^^^ Then people would bitch that he breaks promises to his wife, and he can't make time for the "simple" task of taking his wife to a Broadway show.

[Edited on May 31, 2009 at 11:03 PM. Reason : ]

5/31/2009 11:02:43 PM

come on guys, Obama knows what real people are going through - we are going to hold people to higher standards when it comes to dealing with the american people's money - starting tomorrow

5/31/2009 11:14:02 PM

Quote :

" Then people would bitch that he breaks promises to his wife, and he can't make time for the "simple" task of taking his wife to a Broadway show. "

Really? I don't think anyone on here would bitch about him not talking his wife to NYC to hit the town. Call me crazy. In fact, I doubt anyone here, or pretty much anywhere, knew that he promised to take his wife to Broadway after the election.

Being President should be a burden and it should require sacrifice. You are suppose to be serving the people, not the people serving you.

6/1/2009 4:20:02 AM

Quote :

"Do you feel safer today? Let's hope so, since you're certainly less free to travel about the Northern Hemisphere. Beginning just after midnight, every American returning from Canada, Mexico, and various island paradises now have to flash a U.S. passport to get back in the country. For the 70 percent of citizens who don't have passports, that means a minimum four to six weeks waiting time (and probably more, given the new filing rush) to legally escape the national boundaries. Better hope you weren't birthed by a midwife and have a funny-sounding surname!"

Way to go Obama. Score another one for the "papers, please" society.

6/1/2009 10:15:40 AM

you dumb shit - that law was passed in 2004 under a Republican Congress and signed by Bush. It was supposed to be implemented back in January '08, and got pushed back to today.

but, yeah, i guess you can go ahead and blame Obama for this one

6/1/2009 10:23:13 AM

they checked my passport going to canada back in 2007..

6/1/2009 10:48:02 AM

That is a good point. I guess it makes sense to blame the politician that passed the law more than the politician that implemented it. But if it was delayed before, why not delay it again? Or prevent it all-together? Surely a government dominated by the liberty loving Democrats could stop implementation of a law passed by an evil Republican if they felt like it?

I saw no reason in blaming Bush for this because, well, he is no longer President and therefore has no further power to wreck the nation. Only Obama could do something about this, and he chose not to. As such, I blame him for his inaction.

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 11:00 AM. Reason : .,.]

6/1/2009 10:57:23 AM

Regarding the whole "flight to NYC" debacle, people are missing half of Obama's hypocrisy. According to him, not only should people be less flamboyant with their money, but they should also take measures to reduce their carbon footprints. Flying to NYC for dinner and a show is an insult to the American people for that reason.

"you guys make sacrifices, but I'm good."

6/1/2009 1:17:42 PM

Not to mention they flew to NYC in three planes. Obama secured a plane for himself and his personal entourage, and 2 planes for extra staff and the press. Yes, we are paying the airfare of reporters so they give a daily on our dear leader, I wonder if any FOX news reporters were on that flight.

6/1/2009 1:45:15 PM

OMG, Obama's bed is bigger than the average American's. He uses 2-ply toilet paper! In this economy, he should be living as an ascetic monk! I'm outraged.

6/1/2009 1:56:09 PM

^no, its more like Obama's using 2-ply toilet paper when he poos, but wants you to spend $500 on a reusable cloth to wipe your ass.

6/1/2009 1:59:01 PM

...what?

you guys are straight up kooks. give it a fuckin' rest already. you're almost as bad as the kooks on the other end of the spectrum during the bush years, but at least they had legitimate gripes to go off the deep end for

6/1/2009 5:07:41 PM

^ yeah, pretty much.

You guys have lost all sense of perspective. It's like when the AIG-bonus thing happened and the whole nation stood still for two weeks and we collectively got the vapors over, oh' lawdy, $100M!! Yes, it's "real money", but hardly worth the time to fret over it considering the hugely more amounts of money that are being pissed away of other causes.

6/1/2009 5:23:34 PM

Its not really a big a deal to me unless it becomes a frequent occurrence. But the criticism of it is valid and fair game when half of his platform was cutting back on wasteful government spending and cutting back emissions. Of course I can almost imagine him explaining that to Michelle, and having her nag him about how he promised and forcing him to do it.

6/1/2009 7:23:59 PM

So taxpayer money was only used for the planes. He opted to take a smaller plane, so he wasn't that insensitive to what he was doing. He probably got comped for dinner, but paid for his own theater tickets.

The 4 hour motorcade would be a timely, yet feasible option. I have nothing against the President going out on the town. It's refreshing to see that he continues to do these type of things with his wife. He's committed to family values.

