Lost without the teleprompter.

[Pepe_Silvia]

How do we define performance as president? Is it outcomes or actions/leadership?

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm quite disturbed by what I see Obama doing. His vision, views, and choices all go against what I believe and value. Does that mean he's a poor president? Depends on the criteria. He's actually been quite effective at pushing his agenda so he rates high on that. However, I believe the outcomes if he continues to enact his agenda will be the wrong direction for the country. So his success to date makes him a poor president from that perspective.

And he's a teleprompter toting, bad gift giving POTUS too!

That's not much of an accomplishment with a complicit Congress.

 

[MG1968]

I will always view that the President sets policy for the nation, and Bush campaigned heavily on home ownership as the cornerstone of his economic policy. In hindsight, he should have been trying to regulate the number of bad loans banks were making. Congress went along with his policy, but for most of Bush's presidency, the first 6 years, the Republicans were in the majority.

what country were you living in? Bush TRIED on at least 3 separate occasions to reform the lending industry, particularly Fannie and Freddie. Guess who blocked him at every turn? Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

 

[gsvol]

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm quite disturbed by what I see Obama doing. His vision, views, and choices all go against what I believe and value.

We're definitely on the same page there.

However, I believe the outcomes if he continues to enact his agenda will be the wrong direction for the country.

No doubt.

And he's a teleprompter toting, bad gift giving POTUS too!

Plus he continually just makes things up on the spot and appears ignorant of anything that doesn't fit his narrow world view.

A couple of examples from his campaign; the ten thousand who died in a Kansas tornado in a town of one thousand, the famous 57 states remark and then he mentioned 'my muslim faith' on national TV.

Barry's latest embarrassing case of foot in mouth (not considering his speech in Turkey) was that he thought Austrian was a language, not realizing the Austrians speak the German language.

Of course that was only one day after he apologized to the French for American arrogance, ironically on the anniversary of the implementation of the Marshall plan in which America paid to rebuild a war torn Europe.

 

[AirVol]

If Obama paid the Dept of Treasury a dollar every time he said " Uh", our country would be debt free. I'll have to give him credit,...the brotha can read.

 

[paul1454]

You do know he taught Constitutional Law at a Law School before running for public office?

I understand your argument, but I would like to point out that anyone with knowledge about law school knows that constitutional law professors tend to be very left-leaning persons. I am not sure why this is so, but it is. Maybe because right-leaning views of the Supreme Court (i.e., that the Court should follow the original understanding of the constitution by focusing on the text, history, and structure of the document) just isn't as sexy as the opposing view - that an expansive reading of the constitution is warranted based upon views that the constitution is a "living" document that should be interpreted based upon the views of society and should focus on protecting the views of the minority (which arguably flies in the face of a government based upon majority rule).

As a result, many constitutional law professors favor a broad reading of constitution, such as an expansive interstate commerce clause (allowing government to regulate goods produced in one's home even though those products will never come close to crossing state lines), a broad reading of the due process clause to include rights not listed in the constitution (i.e., that the constitution prohibits infringement on certain privacy rights even though the right of privacy is listed nowhere in the constitution or that the words "life, liberty, and property without due process of law" protects substantive rights-not just procedural-and also incorporates the bill of rights taking vast power away from the states), and a generally expansive reading of numerous other provisions that gives great power to the federal government.

Not saying any of these beliefs are wrong, but they are based on a view of the constitution that is fundamentally different from the beliefs many believe are the basis of our constitution. There is a huge disagreement about what is the "correct" approach to constitutional law and, truthfully, there is no correct answer. The point is, just because he taught constitutional law does not mean that he is an expert, as many constitutional law professors’ beliefs starkly contrast the views of a large segment of the population.

 

[kev20]

 

[KB5252]

I may be really wrong for this but I will say it anyway.

Would anybody else find it extremely funny if the the guy loading the teleprompter suffered from some kind of typing tourettes syndrome?

 

[utvolpj]

I may be really wrong for this but I will say it anyway.

Would anybody else find it extremely funny if the the guy loading the teleprompter suffered from some kind of typing tourettes syndrome?

so you see a Ron Burgundy moment in his future?

 

[KB5252]

so you see a Ron Burgundy moment in his future?

At this point anything is possible. There are a couple of scenes from Bruce Almighty that would be similar as well.