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Even if you don't agree with the man, he is by FAR the coolest President these United States has seen.

i love absolutely everything about this clip. everything. i know it's a PR stunt, but hey at least it's a GREAT one. and the mic dropping? i could apply for citizenship & vote for him just for that. and yes, i'm deeply disappointed by BO, but damnit this was great :-)

almost as cool as the time Clinton played sax on Arsenio

Did he slowjam about his suspension of habeas corpus in the USA? He's goofing on chatshows while others may very well at this moment be imprisoned indefinitely without charges or trial on US soil.

The Democrats passed the law that set the doubling increase 7 years ago.

Trying to reach the young voters there eh Mr. Obama? Working hard I see.

Was hoping he was going to sing. Meh.

Yeah, Craig Ferguson is on at the same time as Fallon.

Being a CraigyFerg fan, I was disappointed that Obama didn't go on his show. Then I realized -- he probably doesn't want to reach the stoner audience. Stoners and women of a certain age who are already voting for him.




>> ^legacy0100:

Trying to reach the young voters there eh Mr. Obama? Working hard I see.

*politics

Adding video to channels (Politics) - requested by NetRunner.

7 years ago, Bush was in the White House, and Republicans had the majority in the Senate and the House.

And regardless of who you think set this up to happen, you still have Republicans voting solidly against extending the low rates now.

>> ^bobknight33:

The Democrats passed the law that set the doubling increase 7 years ago.

>> ^Sweetjimmy:

Even if you don't agree with the man, he is by FAR the coolest President these United States has seen.


teddy roosevelt would like to have a word with you

Jimmy's the BEST!

Dafuq?

Is this another hologram thing, or has politics really come to jamming with a late night talk show host to put across your side of the debate?

>> ^Quboid:

Dafuq?
Is this another hologram thing, or has politics really come to jamming with a late night talk show host to put across your side of the debate?

Can you really say this is more absurd than typical political debates?

If you want to argue that it's sad that this is what has to happen to get peoples' attention, then I'd probably agree, but typical political discourse is so insane that I can't blame people for wanting to wash their hands of it and walk away. The only thing worse than the idiots in office (and the idiots vying for office) is the "professional" commentators.

He's found an entertaining and pleasant way to get his message heard. I can't really fault him for that.

This is viral marketing except with the product being his policies, but I can't decide whether it's appropriate to invoke or not so I'm just going to float that thought out for everyone and see what the masses think.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

>> ^Quboid:
Dafuq?
Is this another hologram thing, or has politics really come to jamming with a late night talk show host to put across your side of the debate?
Can you really say this is more absurd than typical political debates?
If you want to argue that it's sad that this is what has to happen to get peoples' attention, then I'd probably agree, but typical political discourse is so insane that I can't blame people for wanting to wash their hands of it and walk away. The only thing worse than the idiots in office (and the idiots vying for office) is the "professional" commentators.
He's found an entertaining and pleasant way to get his message heard. I can't really fault him for that.


It's more absurd, but not as much more as it should be. This looks like a satire of modern politics being controlled by TV.

The President has jumped the shark.

7 years ago, Bush was in the White House, and Republicans had the majority in the Senate and the House.

True, but not relevant to the Student loan thing. Sigh. I must - once again - step in and provide the actual facts for this issue.

The year is 2007. The Democrats control both the House of Representatives, and the Senate. This Democrat congress passed a law which implemented a phased decrease in student loan rates. Every year the percentage dropped from its ORIGINAL rate of 6.8%. So in reality, the 3.4% current rate has not even been "the rate" for a year. The law that the Democrat congress passed was written so that the rates would return to normal in 2012. For the record, Barak Obama was a Senator at the time of the vote, but did not attend the session to actually cast his vote because he was campaigning. The law as it is written was designed and passed by Democrats. Not the GOP. Also for the record, the CURRENT congress (GOP) passed a resolution to keep the 3.4% rate but the Democrats are threatening to veto it. Guess the 3.4% rate isn't THAT important to them...

As far as Obama on Fallon goes? Cool? Thrb. Only if you're a trained seal that has no intellectual capacity except to clap for your kippers. I watched the bit and the whole thing was awkward, stilted, and made all the participants look desperate rather than 'cool'. 'Cool' doesn't go out and try that hard to be cool. Cool is cool without having to slow jam. And Obama isn't cool. He's cold. If he wants to put on a clown nose, go on Fallon and do stupid human tricks in a desperate attempt to shore up his plummeting poll numbers in the youth vote then go ahead. He'd have done better to be less of a disaster for 3.5 years so he wouldn't have to play damage control today.

Parenthetically, this "College Bubble" has been coming for a long time. The value of a 4-year degree has been plummeting, while college costs have been going through the roof. Rather than redesign thier business model, colleges have - like the Post Office - desperately been trying to peddle student loans as a means of maintaining the status quo. Like the Housing Bubble, the Education Bubble cannot be sustained and is on the verge of popping. Let it blow now. Let the loan rates go back to where they were in the first place. Students should not be taking about loans to go to school anyway. I worked my way through undergrad school on part time jobs and living on Hamburger Helper for 5 years. I biked everywhere I went, and my only possessions were thrift store junk I picked up when I could afford it. When it wwas all over I graduated, got a job, and slowly worked my way up with hard work, diligence, and frugal living. That's how you get an education - and not just a 'college' education but a LIFE education. Who ever established the STUPID practice of telling students to borrow thier way through college? Yup. Democrats and Liberals.

http://videosift.com/video/SuperPac-attack-Obama-is-a-celebrity-president

Seems like some conservatives think he's cool, not cold.

>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:
The value of a 4-year degree has been plummeting

Only to those who measure its value strictly in terms of money.

