Barack Obama is the President of the US now (FYI)

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:58 am

Matsunaga wrote:Like anyone really knows if he'll be a good president or not. The Obama hysteria is reaching insane levels. I hope he does a good job as much as anyone else, but I'm not going to proclaim him God before he does a damn thing. People need to get a grip.

Oh, come on. He's not Dubya, so it's mathematically and dimensionally impossible for him to make things any worse.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:26 am

Specineff wrote:
Matsunaga wrote:Like anyone really knows if he'll be a good president or not. The Obama hysteria is reaching insane levels. I hope he does a good job as much as anyone else, but I'm not going to proclaim him God before he does a damn thing. People need to get a grip.
Oh, come on. He's not Dubya, so it's mathematically and dimensionally impossible for him to make things any worse.

Bushie is throwing a party in Texas to celebrate the end of his presidency. God help us... I wonder why he can't just go back to Connecticut instead of trying to fool the world that he's from Texas. This shit is embarrassing.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:27 am

Matsunaga wrote:Like anyone really knows if he'll be a good president or not.

You seem to have already made up your mind, people are only entitled to cynicism before knowing the facts then? No one's going apeshit over him in this thread anyways.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:00 am

Specineff wrote:
Matsunaga wrote:Like anyone really knows if he'll be a good president or not. The Obama hysteria is reaching insane levels. I hope he does a good job as much as anyone else, but I'm not going to proclaim him God before he does a damn thing. People need to get a grip.
Oh, come on. He's not Dubya, so it's mathematically and dimensionally impossible for him to make things any worse.

INDEED.

I hope he improves the world a little. I liked it when Clinton was pres. $6,000 bonus checks @ the auto plants...man those were the good ol' days. Besides that, Monica gave him oral pleasure.

Aru-san · Post by **Aru-san** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:07 am

All I can say is that I hope that Obama can do better than what FDR did for the Great Depression.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:15 am

THE NEWS:

President Obama spends his first day in office sitting on his arse, watching a parade! "And on the seventh day..."

Karl Rove has some timely advice for the new President. Never mind the suspicious confluence of [url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123197784199983615.html[/url] on the fifteenth; some of it was fair and some of it was the to-be-expected pantsshitting anxiety from people losing their appointed champion (an example I would really criticize being a recent article from the Jerusalem Post thanking Bush for his service to Israel over the years, which was both angry and rather humorously ill-applied).

Of course, to balance out the first words I've written about the guy on his first day in office - somebody I definitely wanted in office - I should note that it was apparently damn cold and anybody who can sit out there for however many hours watching a parade has nether regions of titanium. Not what I'd consider to be an easy day, really.

But back on the anti-hype wagon: We heard some good things in that speech, which I watched along with literally hundreds of other students in the campus auditorium.

Miller Auditorium here at WMU seats 3,497, and there's three levels - a balcony (closed off, less than 1/3 the seats), another level about the same size (the Grand Tier), and an orchestra level. The Grand Tier and the Orchestra seemed pretty close to full, and most rows seemed well over half full.

There was some laughter as Obama raced over the Chief Justice in order to get sworn in, and some laughter whenever Bush's rather stoic face appeared on the screen (for whatever reason).

The poet they had on immediately after was pretty dire, I thought, so I left.

My final observation: Bill Clinton was a good guy and a decent President, but one thing I find rather interesting is that Barack Obama's personality type seems more like Bush. Clinton was not quite a prima donna (that term is forevermore reserved for Battle Creek's favorite, Donald Rumsfeld, I'm told), but he certainly fits closer to the stereotype of the daredevil politician that loves to live life on the edge. Bush is actually a pretty quiet guy, and although I think he didn't really have much of a plan for foreign policy at the start, his natural inclination was for a "humble" policy with regards to other nations. Obama seems more likely to live closer to that promise. Both Administrations like, or liked, to keep drama to a minimum - Bush's eventually cracking and fracturing under the strain on credibility this caused for many within his Administration.

