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Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library
President Ronald Reagan is sworn in for his second term in a private ceremony on Jan. 20, 1985, with his wife, Nancy Reagan, at his side and Chief Justice Warren Burger administering the oath in the White House Cross Hall, Grand Staircase.
Updated at 12:15 p.m. ET: For the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second term, a president has taken the oath of office for a term first in a private ceremony at the White House.
The Constitution says that the president must take office on Jan. 20. But if that's a Sunday, public inaugural festivities -- which for Obama will include a re-enactment of the swearing-in from Chief Justice John Roberts -– are saved for Monday.
So, Obama's swearing-in Sunday was a brief private affair in the Blue Room of the White House, an ornate oval room often used to receive official guests. Only Obama’s immediate family and a few reporters attended. The ceremony was televised live and streamed live on the Internet.
Reagan’s official ceremony took place at the grand North Entrance Hall to the White House, a roomy foyer where tours of the home exit onto Pennsylvania Avenue. Still, seating was limited so guests included family members of Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush as well as a smattering of legislative leaders and reporters.
The 1985 swearing-in of the president known as the Great Communicator was televised live. The ceremony was strikingly brief -- a few minutes at most. Reagan placed his left hand on a Bible given to him by his mother, then clearly repeated the 37-word oath recited by Chief Justice Warren Burger.
Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library
President Reagan being sworn in for second term by Warren Burger during the "private" ceremony held at the White House
He then gave first lady Nancy a kiss, posed for a picture and briskly walked with Bush to the North Portico, where the two waved at White House press corps reporters outside.
That Sunday, however, might be better remembered for Super Bowl XIX between the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins, which was played at Stanford Stadium in California.
A former California governor, Reagan made the opening coin toss from the White House. It was broadcast on TV via satellite hookup.
Quarterback Joe Montana, MVP of the game, threw three touchdown passes and ran for another in a 38-16 win over the Dan Marino-led Dolphins. The game was watched by some 85 million people.
Obama was sworn in well before kickoff of Championship Sunday games, in which teams vying for this year's Super Bowl will take the field.
So, why not just skip the rerun swearing-in on Monday?
According to Meena Bose, a professor and presidential scholar at Hofstra University in New York, since the Constitution calls only for a presidential transition at noon and the oath -- and nothing more -- that’s possible. But inaugural celebrations are a tradition that goes back to George Washington.
“It would be a big problem politically for the president and his supporters and fundraisers. I'm not sure it would make a big difference to the public at large if there were no big celebrations, especially for the second inauguration,” Bose said.
“In the 1980s, there was a sense that celebration was good," Bose said. "These are much tougher times now for the country, so it’s certainly an occasion for celebration, but it’s a more workmanlike state of mind now than it was 28 years ago.”
In fact it was so bitterly cold in Washington in 1985 that the traditional outdoor inauguration was moved indoors to the Rotunda at the Capitol.
Reagan's son Ron Reagan, who provides commentary on msnbc, recalls the unusually severe temperatures and how they affected the events that Monday.
"Privileged attendees ended up packed like anchovies under the Capitol dome: family members, justices, new Cabinet members, scoundrels," Ron Reagan said in an email. "At least some of the parade was canceled over concerns that brass instruments would freeze to the lips of young marching band trumpeters, creating a grisly and appalling spectacle."
Obama will take it outdoors to the plaza at the Capitol, where he will take the oath again and give his inaugural address. The inaugural also coincides with Martin Luther King Day. An estimated 1.8 million people, the most ever to attend a inaugural ceremony, attended Obama's first inauguration, and more than 600,000 are expected to attend on Monday.
The weather forecast is partly cloudy with a high of 42 degrees and a low of 23, according to The Weather Channel.
Woodrow Wilson was the first president to be sworn into office on a Sunday, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies website. Wilson took the office privately in the President's Room in the U.S. Capitol by Chief Justice Edward D. White. First lady Edith Bolling Wilson noted in her diary that she was the only woman present among the officials there that day.
"This simple ceremony (I was the only woman present) was more to our taste than the formal Inauguration which followed on Monday, March 5th," she wrote.
Abraham Lincoln swore the oath in front of an incomplete Capitol dome. Lyndon B. Johnson became president on Air Force One next to a dazed Jacqueline Kennedy. A collection of photographs from past presidential inaugurations.
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Is he going to swear in more change and transparency that we still haven't seen? Or just more stomping on the constitution, demeaning of God and more praise for Allah...... sickening.
Please cite just one credible source for that absurd statement.
Or just turn FOX back on.
Is that what you tell your kids William? Just watch the television and shut up? Maybe they will remember that when they are paying for the deficit that your dear leader is burdening them with.
The only thing I want the my President to do is to keep those blood sucking bastards Republicans from my Social Security
Sow
Where did William tell anyone to shut up? I don't see that.
Ah Yes, the crybabys come out of the woodwork. You give us GOP choices such as McCain and a Alaska kook then a Corporate Raider who wipes his @ss with 100 dollar bills. No brainer on either election.
President Obama is the right man for this important next 4 years. Wishing him the best and know he will be outstanding.........
I think a more appropriate handle for you would be Here2Whine. Four more years! Not that we will achieve any sort of Utopia during that time, but it is reality. Get used to it. Get over it. Get over yourself.
"Maybe they will remember that when they are paying for the deficit that your dear leader is burdening them with."
You mean that deficit that is the result of the borrow and spend era of the Bush administration? The reality is you have to go back to the first Eisenhower administration to find a president who increased federal spending LESS that Preaident Obama has in his first term.
Don't believe me ---- check out what Forbes has to say.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/
I guess the "haters," you know, the haters of Obama, the Reagan lovers, will hate Reagan now because President Obama has something in common to him.
LOL!!!
I understand many of the same 13 + obstructionist who were planning to obstruct everything the President attempted in his first term will be absent on this inauguration also. It's already been reported many republicans will shun his inauguration. These racist @!$%#s should grow up!!
Good luck Mr. President!!
As much as you people hate to admit it, it was "your dear leader" who burdened America with debt, they are called two un-funded wars that you were fooled with. You need to grow up and realize that is the biggest play on America's debt, not the hateful bull@!$%# you people cry constantly about, entitlements!
Funny thing is that if Reagan were still alive and relevant, he would be hated and labled a RINO.
How anyone could even imply Obama is anythng like Regan is beyond me. Your president Obama is givivng your grandkids, grandkids dept they will be paying on. Regan never bowed down to any forgein leaders unlike Obama who just bows down to every forgein leader. You never see Obama kiss the American flag heck he can't even put his hand over his heart most of the time. Your Obama is to affraid of offending someone. He don't even have a pair. You people keep on drinking the Obama cool-aid he's got you right where he he want's you. Liberalism at it's finest and bet he can't even render the Pledge of Allegiance without someone telling him. Wake up people this is the worst President of all time. Keep blaming Bush and at the end of the next four year's who you going to blame for where your at then. You won't be able to blame him then. You just be on a government subsidy and wondering what happenend. Oh that's what you liberals want my bag.