I don't get why there needs to be extra planes for the press or other personnel. Make the press pay on their own dime. Find a way to jam the needed personnel on the plane. Cost to the taxpayer probably cost all of 2 cents. As long as he doesn't make this a monthly habit, I see nothing wrong with this.

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 8:42 PM. Reason : .]

6/1/2009 8:41:43 PM

Gonna take this back to a more important topic:

Quote :

"Oh, and there's this for all the FOCs (Friends of Chavez): Israeli document: Venezuela sends uranium to Iran [2 days ago]"

1. You're still on that thing about Chavez...who were the Chavez lovers on here again?

2. What do you suggest we do? Sanction Venezuela? You do realize that the rest of South America is at least ok with them if not allied with them, right? How does that look for hemispheric cooperation? Do you really want to do things to alienate Brazil (who largely supports Venezuela)? You lose them you lose the hemisphere.

Welcome back to the days of the Cold War, when we told the UK and France to back off of Egypt since we knew that the consequences of stopping Egypt from controlling the Suez far outweighed the consequences of letting them have it in severity.

I'm not even going to ask what you think should be done to Iran because I think it's obvious (not to mention based on macho chest thumping and not a rational, measured, effective approach that won't murder thousands).

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 9:34 PM. Reason : .]

6/1/2009 9:32:30 PM

Quote :

"WASHINGTON (AP) - White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is declining to say what it cost for President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to eat dinner and take in a play in New York over the weekend. Asked if he would outline the costs, Gibbs said Monday the Obamas would have preferred using a commercial airline shuttle to New York and back but the Secret Service would not allow such unprotected travel. The president has been criticized for the trip to New York in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and with thousands of auto workers facing unemployment as General Motors prepared to file for bankruptcy and Chrysler was about to emerge from court-guided restructuring. "

"Michelle and I are TRYING to save money, but those mean ol' Secret Service guys won't let us!"

It's the Secret Service's fault. Will the Buck ever stop at Obama's desk?


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98I2HP03&show_article=1

Quote :

"Mayor Bloomberg doesn't think $400,000 a year is much of a salary, even if it is what the commander in chief of these United States pulls down. "The president doesn't get paid that much. He's on a budget, too," Bloomberg said Monday. All this came by way of the billionaire mayor's defense of taxpayers footing the bill for the first couple's date in New York, which some say cost $25,000 just for the airplanes. But then again, Bloomberg is the richest man in New York, and 17th in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated fortune of $16.5 billion. So to him $400,000 is not what it is to you. "Give me $400,000 a year. My problems are solved. A lot of other peoples are solved problems as well," said Aaron Hudson of Far Rockaway. "

http://wcbstv.com/national/michael.bloomberg.president.2.1027139.html

6/2/2009 12:05:45 AM

What does it matter what Bloomber things of Obama's salary?

6/2/2009 12:18:30 AM

Quote :

" Call me crazy. In fact, I doubt anyone here, or pretty much anywhere, knew that he promised to take his wife to Broadway after the election. "

You're not crazy, but perhaps you can't read, because in the linked article it indicated it was a campaign promise to his wife.

6/2/2009 12:20:36 AM

well, at least he's kept one campaign promise

6/2/2009 12:33:49 AM

^ I laffed

6/2/2009 1:07:36 AM

Quote :

" You're not crazy, but perhaps you can't read, because in the linked article it indicated it was a campaign promise to his wife."

Living up to your name I see. That was in reponse to this that you wrote, which I even quoted!

Quote :

" Then people would bitch that he breaks promises to his wife, and he can't make time for the "simple" task of taking his wife to a Broadway show."

The point was, no one knew about this supposed promise, so how could people bitch about it. No one knew about it till the day of. So if they never went, then no one would know about it, thus people couldn't bitch about it. So perhaps you don't understand basic logic.

6/2/2009 5:34:20 AM

Quote :

"It's refreshing to see that he continues to do these type of things with his wife. He's committed to family values. "

haha yes, family values indeed

6/2/2009 7:50:16 AM

if we would have flown to texas to clear brush for weeks on end this wouldnt be an issue

6/2/2009 2:14:24 PM

^Oh yeah? I don't recall Bush telling us to be fiscally thrifty. Or him telling us to reduce our carbon footprints.

If you can't see that, there's no hope for you.

6/2/2009 3:03:09 PM

Quote :

"if we would have flown to texas to clear brush for weeks on end this wouldnt be an issue "

unless he recently attacked people for clearing brush, you would have a point.

