a Nobel Prize. Imagine the level of respect a Nobel Prize winner should receive, especially considering one overcoming the difficulties of having an absent father and having to overcome racial barriers to achieve great things.

Regards,

D-Ray

In no way am I defending writewing or whoever that fellow is in his link ( did not read it ). Fact I disagree with nearly everything he has to say but Obama won the Noble for one reason. The race card was such a lame reason to award it to him that I will no longer respect anyone who recieves the NPP..

A Nobel prize for saying that you're going to do something? Or you'd like to do something?

I'd like to win the lottery so I could give it all to the government so they could give it all to people that do not have health care. Where's my Nobel prize?

I suppose an argument could be made for the idea that he got the award for not being George Bush or Dick Cheney.

I was trying, poorly I suppose, for trying to point out the absurdity in the argument that "The guy I'm parroting is smarter than you, so I must be right." That is feeble excuse for refusing to discuss the merits of the proposition.

Regards,

D-Ray

Krauthammer is a bitter old man, so out of touch with the world that I stopped reading his diatribes years ago.

Is that why Dr. King and Archbishop Tutu won?

John

Well, you put it in your typically combative manner, but I certainly agree it's a gimmick. As I've said, it's a purely political move.

But I guess the question is, so what? That's what they do. Under pressure to 'do something' (as if he's done nothing) about the economy, he took an easy step that didn't require anything being passed by congress but makes a good headline. They all do it. They all do it all the time. Doesn't do any good and is probably bad for the recovery. But the polling was probably good on it and it was easy to do. Had to get a couple of ticks in the "win" column before the SOTU.

Eh, not worth getting too worked up over. We've likely lost our only shot at actual health care reform in our lifetimes. If you're weighing things to worry about, I'd put that higher up the scale.

(edit) I see- or we could fight about the Nobel prize again. Why didn't I see it- that's what this is really about.

You make a point that I've made for years- nothing significant can be done if you don't address military spending, Social Security, Medicade and Medicare. They're such a huge part of our budget you can't realize any significant saving if you don't start there.

Unfortunately, we've killed the only plan proposed in years that actually addressed any of these.

Back to the OP's (or Krauthammer's point). I don't think this "freeze" on discretionary spending can be viewed as anything other than a political and symbolic ploy. When you exempt Defense and "entitlement" spending as well as payment on the debt, there's precious little left over to freeze anyway. Whether you're freezing last year's inflated EPA budget (or their reduced budget from the year before) is immaterial. This is nothing more than a signal to "Main Street" that he feels our pain and senses our frustration. If this results in public support for other worthwhile initiatives, fine. If not, it'll just leave us scratching our heads.

No they deserved it.

Are you seriously comparing those two men to Obama ???

But do you think America will buy it?

Nope. The Right will point of the relative ineffectiveness of this measure, while the Left will decry the freezing of the budgets of some of their "sacred cow" programs. I don't think this effort has many advocates.

OTOH, I think he'll use this as one of several measures to show he's fighting for the little guy (to include his newfound animosity toward the banks). When you combine several such actions, it might form a new narrative. But I doubt it.

Remains to be seen. Bet he mentions it as part of his agenda in the big speech.

I think it is another political misstep by Obama.

I think the mood of the country with financial struggle and job loss combined with Obama's mistakes have made the country far too cynical for him to be able to correct course on public opinion. He could have been great had he kept to his center platform but he ran to the Left and blew it.

For the moment. He still has time to turn things around (or for things to turn around with or without him). The electorate is notoriously fickle. At this point in their respective terms, Reagan's polls were in the dumps and Dubya's were sky high. How did that turn out?

I dont see a Regan like turn around as things are so different with media, internet and 24/7 news cycle making for more anger than back then but time will tell.

You know how Reagan turned things around? He stood there at his first SOTU and convinced everyone that all our miseries were Carter's fault. His numbers soared and Ronnie Raygun never looked back.

Maybe there's a lesson there for Obama.

John

Pass the malaise, please.:cool:

Hey Writewing - Based not just on this post but some in the recent past, I sense that you're settling in a bit. Cool. There was a bit much of that "throwing turds in the punch bowl" thing going on for a while. Things got a bit riled up and decidedly unpleasant. Settle in and enjoy the ride.;)

Its a lesson that every prez for the next 4-6 terms will take a page from.

By while I may not have liked ronnie much, he sure did get a basket of goodies left on his door from the previous admin..

The test will come with the first spending loaded bill they send him, if he vetos it then the public will believe. I suspect that if Congress tries to extend the tax cut that will be the one.