My thoughts exactly about the rwnj's hating reagan. What do they say about Ike, Nixon, and Ford.
Oh, who was the 1st Republican President? Wasn't he one of those damn minority loving types who strived to keep the Union together and bring a better life to the underdog? I wish I could remember his name, I think he is depicted on the $5 bill and a few rwnj "think tanks" have stolen his name and cache to spew hate. Here is one in PA, directed by a real whacko that I have known for years.
http://www.lincolninstitute.org/index.php
Read it and laugh.
The GOP Tea Baggers are saying that the private inauguration is unconstitutional, and that President Obama won't even be president now, except in his native Kenya.
William, have you ever watched Fox News, I doubt it. Maybe if they were Obama's subjects like the other networks you would probably like them. I wonder why Fox News is watched 3:1 over the "yessur masser" networks?
I have Floyd..think for yourself for a change?
May God Have Mercy On US All.......
Funny thing is that if Reagan were still alive and relevant, he would be hated and labled a RINO.
I love it when "progressives" repeatedly use this. I think it makes them feel better about their own poor choices...
Regan1 makes a valid point. How can they compare Obama with Reagan.
One is a smart thoughtful man the other is a conniving, racist, sexist, homophobic ass clown who raped this country.
Reagan is the reason economic inequity is so prevalent today.
Its interesting that the press felt compelled to place the name Reagan in a title in an article about Obama's second inauguration. Too bad taking the oath twice is the only commonality Obama has with Reagan. Reagan brought the country together. Obama has driven us apart. Reagan was a leader, Obama is not.
What a striking contrast, certainly not one flattering to Obama.
I just wish the press would stop comparing Obama to Regan and other great past US Presidents. Obama is,,,,,well he is Obama and not Regan or Lincoln or any other person but himself. For better or worse Obama will have to stand on his own two feet and history will tell of his accomplishments and failures just like it does any POTUS.
As for the top 1% not paying their fair share of US Income Tax, I suggest you use your "Google" and do a little research. You will find that the top 1% income bracket of this country pay 86% OF ALL FEDERAL INCOME TAXES COLLECTED IN THIS COUNTRY. When you find this to be true, ask yourself just one question: WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THIS INCOME? I can tell you in real simple terms. We as a country would either be truly broke or those lower income people (you know the average American wage earner, that dying breed of people who have jobs and want to work to earn a living,) would be taxed at a rate we can't afford.
Greed and corruption are two of the main factors (there were others to be sure) that caused the fall of the Roman Empire. Is the United States of America to stupid to see that as corrupt as our federal government is, as as greedy as we are becoming, the same thing won't happen to this country?
Obama is not stupid. He has an agenda. The question is will it help this country get back on it's feet financially, or will he speed us along to our financial doom?
And what the hell is the FOX News I keep hearing about? If it is TV sorry folks but I never watch it as it is a complete waste of my time!!!
Reagan1- its kool aid, not cool aid. I think with all you have been drinking from the tin foil spout you might get it right. post something factual and then join a discussion
PFFFFFFFFTT!
Reagan has nothing on me. In eight years he couldn't even add 2 trillion to the debt.
I beat that in my first two years and I'm on pace to add 11 trillion By the end of my eight year reign.
That makes three oaths they take, actually.
Here's the third one they don' tell you about:
http://www.dropshots.com/GCaplan#date/2013-01-20/08:18:15
JANUARY 18-20, 2013
The Real Obama Emerges (Again)
by JILL STEIN
If you’re having political déjà vu as Obama’s second term in the White House gets underway, you’re not alone.
The supposedly populist candidate — who won re-election promising to tax the rich, protect Social Security, and make the economy fair — has morphed back into an invaluable ally of the economic elite. Yet again, he’s willing to let you fall under the bus.
In carving out 2013′s first round of self-inflicted budget pain, President Barack Obama has laid the groundwork for much worse to come. By making most Bush tax cuts permanent, he gave away the massive bargaining chip he could have used to protect safety net programs in the next negotiating round. Now, thanks to his pre-emptive capitulation, austerity advocates hold all the cards.
While the deal extends unemployment insurance, this temporary relief is overwhelmed by massive, permanent gifts to the super-rich. Estate taxes have been repealed for all but the wealthiest 0.1 percent with a whopping $10.5 million per couple exemption. The agreement also locks in low capital gains and dividends rates of 15-20 percent, ensuring that billionaire bosses everywhere will pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.
Among new corporate favors, the deal retained one of the loopholes that multinational firms are using to dodge taxes on their foreign subsidiaries — an incentive to export jobs that cost us $1.1 billion in 2012. Meanwhile, vulnerable workers are hit with a big increase in Social Security payroll taxes, as rates revert to 2010 levels.
The fig leaf Obama provided to cover this surrender is a token tax increase on wealthy households earning over $450,000 per year. This marks a brazen retreat from his promise to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000, a meager reform to begin with in a tax system already rife with favors for the rich.
In this past round of budget bargaining, Obama proposed alarming cuts to key safety net programs that will be considered in upcoming negotiations. This tossed aside another key promise: to protect Social Security. It comes as nearly half of Americans are either low-income or living in poverty, and one in three seniors relies on Social Security to stay out of poverty.
Obama also offered to slash needed reductions in bloated military spending from $500 billion over 10 years, the amount included in the 2011 budget deal, to a mere $100 billion.
Obama’s abandonment of his progressive base repeats 2008 post-election history, when the hope-and-change candidate suddenly devolved into a fearless defender of economic privilege. His early White House appointments of Wall Street darlings Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner were followed, with breath-taking irony, by the naming of General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, America’s leader in layoffs, to head the jobs council.
Team Obama then led the charge for trillions in Wall Street bailouts, corporate-driven trade agreements that send jobs overseas and depress U.S. wages, health care reform that locked public options out of the debate, drill-baby-drill energy policies, the sabotage of international climate accords, foreclosure neglect, surging immigrant deportations, drone attacks, assaults on civil liberties, and more.
As Obama’s second term begins, he’s again undermining the progressive base, paving the way for more austerity, disparities, war and corporate power.
Washington’s failure to deal justly and effectively with the fake fiscal cliff calamity leaves little hope it will resolve the real looming crises — the unraveling economy and accelerating climate catastrophe. The enormity of these threats compel solutions of equal magnitude — like the Green New Deal I promoted as the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2012. It would obliterate the fiscal cliff while putting America back to work, greening the economy, cutting the oversized military, saving trillions through Medicare for All, and taxing the wealthy.
Fortunately, grassroots movements and non-corporate political parties have begun to lead the way. It’s time to join them while we still can, putting our voices, bodies, and votes behind real solutions that can truly deliver a peaceful, just, green future for us all.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/18/the-real-obama-emerges-again/
One Obama swearing in is sufficiently nauseating for me. Two is torture and should be investigated by human rights actvists. Hopefully, he says something that is true in at least one his speeches. Not likely, I know. The only thing this guy has in common with Reagan is that both took in oxygen and converted it to carbon dioxide.
Having a little trouble accepting the election results, are we?
