Terry McGraw -

Yes, Spain, France, … but not Germany.
I spent a couple of years there and the quality of life, as well as the standard of living is ways higher than here.
It’s actually second just to Switzerland. They have high salaries, 7 weeks of vacation, good roads, public transportation, good free universities, good hospitals… and not drowning into taxes and debts.

Of course, France is another problem

I love the idea of Obama being asked that simple question, “why do you want to be president” because it strikes to the heart of why people should or should not vote for him. Such an answer should explain why he is most qualified for the office at this time. His lack of experience and personal achievement (i.e. his lack of a resume) is virtually undebatable , so what is it about him that makes him the best choice? How someone who supports him answers that isn’t nearly as important as how Senator Obama answers it. He’s the one currently living the implications of it.

The voter should, most of all, want to know how Obama answers that question when he asks it of himself. What does Obama think about himself that tells him he could be a good president. I often wonder if he has ever actually asked himself that question, and I wonder how anyone could get this far without having done so. If he has actually asked himself the question then he should have been able to come up with a better answer than he gave the little girl, that is unless that answer is one most voters wouldn’t like.

The ONLY positive thing about Obama being president, and mark my words, he will almost certainly get elected, is the fact that he will probably only be a one term president. The ONLY thing we have to fear is how much damage he will do to this country in four years. But, unfortunately, it is a necessary evil; much like we had to endure with Carter, forcing us to wake up and put someone like Reagan in office. As conservatives we’ve become complacent, again, and have allowed liberals to gain a foot hold. It is the swing voters in this country who elect presidents and Congress. It is only when, as conservatives, we become complacent that these swing voters elect liberals, as they are easily influenced by current trends. When they feel things aren’t just right, they latch on to the newest, the most polished, the most charismatic, one who is promising the most change, because they believe that he will be their savior. Much like happened when conservatives dropped the ball and became complacent before Carter, setting up a scenario where they made the swing voters loose confidence in them, and rightly so, allowing the empty shirt that Carter was to sneak in. After Carter fell flat on his face, the swing voters ousted him for Reagan, returning the country to someone who promised to right their wrong. Same thing will happen with Obama. He will fail miserably and those fickle swing voters will see the error of their ways and put in another Reagan to save us. The only question, as I said, is how much damage will be done. I’m afraid this time, it will be far worse than Carter or Clinton. Hang on to your hats folks, we’re in for a hell of a ride. If you think the last six months have been rough… as the man said: “You aint seen nothing yet.”

Alan C.–

Obama, Clintons, Reid, Pelosi, Feinstein, Kennedy, and half or more of those firmly ensconced on the left side of the isle dream of and yearn for the day when America becomes like Germany, Spain, France…
…North Korea, China, Cuba! Weak, impoverished, and driving mules, while they live like kings, telling us when we can go to the bathroom and how much paper we can use.

It’s scary how the “mainstream” media hides this guy’s obvious ignorance. He’s in so far over his head. It’s as if Hollywood is casting for President, and this is who they came up with. “So, You Want to be President?” A liberal fascist if I ever saw one–smiley-face totalitarianism. Like I say, it’s scary.

I keep reading “left”, “socialist”.
C’mon, we don’t have a left in the US. We don’t even have a center.
What we have are the right (democrats), and far right (Republicans).
That’s it.
Anyone traveling a little bit outside of our country knows that.
Ok, democrats are “at the left” of Republicans, but they have nothing to do with a left party like they have over Germany, Spain, France, etc.

Thank you again for a great article. It is distressing that a Presidential candidate is so uninformed of our history. His answer to the young girl was very disturbing, yet very informative at the same time. This young woman seemed to grasp what the media has not. Unfortunatley during the infomercials-oops debates- we won’t get to the true intentions of the candidates either. Now we know why he doesn’t like Town Hall Meetings.

To say “America is no longer what it can be” is not to say that there once was some great, utopia here in the states. As great as you can be is a undefinable term, and he could, in his opinion, feel as if our standing up to Russia in the Cold War was the US being all it could be.