Obama's Administration certainly will learn from Bush's mistakes, and it helps that he's not listening to escaped End Times types and certain other types of domestic terrorist. Just as importantly, he should not ignore the lessons other administrations have learned at cost to themselves, from Wilson and FDR to Kennedy and Clinton.

BryanM · Post by **BryanM** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:42 am

If he really does dump Don't Ask Don't Tell, that'd be at least something positive.

... did Bush do anything positive?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:59 am

BryanM wrote:... did Bush do anything positive?

Yeah, AIDS in Africa and other things that any President would have gotten to work on anyway.

It's not so much that Bush didn't make tough choices or failed to make positive moves - some obvious, some not - it's more that the mistakes made under his watch were huge.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:40 am

Freakin' news is all over America. Everybody should know without spamming the boards.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:07 am

Chris Rock says we'll be able to make fun of Obama once he makes a slip-up, but so far Barry and Shelly's slip-ups have been real talk. I.e. bitterness about guns and religion remark, for the first time I'm proud to be an American remark; stuff that's true but that you're not allowed to say.

You can't really mock shit like that like you can with Bushisms

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:09 am

Acid King wrote:Heh, I can't wait for what's going to happen a year or two down the line, when shit is still collapsing, all the hope dies and everyone goes back to normal. Not to be negative or anything, I'm just tired of Obama fever.

It's cyclical. Most likely, even if he doesn't do much, the situation will be better. Win/win. He's better than Bush any way you slice it though.

or the first time I'm proud to be an American remark; stuff that's true but that you're not allowed to say.

Oops

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:22 am

To quote the Onion: Newsflash! Shittiest job in American given to black man.

Oh yeah, and PS, I still can't believe Bush is gone. It's gonna take a while for the neural synapses to reform and accept this.

Pixel_Outlaw · Post by **Pixel_Outlaw** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:49 am

Not a fan but I hope he does a good job, then again the whole affiliated party will speak louder than he will.

BryanM · Post by **BryanM** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:00 am

CMoon wrote:Oh yeah, and PS, I still can't believe Bush is gone. It's gonna take a while for the neural synapses to reform and accept this.

captpain · Post by **captpain** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:03 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:
BryanM wrote:... did Bush do anything positive?
Yeah, AIDS in Africa and other things that any President would have gotten to work on anyway.

It's not so much that Bush didn't make tough choices or failed to make positive moves - some obvious, some not - it's more that the mistakes made under his watch were huge.

Ah yes hello Bush apologist

Bush was a victim man right

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:29 am

Ah yes hello Bush apologist

Bush was a victim man right

Free gift for ya

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:50 am

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:04 am

China afraid of Obama's speech:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/worl ... ama-speech

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:32 pm

Turrican wrote:China afraid of Obama's speech:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/worl ... ama-speech

Mississippi afraid of Obama's speech:

http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?S=9317315

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:58 pm

Semi-related: Sen. Kennedy suffered a seizure at a luncheon yesterday, which I knew and probably many of you did too, but this quote came out of it:

"We were having a wonderful time telling all our Byrd stories and Kennedy was telling some of the best, but then something happened and it all stopped," former Vice President Walter Mondale told Fox News.

Senator Byrd (91) was sitting next to Kennedy and was wheeled out afterward as a precaution.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:32 pm

CMoon wrote: Mississippi afraid of Obama's speech:

http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?S=9317315

What the fuck?

Koa Zo · Post by **Koa Zo** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:48 pm

Matsunaga wrote: People need to get a grip.

Your mom need to get a grip. Of my ****.

...like the supporters for Obama are any more hysteric than Bush supporters and their "FOUR MORE YEARS" chanting back in '04, or the Palin supporters claiming she was treated unfairly.

More than half of America has felt beaten down and suppressed by Bush's "with us or against us" mentality, now they are celebrating. (not to mention the whole race issue -which is a HUGE part of the celebration)

Like someone else so rightly pointed out: "oh, what? it's ok to be negative and cynical before the President has had an opportunity to do anything. But it isn't ok to be rejoiceful?"