6/2/2009 3:03:50 PM

yall are discussing his date?

6/2/2009 3:07:36 PM

Im fine with a president taking a break every now and then. I'm not OK with a president who is a fucking loaf.

6/2/2009 3:07:44 PM

^^^^ yeah, you're right - in fact Bush did tell us to "go out and spend money, or the turrists win", and now everyone is in debt over their heads and we've stalled for 8 years on environmental initiatives.

But as long as he's not a hypocrite, it's ok!!


jesus, people - grow up, and get some fucking perspective.
Hey, guess what - it costs money to run a country, and the few thousand G's it took to send the Obama's from DC to NYC for a night is pennies by any reasonable stretch of the imagination. Do we need to be reminded, for example, how much money was spent in the same night fighting 2 wars on the other side of the world? And if it takes one night out of the first 120 for the man to take his wife to the city to prevent him from getting a BJ from an intern and costing the country a year's productivity while he's on trial, then maybe it's fucking worth it.

[Edited on June 2, 2009 at 3:11 PM. Reason : .]

6/2/2009 3:09:54 PM

It's just way easier to come up with brain dead arguments than to actually think. Bonus points if those arguments are rooted in partisan hackery.

6/2/2009 3:17:27 PM

[Edited on June 2, 2009 at 3:25 PM. Reason : n/m]

6/2/2009 3:24:30 PM

agent, my problem with the date was him bashing ceos for taking trips on taxpayer dollars. Its just being a hypocrit. I like the idea of him being able to go on a date, however he does open himself up for criticism when you denounce others then do exactly the same thing.

Yeah, and personal debt exploded because of Bush 8 yrs ago. haha, seriously. And what do environmental initiatives have to do with personal debt?

6/2/2009 3:25:26 PM

Quote :

"when you denounce others then do exactly the same thing."

Only he didn't do exactly the same damn thing. As I understand it EVERYTHING THE PRESIDENT DOES WHILE HE IS PRESIDENT WILL BE ON THE TAXPAYERS DIME

Is he using too much Charmin when he takes a deuce? Spending a little too much on the extra ketchup packets at the fast food joints? I mean for fucks sake, do you listen to yourself? Furthermore, there is a huge difference, bigger than the hole in your head, between a failed company sucking on a the taxpayer teat and blowing it like drunken frat boys on pledge night, and the president taking a trip to see a show. HE IS THE LEADER OF THE MOST PROSPEROUS COUNTRY IN THE DAMN UNIVERSE, what do you expect him to do for entertainment, go slum it in Baltimore at the $1 theater? Should he pile Michelle and the kids into a Prius and drive 55 the whole way there, leaving the SS and everyone else back in DC because conservative America says so?

[Edited on June 2, 2009 at 3:46 PM. Reason : .]

6/2/2009 3:45:24 PM

North Korea to Launch Missile That Can Reach US?
North Korea Appears to Be Preparing for Another Long-Range Missile Launch - 2 hours ago

Quote :

"The nuclear standoff between North and South Korea is elevated to a new level as North Korea appears to be preparing for a long-range missile launch that could possibly reach the United States, according to South Korea's Yonhap News."

Quote :

"An inter-continental ballistic missile, typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, has a range of over 3,500 miles. That would allow the missile to reach Alaska or to strike U.S. bases on the Pacific island of Guam. "

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7732196&page=1

[Edited on June 2, 2009 at 3:55 PM. Reason : .]

6/2/2009 3:51:39 PM

This is in the obama credibility thread because?

6/2/2009 3:57:49 PM

Quote :

"NEW LEVEL"

Why not?

6/2/2009 4:13:32 PM

Well, until there is something about BOs credibility that would apply here, it should go in the N. Korea thread you dumb ape.

6/2/2009 4:26:02 PM

Quote :

"Yeah, and personal debt exploded because of Bush 8 yrs ago. haha, seriously. And what do environmental initiatives have to do with personal debt?"

TKE made the point that because Bush didn't 1) claim to care about being financially responsible, like Obama claims, and 2) he didn't claim to care about the environment, like Obama claims, then because he was neither, it doesn't really matter because he never claimed to be in the first place.

I don't blame Bush at all for personal debt which started exploding in the 70s and 80s. However, his solution to 9/11 was, in fact, "you guys go out and spend, we'll lower taxes, then go to war," which when combined with his and Clinton's horrendous housing policies, only accelerated the out of control debt burdens of American citizens.