It doesn’t even necessarily involve his wife’s opinion that the US has been getting worse over her lifetime. The country getting worse has nothing to do with the country living up to perceived potential. Both can in fact occur at the same time, it just depends on whether our potential is also declining.

This is, at best, a nit-picky argument. Obama could just have easily said “I hope to bring the country to it’s maximum potential, because I can see it going in a wonderful direction in the future.” But then you would probably ask: “Oh, we weren’t going in a wonderful direction in the past!?!?”

Recently I received information showing the airplane Obama had completely re-done. The American Flag has been removed. However, no news organization is reporting on this and I’m wondering — why?? I would like to ask Fox News to make this a ‘fair and balanced’ report concerning this. I think the American public should know about this, or is this subject something that is deemed - not news worthy? Fox News - please respond !!

Why do you want to be President?

That shouldn’t be a very tough question, generally.

I would have started by saying “I, like you and every other American child, grew up wanting to be president of the greatest nation on this Earth. That is the highest aspiration one can have in this country.” That would have been a great start to an answer.

Of course to have that answer come to your mind quickly, you would actually have to believe it.

PT

Well, Teacher, how can you criticize the knowledge of a Harvard graduate? I think you missed the point. Obama’s response is typical of “today’s educated” in America. The fact that he seemed to know little about the history behind certain events is the direction our educational system has been headed for a few years now. Mr. Obama is a Harvard graduate. I didn’t graduate from Harvard, did you? If what you say is true, then what does that say about Harvard, a school that few Americans have an opportunity to attend? Now certainly Harvard grads know all the history they need to know, don’t they? How could anyone graduate from Harvard and not know all the history that they need to know? The next President will be elected not by what he knows, but by who he knows and who likes him enough to vote for him. The ONLY thing that counts in order to elect a President is the votes and Mr. Obama might just win the election whether he passes your history test or not…that’s America. It does make one wonder what they do over there at Harvard…

A Reminder:
McCain has been among the most ardent supporters of the war in Iraq — the most disastrous foreign policy decision in American history.
McCain falsely claims that, from the beginning of the war, he called on former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to resign. He should have, but he didn’t.
McCain thinks it’s “not too important” when American forces come home from Iraq.
McCain has repeatedly claimed that Iran was training members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, showing a fundamental misunderstanding of the key players in the war. He doesn’t understand the difference between Shiites and Sunnis, and even after being corrected he still doesn’t get it.
McCain falsely claimed that the surge was what led to the Anbar Awakening, even though the Sunni revolt against al-Qaeda in the province began months before Bush even announced his plan to send more troops to Iraq.
McCain falsely claimed at the end of May that American troops in Iraq were down to “pre-surge levels” (brandished as proof that the surge was “succeeding”) — even though two-thirds of the additional surge troops were still in Iraq. And, when called on his mistake, he refused to acknowledge that he was wrong.
McCain falsely claimed that the war in Iraq was “the first major conflict since 9/11″ — either forgetting about the war in Afghanistan or deeming it not major enough. This is not all that surprising, since McCain’s policies on Afghanistan — the real central front in the war on terror — have been all over the map. Indeed, McCain first attacked Obama’s policy on Afghanistan, then adopted it for himself.
McCain has a long history of paying lip service to supporting America’s troops but voting against their interests. His handling of the new GI bill was the latest example of his hypocrisy: he consistently and vocally worked to defeat it, then, once it passed, tried to take credit for it.
Need more proof of why McCain is not “ready to lead”? Do you want a president who thinks there is an “Iraq/Pakistan border”? Who believes Darfur is in Somalia? And that Czechoslovakia is still a country?
Just remember.

Since a huge majority of Americans began voting for Democratic candidates in 2006, it’s clear the the consensus is that the United States had better times before the Republicans gained the majority in the House and Senate in the early 1990s. Then consider the Republican Bush administration’s record setting low approval ratings and the fact that 40% of the entire nation believes Bush to be the worst president EVER! That means that most people think our nation has been going downhill. The vast majority also states that “the nation is headed in the wrong direction”.