I've heard AM radio loudmouths suggest that Obama will get no support from them or their listeners because of how "rotten" Democrats were towards Bush during his reign and particularly Palin during the campaigning (I've head the Palin excuse more than once"). Yet they neglect to realize or accept that sustained criticism for either did not take root until they were judged on their performance and actions.

captpain · Post by **captpain** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:50 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
Ah yes hello Bush apologist

Bush was a victim man right
Free gift for ya

I'm sorry... I was drunk when I wrote that.

BryanM · Post by **BryanM** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:04 pm

It's telling that we're all bored of the Bushisms anyway. Hundreds zing by every day and we don't blink an eye.

Here is a story which I believe is about Bush Junior. I saw it on PBS, probably Frontline, so..

When going off to college, his mother gave him a thesaurus. She tells him some variation of "If you ever find yourself repeating the same word over and over, look it up in here to mix it up a bit."

So one day in English class, the man turns in an essay about the day his grandfather died. There were references to crying. Later, the teacher calls him over to ask about all these "lacerations" mentioned in the essay.

GaijinPunch wrote:What the fuck?

It's The South.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:18 pm

January 21, 2009. An old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said, “Okay” and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and, again just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.” The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:03 pm

captpain wrote:
GaijinPunch wrote:
Ah yes hello Bush apologist

Bush was a victim man right
Free gift for ya
I'm sorry... I was drunk when I wrote that.

No hard feelings here either.

BTW, Koa Zo and Ceph just rocked my world.

I don't think anybody mentioned Obama's pledge gaffe, which was pretty funny actually. It stopped people from thinking about Obama's middle name and more about how anxious he was to start presiding :D

Also, the campus paper said we had about 2,500 students watching the inauguration from that auditorium. Out of only 2 million supposed viewers (wtf did that figure come from? CNN alone had over a million concurrent streams on their site) that's a good fraction. I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was actually many millions watching that in the US alone.

In other news, apparently live web video streams failed. Good thing I went into Miller instead of trying to watch it from a prof's office.

I think the funniest part of that is the message CNN reportedly was giving people: "Congratulations, you made it. Unfortunately, so did everyone else."

Also apparently you transcribe Miller Auditorium as "Mi ra - O de to ri u n" (the second word is my sloppy attempt for JPNS class this morning). Didn't have to write that for the assigned work, but it was worth it.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:29 am

Update: I love the grammatical errors and Palin-isms creeping into Glenn Beck's piece here.

From what I can tell, he sat down and wrote this, so calling Timothy Geitner "the guys who developed the TARP" and writing "I don’t think so clown!" and "And he’s got a compassionate — he’s just, just a good person. He’s a public figure." I can't believe he wrote that - it must be a transcript without being noted as such.

I very much enjoy the image of Beck sputtering and spinning in his chair while randomly hitting ten keyboards placed around him, however, each with a different image on the monitor placed behind it.

Also, Caroline Kennedy is withdrawing her bid for Senator Clinton's seat. Bad week for the Kennedys, but this move strikes me as for the best.

Update #2: AHA, Roberts tripped up Obama, and if even Fox News says it's so it must be true. It was a setup!

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:58 am

Ceph wrote:January 21, 2009. An old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said, “Okay” and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and, again just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.” The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

Unbelievably, this is already an old joke, but I still love it.

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:08 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:Update #2: AHA, Roberts tripped up Obama, and if even Fox News says it's so it must be true. It was a setup!

Fox News wrote:Obama didn't actually finish taking the oath until 12:05 p.m., five minutes after he actually became president under the Constitution. Clinton, in his first inauguration in 2001, also was five minutes late in taking the oath.

What an important and newsworthy parallel.

Koa Zo · Post by **Koa Zo** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:30 am

Ex-Cyber wrote:
Fox News wrote:Obama didn't actually finish taking the oath until 12:05 p.m., five minutes after he actually became president under the Constitution. Clinton, in his first inauguration in 2001, also was five minutes late in taking the oath.
What an important and newsworthy parallel.

Is that to say every other President took the oath at exactly 12:00 PM.
wtf Fox?!!