An Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right
Patrick Chappatte, The International Herald Tribune
This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Frustration, Chris! Frustration, frustration. (You recently were more out of touch than was Honeymooner Elrod when it came to mis-describing the numerous failures and setbacks Obama and the Dems have experienced so far.)
Patience, patience. It's now up to Obama on Sep 9 (address to Congress) to convince us he knows he and his Congre-Dems were wrong, and to secure some kind of recovery and damage control. The health care disaster is not complete and needn't end that way. Even the public option isn't doomed yet. (Compromise, and some real reform, is essential if ObamaCo is to regain respect, however.)
When Obama ran for President he promised some really good stuff that all American's believe in. One of them was to work with those he does not agree with; he promised to talk to terrorists and Republicans.
Thomas Jefferson warned of the effect of power on a politician and our duty to help him, not in the way he wants but in the way he needs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-6zK5fXGVA
Obama has forgotten that divided we fall. If he will listen to you, then tell him.
DLS
"Obama has forgotten that divided we fall."
He as well as the Congressional Dems have been divisive, increasingly so.
Making things worse is the Sep 8 speech Obama wants to give to school children. The "campaign" behavior this year is degenerate enough; this is bringing Washington more into schools than ever before, in a direct way that reeks of personality cultism as well as government control -- like Chavez. Is a politicized curriculum in the future, or school-grounds Bolivarian Circles, too? They're logical!
DLS
One of the cartoonists I've enjoyed (who likes being deliberately provocative and often expressing an alien far-left world view) is David Horsey. Chris, you need to enjoy Horsey once in a while.
(Editors, Horsey is someone whose work you should post on your site, as it's befitting this site and is similar to what you get at St. Louis Post-Dispatch or from Bagley, or from Hartford, but can be more witty, if sometimes more vicious.)
President Obama was elected on HIS platform and McCain lost the election on HIS platform.
The republican party is NOT being cooperative and are united in their opposition to the People’s WILL.
NOT ENOUGH is provided the American People by government. From equal opportunity to Government oversight, the republican party is distorting and misrepresenting the CONSTITUTIONAL requirement of the Government to PROVIDE FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE of the American People.
JSpencer
"he promised to talk to terrorists and Republicans"
Well that was certainly an entertaining turn of phrase.
DLS
"HIS platform ... the People’s WILL ... NOT ENOUGH ..."
DLS, if you'll take a suggestion, those links would be more effective if accompanied by some quotes describing the gist. The daily clarity link goes to paragraphs of passive-voice rambling about the "worldwide disease" and I have no idea what its point is or what its relevance to your point is.
DLS
Dr. J: Suggestion taken. The Clarity link was to a writeup that may be excessive, but is at least of higher quality than a typical metro area (PC-fad-youth-oriented) free weekly -- it addresses what Father Time has mentioned before, about the Rousseauian "general will" and the modern Western nation-state that may be viewed organically ("corporatist," from "corpus"), and which leads toward a totalitarian end. We've seen this somewhat in our centralization of power in Washington and neglect of state and local governments, and it goes beyond that in the case of development of personality cults, as the article has noted with Putin, and to a lesser, but still disturbing post-election extent,with Obama. (This is one reason why so many normal people are disturbed by his speech to school children. It involves not only exploitation of the personality cult and "campaigning" well after the election, but an "advance" of the government as a surrogate parent or parents, and Obama as "Our Father" to the weak and willing.)
DLS
Morley here in the USA (in response to the excesses of the New Deal and FDR as his own spectacle) was concerned about what Talmon wrote about as a world-wide phenomenon, and as the writer in the Clarity article put it:
"To put it in simple terms, the issues of modern day governance have become so complex (or as some cynics would contend, the electorate become so stupid) that the selection of a candidate on election day is the single democratic responsibility of the average voter. Thereafter, it simply becomes an unwritten blind-faith contract that the elected representatives will do the best for the people."
Leonidas
Obama, continuing the Bush Era. 1) Expanded executive power 2) Invoking State Secrets 3) Signing Statements 4) Warrantless Wiretapping 5) Datacollecting on Citizens 6) Record Deficits 7) Bailouts of the "Too Big to Fails" 8) Hyper Partisanship
Looks like in many ways Bush did get a third term.
TheMagicalSkyFather
Leonidas-Sadly those are all things that were not going to change under McCain either. Would have been sweet to have distinct choices to vote on but thats not how the US rolls.