Heh - well as much as anything else I was channelling why I think the GOP is smart for not going to Obama's summit. Politically speaking, the GOP has nothing to gain and everything to lose. Obama and the Democrats are the only ones that want their stinkburger of a plan to pass. That's political, but the GOP may be taking a stand on principle. Anyone opposed to government expansion is 100% right to stonewall this bill by whatever means.

I'm one of the many 'unaffiliated' voters that agrees Health Care in all its forms needs to be tossed in the trash. The voters have spoken. We want the government to focus on jobs, the economy, the deficit, debt reduction, and spending reduction. Obamacare, Cap & Tax, and all of Obama's social agenda items come out dead last in the polls. If I was "the GOP", I would be hitting the following message like a jackhammer.

"Obama & the democrats are pushing unpopular, unnecessary, unwanted, and wasteful government expansions at a time the American people want fiscal responsibility and financial conservativism. Our question to Obama, is to ask why he is wasting the nation's resources pushing his failed health care agenda? We in the GOP are focused on the issues the public is focused on: jobs, economic recovery, and thrift. We in the GOP have no interest in wasting our time at Obama's summit when far more important issues are facing our country. We invite Obama and the democrats - right now, today - to throw out their failed health care plan and abandon all health care reform until national unemployment has fallen below 7%. Stop focusing on luxuries the American people can't afford, Mr. President. Abandon your pride, Ms. Pelosi & Mr. Ried. Stop pushing your selfish agenda items, and focus on the people you were elected to serve."

I have to agree.

He won a lot of my respect today.

Thank you, Mr. President.

the conservatives will never ever ever ever ever ever be pleased with anything he does, ever. and hes only pissing off everyone else.
so mr. president, with your 1 term.... give us a green and updated infrastructure, give us more high speed rails, pass meaningful climate change legislation, bitch slap wall street, actually fix healthcare, end some fucking wars, repeal dont ask dont tell.

Get down with your bad prorogueing self, Mr. President.

Look that one up, you non-Canadian sifters.

It's the Nobel Peace Prize and he mentions war 50 times.

A "just war" in Afghanistan? And nobody laughed.

Fuck you, Mr. President.

Well done, Mr. President. Americans can be polite too.

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:
Just because people hope he'll stop sucking and be the best president he can be doesn't guarantee he will.
The Nobel Peace prize isn't some magical pill that makes foreign policy perfect and rainbow shoot out of your hands. It doesn't fix anything.

>> ^EndAll:
It's damaging to the peace prize as an institutional device and a foolish decision by the Nobel committee that I was surprised to see them make.


It's amazing to me when intelligent people can miss a point so completely.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace prize is like a slap in his face. It says, "We've heard all the pretty words, Mr. President, and they were inspiring. Now are you going to follow through on those words?"

He doesn't pass laws, but he sets the tone and direction of what is probably still the most powerful country on the planet. As such, he is perhaps the single most powerful person in the world. If you had the ability to give him a shove and remind him of everything he has said about prioritizing peace in the past few years, wouldn't you do it?

If this award helps to re-commit our president to the pursuit of peace, then will you still have such disdain for their award decision?

Mr President's pretty words make me feel good inside and for that I like him.

I find it hard to believe that Mr. President will have to appear in any court on this matter.

That would be illogical.

In reply to this comment by marinara:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/please-mr-president-more_b_286665.html

I demand you change your avatar.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/please-mr-president-more_b_286665.html

I demand you change your avatar.

I'm not sure if I agree with him, but I think his incessant rocking hypnotized me into voting for this.

Okay, seriously now, Obama is squandering his election victory by trying to please everyone, both Democrat and Republican, and anyone with even a little wisdom knows that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing NO ONE.

I honestly believe he fears failure. He'd rather pass a weak, half-assed health care reform bill than lose a bill that's actually good. And the thing is, he has enough votes in both houses already to pass the fucking bill! Jesus Christ! Fortunately enough Dems held Obama's feet over the fire recently, so maybe the so-called "Public Option" will pass after all. Still, Obama's swaying with the wind to have a 'major' legislative victory, ANY victory. And guess what, Mr. President? Your victory ain't going to be major unless you have a strong public option.