The good times were before the Republicans made a mess of the economy. Bush has nearly doubled the national debt in the last 8 years! The good times were before the Republican Bush administrations proclivity for war got us into the quagmire in Iraq, then ceded power to “the generals on the ground”.

To Peter in Kansas:

And you think Obama knows what he is talking about…go smoke another one! I’m not real thrilled about the thought of McCain being President either, but the thought of Obama being President scares the living-you-know-what out of me! McCain is much, much more qualified than the alternative. Obama doesn’t care about this country!

I make just over 52 thou a year. Obama just recently voted to RAISE taxes on everyone making more than 31,800. (is 31,800 rich???) McCain voted against it. Guess who I will be voting for.
Hint…it won’t be the ‘empty suit’!!!

Everybody looks backwards with rose colored glass. The measure is pretty arbitrary, but today is better than at anytime in the past. Each era has its problems and issues, but today; unemployment has hardly been lower,more Americans are alive than ever before, we live longer, have more money, our poor are the richest poor on the planet. Our environment is cleaner than anytime in the last 50 yrs. While in a state of war, we haven’t been attacked for 7 years.

We are winning/won in Iraq. The enemy, though resurgent, is not winning in Afganhistan. We have supported the victims of the sunami, katrina, fought 2 wars, and aided several countries.

The economy is not great now, but then it wasn’t great when Bush took over. As I recall, there was actually a technical recession. We are not in one yet. When Clinton took over, we had just come out of a recession, he raised taxes, but the stock market and the economy really didn’t take off until a Republican Congress was elected (check the dates on the market rise).

This can go on and on. When were the Golden days… the 40’s war and recession; 50’s post war boom and cold war; 60’s sex drugs & Rock and Roll and Viet Nam; 70’s Nixon, Watergate & Stagflation. Give me a break. In 10 yrs these will be the golden days.

P.S. - When FDR met with Stalin, he was a purported ally, so technically he was not an enemy. The goes for Truman. Stalin was a purported ally at Potsdam. It wasn’t till later, e.g nuclear detonation and the Berlin Blockade that the tone of the cold war was set.

The real issue is not talking with the enemy, but the circumstances surrounding the meeting, what is to be gained and what is to be lost. Politics is a zero sum game, unlike economics. Meeting unconditionally with an enemy in a situation that the meeting itself will provide recognition and support for their cause is not a good plan unless there will be something tangible to come out of it. The europeans have been talking for 5yrs with our support with nothing to show for it except Iran is even closer to a device. Hmm… me thinks that was their plan all along… stall for time until is their project is complete, hence they win.

What’s on John Edwards’ Ipod? Rihanna, “Take A Bow”.

Bias!!!!

Wait a minute… this is a forum… OF COURSE IT IS BIASED. These are editorials. I don’t care if the writers are biased, I expect that. I care if the articles are well thought out pieces supported by facts and sound theory or science, not boiler plate talking points.

Ms. Newmark seems to have hit a nerve, mostly attacking Obama. The item picked is super heavy weight, but a remark that the author thinks is a reflection of the true Obama, not the sainted Obama of the media.

An interesting point is the flavor of rose colored glasses illustrated here; Michelle’s “down right mean country” or Reagan’s “new morning”. I think both are right, America is some of both, but the important thing is which consumes you. Hell and a handbasket or Pollyanna. The negative or the positive. I prefer the positive, and the realist in me says we need to fix the negative. Hmmmm, Reagan or Carter seems to be the contrast. New dawn, new morning, a new start or turn your thermostat down, wear a sweater.

You decide.

And I thought I was educated. I missed the “white man’s Country” in reading the piece. The piece maybe right wing, if you consider it not praising Obama. I may cut him some slack, since he is trying to explan it to young child. I think the main point is Obama is lost when he is away from a teleprompter, that he is an empty shirt.

