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Saturday, November 22, 2008
Barack Obama's First "Fireside" Chat: 2.5 Million Jobs in Two Years
In his first "fireside chat" with the nation, Barack Obama boldly promises 2.5 million jobs within the next two years.
19 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
Worth Repeating Department:
ReplyDelete99% of local blogosphere dissent against The Morning Call has disappeared since the inception of "Blogger Tuesday at The Morning Call."
Also worth repeating:
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:09/4:10
Your comments are OT spam. You are hurting your own cause when you do this. People reading this blog are most likely getting annoyed with you and are feeling empathy for Mr. O'Hare.
I normally do not post as "Anonymous," but I am now because your behavior here has me concerned that you will attack me next.
Hopefully part of the new jobs will come from Northampton County Council members thrown out by the voters.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:31,
ReplyDeleteThe first comment here was posted by Bill Villa, who posts anonymously and under various pseudonyms as part of an effort destroy meaningful discourse here and on other blogs. His course of conduct consists of spamming this and other blogs with OT remarks. It serves no legitimate purpose.
It is intended to harass, annoy and alarm. This is in addition to the numerous threats he has made to me and others.
In blogs about the sad death of someone I admired, Villa insisted on posting his garbage. No one may grieve but Villa. He pretends to be so enchanted by Obama that he was in tears on election night, but that does not stop his from trying to dissuade readers from commenting here on Obama's first fireside chat.
On one day, he posted over 500 comments on my blog alone. Some days it is 50. Today, it is about 20 or so thus far, but the day is young.
Though he faces criminal charges, he continues his harassment. He has threatened one witness with a blood bath, accused the Northampton County DA with cronyism, and has even suggested that the Nazareth judge assigned to his case had better rule in his favor bc his deceased daughter taught dance to a lot of Nazareth people.
I will delete all comments now except for the one that explains why your comment was necessary. If you did ID yourself, I can guarantee you he would attack you. You would also find your name misappropriated.
Obama should do a hour of taking phone calls on C-Span every saturday AM. Like Pat Gillick did on Phillies radio, and Bernie Sanders does every friday on Thom Hartmann.
ReplyDeleteIt would be as good as Prime Ministers questions. Maybe the greatest civics practice on earth.
Imagine W taking questions from Congress or the public every week!
If Obama did do that on C-Span. I'd bet at minute 53 of the first ever hour Captain Janks from the Stern show would get on.
"Hi Mr. President. I'm worried that the earth may blow up from a fart by BaBaBooey."
Spike, the BaBaBooey reference is classic!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso a hell of an idea.
The Banker
At the very least it is good to see some actual long term planning on domestic policy.
ReplyDeleteI know progressives are getting angrier and angrier at his centrist picks, but there cannot be any real change until the economy is fixed and American people are working. The people Obama is picking will help initiate that change by taking away any learning curve that outsiders would have to deal with (IE The Georgia Mafia, and Clinton's first 2-3 years).
At the very least, he has put himself in a position to deliver the goods or give a hurt Republican delegation the ammo it needs in four years.
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI would add the word "some" to your original assertion.
The fact is, progressive or no, most folks are being pragmatic about Obama's choices. While I am pretty much a raving progressive, I still respond strongly to the man's intelligence and determination to do what is best for the majority of Americans - characteristics I felt were/are lacking from W's skill set.
Obama is not perfect, and no way is he a messiah (where DID the wing nuts get that one, anyway), but, as most Americans agree, he is the leader we need in this time and place.
Deer in headlights with no economic acumen whatsoever. I smell more of a Carter-era redux each day with this guy. He'll continue to deliver touchy-feely, yet dire and stern pronouncements about our predicament and malaise. He'll prolong the down economy by over-managing and acting very busy each day.
ReplyDeleteThe world's belligerents will take him lightly. We've elected a personality with no record of leadership. I'm afraid Biden will finally be proven correct about something.
Greetings:
ReplyDeleteHe is reviewing and selecting talent.
Talent takes a country forward -- isn't what capitalists all talk about? Ideology does not solve problems.
I suspect that over time, we will see a good share of progessives in policy making positions. However, I also think that the pragmatism shown by Obama suggests that he will not ignore a talented person, even if slightly conservative.