Quote :

"agent, my problem with the date was him bashing ceos for taking trips on taxpayer dollars. Its just being a hypocrit"

as Fail pointed out, everything the President does, by definition, costs taxpayer dollars. Now, if you want him to live like a monk, well.... that's just not going to happen. And if the President wanted to live like a monk, then he probably wouldn't have become President to begin with. We allow, as a country, the President to do what is necessary to maintain a decent family-life, as well as keep him and his family and staff safe. The White House and the President have a budget every year, just like every department, and it is a tiny, tiny fraction of what the fed gov't spends.

I think the kerfuffle about the CEOs private jets was mostly a bunch of hot-air from self-righteous beaurocrats trying to score points with every-day-folk. They did have a point, though, and it was that these were private companies coming with hat-in-hand to ask for money from the government. If the gov't did not give them money, they would cease to exist (and don't give me "if it wasn't for the tax payers, gov't would cease to exist blah blah blah"). As such, some restraint could be expected from them.

6/2/2009 4:27:33 PM

Quote :

"it costs money to run a country, and the few thousand G's it took to send the Obama's from DC to NYC for a night is pennies by any reasonable stretch of the imagination."

damn I hate when people say shit like this.

pennies are still fucking money, and these were pennies that didn't HAVE to be spent. Instead of just defending it, why don't you get some perspective? In a year or hell, even a couple of months, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. As GM is filing for bankruptcy - it's still fresh on people's minds the big deal that was made out of the whole private jet bullshit. Are you really arguing that maybe he could have waited for a better time to do this? I mean, are you saying this was the best possible message to convey?

Overreacting like its an impeachable offense is stupid but so is acting like it's absolutely nothing. It's just another example of Obama's arrogance but I guess if you like him, you are willing to look past it. Those that hate him - hate him for things just like this.

6/2/2009 4:27:36 PM

you do know that he has a travel budget, right?

6/2/2009 4:34:49 PM

Quote :

"Overreacting like its an impeachable offense is stupid but so is acting like it's absolutely nothing. It's just another example of Obama's arrogance but I guess if you like him, you are willing to look past it. Those that hate him - hate him for things just like this."

No, acting like it is absolutely nothing is the proper way to go about this. Again, compare the man taking 1 fucking day off with his family in the style that we'd expect someone of his power to take, versus how much shit we poured into the sand in the middle east at the command of a president who made "the vacation president" look like a workaholic.

6/2/2009 4:35:46 PM

looks like after 5 months, the same people think he is still credible, and the same people think he still isn't credible...what a shock

6/2/2009 4:35:56 PM

obama is not very credible when it comes to civil liberties to me. he has let me down time after time.

6/2/2009 4:39:16 PM

Quote :

"Well, until there is something about BOs credibility that would apply here, it should go in the N. Korea thread you dumb ape."

Fail Boat

Please stop the name-calling. And you don't think that the nuclear tensions between South Korea and North Korea reaching a "new level" on Obama's watch affect his credibility?

[Edited on June 2, 2009 at 4:41 PM. Reason : .]

6/2/2009 4:39:54 PM

Quote :

"Please stop the name-calling. And you don't think that the nuclear tensions between South Korea and North Korea reaching a "new level" on Obama's watch affect his credibility?"

Not really, not when the only real options are do nothing or go to war with them.

6/2/2009 4:41:23 PM

^ Incorrect. If the rest of the world would get serious with North Korea--you know, like the UN should be doing--this problem would go away in a matter of days.

6/2/2009 4:45:34 PM

what does "get serious" mean exactly?

6/2/2009 4:50:45 PM

Quote :

"pennies are still fucking money, and these were pennies that didn't HAVE to be spent. Instead of just defending it, why don't you get some perspective?"

it's insane that we waste so much time and breath on topics like this when there are so many other more important and pertinent issues. That's my "perspective".

For those of you who say that those of us who thought Obama still had credibility coming in are still the same ones now? Go back and look, again, at who exactly is complaining about Obama's mishandling of Guantanamo, the wars, and the economy. On the economy, he's basically Bush III so far, and Geithner and Summers are leading him down a very, very bad path.

If you want to complain, and if you want to give Fox and Friends something to bitch about other than "where did Obama take his baby mama to dinner last night", why don't you school them on some economic topics of actual consequence? But nope, that can't quite drum up the same populist outrage as "Obama order filet mignon! What, is rib-eye not good enough for you!?"

6/2/2009 4:52:50 PM

^^ Real consequences for violating UN resolutions and other agreements, not just more angry letters and an endless series of meetings.

6/2/2009 5:00:01 PM

ok. what do you mean by "real consequences"?

6/2/2009 5:05:28 PM