The rest of the column slices and dices the point of what was he trying to say, and that successful politicians tend to focus on the future, not the past. That the statement is really a freudian slip of what he really thinks and that it is linked to statements his wife has made that really expose his true philosophy.

Mainsteam, I don’t think so. The most liberal voting record in the senate. Long time association with liberation theology. The appearance is his is closely associated with the Democratic left/socialist wing, but an astute enough politician to no that won’t get him elected, hence the swing to the center. Call flip/flop if you will. All politicians do it, but the key issues is why the change and how often. The narrative of the flip/flop is an indicator of underlying principles of the lack thereof.

If you play I voted for something before I voted against it game, that is not building a sence of trust. What else will you play bothsides against the middle with.

Why is it that those who contribute the least are the first to criticize ?

Just more ‘Double Talk’ from the “Great One”. And you want him as your President???

This is nonsensical. Especially when you consider how horribly uninformed John McCain repeatedly appears on both domestic and international policy.

I’m a little confused. Don’t ALL politicians talk about taking us back to “a better time”. For that matter, don’t all politicians paint the election in terms of this “crucial” time when we need them to lead or else? Obama says if you don’t vote for him your great grand children will be fighting in Iraq. McCain says, if we don’t vote for him we’ll be over run by terrorists. (Yes I’m being a bit sarcastic) Honestly, don’t MOST people remember “the good old days” as they get older? Regardless of how not so good those days were? I know I do. And I grew up in a time where as a young black kid I had to listen to my “friends” still laugh at all the black jokes cuz it’s OK as long as you don’t actually say the “N” word. Of course, that was way back in 1985 before we became the color blind nation we are today. And yet, I still remember that as a time where school masacres were the stuff of horror movies. Can’t you just cut the guy some slack and assume he was trying “however unseccessfully you believe it” to explain to a child that he feels our country is headed down the wrong path and that he wants to change it. He may be right, he may be wrong. But he’s no different than the rest of us in yearning for a “better time” I bet you’re no different either.

This is a pretty typical piece do right-wing sophistry. Newmark suggests that Obama dislikes white America and/or the once sacrosanct notion that this is a “white man’s country”. That’s nonsense; Obama is mainstream and is more culturally white than anything else. That said, I’ll tell you Ms. Newmark, I don’t like right-wing racist white Americans and I don’t like your nostalgia for the good old days either. The idea of white america has been harmful to his nation and to the world.

No reasonable person can argue with the facts presented in this piece. Obama may be a great orator when he’s reading a scripted piece, but when he’s talking off the cuff, he has little to choose from other than his own true beliefs and feelings. This is why he will not meet John McCain in a town hall setting, even though he originally said he would meet McCain in that setting “anytime, anywhere.”

This little seven-year old girl brought a great deal of understanding and realization to our nation through her simple question.

This is definitely the stupiest article I’ve ever read. The article’s subject matter is petty and stupid, but the most glaring embarassment of the artice is the author’s very weak attempt to mask her own bias. It is very clear that this was written with the intent of attacking Barack Obama - and what a weak attack it is.

Go figure, a person running for president who thinks they will make the world a better place! What hubris!! Are you kidding me? If you don’t think that, why would you run for president? I’d be interested to see if McCain thinks we are better today than we used to be. I’m sure he remembers a better day as well.

As someone leaning Obama, but still undecided b/c of how much I like McCain in 2000 and respect him, I can’t believe that we can’t at least have some news articles, commercials, statements, etc. that discuss McCain’s positives. Message to McCain (and people covering him) . . . we want to hear about you!!

No longer can Americans trust the media, which was given special constitutional privileges to look out for the folks.”Obama is an empty suit. From the day he was sworn in to the Senate to the date he declared his run for the presidency, is only 145 days on the job. He has literally no experience. (Not figuratively, literally!) He’s not qualified to run a Dairy Queen.