One reason we have gone down the road we have for the last 4 years is that we forgot that this country is a mixing pot of different ideas and people. Oliver Wendell Holmes knew that and acknowledged the "marketplace of ideas" as critical to this nation's success.
So, the guy is not even in office yet. I'll wait and see how he does. I admire his approach. And I admire his early selections.
Best regards,
Michael Donovan
Michael,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not worship at the altar of Obama, I am impressed by the guy. The word I haear being used, with reference to him and his policy, is "pragmatism." If you look at the top of this blog, you'll see that I have long believed that neither left nor right has all the answers.
A "progressive" answer might work for some problems and fail with others. I do think we need a new, pragmatic approach to government. We should try different approaches until we find something that works.
Everything in Obama's pasty tells me that, notwithstanding his own left-leaning impulses, he is more interested in getting it right than in ideology. For exaqmple, after being elected President of Harvard Law Review, he named a number of conservative editors, to the dismay of minority students who thought they had an inside shot. He selected these conservatives because they were better, not because of their views.
I think we're going to see a lot of that in this presidency. He could end up falling flat on his face, a flash in the pan. But whether we are on the right or left, we should all wish him success. It's our country.
"Deer in headlights with no economic acumen whatsoever. "--Anon 11:17
ReplyDeleteFunny, that's exactly what I thought when the economic meltdown first hit and Sen. McCain immediately said that the fundamentals of our economy were strong, then followed that up by sitting silently during emergency meetings with the president to discuss the situation and a declaration that he needed to halt his campaign in order to work on the economy. Perhaps Sen. McCain was cast under a poor light by these events, but given the options I had, Sen. Obama seemed the most knowledgeable on the economy, even though he certainly lacked the experience in government that his opponent had.
Not that personal financial success equals understanding of economics on the federal level, but I hold out hope that since he has managed a lucrative career as a book author ( ToTheCenter, The Century Foundation and the Baltimore Sun), P-E Obama may bring some useful insight in the area of promoting job creation in new or under-developed areas of commerce or service. We shall see.
Couple of typos in my comment (8 instead of 4 years, isn't "that" what capitalists want). My apologies.
ReplyDeleteYes Bernie...it is a watch and see how it goes. And even though someone might have experience and talent, it could all go for naught. I don't know how Mr. Obama will work out. I do know that he seems to have important characteristics. We'll just have to see.
Quite frankly, I don't see how anyone can really do it. The job of being any nation's leader, from Iceland, to Mexico, to the United States seems incredible challenging.
Best regards,
Michael
"In his first "fireside chat" with the nation, Barack Obama boldly promises 2.5 million jobs within the next two years" Thats great! The problem is they will all be govt. patronage jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe funding necessary for this level of public works programs will sap the private sector of this economy. The Keynesian approach to economics is a proven failure yet that seems to be where the new administration and congress are taking us. History is repeated because we fail to learn/remember the lessons of the past.
ReplyDeleteScott Armstrong
Where is the line for all the free shit he promised!
ReplyDeleteWhay can't democrats admit they are libs instead of "progressives" nobody actually knows or defines what a progressive is. As far as I know progressive sells car insurance.
ReplyDeleteBernie
ReplyDeleteThere is a program that will and has worked right here in America. It is called Capitalism, Unfortunately we have strayed from that path and now have a mixed economy, capitalism and statism. If you take a look at the latter part of the 19th century you will see capitalism at work with the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, Singer and others. Then all of a sudden we end up in the middle of the Progressive era with Teddy Roosevelt taking the lead and instituting a policy of breaking up the trusts with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. We need to go back to true Capitalism and get rid of the damnable socialism that increased under Wilson and then Franklin Roosevelt.
As to Progressives being liberals, they became liberals when the Progressive movement failed with the end of the Wilson administration. Liberal then became the operable term while the opposition became the conservatives. This year Progressive became the vogue term because liberal had become a toxic term.
From the Austin American-Statesman (11/23):
ReplyDelete"President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday that he has started work on a two-year economic stimulus plan that would create or save 2.5 million jobs"
"save or create" lol.
If Bush said that he'd be triple-grilled and sprinkled with Old Bay and Keith Olberfuhrer and Chrissy WAAAAAA-tthews would have boolean math experts on TV ridiculing the prez.