Hey Wilie, why do people keep harping on Fox News? I put CNN on and I heard nothing but behind kissing for Obama on it. CNN and MSNBC are biased too. I would dearly love a national newstation that actually gives you the news in an unbiased way. Maybe ZNN fron NCIS will do the trick.
"I love it when "progressives" repeatedly use this. I think it makes them feel better about their own poor choices..."
Reagan was a leader. Obama is just a talker.
Very true. Reagan compromised when he needed in order get his agenda enacted. The Tea Party hates compromises.
Of course, if you review the past Republican primary season, you'd see that Reagan, a California Republican, wouldn't even receive the nomination in today's environment.
obama is no where near Reagan anyone who even thinks that is sick in the head, Reagan was a Great man I feel sorry for the USA. can you say going deeper down hill. God Help us the next four years, how do you like your pay check now bozos?
Ronald(6 letters) Wilson(6) Reagan(6) was the "666 1st Beast who was ruler of the world, his actions were the opposite of the Christ (his "Voodoo Economics" helped the rich and greatly increased military spending while producing HUGE budget deficits), he lied to all nations, and was wounded yet lived." - The Revelation Chapter 13. The 40th president is known as the 'Great Deceiver'.
George Walker Bush Jr. was/is the "2nd Beast who exercised the power/authority of the 1st Beast before him and he made fire come down from the heavens with the 'destruction of Babylon' (War In Iraq)"
United(6) States(6) Dollar(6) is the "666 mark of the Beast that everyone must have to buy or sell with"
Oh the irony. The GOP wracks up huge debt with two wars, a massive tax cut for the wealthy (without any reduction in spending), and Medicare Drug law, yet the GOP is blaming Obama for the deficit.
Yes, that huge deficit you complain of? Look and see what's causing it. It's the borrow and spend GOP.
It's easy for RepubliCONs to ignore the facts.
Obama's Record in the face of the biggest GOP Obstructionism in history:
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Then: 7,949.09 (close as of Jan. 20, 2009)
Now: 13,534.89 (close as of Jan. 15, 2013)
Gross Domestic Product
Then: -5.3% (1st quarter of 2009)
Now: +3.1% (3rd quarter of 2012)
Consumer Confidence (1985=100)
Then: 37.4 (Jan. 2009)
Now: 65.1 (Dec. 2012)
Americans who believe the country is headed in the right direction
Then: 26% of adults (Jan. 2009 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 41% of adults (Dec. 2012 NBC/WSJ poll)
Americans without health insurance
Then: 49.0 million (Census data for 2009)
Now: 48.6 million (Census data for 2011)
Federal spending as a percentage of GDP
Then: 25.2% (FY 2009)
Now: 24.3% (FY 2012)
Median sales price of new homes
Then: $208,600 (Jan. 2009)
Now: $246,200 (Nov. 2012)
Number of U.S. troops in Iraq
Then: 139,500 (Jan. 2009)
Now: 200 (Jan. 2013)
Number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan
Then: 34,400 (Jan. 2009)
Now: 66,000 (Jan. 2013)
Maybe the more times Barry takes the oath, the words "defend the Constitution" will sink into his head?
Actually, Reagan wasn't the last President to take the oath twice. Obama had to take it twice because the Chief Justice wanted to show off and recite it from memory instead of read it from a card, messed it up, so it was redone the following day to make it clear that Obama had taken the official oath. It probably didn't actually matter but considering the frenzy the birthers are still in four years later, it did avoid a whole movement of "oathers" from getting started.
And, because of the Chief Justices error, on Monday President Obama will join President Franklin Roosevelt as the only presidents to take the oath four times! Most Americans, though obviously not all, fervently hope Mr Obama's final term lasts the full four years, unlike Mr Roosevelt's final term.
"Most Americans, though obviously not all, fervently hope Mr Obama's final term lasts the full four years, unlike Mr Roosevelt's final term."
I most certainly do...I shudder at the thought of President Biden!
OMG....you truely must be on welfare...collecting SS even though you haven't put a dime in it; otherwise, in my opinion...a total fool...hoodwincked and sold bad goods.
Which is substantially different from the private ceremonies conducted by William Jefferson Clinton in that same office!!
Yep! Hillbillies still want to talk about sexual indescretion when we had one of the most effective Presidents in the history of our country. "We would rather have a dumb hillbilly like Bush or Rick Perry as long as they claim to be fan of Toby Keith and Grover Norquist." We are going to hell in a handbasket due to those Hillbillies who are not smart enough to understand what it takes to have a real Democracy.
Glory be! I am back. I am against all of this nonsense.
So NBC is already comparing Pres. Obama to former President Reagan. Too Funny. Reagan single handedly won the cold war. Another in a long line of wet kisses from NBC to Mr. Obama.
Its almost as funny as republicans and the NRA trying to sell the idea that Martin Luther King Jr. would have been on their side.
Repbulicans are, of course, doing this because they have to find a way to appeal to minorities without actually changing any of their beliefs about minorities. One of those beliefs appear to be that minorities are stupid.
And Reagan did not singlehandedly win the Cold War. Reagan was the right person at the right time to use three decades of containment and MAD which had bankrupted the USSR to drop them over the economic edge created by the arms race. PM Margaret Thatcher was in on it too. In the end, the US managed to spend more than the soviets could on their military. The Cold War was won on economics, not weaponry.
Reagan single handedly turned the economy around in 4 years. Obama single handedly increased the deficit by several trillion dollars and still counting.
Actually President Obamas job is tougher than Reagans was. Plus, Reagan used to supply Osama Bin Laden with weapons in Afghanistan. Back then, the US/USSR only politically postured and rattled sabres. We weren't actually at war. Reagan was just a good poker player who got lucky with tough talk. That plus the Russian population was tired of the way things were is what ended the cold war. I would give Mikhail Gorbachev more credit for the cold war ending than Ronald Reagan. It ended on his decision, not Reagans.
Anita, the minorities are stupid - the majorities are stupid, and you are stupid for misspelling Republicans. I'm a registered Democrat and I find abhorrent your class hatred. Remember the Republicans are the REAL Gay Party (they are in the closet)
And who started name calling first???? stupid/gay etc. typical lib in a corner.......
And Obama's job is no where near easier than Reagan. Reagan accomplished what he promised to the American people, to turn the economy around in 4 years. Obama has done nothing to change the economy. He did promise no taxes for the middle class, not one dime....remember? Whats your paycheck look like? Obama supplied weapons to the Libyans and the Mexican drug cartels. He also let 4 people die in Benghazi and see how it was swept under the rug?
bassinapple
Reagan single handedly won the cold war
The wall came down AFTER Reagan was out of office.
Sow your seeds, not mine!
Reagan accomplished what he promised to the American people, to turn the economy around in 4 years.
Reagan also raised the debt ceiling 18 times, more than any other president in history.
He also let 4 people die in Benghazi and see how it was swept under the rug?
Reagan invented the words "Cut and Run" after 241 marines were killed in Beirut. No one even investigated why there was no security in place.
Reagan single handedly turned the economy around in 4 years. Obama single handedly increased the deficit by several trillion dollars and still counting.
