"Good luck next election..."

Sadly people will still vote for them. Cause they follow the same religious beliefs. During bushes reelection that was a driving force for people and we got four more years.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Turning to the left in US politics is still to the right of most Western democracies. I hope he does.>> ^EMPIRE:

i get this feeling that Obama is going to turn left (whatever left is in american politics) after the reelection.
He was just waiting for the second term, and not risking not be reelected to make bigger social and economical changes.

Even if he doesn't turn left... the other candidate is Mitt Romney, so.... yeah. Not a hard choice there.

>> ^EMPIRE:

i get this feeling that Obama is going to turn left (whatever left is in american politics) after the reelection.
He was just waiting for the second term, and not risking not be reelected to make bigger social and economical changes.

Even if he doesn't turn left... the other candidate is Mitt Romney, so.... yeah. Not a hard choice there.


Political spectrum:

Left.................................................................Central.................................................................Right

American political spectrum:

....................................................................................................................................Left.Central.Right

i get this feeling that Obama is going to turn left (whatever left is in american politics) after the reelection.

He was just waiting for the second term, and not risking not be reelected to make bigger social and economical changes.


Even if he doesn't turn left... the other candidate is Mitt Romney, so.... yeah. Not a hard choice there.

Austerity doesn't work on getting you reelected, that's for sure.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

I have a way to get around Obama's objection about ending the drug wars. He said that if we legalize it in the USA drug cartels would take over other countries. They would--if we just open the borders.
Instead completely legalize it, with a provision to not allow foreign imports for 10 years. This would give the US time to stabilize our cannabis economy and cut the legs out from under the cartels. When we can grow our own, or simply buy it, there will be no more cannabis crossing the borders.


Similar to my thoughts on the matter, but with an addition of a 10 year dis-allowance for foreign imports. I hadn't considered that.

Now that i have, i think it's a great idea on the basis that as you stated would give time for the internal stabilization to occur as well as giving a decent amount of time to stably wind down the amount of resources that is currently dedicated to fighting it internally, and redirect their attention to resisting external imports during the 10 year dis-allowance while the dedicated forces are realigned into alternative programs, or if necessary/reasonable, largely cut.

Though he is not the 99% warrior I'd like him to be, he is at least a step in the right direction. It'll be interesting to see if he gets a little more aggressive on Wall Street in his second term, considering he won't have to worry about reelection. Maybe Elizabeth Warren will run in 2016.

Top YT comment is golden:
The sad part is that come November the only alternative to reelecting our lizard-president Obama will be voting for Santorum (who is a quarter chupacabra) or Romney (an old timey wooden marionette puppet imbued with life by a Chinese wizard). Sigh. What is the world coming to?

@bmacs87 exactly. Maybe a majority of people support this issue. But that's not the same as saying the majority of the electorate, the likely voters, do. Surely Obama knows this, and will not risk his reelection on such a radioactive question with little upside for whatever answer he gives. And I don't know why some of you are so indignant that Obama won't do something so ineffective and stupid.

I think the problem is quite the opposite. If he comes out with either position, he splits his base, and stands a greater chance of losing a reelection bid. Whatever he comes out to say would be political trouble for him. Remember, every kid on phish tour he'd win with the announcement has two parents that wish the kid would get a job, and don't want their president "condoning" drug use. Also, generally speaking, the youth don't vote in large numbers even if they like you.

>> ^artician:

If he ran on the promise (though questionable that he would keep it) of anti-prohibition, it would probably result in a huge growth in approval and give him just that much more a stronger democratic base.
One of Ron Pauls main points is just that, and the only reason he's not winning by a large majority is the media working against him. Enough people believe in his campaign they've still managed to keep him close to the top, despite his anti-prohibition stance and the media blackout.

QM, I tend to disagree with many of your political comments, but I have to say that I think youare right about something. That is: Obama has not lived up to the (gigantic) expectations that people had for him. The "change" that was "hoped" for was not to the extent that was needed/expected.

That said, parties aside, what would you have wanted to see done differently over the last 4ish years? I don't mean who does what. I'm not asking for your favorite candidate or historical president. For a minute I'd like to pretend that that doesn't matter or don't exist, and presidents never have names. I'm just interested in what actions/decisions could have been taken/made that you might have approved of. What could have been done differently to land us in a better place for us both, and Americans in general?

And, again without giving any mention to political stripes, how would you make the world a better place?


@notarobot

Thank you for your question.

We Americans are notoriously short-sighted. Our politicians do just enough to win reelection and pass the buck (debt) to the next poor bastards. I don't see any way to reverse this, so whatever is done that works has to be constantly reinforced and relearned. But it isn't.

The simplest answer: reduce the size, authority, roles (and payroll) of government in our lives. Government is a necessary evil and loves creating "solutions'" to problems which are worse then the problems themselves, thus guaranteeing it always plays a huge role in "solving" every problem.

At this point in our history, whichever side is in power, things will worsen until a space alien invasion arrives or there's a civil war to restore some measure of balance between the states and the federal beast. I'm not happy about it, but we've lost our way and (hopefully limited) civil war may be the only solution left. You don't get good government unless politicians are scared shi'r'tless of the people.

Back in 2008 I would've exercised a moratorium on all federal laws for 2 years. This would have put the kibosh on the economic uncertainty that the Obama regime (sorry to name names again) has put on not only Americans but the world. There would be many more arrests (than zero) for the banking crisis, no bailouts and no scamulus.

I'm not sure how in every instance, but I would start dismantling government meddling in health care, not ending socialist care overnight but creating tax-free health savings accounts and demanding the consumer have real options. You don't pay your auto insurance company to put gas in your car and change the oil. Same principle.

I'd end federal control of education, it's a waste of time and money. Let the states figure it out. Private schools do a better job at half the cost. How are you going to educate children to be socially and historically aware and awake citizens mistrustful of government power when it's the very entity "teaching" them?

I'd make war, war again. Soldiers are supposed to kill people and break things until the enemy surrenders. Anything beyond that is someone else's job.

One of the reasons the economy is staying in the sh!tter is people waiting for Obama to be removed from office. Much as the Arab world sighs with relief (but can never admit it) when we (or Israel) take out a radical nutball, so the American left can't admit what a screw-up and disaster His Earness has been (pride). They will breathe a sigh of relief when he's gone as they unify in hatred of another moderate (read: pu$$y) Republican president who will then go right on growing government and approving annual budgets of all those unconstitutional programs like the guy before him. Jobs will slowwwly return.


A final answer no one wants to hear (and why I can't stand the left's insistence on an "equality of outcomes"): while one-sixth to one-third of people are capable and intelligent, if not "good" in all circumstances, another one-sixth to one-third are just plain hopeless, there's nothing anyone will ever be able to do to help them. I'm not talking about people with medical problems or even mental problems, just ordinary people who don't give a sh!t. I would minimize the damage they cause through severe legal penalties, make it exceptionally hard for them to game the system and/or simply pay them off to keep to themselves and stay out of the way.

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