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Things are going to get better.
A month before his inauguration, Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. It’s the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than a half-century.
President Bush falls to a distant second after seven years as the most-admired man.
Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the list of most-admired woman, a spot she’s held for 13 of the past 16 years — as first lady, then New York senator and now Obama’s designate for secretary of State. A newcomer is second: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who wasn’t well-known nationally until Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate in August.
Please allow me to provide the requisite precipitation for your triumphal march.
Ratings as high as these have more room on the downside than the upside. Watch for lots of press handwringing about the “end of the honeymoon” or “voter disillusionment” as soon as Mr. Obama’s numbers slip even a tiny handful of percentage points.
And, of course, slip they will. Any decision the man makes will displease some fractional subset of the public that views the subject of the decision as THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE HISTORY AND/OR FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE!
We now return you to your sunny morning.
Change has come ! Will change hold Bush and his administration accountable? Accountable for thousands of deaths, lost of limbs, mental stress to U.S. military and allied coalition forces and family member for a lie. The lie which is the Iraqii war. PRISON time for man-slaughter of the many men and women that serve our country. The misrepresentation of our Constitution in order to secure his agenda and establish his legacy as a President. To finish what his father failed to do to in his administration.
Maybe President Bush and his administration should take up residency at Gitmo!!!
Obama promised us “change,” and apparently won the election on this promise. Yet since, he has become more like Bill Clinton in his political appointments and George Bush in his foreign policy positions. Rumbles are already arising on his Left and much of the Right still questions his birthplace, citizenship, selective service status and past drug abuse, none of which were addressed by the major media. George Bush’s long past arrest for driving under the influence was published by the media as if it were a matter of national security. Were it not such a serious matter it would be to laugh at the corruption of the mass media and the ignorance and gullibility of the American electorate. I recall with near despair the comments of several who proudly stated they had voted for Obama but also admitted they did not know which party controlled congress or who Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or Bill Ayers were. Yet all knew that Palin had an unmarried, pregnant daughter. Ignoramuses like Chris Matthews have won.
The proof for Obama will be in the pudding, that said in times like this its important that our president not be seen as a divisive simpleton.
Change has come! Now that change has come , who will hold Bush and his administration accountable. Accountable for the thousands of live lost, loss of limbs, mental stress of U.S. military and allied coalition forces and their families due to a lie. That lie being the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. A war that was perpetuated by the misrepresentation of intelligence, reports and blantant disregard of the Constitution of the US of A!! While he state” No regrets” for his decision to carry out this war to secure his legacy as President and to finish what his father couldn’t do to secure another term in office with the 100 hour war of Desert Storm! Maybe Bush along with Cheney should take up residency at Gitmo!!
Change will certainly come. With any luck Obama’s string of lies will continue as he reaches for the center to govern. LOL, the more lies Obama told to garner far left votes the better the country will be, an interesting paradox.
Scratch a liberal and a coward bleeds.
Oliver, I love you man. I love your optimism, your lack of cynicism… you rise above all the negativity and doubt. I love your blog.
President Bush falls to a distant second after seven years as the most-admired man.
Sorry. Any poll that had Bush as “most admired” for the past 7 years doesn’t seem credible to me.
“…his birthplace, citizenship, selective service status, and past drug abuse, none of which were addressed by the major media.”
Oh, please, the first three things mentioned here are only in question by the lunatic fringe engaging in ridiculous lawsuits, and that’s why they were (rightly) not addressed by the major media. As for the drug use issue, that was indeed covered by the major media, especially by Repulbican Party organs like the F(R)NC.
Not bad, rotter, you’re actually mostly right there. A decided improvement.
It’s just that Obama has a tendency to let his mouth overshoot the facts. For example, he said that he considered joining the military in the summer after he graduated from high school, when he had to register for the draft, but instead chose to go to college.
Only problem there is that draft registration didn’t come back until after his first year of college. There was no draft for him to register for the year he graduated from high school; it would have been after his first year of college.
No big deal, but interesting.