Where you get that from one of those Republican elementary books you had in the 90's he is one of the many cause were in debt up to are ears! Spending on military products like ships and airplanes that was junk before it was produced
Also Iran/Contra and also day trading a Bernie Madoff mentality
YOU PEOPLE SUCK!
Go back to your day jobs if you got'em.
You really don't see that the world as you know it is coming to an end.
There is nothing I can do and certainly nothing Obama WILL DO, so bend over and kiss your a$$ goodbye.
I love it when I see the gopers on here whining, my tissue stocks just keep climbing.
"Too Funny. Reagan single handedly won the cold war."
What's funny is your ignorance of history. Every president from Truman to Bush 41 contributed to winning the cold war.
"Reagan accomplished what he promised to the American people, to turn the economy around in 4" years.
"Obama single handedly increased the deficit by several trillion dollars and still counting."
Again -- your lack of any real knowledge is laughable. Try getting information from someplace other than Rush the junkie and Fox Propaganda.
This is NOT a NEW payroll tax increase, fool. It is the result of a "temporary" Payroll Tax Cut for 2010-2012, after the 2009 stimulus / payroll tax break was pushed. We were paying 6.2% B4, then it dropped to 4.2% (temp); now it has been restored back to 6.2%. We ALL could have been paying 6.2% the last two years, so stop your BS misleading with: What's your paycheck look like? As though to imply Obama raised taxes.
Reagan/Bush Sr. ARMED Bin Ladin & the Taliban. They also sold/shipped IRAN arms, through ISRAEL (Hawk Missiles, etc), during the IRAN-CONTRA Scandal. Saudi Arabia paid for some of this @ Reagan's request, when the scandle was about to be exposed. I won't talk about the Saddam Hussein / White House connection and weapons. You probably can't handle the truth.
If you can't tell it like it is....others will.
LOL!!!!
I posted at #1.8 before I read the foolishness above, exactly what I posted. Lovers of Reagan, haters of Obama, are going to hate more, now that Obama and Reagans names were mentioned together, and coincidences are similar.
Some of you people are so predictable.
Remember your buddy Bush W.? Well, two unfunded wars that some of you'll believed is the greatest cause of this debt/deficit, but you could never admit it.
Excellent...Bravo!!! I'll talk about him. The very same war hawks, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, were the same three that made sure Saddam got the chemical/biological weapons they killed him over!!!
There, I said it!!!
sow your seeds you are wrong just like the rest of the fact free haters like you. Stop making false declarations without first looking for the facts. turn off DumFux News. It is not doing you any favors.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/
So, two years of Obama campaigning to not let the GOP "raise taxes on the poor and middle class" by letting the Bush/Obama tax cuts expire was a lie? Their taxes weren't "raised"...they just would go back to what they were before the tax holiday?
God, you liberals are stupid. That is EXACTLY what conservatives were saying...that allowing the tax cuts to expire was not "raising taxes on the middle class". It was LIBERALS who were screaming and foaming at the mouth about not letting the GOP "raise taxes" by voting for Romney.
The Democratic Party...because stupid people who suck at math and logic get to vote too.
I love it when the leftists try and tear down Ronald Reagan for the things that he did in the country that led to almost 30 years of prosperity, yet the failed policies of Obama have been nothing more than miraculous because of the hard job he has. If this is the second coming, we are in serious @!$%#e.
PFFFFFFFFTT!
Reagan has nothing on me. In eight years he couldn't even add 2 trillion to the debt.
I beat that in my first two years and I'm on pace to add 11 trillion By the end of my eight year reign.
Wow you've figured out how to increase the font size and use bold all in the same message. If you have to shout you're probably just blowing hot air.
All these references to the Republican god Reagan remind me he doubled the deficit, supported a ban on assault weapons and granted amnesty to illegals.
meh...I'm fine with the fact that he increased the deficit (a deficit which would be a zit on our current one, by the way) in ending the Cold War. That actually served a purpose...securing our freedom from a Soviet nuclear threat. Our current deficit is due to the explosion of entitlements (not the costs of war). The costs of war can be absorbed in a fairly short time frame by our GDP...the costs of entitlements will NEVER go down and will increasingly undermine our GDP. The true costs of our current military engagements, which are relatively short-term, are eclipsed by the long-term perpetually increasing costs of our entitlement society.
"I love it when the leftists try and tear down Ronald Reagan for the things that he did in the country that led to almost 30 years of prosperity"
What I find interesting is since Preaident Reagan left office a quarter of a century ago, the current crop of Republicans act like the two Republicans presidents who have served since then never existed. Neither Bush 41 or 43 were anywhere to be found at the last two Republican conventions. And we didn't have 30 years of prosperity. We had a recession during the administration of Bush 41 less than 4 years after Reagan left office.
JRbrown......Having held full time employment for nearly 40 years, I sure don't consider my SS and medicare benefits to be entitlements. I remember money coming out of every one of my checks to pay for that.
I forgot to mention the fact that there was no internet when Reagan was President. Information was hard to come by. If there had been an internet, Reagan would have been skewered by the public for no retaliation for the Marine barracks bombing in in Beirut back in '83 on these message boards. The Republicans of today would've freaked out when he supported an assault weapons ban too. There are so many things that would have been different with internet influence back then. Iran/Contra is another thing. Selling arms to Iraq is another thing. He's a hero to Republicans for all of that.
Just which of your taxes increased? Unless you're earning more than $450K a year, the tax that went up was FICA. But, it was merely returning to the rate that was in place when Obama came into office. As much as I'd like to keep that 2%, it certainly isn't a tax increase because for each of two years it was labeled as a one-year temporary cut.
Barry, semantics are a flying pig, huh?
FICA's "resetting" to 6% is STILL A TAX INCREASE, no matter what label or wording you wish to spin.
Plus, the Supreme Court interpreted that the Affordable Care Act is indeed a tax on Americans who do not have appropriate health insurance, and thereby said it was constitutional. My healthcare (I'm healthy and in my 30s, has been going up in premiums for at least 20 months.
As for others' comments, there's legitimacy in that Sunday is "the Lord's Day" (the reason legit Christians must not marry on a Sunday), and to have a president have a ceremony on a Sunday, let alone in the morning when mankind should be in worship to the One, True God reveals much about this Democrat.
All the ripping on the GOP, but Obama has publicly bullied much repeatedly, "I will not budge" (It's my way). Talk about hubris and a divider.
The Democrats have always been known as spenders. Most recently, it's the party of those of the "least common denominator".
Whether you consider them entitlements or not is irrelevant...for the purposes of discussing the federal budget, they are entitlements. Neither social security nor medicare are 'insurance' policies...your payments are not "premiums". Your contributions to the fund could never match your benefits if you collected your full allotment of benefits if you lived to a ripe old age. The funds of others are collected to pay your benefits. Social security is unique in that it was originally set up to be self-sustaining and the funds collected to pay benefits were OFF-LIMITS to the federal government for any other purpose than paying benefits by law. That is, until Democrats decided to change the law so they could borrow from the fund. It's been a never ending stream of pilfering since, with the fund holding I.O.U.'s like that at the end of Dumb and Dumber.