Proven Obama has most liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate. Obama is to the left of Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, Pat Leahy and Barbara Boxer. That’s extremely difficult to do. Obama is a textbook big-government, tax-and-spend liberal. He plans to raise income tax rates, capital gains tax rates, Social Security taxes (by virtue of eliminating the cap), dividend taxes, inheritance taxes, and introduce a slew of new taxes. His plan will destroy this country

To ALL the obamakins and of course the bias CNN & MSNBC I have one simple request. Please spare me the hope and the change bull, and the Bush’s third term, McSame etc… Please just tell American voters what qualifies Barack Obama to run this country. What qualifies him to oversee our $14 trillion economy, the largest on earth? What qualifies him to be commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces in a time of war? Please just give me one single solid qualification. And race does not qualify!! That would be one more than anyone including cable media has provided to date. WE ALL HAVE GROWN EXTREMLY TIRED OF MEDIA SAINTED OBAMA

The only reason the election is about the communist idiot Obama (and Future President) is that conservative/Republican ideals have been so thoroughly repugnant, repulsive and corrupt these past years.

Even if McCain somehow manages an upset (hitting three grand slams in the bottom of the ninth inning) he will still face crushing Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate. There are yet Republican aging activists alive who spent thirty years from 1970 to 2000 laboring for House and Senate majorities. How sad to spend your life achieving a goal, to somehow reach the goal and then throw it away in a brief succession of big government spending, racism, bigotry and government corruption. How heartbreaking!

Thanks to the trailer trash scum who now rule the Republican and Conservative movements with something akin to the rule of organized crime, this election is about Obama and his stupid ideas, his lack of experience, his utter incompetence. Unfortunately, Obama is likely to win anyway.

This election like all recent elections ought to be about taxation, the unconstitutional size of our monstrous Federal, State and Local government. This election ought to about turning away from the road to Feudalism. This election ought to be about turning away from the road to the social classes of Aristocracy, government union scum and a peasantry that is perpetually in violation of some fascist ordinance. This election ought to be about a consistent Foreign Policy. This election ought to be about spreading the 1776 freedoms of the American States south and north of the border by annexation.

Instead this is going to be an election where cowardly conservative trailer trash try to pretend they have been saying all those nasty things about immigration the last 6 years. Instead, cowardly conservative trailer trash will try to advocate the need for more “security” aka jobs as fascist government police who get paid 100k to harass air travelers, businessmen (who actually produce products and services) and grandmothers. Instead cowardly conservative SCUM are going to be clever and focus on Obama. ..and lose whether Obama loses or not.

Bummer.

Have a Nice Day!

What? Are you questioning the annointed one? How dare you! Seriously, one would think there are two Obamas out there. The first, the one that the Dems and most of the media want you to see, is the teleprompter guided Obama. The smooth, great orator. Well packaged and presented. The second, is, unfortunately a stammering, confused sounding man who seems to always be grasping for the right thing to say. If you notice, in the off the cuff remarks, when he says something the crowd responds favorably to, he repeats it right away. The unpackaged Obama seems to always be searching for the right words. So with him, it’s about packaging and preperation, which makes me think we should be voting on his advisors and packagers, not the candidate himself! Obviously that’s who the REAL president will be! Not this Manchurian candidate!

Ms. Newmark: After roughly 1.5 days, no comments about your essay had been made until I decided to post early on a Sunday morning. There is a reason that I am the first to respond and it isn’t merely because I may the the only person who actually read your entire post (trying to figure out if you actually had a point).

Your piece is sloppily written and poorly thought out-to the degree it’s thought out at all. Underneath it all, you may be on to something but what cam out shows you to be as incomprehensible as you claim Obama is. You are also clearly stretching and straining to be cute instead of logical.

The problem with your essay is that 99.9% of the Americam people instinctively understand agree that America is not the country it once was or should be. Most of them do not agree with Obama’s proposals for changing the country BUT they do want a change. You are trying to intellectualize a point that cannot be intellectualized because you fail to realize that in a political debate the head never beats the gut.

