Your Thoughts...The Making Of A Great President & Trump.

We'll see about Donald, but it's obvious that Obama didn't have any of these qualities. 

He apologized for his country constantly, his vision was one of statism that is being rejected all over the world due to it's inefficiency and corruption, he refused to be held accountable for the innumerable failures of hs administration (Benghazi, the collapse of the Middle East and ObamaCare as obvious examples), he showed no respect for his political opponents or anyone who disagreed with him, the country is more divided after his eight years then at almost any time in our history, he is both a moral and an intellectual coward (see:  Accountability), he couldn't open his mouth without lying and used lies to pass his most unpopular legislation (You can keep you doctor, you can keep your plan, you'll save $2,500, etc.), his compassion was only evident in his desire to grow the administrative state (eg his lack of concern for those who were screwed by his health care plan, telling a women that her mother might not be given a pacemaker because her "quality of life" didn't justify the expense), his communication and oratorical skills were completely over rated by a sycophantic press (see: bumbling incoherency when denied a teleprompter), and he certainly wasn't the servant of people he deemed as bible thumpers reaching for their guns.

Rip on Trump all you want, it's an easy field to plow. But at least have the honesty to admit the glaring failures of previous President.

The brainwashing on you is strong, Thom.

Gotta hand it to the washers. 

Obama is a living historical figure.

Donald Trump is a walking punch line.

Just sayin'.

So much to unpack there, Thom.

Did you ever see Obama in an interview, without teleprompters?

I doubt it.

Thom, if the ACA is such a disaster, why aren't the leaders simply abolishing it? From what I heard last night, tRump is basically tweaking it by allowing people to sell insurance across state borders (a good idea), and trying to lower prescription costs (good luck!).

I look forward to your response.

Where the hell is the Grevious Angel?

Is that tripe even your own words, thom or r u goin all melania on us?

I'm just wondering, how the hell can Obama be blamed for the collapse of the Middle East? That's kind of like blaming Thom for college kids plagiarizing materials found in the library.

Thom is actually a pretty compassionate person because none of

the problems he talks about are problems he is experiencing. 

He's always thinking of people less fortunate than him. 

The flood gates to health insurance have been opened, and it's clear that there's no going back. The Reps haven't scrapped the ACA yet because they don't have a better and cheaper option that will give similar coverage. I think that we all know that the only way to accomplish a system with cheaper, better and more full coverage is a universal system. 

I'm curious to hear Thom's thoughts regarding the accountability of tRumps proposals:

Lower corporate taxes

Lower income taxes

No cuts in entitlements

:: squared with ::

Increased military spending

A great, great wall

$1 trillion increase in infra-structure spending.

Thom??

Thom doesn't care for the hard questions, Ned.

Let's just put Ronald Reagan on Mt. Rushmore and call it good, okay?

Thom should have waited 'till 12:00 so it would look like he was Zoning on his lunch break and not on the Taxpayer's dime.

Which is the country Trump was referring to that taxes Harley Davidson Motorcycles 100%? India?

Is India a big importer of Harleys?

"He couldn't open his mouth without lying."

Great description of Trump:

"My crowd was the biggest at ANY innauguration!"

Yea right.

"I won by the biggest margin in recent history."

You go on believing that, bub.

But those are just minor lies, huh Thom?

I'm glad you're not a teacher.

How many lives will he save?

We'll see about Donald, but it's obvious that Obama didn't have any of these qualities.<<<

And most importantly, let us never -- ever -- forget how he pronounced "Pakistan"!

> [Obama] apologized for his country constantly

The USA has a long history of doing nasty things in the name of exceptionalism and I thought it was long overdue when Obama graciously acknowledged some of these things. Trump did the same thing in his O'Reilly interview on Super Bowl Sunday, but he was much more crass in his handling of it, which of course is his style. Also, stating that Obama did this "constantly" exagerrates in a way that weakens your argument. No, he didn't.

> [Obama's] vision was one of statism that is being rejected all over the world due to it's inefficiency and corruption

Example(s)?

> [Obama] refused to be held accountable for the innumerable failures of hs administration (Benghazi, the collapse of the Middle East and ObamaCare as obvious examples)

I think what you meant to state is that Obama refused to accept responsibility for events that you deem to be failures. I say this because you seem to be holding him accountable, or blaming him, with your post. Also, it's not clear what you mean by failure where Benghazi is concerned, I wasn't aware that the Middle East had collapsed (link?), and Obamacare seems to be in the process of being rebranded as Trumpcare. If you can show me the failures here, I'd like to see evidence of that, not just an empty claim.