If I were you, I'd be mad as hell about Obama and the Democrats CUTTING hundreds of millions of dollars from medicare and talking about shrinking Soc Sec benefits to off-set the rising deficit. You get the shaft while corporate America gets even more tax breaks. Make no mistake...for all his double-talk about being a champion of the middle class, Obama is most assuredly firmly in the back pocket of corporate America. To think otherwise is idiocy.
just remember the south didn't vote for him, flordia is not the south they are a bunch of fruit cakes like calf and northerns give us about mid july and we will be a thrid world country. if I was rich i would take my money and move to england. and if you think making it harder for real americans to get ammo or guns saves lives how about parents who are dumb and have dumb childern and now you have to pay Thanks alot
Who cares if hes taking the oath for a second time. It didnt abide by it the first time. Its just four more years of lies and deception anyway!!!
That's exactly how I felt on Inauguration Day 2005.
I did not, however, dehumanize GWB by referring to him as an "it." "It" is a human being and that human being is the duly elected President of the United States. Get over it.
ANITA
Im sorry for calling him "it" I sure dont want to upset you and everyone else and this special day of lies again. Hope the bible doesnt explode when he takes his oath. And another note, I didnt dehumanize him, Im just stating a fact!!!
Name a US President who didn't lie? BTW, it's called "Executive Privilege", not a lie, as you and I would.
Deal with it, the same as you have for past US Presidents - and the future ones. Here, I'll help: The next US President, Dem or Rep will LIE! There....saved you the typing in 2016.
But I'm sure you will quack away anyways - especially if YOU did not vote for the one in office, moving forward.
@ mjbo44: You are an evil person for having such disrespect for the president of the United States newly elected by a clear majority of the people. You must hate America and the political process itself.
Clarence, you're a fool with a love for hyperbole.
And, as others have stated, as if there wasn't a lot of "disrespect for the P of the US" when Bush Jr won "by a clear majority". Prideful and overly zealous Democrats are just as much as pieces of sh*t as hard-headed Republicans.
Both George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama are crappy presidents.
Another story right now on NBC news.
Yep, the sky sure is falling and the Sodom and Gomorrah thing is all going to come true because we re-elected this (Take your pick):
1) Communist
2) Fascist
3) Muslim
4) Atheist
5) Dictator
6) Kenyan
7) Socialist
8) Anti-Christ
Just for a laugh why don't you "doom and gloomers" try the "glass half full" approach and see what happens??
Wonderful! So Obama finally got the stock market back up to the Bush years!
Because it's half empty, can't you see? Actually, I hope they triple the Secret Service protection FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS and that includes his kids school. They aren't addressing the mental health factor of the massacres. Hinkley was nuts, as were all the massacre perpetrators. The last non-crazy assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald and he was probably duped into it. WilliamOfRites, I assume you have already cashed out of your at risk positions and are ready to flush.
Francle Bush got the stock market up to Clinton years opps did I say something wrong oh then he plunged it over a cliff just like good Republicans do for this country throw it over a cliff Fiscally
Wonderful! So Obama finally got the stock market back up to the Bush years!
And what was the DOW on January 19, 2009 -- the day Bush left office? I'll give you a clue --- it was under 8,000.
I've got a few more FACTS you conservatives hate ---
Job losses per month in January 2008: 800,000
Job gains last month: 160,000
33 straight months of private sector job growth
GDP growth in 2008: negative 6%
GDP growth last year 2.9%
Fecord domestic oil production
GM – all time record profits
Near record corporate profits across the board
Osama Bin Laden --- dead
Iraq war --- over
He got it back with responsible policies that ended the insanity of Bush's "Let the banks just do what they want to" policies.
Really? Have you ever heard of "research?" It's easy, and usually MORE facts are presented instead of the bull@!$%# people like you post.
The FACTS, listed below!!
Notice the word STAGGERING!!!
I had a conversation yesterday of how people like you just throw @!$%# out there, and your useless followers take it as Gospel without trying to find out if it's true or not, you know, kind of the same @!$%# FOX news does!
charlie, you are awesome !!!! YOu should have been in charge of getting the message out, would have done a better job than the prez's people. The guns over people obstructionist party of no hate all of these pesky facts
You forgot "Second Coming"
Charlie, please site ONE THING that Obama did that brought the stock market back to before the Bush years. Not an MSNBC - Maddow, Sharpton, O'Donnell, Matthews talking point. A real FACT. Just one. There's not one thing the man has done that has had any significant impact on the economy. The stock market is a cyclical entity that moves up and down on its own, it has nothing at all to do with the President. Certainly world events have an impact, but there's absolutely nothing Obama has done that will have an impact on the stock market. This is just more glorification of the man from the left. This is why the country is so divided right now. The left can't see the man for what he really is and are too ashamed and too afraid of being called a racist if they disagree with his FAILED polices. Hopefully at some point the country will wake up and realized that is has all been a sham from day one. Maybe there will be something left of the country for future generations, but I am beginning to have my doubts.
You racist Obama haters are evil people. If you don't like America and our political process then you should leave it. We don't need your kind here.
I do feel sorry for you though. You were SO sure that the president could not posibly be reelected. Election night must have been horrible news for you.
"The stock market is a cyclical entity that moves up and down on its own, it has nothing at all to do with the President."
LOL!!! This is the way it works with you right wing types. When the stock market goes up during a Republican administration, it's due to the good economic polices of the Republican president. When the DOW goes up doing a Democratic administration, it's just a normal cycle.
The fact is when President Obama took office, this nation was on the verge of a depression, and since then, the economy is slowly turning around. You can spin, justify, rationalize, bob and weave all you wnat but those are the FACTS.
Why doesn't Obama help out the middle class!?!?!?
Inflation is still ridiculous -- look at the prices of groceries. When the f*ck is my income going to increase!?!?
And Clarence, your demand that anyone who doesn't like Obama is a racist and "should leave" is just as rednecked and ignorant as Republican-leaning posters who have written the same.
Just because Obama is black doesn't preclude him from criticism or disdain for his policies, demeanor in politics or what he does in office. Grow up. A president is the target of criticism from all the citizens of the democratic nation.
Charlie...why don't you just try to bid on a pair of used socks of Obama's that you can lick?
Ho Hum, Obama already did a double OATH the last time and it didn't do any good. The oath says you're going to uphold the Constitution of the United States, DUH?
Oh Sweet Jesus! Obama wants us to have background checks to purchase weapons.......Oh the Humanity! There goes our mythologial right wing 2nd Amendment Rights.......run, run for the hills? Hide in your grain silos and prepare for the end of the world! Please do it. The U.S. and the world will be a much better place.
Being economic hard times, government broke, you'd think a President who was a leader would skip the big inauguration ceremonies, show by example, fiscal responsibility.
That won't happen, narcissism, wins out. Have to pay back all the supporters, then turn around on Tuesday and blast the Republicans for not raising the debt ceiling.
Mr. President, want to impress us? How about standing by your statement that having to raise the debt ceiling is a lack of leadership, lead by example, not partisan politics.