To pick up on your last paragraph and apply it to McCain, I would like someone to ask him one very important question: You are a conservative. Having served 25 years in the congress and senate, you are very familiar with the details of the federal budget. You have eloquently preached against wasteful government spending. Name the first tjree federal programs President McCain will eliminate-not merely reduce fiunding for-but completely do away with.

I would bet $100 that if McCain were to be asked that question, he wouldn’t answer it.

Thanks, Ms. Newmark. What an excellent perspective on the Obamas and their bizarre way of “loving” their country. Yes, their answers all sound so “academic” — like ones you can find on any college campus these days. No specifics, just a general disdain for their own country. Let’s hope the country (which is made up of a lot of us bitter clingers out here) can see through their rhetoric.

This is so old….can we move on to something more revelant?

Weak.

Senator Obama, like most Americans, should know more history, but who are you comparing him to? Certainly the fool that currently occupies the White House would do far worst in any history exam. Perhaps Ms. Newmark also needs a bit of a history lesson. The United States previously stood against torture, whereas now we now justify it. The United States used to truly be a land of opportunity whereas now we lag behind a dozen or more other nations in terms of social and economic mobility. We also have had the most incompetent president and administration in 75 years. Ms. Newmark seems unable to understand how low the US has sunk in recent years in the eyes of of the world and its own citizens. I certainly wouldn’t want her teaching my kids.

Obama and his wife hold this country and its citizens in contempt. The only people they actually seem to admire are their rich elite friends in San Francisco with whom they can snicker at the rest us and their Chicago ex-terrorist and hater friends….Ayers & Rev Wright. This country is headed toward electing its first President that doesn not share the values that have made this country great. Its not too late. The super delegates can still stop this train wreck, vote for Hillary, and give her the nomination. American needs and deserves a President who loves this country!

SInce Michelle went to Princeton and Barack went to Harvard (and he went to an elite private school in Hawaii) and they live in an almost two million dollar mansion, I’d say they should be thankful.

Who knows what Obama means. He doesn’t know himself. He seems to have a real problem with America. Why does he want to be president?? Is it to destroy America from within? That is a questions voters need to find the answer to.

Vote McCain

Obama is just like all lefists/liberals/progressives/socialists, he thinks America is the problem.

I agree, when exactly have we had it better? Shame a Obama for saying that America has and is not always perfect.

Betsy,
If you took the time to actually listen to Barack Obama’s platform and message (and not just answers to questions from kids), you would already know exactly what he was talking about. Barack Obama is referring to the fact that George W Bush has left such a bad mark on our country that we have actually reversed forward progress on a number of issues we consider fundamental to our identity as a nation. We are no longer what we once were because we have lost our moral authority on human rights with our treatment of prisoners in Gitmo. We are no longer what we once were because we became a global aggressor with our false reasons for going to war in Iraq. We are no longer what we once were because we have ignored genocide in Darfur. And possibly most importantly, we are no longer what we once were because we have bankrupted our nation’s future by ignoring our veterans, by pushing forward with No Child Left Behind school “reforms”, and by lining the pockets of big oil and big health care all the while destroying our middle class. John McCain attacks Obama for being about hope and change, but the restoration of America to the ideals set forth by our founders and many of great leaders that followed them requires large doses of both.

As a bitter, clinging voter, I loved this column!!!

Uhh…umm…yer not going to get elected…um err uh….yah and stuff.

Well done! This needs wider circulation.
Thanks, looking forward to more good work.

I’m not planning to vote him, but the man does have a title, and he does have a first name. Any writer/journalist worth his or her salt would know that. For that matter so should a history and government teacher. The fact that Ms. Newmark refers to the Senator right out of the gate as “Obama” is nothing short of pure impudence. One wonders how much she would appreciate being referred to as “Newmark.”

What about a time when we were not at war with Iraq?

What about a time when we did not have an administration opposed to science?

What about a time when there was not an interrogation room in the White House?

What about a time when there were not prisoners at Guantanamo Bay?

What about a time when we didn’t torture?

What about a time when Congress was not populated with representatives who would interfere in something like the Terri Schiavo affair?