Basically this guy is right: Obama is a pussy. He needs to demonstrate some real leadership. Until then, he's just going to be a fucking punching bag for conservative hard-liners. Start swinging already, for Christ's sake! Put your heart into it, god damn it!

Oh, and here's a fantastic litany about profit motive with regard to healthcare that everyone should read.

1) I've said it more than once and i'll have to say it again: Fox News. It really is shocking to me. I'm not joking, not exaggerating. I simply cannot understand that there is a network with this popularity on one side and this absolute lack of any real content besides propaganda. I always question my picture of the US when i see clips of Fox News. Come on, this is not some 2nd or 3rd world dictatorship with controlled mass media only there to stupify the people. Is it really a network one should take seriously? I cannot imagine that bullshit being aired 24/7 over here. No, not because i'm so deluded as to believe that folks over here are smarter or whatever. Just because i am convinced that no one would take a network like this seriously. Everyone would see it as something like TDS. I honestly believe that Fox News is the one most horrible, stupid, redundant thing i have ever seen on any TV. Sometimes i wish i'd speak english as native language so i could present my opinon in an elaborated way, but since i'm only babbling english i just have to stick to: WTF is it with Fox News?

2) Stop this propaganda about the healthcare! Anyone actually believes this GOP / lobby BS? Have you ever EVER looked around you? No, not your friendly neighbor state, there are other countries in the world you know. And behold! the industrialized ones of them have decent healtcare, some of them especially in Europe (France, Germany, Nordics) even got fantastic systems. And no, we're not socialists and no we don't pay 3000$ a month and yes kids get free healthcare and yes it actually works! It has worked for decades. So please STFU, sit together and develop a system for your own country. It' doable.

3) Anyone else feels the way about too much analogies than i do? At a certain point it crosses my mind that the person speaking thinks of my as stupid. "...like a red pill and a blue pill". NO! No Mr President! The healthcare system is NOT like some stupid pills you saw in a third-class sci-fi flick. It is complex, complicated and yes 99% of people will not be able to completely understand it. And no it has nothing todo with your neighbor's car deal. Your people isn't stupid. It's ok to talk like this when you're talking to kids. But this isn't child's play, it's the future of your country and your healthcare.

...ah thanks, i'm feeling much better now :-)

I love the framing of the original question too:

GARRETT: In your speech this morning, you said the Cold War reached its conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years. Mr. President, are the Russian sensitivities so fragile that you can't say the Cold War was won? The West won it? And it was led by a combination of Democratic and Republican American presidents?

Seriously? What journalism school did you go to? Let's just say for the sake of argument that the entire topic of "why didn't you say we won" is important. If you were a real journalist, mostly interested in trying to reveal the answer, wouldn't you ask it more like this?

NetRunner: In your speech this morning, you said the Cold War reached its conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, carefully avoiding characterizing the end of the conflict as a victory for the United States. Don't you believe that the United States did in fact prevail in that conflict? If so, why didn't you say that in your speech this morning?

It's still incisive, it's still challenging, and at the same time doesn't make it look like you're a partisan hack who's just trying to trump up a bogus charge about the President being ignorant or disloyal to his country.

Ultimately Obama would've answered the question I phrased the same way, though it would have given him less wiggle room to imply that my question's frame was somehow excluding the actions of other countries...

Personally though, if I'd had an opportunity to ask Obama questions while on a mission to Russia, I would've talked about the plans for setting up missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, what's being done to secure "loose nukes", whether we can expect Russia to help us diplomatically in preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons, and maybe toss in a few things about environmental or trade policy...

I sure as shit wouldn't waste my time trying to accuse him of hating America because he didn't speak to the Russians as if he was some conquering emperor who came to receive the pleas of mercy from a defeated, evil, foe.