Government isn't paying for the inauguration balls, just the swearing in ceremony. The parties are all paid for by private donations.
The taxpayer still pays for the security of the inaugural ball that the President attends
The taxpayers pays for the Presidents security 24/7/365 a year. They don't do it between monday through Friday.
There will be a lot of volunteers at the event who should end up saving the tax payers money;
Al Jazeera Gore has agreed to stay on as a roving reporter for the new Arab Oil TV station.
Michael Moore has donated his extra large chin strap to be used a rope barrier around Barry's tela-prompter.
The good reverends Jackson, Sharpton and Wright will be doing free faith heeling's along with performing mouth to mouth for anyone who passes out during the ceremony.
Chrissy Mathews, Rachel Madcow, Blowhard Schultz, and L. Rosey O'Donnell will be donating their services driving shuttle buses.
From 1:30PM - 2:30PM, Occupy Wall Street will he hosting a rape free zone happy hour tent.
Barry's old buddy, Bill Ayers volunteered to handle the fireworks using some of his left over explosives from his days of blowing up police stations.
Now if we could just get obuma/bumble to do any work! any day! Besides spending money, WE as taxpayers don't have! star-uck you have to pay taxes before you can say anything! When you get off government welfare then maybe you'll understand. Only someone getting FREE money has your mind set.
same old tired bull crap from these losers on the right I mean wrong side of the election-again
Do some research (not Fox or Rush) and think for yourselves for god sake
gofins...more self righteous BS from the left. If anyone disagrees with your beloved deity, then they are painted as a racist Rush lover, Fox follower or some other non creative crap. The left needs to get over themselves big time. Do your own research, not from MSNBC. Maybe just maybe you'll see what the rest of the country that wasn't fooled by the man sees. I doubt since most of the leftist wouldn't know reality if ran over them in food stamp line.
@starbuck49
So do you think that the security around the President, (his, michelles and their kids, security details) will be enough for all the ceremonies?
If not, and Im thinking no, then, they have to bring in more people for security, extra costs. Jeez, have to explain everything to these people. Pull your head out and think for yourself.
@Gofins
And lefties like you spout the talking points from Madcow, fat ed larry and the rest of the left media. So whats your point?
"The taxpayer still pays for the security of the inaugural ball that the President attends"
You ditto-heads are getting big time desperate to find something to whine about aren't you!!! Instead of this 24/7/365 crying and a whining about anything President Obama does or doesn't do, why don't you try to find better candidates for 2016. Seriously -- Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry ---- is that the best you have??
You do realize that the privately funded events provide jobs to workers who in turn purchase things with the money they earned? I think it is called capitalism.
Tea. Another Right wing Moron who listened to Rush and Sean today and is unhappy with all Presidential expenditures. Doubt he cared too much about all those off the book wars that we have been fighting or those uneccessary tax breaks that have brought our country too its knees. Thanks for sharing!
One thing for sure, Obama, is no Reagan, for one thing he wasn't a closet muslim, and second, he was no Socialist like this guy is, Democrats, everything for free, especially if your of color, and or illegal!
Well said!!!!!
No Reagan please
or Reagan's
lackeysBushsWell, kflann, you sure do hate them "drakes", don't you?
They say you can't fix stupid and people like kflann feel they have to prove it.
Sorry Charlie, kflann is right...Obummer is no Reagan and never will be.
At least Obama is a proud American who would never give Iran our missiles the way Reagan did. It's treason to give aid, like missiles, to the enemy. If any president was a "closet muslim" it would probably be the beloved Gipper. Reaganomics is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught in Matthew 22:16-22.
Oh knock it off with all the Reagan worship! As I recall, Reagan took us from having the largest surplus in US History, to the largest deficit in history. He raised the debt ceiling 18 times while he was President.
Kris, it was George W Bush, a disciple of Reagan but not Reagan himself, who took us from surplus to deficit; but you're right that it was Reagan who raised the debt ceiling the record 18 times.
This is the only way in which Obama will be "like" Reagan.
Reagan didn't know who he was.
I think Reagan had Alzheimer's back in 1980 Nancy
ruinran this country40 empty, The problems were not that apparent during the first 2 to 3 years in office. When he made strange statements, people did not know if he was just tired and confused from all the information coming at him or if he was really having significant brain function deterioration. At the start of year 4 the problem was much more apparent, but the inner circle orchestrated an elaborate cover-up to get him reelected. In the second term they kept the illusion going, but some very astute observers and journalists suspected strongly what was happening. They were just could not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, so nothing significant was reported in the news about it.
The first 2 or 3 years when he made strange statements were symptoms, but they didn't want that known, so they tried to keep it quiet and made excuses.
Hey -- Reagan wasn't a bad president. But he left office a quarter of a century ago. Come 2016, less than half the population will have any real memory of his time in office. Republicans --- you better come up with something other than the idea of another Reagan to run on because come 2016, at least half the voters won't remember him.
Well his first swearing in ceremony did not work in his first term of office, let.s try it twice this time! I think someone needs to read the Constitution to him in this one!
I would suggest that you try reading it first. Or have someone read it to you. I doubt it could be explained to you.
Gary, I'm not sure you read the article. Also, judging by your grammar, I'm not sure you read at a fifth grade level.
Georgie should have read the Constitution when he passed the Patriot Act.
Never get tired of bringing up bush do we starbuck? It's really all you have because you know obama is a complete and utter failure.
You can't dispute that so you whine. Keep whining, it makes me more money.
hey starbuck..don't let the koolaid dribble down your chin their my leftist buddy.
"Never get tired of bringing up bush do we starbuck?"
You Republicans have a very short memory. From 1976 to 1992 you whined and cried, moan and groaned and complained and complained more and bitched, carried on and on and blamed President Carter of everything wrong in the entire universe. Then from 1992 to 2008 you whined and cried, moan and groaned and complained and complained more and bitched, carried on and on and blamed President Clinton for everything that was wrong in the entire universe. So – using the standard you set – the left has another 29 years to blame Bush for everything just to pull even with you.
You know, it's sad when I have gone from reading the message boards of news websites in an attempt to engage in political discussion to reading the message boards of said news websites in order to gain a few laughs.
My new sources of comedy - the unfortunate people who think they have a clue about what they are talking about.
My favorite quote thus far:
If you want to say that Obama, with his policies, is stomping on the constitution, there is a debate for that. But to say that this President, who quotes biblical passages in his speeches more than any President in recent memory, is demeaning of God and offers praise to Allah isn't just wrong, or stupid, or borderline insane... it's just funny.
Oh, and one more thing: Allah and the Christian God, father of Jesus Christ (named in the original King James version of the Bible 4 times as Jehovah) are the EXACT SAME deity.
JRSuperstar, don't waste your time trying to educate or talk sense to those determined not to see it. Give them the proverbial pat on the head and get ready for some football! GO NINERS!