What about a time when families are reeling from energy costs?

One can point to any era and mock the “good old days” of course. (Actually, no one uses the “return” to some golden past more than conservative Republicans.) However, there are aspects of today that need to be changed. And Obama’s the man for it.

Every Democrat in the country will come up with the same predictable answer to that question: “Before G.W. Bush”.

And what’s with the writing in this article?

“If he’s worry about those bitter, clinging voters who voted for Hillary in the primaries, this sort of talk isn’t going to win them over.”

If he’s worry? Is this ebonics redux?

You’re the most obtuse person Ive ever known to exist. AND YOU’RE A HISTORY TEACHER - I empathize with your students for having you teach them history. You seem to not understand the most basic of threads which runs through history - progress. Honestly, you are a disgrace for teachers across our country - you’re part of the problem with our education system. Of course this post wont be posted, but I hope you read it and realize that YOU should be ashamed of yourself for such slanderous comments. Shameful. Simply Shameful.

Obama’s initial reaction is always negative towards Americans, whether it be condescending, patronizing, belittling, racist, sexist, etc.

This is when he is unscripted and being himself. His initial responses are rupugnant and so telling.

Yes, someone should ask him just what exactly he is talking about. He’ll stutter and stammer and say you misunderstood him… “what I meant to say was…”

I’ve never seen such a scam artist and BS’er, and yet people still believe anything that comes out of his mouth, even it changes within the hour, depending on what voter audience he has in front of him.

Look, I just want a country where:

1.intelligent conversation is a goal, not minimized. Where opinion is not stated as undisputed fact. (Such as the first paragraph of your article) I also loved the way you skipped right from the 1860’s to the 1960s. As I recall our country did fairly well, and actually came into it’s own during that period.

2.education is promoted, not made more difficult, (as a teacher I’m sure you noticed the recent reduction in federal aid for college students)

3. our president inspires me, instead of repeatedly embarrassing me

4. The main product isn’t big movies and sportstars

5.my portfolio actually increases in value (note the S/P 500 from 1/2001 to 8/2008) How’s your portfolio?

6. The President goes after the real menace behind 9/11. One who says “Lets get Osama” and means it. Remind me again why we aren’t looking for him?

What exactly do you want? More of the same?

Wake up

Obviously, he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Exactly, there is no time when America can take a chance on who we elect to be president. Even though I think getting along in America as a woman or a minority is far more complicated than being a white man; things have improved dramatically and the fact that Barack is a congressman is a testament to that.

I want a president who is proud to be an American and wants to make America better. Not a president who has lost pride in his country and says not that America is great but that America can be great again. He should have said that America is a great country and that he believed America deserved a better government, an honest government, an accountable government and that he wanted to be president to make sure that we have it.

You can’t say I can no more denounce my pastor than denouce my mother and later act as if you have separated yourself. And how many times did he say he wasn’t in church to hear any of the controvertial things that his pastor said. Barack in this case clearly was lying, he wrote about his Pastor preaching about Hiroshima in his book Dreams of my father.

But when asked about drug use he clearly indicates he did use pot and that inhaling was the point. At least he was honest. In his book he clearly stated that in the last years of high school that he attended class sporadically and tried drugs enthuisiastically, pot and cocaine when the money was available, but not smack/heroin.

It is clear that he has a disdain for white people shared by his pastor and he wrote clearly about it in his book. And I might be able to look beyond this because I think their are fewer opportunities for minorities, but then I understand that he graduated from Harvard School of Law and my sympathy diminishes.

I still wonder when he was asked after being elected to the senate why he was not interested in a national campaign for the presidency in 2008 he clearly stated that he believed in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job, and that he wasn’t comfortable jumping straight into a presidential when he hadn’t served a single day in the senate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gexyfVpFMU&feature=related

Unfortunately there is a long list of items where Obama doesn’t seem to be able to take a stand on his positions and I believe people who believed he was a different type of politician are really starting to pay attention and are getting concerned about his stance on Iraq, his stance on FISA, his stance on gun control, his stance on NAFTA, his stance on drilling for oil, his stance on nuclear energy.

