Brace yourself, bcspace, for 4 more Obama years

[_DarkHelmet]

It's hard to tell this far out. Obama is waiting on the sidelines for the GOP nominee. Once the nominee becomes clear, it depends on how united republicans are, and what strategy the Obama camp will implement. And of course we could have something drastic happen, like a terrorist attack to totally change everything. Not likely. The most likely scenario is Romney gets the nomination, but I don't know what kind of coalition he will have to win. Will the tea partiers vote for him just to get rid of Obama, or will they stay home? Will christian conservatives be able to stomach a Mormon in the white house just to get rid of the liberal black guy? Will independents vote for a 1%er? It's hard to see where it will all shake out.

[_DrW]

Have you forgotten how vicious the Clinton/Obama race was?

I think that the rabbit Obama could pull out of his hat is dumping Biden as the VP and asking Hillary to take Biden's place. That might swing it back his way.

The Clinton - Obama race was about issues and was not played out between a thoroughly disgraced political hack who has the demeanor of an angry pit bull and a wealthy poser who is far too moderate for red meat Republicans and therefore feels compelled to fudge the truth at nearly every opportunity.

by the way, I would also like to see Hilary Clinton as Obama's VP running mate. She has done a great job in this administration and I can't think of anyone in the Democratic party that I would rather see a heartbeat away from the presidency.

[_Yoda]

Have you forgotten how vicious the Clinton/Obama race was?

I think that the rabbit Obama could pull out of his hat is dumping Biden as the VP and asking Hillary to take Biden's place. That might swing it back his way.

The Clinton - Obama race was about issues and was not played out between a thoroughly disgraced political hack who has the demeanor of an angry pit bull and a wealthy poser who is far too moderate for red meat Republicans and therefore feels compelled to fudge the truth at nearly every opportunity.

by the way, I would also like to see Hilary Clinton as Obama's VP running mate. She has done a great job in this administration and I can't think of anyone in the Democratic party that I would rather see a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Although Hillary has done a great job as Secretary of State, I think that Obama should have asked her to be his running mate from the get-go. She would have been a much better pick than Biden.

I think that the economy would have been in a lot better shape if Clinton had been the VP. She knows how to communicate across the aisle. There would have been much less deadlock, and a lot more bipartisan solutions on the table.

[_EAllusion]

The office of the vice president is largely ceremonial and only has as much worth as the president is willing to delegate to it. It's not as though Biden has played a significant role. In terms of voting priorities, I can't fathom why it would matter that much to a person unless the expect the president to be likely to die.

[_DrW]

Back to the OP regarding bcspace and a second 4 years of the Obama presidency. Gingrich and Romney are putting on a clown show here in Florida. Here is Steven Colbert's take on Newt Gingrich. Can't wait to see what happens when Romney loses his next struggle with the truth on national TV.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but few could be stranger than thrice-married serial adulterer and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Fox News psychiatrist and moral scold Dr. Keith Ablow.

Nonetheless, Ablow’s recent column on Gingrich posits that somehow Newt’s multiple infidelities make him more qualified to be president of the United States. Of course, Newt himself has staked out this position before.

It’s all a bit much to take. Stephen Colbert extrapolated Ablow’s convoluted reasoning on Thursday night’s The Colbert Report, and arrived at the conclusion that yes, in fact, Newt Gingrich may be a brave and courageous man who followed his heart, “or whatever it was that was throbbing so loudly.”

He added, though, that some people who lack Dr. Ablow’s psychiatric expertise might simply “misdiagnose” Newt as a “sociopathic pussyhound."

Here is a clip (contains some strong language) from Comedy Central. (Please scroll down to the live Steve Colbert video link and click Start.)
_________________________________

The Gingrich campaign made a stop in the parking lot across the street from our offices in Coral Springs last week. The event didn't draw much of a crowd. The audience was about the same size as the one Herman Cain drew in the same location before he dropped out of the race.

Gingrich gave his South Florida stump speech, which includes different delusional statements than those in his North Florida stump speech.

Romney is not the only one who will say anything he thinks will help to get him elected.

US colonies on the Moon in eight years?

(Give me strength.)

[_Sethbag]

I think that the economy would have been in a lot better shape if Clinton had been the VP. She knows how to communicate across the aisle. There would have been much less deadlock, and a lot more bipartisan solutions on the table.

