If Obama did a good job as President, why did Hillary lose?
What if Obama wasn’t such a good president as many seem to assert?Let me point out that when he was elected, Obama was supposed to be the opposite of George W. Bush.Instead, we saw a President that:Increased inequality and in many cases, signed legislation that increased inequality.Had a cabinet selected by Citigroup.Refused to persecute Wall Street executives for the 2008 Crisis.Did not reinstate Glass-Steagall nor pass anything more than Dodd-Frank, which overlooked too many issues.Chose to write a debilitating healthcare system that even today bitterly divides Americans nicknamed Obamacare, instead of trying to copy say, the Canadian healthcare system or at least trying to implement a serious public option.Largely continued the wars of Bush and started new ones, in Libya for example, while “surging” in Afghanistan.Did not address the fundamental problem of Washington, which is political corruption.Had a pro-austerity budget and made no attempts after the first partial stimulus.Waged a war on whistleblowers that was unprecedented.Did not mobilize his base in an attempt to address the very issues that he ran to fix. He could have used his base to try to overcome an obstructionist GOP. There was a ton of goodwill after his election. He chose to throw it away.I don’t think that Obama will be well regarded. IN fact, I suspect that he will be compared to James Buchanan, who was facing a profound crisis and made a bad situation worse.There’s a reason why Bernie Sanders gained so much popularity. It was because Obama had not delivered the Change that we so pushed in 2008. There’s a reason why Clinton’s attempt to say that she was Obama’s third term failed to generate excitement.Combine that with Clinton’s poor campaigning skills and the Democratic National Committee’s unethical sabotage of Bernie Sanders, then you have Trump.
What U.S. political party should a socially liberal, fiscally conservative candidate join?
First, don’t join a party… joining a party simply narrows your information sources and exposes you to the extremes, on either side. A great review of this came out many years ago that demonstrated that belonging to a party tended to create and encourage extremism as people’s new sources narrowed to ONLY those on their side.But the posts here are entirely correct; I thought people would “get it” from the tenure of Bush Jr, that Republicans are only fiscal conservatives when they are OUT of control of the White House. As Jr’s administration proved when they blew up a planned surplus into unending deficits, once in power, the main difference between the parties isn’t “HOW MUCH” they spend, it’s just HOW they spend it.If you’re socially liberal and fiscally conservative, that means you are also or need to also be skeptical about what the Govt CAN and CANNOT do effectively, as well as what Free Markets CAN and CANNOT do effectively. Neither is perfect or best for all scenarios. Markets don’t ensure social good is achieved, and is always driven by desire for both PROFIT and GROWTH; Government is large and therefore somewhat less efficient (also like BIG corporations), but is the only side that can help ensure that everyone plays fair and all ships rise w/ the tide.The only warning I give you when voting, is that the idea of ‘vote for the person, not the party’ doesn’t necessarily work today, in an environment where parties can bring a lot of pressure to bear to ensure their people tow the line… and unfortunately REPs aren’t even social moderates anymore… they appear to want to return the country to the 1950s and 60s.
Why do scientists think they know more about science than politicians? Gore wouldn't LIE!?
Abrams, Elliot - Penn State University Apel, John - John Hopkins University Aubrey, David - Woods Hole Ocean. Inst. Badura, Leslaw - Univ. Kattositz, Polland Balling, Robert - Arizona State University Barrett, Jack - Kingston-upon-Thames, U.K. Bauer, Ernst-Waldemar - Esslingen, Germany Berg, Hermann - Sachsisch Akad., Jena, Germany Berning, Warren - New Mexico State University Boe, Bruce A. - Atm. Resource Brd. ND Bottcher, C.J. Frits, The Hague Bourne, Arthur - University of London Bruce, Larry Brown, Norman M.D., University of Ulster Bye, Matthew - Meterologist, San Francisco Cain, Joseph - Florida State University Clube, S.V.M. - University of Oxford Courtney, Richard - Epsom, U.K. Csanady, G.T - Old Dominion University Cunningham, Robert M. - Meterologist, Lincoln, MA Decker, Fred - Meterologist, Corvalis, OR de Freitas, Chris, University of Auckland Del Re, Giuseppe Rom. Dietze, Peter - Nurnberg, Germany Dyer, Rosemary - Phillips Lab Eddington, Lee W., Nav
Why do so many conservatives and conservative outlets dislike California?
There seems to be a battle to the death taking place against the socialists. The reason is that California, and the West Coast in general, is becoming the place to leave as fast as you possibly can for any business. There are multiple reasons for this, as many companies have already started to migrate from Silicon Valley to Texas. Some people wonder why more and more Tech firms are setting up shop in Austin, Texas. Tampa, Florida, is also another chosen location. The advantages of both places is that they “fit” the non-establishment atmosphere.The socialists in the West are just going nuts. Seattle is now taxing $275 per employee to shelter “homeless” of which many are illegal immigrants. Portland has introduced the “inequality” of income so that they bring the “rich” down to the same level of the “poor” to make it fair. The questions is, why not rather raise the poor? Because communists don’t care about the poor. It’s all about hating the rich. Strange how they always get that one backwards. Lawmakers in Portland, Oregon have decided to attack the rich by imposing a business-tax on firms with extreme CEO-to-worker pay ratios They will punish companies for paying CEOs too much money, when what they should be doing is making sure that the poor get paid fairy.Why is it that areas ruled by democrats are the worst in the USA? They promise the poor so many things, but never do anything real for them. Obama is a great example on how he betrayed the African American community.© Pablo M. Iturrieta
Why do you belong to a 3rd party in the US?
I’m an independent progressive. It’s not a 3rd party but I don’t perfectly align with either party.Growing up I liked some ideas from both parties, back when some Republicans could be considered moderate right. I left the Democratic party when they turned into the “corporate Democrats” that traded their support for the working class for corporate donations. Democrats were complicit in allowing US corporations to offshore millions of US manufacturing jobs to low wage 3rd world countries. That’s not free trade of goods and services. That’s moving good paying US jobs to 3rd world countries. It’s one of a few areas I agree in principle with President Trump, although I still think he’s a terrible person and worse President. By that point, Republicans had sold their souls to billioniares and corporatins and a multiple decade attack on the working class was under way. Over the last 40 years the working class has declined while the 1% and corporations have seen their wealth increase dramatically. Republicans led the way, but Democrats also lost their way a bit. I’m not saying both parties were equally as bad for the poor and working class. Republicans hold that dishonor easily. But Democrats forgot who they represented or tried to have it both ways, take the corporate money while serving the poor and working class, and it didn’t work out well.Today I can’t stand what the Republican party has become, even though I still support some of their ideas fiscally, like a modified balanced budget. Although I would balance the budget in a different way from most Republicans by asking those with super wealth to pay more. The recent tax cut that gave most of the benefits of the cut to corporations and billionaires, while increasing the deficit by a trillion dollars or more in good economic times with low unemployment, was a blatant gift to their donor class and one of the worst/most fiscally irresponsible pieces of legislation I’ve seen since GW was in office.i’m still a progressive, and with the Democratic party moving left away from being war hawk corporate Dems, I’ll be voting Democratic across the board. I oppose the racist, incompetent corrupt con man in the WH, and serve the rich Republicans like McConnell and Ryan.