People know what he said in his speeches but when he is interviewed by the press it seems like things have changed, that his position has changed. I would think it would be hard to vote for someone who told you something but then you see him on the news saying something that totally contradicts what he originally said. If that’s the type of person you want to vote for, hey it’s a free country.

I love this country and I think John McCain does too, I’m not sure that Barack does and I honestly don’t know why he is running for president. I’m not sure if he really knows why either, but at least you can take comfort knowing he will have a job if he isn’t elected to be president.

Betsy-

You hit the nail on the head! I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of Obama’s political opportunistic approach attempting to pull the wool over our eyes by playing on a national urgency to change for a better yesterday. Obama and the media have consistently used this campaign tactic to sway public opinion. We wouldn’t need the Obama Brand—Super-Obamamania, egocentric, Messiah, leader if things weren’t really all that bad! He’s the one that will lead us from the Desert to the promise Land! He’s the one that will take on those windfall profits of the “bad” oil companies (as if profits were bad), create a single payer government controlled healthcare system (that will further exploit our weaknesses in providing efficient market-outcomes driven healthcare), withdraw from Iraq (that will prove to our enemies that we are weak and open the flood gates to Iran), and move beyond our tarnished racial past (without using the race card to do so).

I would argue that the only period over the last 40-50 years that clearly prosperity reigned would be prior to the Democrats taking control of Congress in 2006. During the period leading up to the shift, American unemployment was down to around 4%, gas prices hovered around $2.50, the stock market had rebounded from the chaos following 9-11, and taxes for the average middle class American were significantly less than during the Clinton years. Maybe we need to go back to those years of good conservative leadership or even better the pre-Ted Stevens/Larry Craig, Fiscal Irresponsible shift of the Republican Party toward the Grand Old Party that truly feared big government, was ethically and morally sound, believed in Capitalism as a driving force behind our national success, and rejected the idea of a national dependence on a government that would solve all your problems.

While you casting stones, you might want to direct some to your editor (or yourself - it’s a blog, so self editing is your responsibility).

“If he’s worry about those bitter, clinging voters who voted for Hillary in the primaries, this sort of talk isn’t going to win them over.” “If he’s worry”?? uh, uh, I guess, in your case, it’s not so clear that your words were formed carefully and thoughtfully.

Dang! (as we say in Florida), that was very well stated…. awesome…. I had missed that angle and you so hit the mark…..thank you Betsy!…

This sounds more like a RNC press release than the true thoughts of a high school teacher. It is real easy to take things out of context and make things up, and that is what this commentary does. Hope most folks can see through it.

Why weren’t any of my high school teachers this smart? Most couldn’t construct a proper sentence, let alone a consistent thought.

EXCELLENT HARD HITTING HONEST COLUMN! YOU GOT HIM FIGURED OUT PERFECTLY.

KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK. I’d like to see a good column on Obama’s brand of brotherhood. He demos he can’t see beyond the tip of his nose in contending the war in Iraq was wrong. Of course, millions of moronic voters lap it up as they think only of their bellies and gonads! What we don’t need is guys like the immature Clinton, preoccupied with sex, who dithered and dallied during the Balkan war. As a strong Catholic, I strongly believe that the world does need some policemn. No peoples should turn their shoulder while a nation iis starved, made backward with a huge military. North Korea is such a place . . . almost. Were not some 800,000 Rwandans slaughtered? New thinking is needed on the just war theory that even the Vatican kis not up on. Are you up to it to tackle this issue?
Good luck. Time is of the essence — 3 more months left to reach the morons!

Les Kohut, Ed. D.
Chicago IL

Barack Obama can’t answer questions without notes or a teleprompter. The answer he gave that girl was very uninspirational and dumb. He certainly wasn’t the eloquent Obama everyone swoons over. This is why is has chickened out of any townhall style debates with John McCain. He needs set questions, and set answers. He is a sham, created and pushed by the