> [Obama] showed no respect for his political opponents or anyone who disagreed with him

He made Hillary his Secretary of State and he's probably disagreed with his wife, or I would hope so at least. Again, your broad sweeping statements might sound dramatic when you're typing them, but they fall apart under the slightest scrutiny. It's hard to take these kind of arguments seriousleee.

> the country is more divided after his eight years then at almost any time in our history

I actually thought the divide was going to occur right after he was elected in 2008. What took you guys so long?

> Rip on Trump all you want, it's an easy field to plow.

That's the first time I recall you ceding any ground on Trump, Thom, and I appreciate it. Using a strident tone, whether by an Obama apologist, or a supporter of the new administration, might sound dramatic, but it really just furthers the divide. I also find it odd when the winning side adopts such a militant posture. If this is how victory is celebrated, where do we go from here?

Blaming the collapse of the Middle East on someone other than Junior and his Atomic Bomb lies, classic Repugnant thinking...

Gerald Ford and George W. Bush orators? You lost me with that.

Benghazi was, by the republicans own admission a marketing campaign designed to discredit Hillary. When her numbers came down they bragged about it. 

The ACA seems to suddenly be gaining in popularity if the Town Halls the moral cowards in congress(Hello, Little Marco) are avoiding are any indication. kudos to the ones who stood up. It's a mixed bag. 40 million people have insurance who didn't have it before. My premiums went up 40% and I got worse coverage. The drug companies and insurance companies have the bulk of culpability here. 

I love living here, but we have a sordid history and somebody needs to start owning it. He did. You can't have it both ways. You can't say he's an apologist in one breath then say he's not accountable in the next.

It's not too hard to pick any of the people wh take this job on. Bush bankrupted the economy with war started on false pretenses. Clinton repealed Glass Steagall and busted more non-violent recreational pot smokers than anyone, leading me to wonder what ties he had to the private prison industry. Reagan and Nixon both committed treason. 

I once defended you for not being like Seadog. This is very Seadog like.

Poor Thom.

Sadly, they all become corporatist once they get into office...   except Trump, he was already a corp.  Doesn't matter which party, they all seem to appoint someone from Monsanto (now part of Bayer) to run the FDA, Wall street folks, etc.   Most of Obama's plans were Republican plans...   pissed off a lot of Dems,  but a brilliant strategy to get Republicans to argue against their own ideas / plans.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a great example of that.  The guy who designed it was out of the conservative Heritage foundation, as it is was the blueprint for Romney care in Mass...  forcing people to buy private insurance essentially.  Dems want single payer (public option / nationalize medicare, etc).  So the biggest reason the Reps can't overturn it, is because it's their idea, LOL    

Sometimes I think the last honest speech we got from a president was Jimmy Carters "malaise" speech.  Talk about a Debby downer, but looking back, we really weren't ready for it, and we should have really listened and acted on it.   

I only have insults for Trump, and it's not worth all the searching to list off all the lies, defamation of character(s), slander / libel, and just flat out "does he have any fucking clue what's going on".   Our first truly incompetent president...  and my conservative friends still love him...  

So enjoy the hyper-partisan world social media has helped to breed, and keep an eye on all politics local, since most of these asshats wouldn't be in office if it wasn't for redistricting, and perhaps a touch of voter suppression (funny how the right always complains about all the illegals voting, with no evidence, while there's piles of evidence on redistricting / voter suppression).  

How can the Republicunts keep blaming Barrack Obama for Jesus Christ Hitler Jr's lies about atomic bombs and uranium?

His Hate of the Union address in Feb 2003 set the wheels in motion for the destruction of an entire region of the world going up in flames. 

On the bright side, abandoning the mission in Afghanistan, probably because it wasn't making enough $$$$ for the Military Industrial Complex, we now have a huge and endless income stream, for people who already have plenty of income, from spilling the blood of hundreds of thousands, now probably millions, of innocent people.

Of course, the word "people" to the GOP is narrowly defined as straight, blonde hair, blue eyed, rich, white men who go to church 7-9 times a month.

Thom is like 8 years of Fox News talking points condensed into a single angry librarian. All utter nonsense, just formless, raging contempt for a man who had the audacity to stick his neck out for mildly redistributive economic and social policy.

Republicans take money from all of us and give it to rich people...Bush years

Republicans give your money to rich...Redistribution upward's they call it.

After a GOP administration redistribution upward Democrats pull it back to the middle class and poor...Redistribution downward they call it...Obama years

Back and forth we go twisting in the political winds

<<<<<Clinton repealed Glass Steagall and busted more non-violent recreational pot smokers than anyone, leading me to wonder what ties he had to the private prison industry.

Clinton had a republican congress so Prison Guard Industrial complex republicans got Clinton to signoff on there bill. Republican congress worked with Clinton but not with Obama. Jeez, I wonder why.