Obama almost got one by me

[merrylander]

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

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

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..

Is that why Dr. King and Archbishop Tutu won?

John

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by Writewing

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.

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.

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by Writewing

So this "freeze" doesnt affect 60% of our spending (Veterans, Pentagon, Social Security, Medicare, aid for other nations and so on)

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.

[finnbow]

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.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Is that why Dr. King and Archbishop Tutu won?

John

No they deserved it.

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

[Writewing]

Originally Posted by finnbow

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.

But do you think America will buy it?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Writewing

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.

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by Writewing

But do you think America will buy it?

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

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by Writewing

But do you think America will buy it?

I think it is another political misstep by Obama.