Kind of like how he initially was saying that there were no contacts between his staff and Blagojevich and his staff, then had to say between HIM directly and the Blagojevich camp. And now it’s looking like Rahm Emanuel was trying to sway Blago on HIS seat, not Obama’s.
Again, no big deal, nothing improper or incriminating about the whole thing. But the question is why did he feel the need to minimize (that’s polite-speak for “lie” or “bullshit”) the story?
J.
“I recall with near despair the comments of several who proudly stated they had voted for Obama but also admitted they did not know which party controlled congress or who Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or Bill Ayers were. Yet all knew that Palin had an unmarried, pregnant daughter. Ignoramuses like Chris Matthews have won.”
PT. Barnum put it best and Democratic strategists have taken it to heart.
Scratch a liberal and a coward bleeds.
Obama has lied about an awful lot but I don’t think he lied about the draft. I was born in 59 and my brother was born in 60. We, the year class of 59, were the only ones not required to register. My brother born 13 months later was.
But be of good cheer Jay, there are many more examples of Obama lying and I’m sure, many more to come. When pressed, the truth just isn’t in him.
Scratch a liberal and a coward bleeds.
I’d like to know how many McCain/Palin voters knew that the latter individual gave a videotaped speech to a secessionist group LAST FRIGGIN’ YEAR.
I love how cons are so upset about a so-called supposed lie from Obama about the draft, but Bush lies us into war and recession and that’s okay.
Amused Observer is getting into Pedro and Frank territory. Merry Christmas, AO, you fucking shithead.
rotter, I knew about it. I even saw most of it. And it was nothing. She welcomed them to the capitol and welcomed their participation in the political process, but made it clear that she was not a member. It’s the kind of thing governors do all the time.
I mean, it’s not like she dedicated a book to them or spent 20 years listening to them rant or served on boards of directors with them or attended fundraisers they held for her…
J.
Oliver,
I for one don’t think Obama lied about the draft. On the other hand I don’t think he told the truth about his racist church, do you?
Merry Christmas to you too Mambo!
Scratch a liberal and a coward bleeds.
“rotter, I knew about it”.
Then you’re probably a minority among McCain/Palin voters.
“She welcomed them to the capitol and welcomed their participation in the political process,…”
Why? A governor is not obligated to “welcome” to the capitol any group and welcome “their participation in the poltical process” no matter how fringy and outside the mainstream that group’s platform and agenda is.
“..but made it clear that she was not a member.”
Cool, so you would have no problem with the hypothetical revelation during this last campaign that Biden gave a speech to an organization called, say, the WHAP (The WE Hate America Party)…as long as Joe “made it clear that he was not a member?”
“It’s the kind of thing governors do all the time.”
No, governors giving speeches, videotaped or otherwise, to groups that want to secede from the U.S. is not something that they “do all the time,” but if you want to believe the fiction that the opposite is the case, I can’t stop you.
It’s interesting to contrast Obama’s handling of his radical associations with McCain and Palin’s handling of theirs. While during the campaign, Obama distanced himself from Wright and Ayers, Palin did no such distancing over the AIP. As for Johnny Boy, he has gushed, absolutely gushed, over his “old friend”, would-be kidnapper, would-be-firebomber, would-be-murderer, and convicted burglar G. Gordon Liddy (by the way, Gordo has never expressed any sense of regret or remorse for any of these things).
As a matter of fact, Liddy continues to be rewarded, awarded, and sinecured (are those things verbs?) by the Right for his dastardly deeds and wannabe deeds.
What Rotter fails to understand is that the idea of secession is quite common in AK. The people there are quite critical of the Federal Governments failure to live up to thier end of the bargain regarding statehood. Even past governors of the state have brought up the idea.
But the most amusing thing is that Alaskan secesionists are better Americans, more supportive of thier country, more patriotic than most liberals. Alaska is too rugged a place for the weak to stay very long.
You’re right about Obama distancing himself from his racist church and terrorist friends when they attracted national attention though. He certainly did that. Wrights racist rants and ignorant government conspiracy theories didn’t bother him for along time, but once it hit mainstream he rejected his 20 year affiliation.
Scratch a liberal and a coward bleeds.