President Obama: will he live up to expectations?

Isn’t he only president for like, what, less than a month? I don’t think we can judge how he’s doing before at least a year passes, and no definite judging before the next elections.

He hasn’t even been President for two weeks yet.

On his first day he managed to do some good things.
But he has started the process of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, it should be totally closed in a year. And torture has supposedly ended, which is a super-awesome thing.
He also put a pay freeze on White House staffers who make over $100,000 a year. Which is probably a good move since any moves to help the lighten the economic burden should be helpful.

Plus folks on Wall Street managed to use the Government’s “bailout” to give themselves hefty bonuses and he sounded really angry about that. But I’m a bit afraid of him just saying he’s angry and not really forcing them to return that money or something.

We will still have to wait before we know for sure!

They also all must be answered before you can make a blanket statement about the right to kill. The same questions are equally important (When does an embryo become a baby? etc) for abortion.

I’m sure you remember the recent change to the abortion cut-off limit in the UK after babies being born prematurely, remarkably close to the old limit, and surviving.

When is it ok?

I would say that performing a negative act upon an object, life or not, is never ok. But there are certain circumstances under which these negative acts are for the overall greater good.

In the same way you could knock down a tree (Negative act) to build a shelter (positive act) which you then allow birds to use in your garden (the greater good).

However I am strongly against “convenience” abortions and the “morning after” pill. By then it’s too late… what’s the beginning of a whole being has been created from the incomplete structures of two separate cells.
If Sperm and Eggs go unused the natural path they take is to die, but after they are mixed the natural path they take is to grow into a babby.

Abortion should be an absolute last resort… and certainly never for convenience alone. If having a baby is going to mean you have to re-think your life plan, then you better get on re-thinking that life plan.

I have more respect for someone who struggles to raise their kid than someone who takes the easy way out and goes and lives a fantastic life all to themselves.

Although in cases of rape or failed contraception, I can’t really argue against the preference for abortion since the pregnancy has been imposed upon the female.

But if we want to talk about “rights” in a whole different light… we can.
What are these so called “Rights” that we always here people talking about?
Are they not nothing more than a legal fiction conjured up to give people some kind of impression of a world that makes sense (MEXICO SOLD SEPARATELY).
Do we really have the “right” to choose? The ability to willingly have abortions is not one that we are born with, it’s one that we invented ourselves. So perhaps it could be argued that we do not really have the right at all. This is of course just hypothetical conjecture. I am not even a Christian, but there is a good message behind the story of Adam and Eve… in that, disturbing the natural order of things is not always for the best, in the long run.

I meant, what do you think of the things he has done so far… e.g starting the process of closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Rather than a black and white success/failure view of Obama as a president.

President Obama has walked his campaign’s talk exceptionally close so far, which is only what I anticipated. And he is getting credit for that at least, now I can only hope everyone who voted for him will keep in mind why and what they voted for, and don’t expect miracles without any further involvement.

Chizzles… so let’s take that line of thought to it’s ultimate conclusion and acknowledge that none of us have a right to life, since it’s all so arbitrary. But since we are the alpha species on this planet right now, we are the alpha arbiters.

It is time for a BUMP! With my crazy leftist rambling-powers?
I’m a little displeased about how the country seems to be very negative in opinion of the concept of government regulation of big businessess, even though the government is willing to give them billions of dollars. IMO if the taxpayers are funding it, there should be a system set up so that the company is in some way accountable to public demands.

The AIG bonuses are a big issue. The company starts going belly-up, gets dump-trucks full of money and then gives some of that money to it’s executives who made the bad decisions that hurt the company and national economy in the first place.
The government is basically saying “well they had the bonuses in a contract and we cannot touch those”. I could see the quasi-reasoning behind this but then the government warns the car companies that THEIR contracts might be made void. Hypocrisy for the win?

I honestly do not fully understand how Obama’s plan is going to boost the economy. But it is certainly a lot better than the Republican party’s plan which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard (massive tax cuts for the rich and a five-year government spending freeze).

Also I would REALLY like to see members of the Bush administration investigated and brought to trial for war crimes/torture. Since the cat is pretty much out of the bag with that. Instead Obama has been protecting the previous administration from any such things. If we do not face the national madness of the past eight years, I think this country will continue to be haunted by it.

Also when asked if the US ought to legalize marijuana, Obama laughed it off saying something to the effect of “I don’t think that’s the best way to heal the economy”. I don’t smoke pot but it would make loads of sense to legalize it. For one, Mexico is currently pretty much in a state of civil war between drug cartels and if we create a legal crop in the US, we would cut their funds by a conisiderable amount. In addition, taxing it would help lighten the burden of the national debt. It’s not good for you. It clogs your brain. It is generally considered more carcinogenic than cigarettes. It can make you paranoid. But those are not good reasons to keep it illegal. Because I think the government is overstepping its bounds by telling people “we need to make this plant illegal because you might hurt yourself with it”. The public are not five-year olds and the government is not their mommy. People can decide for themselves.
He at least shouldn’t treat the subject like a joke.

It’s worth noting that I still really like Obama a hell of a lot more than the last president.

^The marijuana answer was basically just an evasion, he responded in a very literal (and yes, unfortunately dismissive) fashion to the surface question, so as to avoid the actual issue. Jimmy Carter got all chicken about decriminalizing pot, after a cocaine (I think?) scandal with someone in his administration. It’s been something the Dems are terrified to touch ever since, they can’t be seen as too liberal you know… god forbid…

I’d honestly be shocked if this first African-American president betrayed the slightest hint of seeming pro-drugs. Obama is navigating one of the most nuanced political minefields of all time as it is, and he’s already picked more battles than would normally be wise. I was impressed enough by the Attorney General’s declaration that they were stopping the “war” at the federal level, when it comes to marijuana at least, leaving it up to the states again. It’s a significant start, without being politically sticky.

As for the economic recovery, for the most part the only argument for the Obama / Dem strategy that matters is that it’s the proven one that has worked best before. From a purely pragmatic standpoint anyway, and despite Republican obfuscation of the facts that they claim would indicate otherwise. But there is simply no way that America will “recover” what it once was, since that was a once in an epoch sort of delusion anyway. The situation this whole world faces leaves only two ways forward, both equally radical.

In one future, we may truly start to live up to the moralistic ideals, that we already played a major part in seeding into the social consciousness. In another, we’re just not there yet and civilization hits the reset button once more. In which case, there will be brand new empires, of which America could still be one, but not as most of us might recognize it.

So as much as I’m obviously concerned with “my country” on an immediate personal level, all of this is pretty superficial in the context of what the human race is facing… soon enough.