There it is. No one so blind as one who refuses to see. Comparing Reagan to Obama is like comparing the moldy avacado to the black banana. However, for the sake of more entertainment on this thread - I submit these historical FACTS. Reagan's most famous line was "I can't recall" (the berlin wall came down because of economic failure in russia, not because of a senile, b-movie actor who played straight man to a chimp). Reagan stated "WE do not bargain with terrorists", while one of his cabinet (a Mr. Donald Rumsfeld) sold nerve gas & mustard gas to Saddam Hussein (a stout ally & CIA employee) and his national security advisor (Mr. Oliver North) sold weapons to Iran and gave the money to contrabandistas in El Salvador so they could rape & murder catholic nuns. It was the 'Ray-gun that declared our MIAs & POWs in vietnam dead. Those that never served will never understand, what makes your army run AT the enemy & not AWAY from them is the shallow belief that EVERYONE GOES HOME - NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND. For the sake of more hysterical rants, I wish to point out to the christian fanatics - in the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan you have 6 letters in each name. In the here & now, take a moment to imagine how ignorant the average citizen is (Okay, me too), then take another moment to realize that half the country is worse. America - It was a good idea. Sin-Loi.
Yo Cappy, you blaspheme - Da Bears.
Good Point Ghost Of Nixon, but now I find myself more intent on clicking No Value or Inflammatory between the chuckles. Personally, I believe your living embodiment was a great President, Moderation, inflation fighting, and Oh so many jobs.
Superstar..this is just more leftist propaganda, to make you all feel better about the mistakes that you have made with this man. It's okay we all forgive you. You couldn't help it. He's a slick talking individual that told you all exactly what you wanted to hear. That the government was here for you and will take away all your wants and make you whole. That the rich are evil and are only good for one thing, their money and everyone else is entitled to that money. Its okay we will forgive for that. I know how easy it was to believe it when he told you that this would be the most transparent administration that has ever been. I know how easy it was for you simple minded leftists to believe that it was all going to be sooo easy, so simple. Just take it all away from the people that have earned it, and give it to everyone that hasn't. Land of milk and honey baby! Let's take the common sense, balanced approach...Let's make common sense decisions that will make us all equal and everybody wins in the end right? Its okay we forgive you all for that, you can't help yourselves. After all it's best when everybody gets a trophy at the end right?
Reading these mostly infantile, primarily ignorant and occasionally ugly comments about the inauguration of our duly and democratically re-elected president has inspired me to break with my usual attempt to be rational and reasonable and offer an in kind response. Here goes.......
If you aren't interested in the inauguration, turn off the TV (it probably could use a rest), load up and head out for a full day of random acts of vandalism starting with some warm up moving target practice on some stop signs on the way (there's nothing, NOTHING, in the Constitution which allows a socialist, communist gobmnt to infringe on your god given right to blow through intersections - doesn't matter that you're doing 80mph and horse and buggies could only do about 15mph), maybe knock over some mailboxes (gd overpaid quasi gobmnt lazy ass freeloading postal employees anyway - worse even than teachers!). Once you arrive at the dump you can spend the afternoon shooting at silhouette targets, junked cars, rats and seagulls and blowing up leftover pumpkins and frogs with m-80's. When you run out of ammo, keystone, possum jerky and twinkies, please drive safely on your return home, obeying speed limits and traffic signs at least until I get home safely too.
Sorry, just too much inspiration to resist. Seriously, lighten up people. Celebrate the fact that we select our leaders peacefully, even when things goes as awry as they did in 2000. Things won't change enough in the next four years to satisfy any of us, but we'll get through it.
There is no way Obama can be compared to the Great American Ronald Reagan.
Is that Ronald McDonald
Are you talking about the same Reagan who doubled the deficit, supported a ban on assault rifles and granted amnesty to illegals?
Reagan & Obama each served two terms. Reagan was a President. Obama is a disgrace. The difference between Republicans & Democrats: Republicans are workers; Democrats are freeloaders. Just stating the facts. Ask any Republican at the end of their workday from a job they earned through hard work and due diligence. A dem wouldn't know what that was.........
Republicans are workers; Democrats are freeloaders
Do you have a link to prove that statement, or is that just your opinion?
If those were facts you could cite some evidence.
Have at it, otherwise those are your OPINIONS.
LOL....The ignorance of some of you people is absolutely overwhelming!!!
Of course, it's just his fukin opinion - and most likely, Rush, Hannity, Maddow, Matthews, etc. Why else would he and the others say it, then don't bother to prove it, with facts?
And just how hard do you think Politicians, Bankers, Rush, Hannity and the CBS/FOX/MSNBC/CNN News Teams work, anyways? I bet it's REALLY tiring sitting on your azz, talking into a mic for 3-5 hours a day, whining & quacking sh!t out of your upper-azz & making millions.....compared to a construction worker, long shoreman, merchant seaman, landscapers, janitors, delivery truck drivers, firemen, military personnel training, fast food, child-care workers etc., making moderate living to peanuts, huh?
Yeah, HARD WORK!
lacinmacon
I was a Dem and worked hard like all of my ancestors and peers to bring all of America a better life. I was prompted to become a gop in the 80's & after seeing how gop policies were destroying small business owners, of which I am one, I dropped that mantle like a hot potato and went back to the Dem fold to fight for good wages for my workers. They and I have done better under PBO's philosophies regarding small business than at any time under the reagan/cheney/bush dictatorships.
"The difference between Republicans & Democrats: Republicans are workers; Democrats are freeloaders."
Do you live in one of the top 10 welfare recipient states? What party do the governors of those states belong to?
1) New Mexico (Democrat)
2) Mississippi (Republican)
3) Alaska (Republican)
4) Louisiana (Republican)
5) West Virginia (Republican)
6) Alabama (Republican)
7) South Dakota (Republican)
8) Kentucky (Republican)
9) Virginia (Republican)
10) Montana (Republican)
Charlie!!!!!!!.......................you know they speak the truth from their heart, not their head.
It's called the lifetime "Get out of facts free" jail card.
GOP monopoly has a whole stack of them.
Charlie, define welfare. By the way where did you get this little data set you're using?
http://taxfoundation.org/article/federal-spending-received-dollar-taxes-paid-state-2005
PK001, here is the list of states receiving the most federal tax dollars ranked 1 to 50.
This is the list you requested from Charlie.
A welfare state sends in 1 dollar to the federal government and gets back more than 1 dollar in federal aid.
You conveniently missed one. California with 12% of the nations population has 37% of all welfare recipients. Its also a great model for where tax and spend, spend, spend will take this country.
Oh yeah, California, the state that gave us the Reagan Revolution and is currently the HQ of the Koch Brothers empire.
Reagan, one of the greatest presidents in modern history. Obama, arguably the worst. A president elected by the naive, the "poor" and the ill informed. The economy is still in shambles, millions of people are unemployed, we're in debt up to our eyeballs and yet the obamanots still worship him like he's some kind of God. He has no plan and we have no hope of getting out of this mess for another 4 years. I guess the important thing is though is that we have a black president who's really cool and hangs out with celebrities. That's what this country needs to get us back on track. God liberals are a pathetic lot!
All these references to the Republican god Reagan remind me he doubled the deficit, supported a ban on assault weapons and granted amnesty to illegals.