I know it's probably more fun to paint Obama as a super villain than to make an attempt to understand this issue on a deeper level, but Obama didn't write the detention provision, he didn't cravenly attach it to the annual military budget bill, he didn't vote for it with a veto proof majority, he expressed his dislike for the provision before and after the vote and he waived the offending provision from the larger bill. I'm not sure what else he was supposed to do, or why he is considered the mastermind behind this provision. Election years are always full of these kinds of gotcha lose/lose gambits, and we dutifully fall for them every time.

Funny as this clip is, I'm not crazy about the president yucking it up on late night shows. It seems a little unprofessional to me. >> ^TheSluiceGate:

Did he slowjam about his suspension of habeas corpus in the USA? He's goofing on chatshows while others may very well at this moment be imprisoned indefinitely without charges or trial on US soil.

Seems like some conservatives think he's cool, not cold.

Looks more to me like they're making fun of the fact that other people THINK he's cool. It's a good ad though. I really do think a lot of people out there - particularly in the left-coast media - literally get twitterpated when they think about Obama. You can see it in how they talk to him and act around him. It's pathetic. The same guys who rightfully and eagerly went after Bush2 like Pit Bulls just bend over and sigh, "Am I clenching too hard for you, Mr. Preezy?" like Chris "Tingles" Matthews.

There's no shortage of stuff to hammer Obama about. The problem is that any time Mr. Preezy gets any sort of challenge of any kind to his rigid worldview you can just SEE him tighten up and become angry, bitter, and resentful. Then his standard modus operandi is to say, "The experts all agree with me..." (even though they don't) and stonewall with a bunch of jibber-jabber. Then when it is over good luck on that guy ever getting any sort of interview again. Obama's admin is notorious for dictating to the media what questions they're allowed to ask, how they ask them, and what to talk about. Obama isn't cool. He's a narcacisst and arrogant to a level rarely seen.

It would really amuse me if from now on every single person in the media, government, and everyone else stopped calling him "Mr. President" and just called him "The Preezy". To be honest, that's about what he deserves.

"Value of a 4 year degree"

To be blunt, there is very little an undergrad degree offers anyone nowadays except if they do a Science degree. I know a lot of liberals say, "Well - you get LIFE experience of being 'exposed' to new ideas and concepts and people..!" I'll just go ahead and say it. Bullcrap. Unless you're in engineering, computer science, math, pre-med, or some other technical degree there is nothing in college worth $50,000 in debt. The standard 4-year college 'experience' today is very little more than an adult play-pen where you fritter away a few years bridging between high school and adulthood. Increasingly, more people are ending up with nothing to show for it except a hammered liver and $50,000 in debt.

Sorry I had the wrong year and have been busy in responding.

In 2007, the Democratic majority in Congress enacted legislation to double interest rates on new federal student loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012.

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act was signed into law. In 2006, as part of their “6 for ‘06” campaign agenda, Democrats promised to cut student loan interest rates in half.


However, once gaining control of Congress in 2007, Democrats realized it was too costly to cut all student loan interest rates in half. Instead, Education & Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) proposed temporarily reducing interest rates for undergraduate students receiving subsidized Stafford loans.



The College Cost Reduction and Access Act incrementally phased down interest rates for subsidized Stafford Loans made to undergraduate students over four academic years from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. Per the law, interest rates are scheduled to return to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012.


As the expiration date crept closer, Democrats did nothing to address the impending interest rate increase during the 111th Congress, despite taking action to terminate the private sector federal loan program to help pay for the president’s government takeover of healthcare law.
.>> ^NetRunner:

7 years ago, Bush was in the White House, and Republicans had the majority in the Senate and the House.
And regardless of who you think set this up to happen, you still have Republicans voting solidly against extending the low rates now.
>> ^bobknight33:
The Democrats passed the law that set the doubling increase 7 years ago.

>> ^bobknight33:

In 2007, the Democratic majority in Congress enacted legislation to double interest rates on new federal student loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012.

By your own following statements, this is at best a misleading statement. Instead of letting it expire, they want to pass new legislation extending it. Republicans were opposing that.

>> ^bobknight33:
The College Cost Reduction and Access Act incrementally phased down interest rates for subsidized Stafford Loans made to undergraduate students over four academic years from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. Per the law, interest rates are scheduled to return to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012.

So what they actually did was temporarily reduce them from 6.8% to 3.4%. The expiration of the law would return it to what it was before -- 6.8%. Democrats want to pass a bill extending the lower rates, Republicans opposed it. Their opposition would cause the rates to double.

>> ^bobknight33:
As the expiration date crept closer, Democrats did nothing to address the impending interest rate increase during the 111th Congress

Seems like they gave Republicans an easy way to come across like heroes by extending it. Why did they blow that opportunity and resist doing it?

And now that they've agreed to it, why did they decide to pay for it by cutting funding for a program that pays for breast cancer screening, rather than just closing a tax loophole for the rich the way the Democrats proposed?

And FYI, the much ballyhooed Paul Ryan budget doubles these rates too.

By your own following statements, this is at best a misleading statement. Instead of letting it expire, they want to pass new legislation extending it. Republicans were opposing that. ... Seems like they gave Republicans an easy way to come across like heroes by extending it. Why did they blow that opportunity and resist doing it?

Not correct in any way. The GOP passed a resolution keeping the 3.4% rate, and the Democrats are threatening to veto it because they don't like the way they did it. Seems to me like the GOP gave the Democrats an easy way to come across like heroes by extending it. Why did the Democrats blow that opportunity and resist doing it? Oh yeah - the Democrats don't care jack-crap about students. They just want the issue to harp on in an election year.