I disagree. Obama has bent over backwards trying to do things with bipartisan support, and the Republicans have spit in his offers before throwing them back in his face. There can be no real bargaining and compromise with a party which seems to have decided that the Prime Directive is to defeat Obama at the next election, and that everything else, including any and all cooperation on any and all issues in Congress, may be sacrificed on the altar to achieve that. They cannot, and will not, allow Obama to succeed at his Presidency, because that will make him harder to beat.

I really like Obama a lot. He's actually achieved quite a bit so far in his Presidency, despite the Republicans since the 2010 midterms. I don't agree with everything, for example I was disappointed Obama caved to the environmentalists on their (IMHO irrational) opposition to the Keystone pipeline, but oh well. I guess it was a political necessity, and not necessarily a permanent decision: the company can resubmit, and Obama can use it as a bargaining chip again later this year with the Republicans, and maybe get something from them in return.

Does anyone remember how Obama pissed off some Democrats when he was first elected by inviting a bunch of Republican legislators to the White House to consult with them on how they could work together? And this was before the Republicans even had won the House in 2010. What good did it do him? Can anyone even remember a president who has had the leaders of the opposite party to the White House for high-profile negotiations and consultations as much as President Obama has? I can't.

Does anyone remember how Obama was ready to give the Republicans $8 or $9 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue increases, and they refused? Even though these revenue increases were to be obtained by not extending previous temporary tax cuts on Americans making over $1million/year? I mean seriously, Obama literally could not find any way to make a deal with these Republicans, other than to do exactly what they wanted, on their own terms, and get absolutely nothing back in return.

Now we have this picture where my own local commander-in-chief Governor Jan Brewer (as an Arizona Guardsman I received my commission from the Governor) is wagging her finger in my national Commander-in-Chief's face like that? That's disgraceful. She has said that she respects the office of the Presidency of the United States. No, she doesn't, or she wouldn't act that way to the man who currently holds that office.

And that goes for all the Republicans who refer only to "Obama" and not "President Obama", at all times and places. They go out of their way to refer to Willard Romney as "Governor Romney" though he hasn't been a governor for years, and to Newt Gingrich as "Speaker Gingrich" though he hasn't been Speaker for like 15 years or so now, but cannot refer to the current President as "President Obama"? And these men want to hold that office themselves?

Hey Speaker Newt, and Governor Mitt, show some respect for the office, by showing some respect for the man who holds it. If you cannot or will not do this, you reveal ever more clearly that you are not worthy to hold it yourselves.

[_bcspace]

I disagree. Obama has bent over backwards trying to do things with bipartisan support, and the Republicans have spit in his offers before throwing them back in his face. There can be no real bargaining and compromise with a party which seems to have decided that the Prime Directive is to defeat Obama at the next election, and that everything else, including any and all cooperation on any and all issues in Congress, may be sacrificed on the altar to achieve that. They cannot, and will not, allow Obama to succeed at his Presidency, because that will make him harder to beat.

Actually, he's running us into the ground with his socialist policies and four more years would likely ensure a hard left Supreme Court. So it's not like the GOP is unwilling to compromise, it's more like they are saving the ship. Plus, the Democrats have yet to deliver on their promised spending cuts dating back to the Regan years when Regan figured out he couldn't trust them to do what they promised to do even after Regan delivered on his end. Obama has shown us his true colors so no, he is not eligible for President based simply on his stance on the issues.

[_bcspace]

Brace yourself, bcspace, for 4 more Obama years

[_EAllusion]

Overall, Obama has been slightly to right of Richard Nixon and the notion that he is somehow a hardcore socialist or a coup for the progressive left is based in repetition of propaganda rather than reality. His closest presidential analogue is George W. Bush, and if you found yourself having extreme like or dislike for that president, then I can only wonder what sort of partisan rationalizations would allow you to have diametrically opposing feelings in the case of Obama.

[_bcspace]

Overall, Obama has been slightly to right of Richard Nixon and the notion that he is somehow a hardcore socialist or a coup for the progressive left is based in repetition of propaganda rather than reality.

Hardcore socialism (PPACA, Kagan, largest yearly national debt ever, etc) is the direction he's taking us and that is his background. Of course he can't show it all at once as Americans (who even according to left wing skewed Gallup, is a plurality of conservatism) wouldn't stand for it, so he has to go slowly and carefully, throwing out a few small conservative looking compromises along the way. That's what social democracy is all about.