"All these references to the Republican god Reagan remind me he doubled the deficit, supported a ban on assault weapons and granted amnesty to illegals."
Hey Theo --- stop confusing these teatards with FACTS. They HATE FACTS. That's why they only listen to the likes of Rush the Junkie and Fox Propaganda.
Lame Duck Presidency ... oh no.
It is a good time to talk about his goals for his second term. Based on the bad cards he was handed at the beginning of his first term and the obstructionist Congress which he had to persevere throughout his first term, here is a starting list of goals I feel he can and must achieve if he wants to leave a positive legacy.
1. Balance Budget ... Get the fiscal matters under control by working to a balance budget in his 4th year of his term. To achieve this goal his must revisit his healthcare plan and optimize it to remove unforeseen hidden demons ... it must be taken as a living doctrine and not a one shot deal that solves everything ... no such beast exist in politics.
(If he can achieve this the credit rating will be restored, so no need to list it separately)
2. Counter-Terrorism ... Remove all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan ... in the transition he must establish, under the leadership of the US, a robust global counter-terrorism treaty with as many nations as politically possible. Set it up in such a way that defiant nations would see it as a threat and maybe put pressure on them to comply as well.
3. Illegal Immigrants ... He must tackle the illegal (undocumented) immigrants issue ... if they are what most people think they are, cheap labor who are keeping the price of services and food down, then classify them as such ... this can be done by issuing a termed, guest worker visas ... this will enable the government to both tax their earnings and monitor the money flow ... the worst of the threats that illegal immigrants pose is reinforcing an already damaging underground economy.
4. Energy ... This need not be complicated if the government starts working to an agreed priority list ... a list that positions all the available energies according price per watt for end use, oil, gas, coal, solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear ... there are a lot of improvement that can be done within this list, like smart grid, more domestic oil drilling, carbon dioxide containment technologies, better wind mill technologies, better solar strategy (maybe it is best to collect the radiation in space (GEO) and transmit down in such a way as to not damage the ozone layer), tighten the emission levels of automotive manufacturers even more to sustain the drive for better and widespread use of hybrids and electric cars.
(Nuclear is not the answer, I believe it is Pandora's box that will keep unleashing her demons now again, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima Daiichi, and the hundreds, if not thousands, of unreported incidents in the existing nuclear power plants ... This is one field I think NASA can play an important role, find a method to keep track of the harmful radiations levels, concentrations of the various isotopes produced by human activities, in the atmosphere and the sources that put them there (this real time tracking should be made available to the public much like the daily weather reports)
5. Park Air Force One in the garage for the second term ... roll up your sleeves and redefine a lame duck Presidency from a do nothing term to a maximum output, full steam ahead, strategy.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Maybe you have a different list and/or better strategies ... rearrange and/or add on to the list.
Adm, am I wrong but didn't he have complete control the first two years of his presidency to tackle some of these important issues? Instead what did he focus all his energy on? Do you see his only interest is to grow government and make more people rely on it. That's how democrats secure their power. They couldn't care less about the other stuff. Then when the $$ runs out, and it will, they'll be fine. Then we'll need an adult, likely a conservative, to come and clean up the mess they leave behind.
He had filibuster control majority in the House for 5 months only. The rest of the time, the republicans obstructed and filibustered everything.
Ad'm and how do you suppose Obama rolls up his sleves and work with congress when they don;t want to listen!
Adm, good list actually.
40- the problem here is that Obama lets his ideology get in the way. You can blame congress and that's fine. Most leftists do and say that they are obstructionists. However, Clinton and Reagan both got things done through a Congress that was not of their party. Obama has made his mark as a campaigner, not as a statesman. Politics is a game, has been since the Declaration was signed. You will never gain politically if you continue to ram your ideology down people's throat. You give the other side something, you get something in return and you meet somewhere in the middle for the rest. That's compromise. Compromise Obama style is to give him everything he wants and that's the end of it. This isn't how the game is played. Yes, he won the election, but so did every member of Congress on both sides of the isle. He has to start to understand that people in Congress represent the American people just like he does and that for ALL Americans to be represented there has to be compromise. He can't just have it his way and be done. He comes off really spoiled and brat like when he says he isn't going to negotiate this or that. That's what is turning off a lot of Americans. Clinton learned this, by moving towards the middle in his second term and if he could have kept is zipper closed, would have had a pretty decent legacy. Reagan did it by making the House speaker understand that we are all still one country that that we must stand together and not let our different ideologies divide us. This is a big lesson that Obama hasn't learned and I am afraid that he won't learn it, because of where he has landed with his base and the ideals that have driven him this far. You can't go to the Congress and say "I won the election, it has to be my way, get over it." No politician is going to win that way. In the end we all lose because of that mentality.
AD'm, I'm not a fan of our current president, but this is an exellent list. If he can accomplish these things (which I doubt he will), then I, for one, would be more than willing to not only change my opinion of him, but issue a public apology for everything I have said about him. However, I'm not holding my breath.
Perhaps, as a country, we should all worry more about the issues here instead of calling each other stupid (and worse) for disagreeing with each other's opinion. There are many passionate people on both sides of the arguments presented here. Let's just pick ONE issue and try to work together (like adults) on a solution. We can (and should) show our elected officials how we belive they should behave.
To even mention Obama's name along with Ronald Reagan is a abomination....it's like having Al Capone and Mother Terresa mentioned together.
I find it amusing that "The Constitution says that the president must take office on Jan. 20. But if that's a Sunday, public inaugural festivities -- which for Obama will include a re-enactment of the swearing-in from Chief Justice John Roberts – are saved for Monday." And this was done because "SUNDAY" was considered a day of rest. Yet over the years the government has taken religion out of everything.. Why not do the inauguration on a sunday?? If its o.k. for them to take religion out of every aspect of the citizens lives why not do the same for them?? Just doesnt make sense sometimes that the media doesnt ask these simple questions..
So it's not being done on a Sunday. What exactly are you complaining about?
It's in the Koran...read it!
Funny, it seems to me our citizens have the freedom to have as much religion in their lives as they want, just not on my dime.
Since the Liberals insist that he never lies or continues to lie daily (Hourly?) they need to have several cameras like the NFL to check his hands to see if he has his fingers crossed this time. That was the only way he could have avoided the contempt of "The Choir" for lying the entire term of the last 4 year bamboozle. It makes Liberals appear to have no morals or ethics and that the ends justify the means inspite of that "little insignificant piece of paper" this guy uses for bowel movements. On to the third term!!
i'm embarrassed that this phony is taking the oath even once.
hail the NRA
guntersdad, it is very OBVIOUS that the MAJORITY of voters disagree with you. Obama is not phony, the NRA is phony. The majority of the people of our great country voted Obama for a second term. Losers like you troll the internet with your hate.
The only thing Obuma has done is make Jimmy Carter look good!
God Bless President Obama. God Bless the United States of America ! God Damn the hateful bigots.
No...It's "god damn America, god damn America"...how quickly you pot heads forget things...
Yo Cappy: tough call for me on the PATRIOT/RAVENS game. Equally both teams are my favorites.