New Rule: If America can't get its act together, it must lose the bald eagle as our symbol and replace it with the YouTube video of the puppy that can't get up. As long as we're pathetic, we might as well act like it's cute. I don't care about the president's birth certificate, I do want to know what happened to "Yes we can." Can we get out of Iraq? No. Afghanistan? No. Fix health care? No. Close Gitmo? No. Cap-and-trade carbon emissions? No. The Obamas have been in Washington for ten months and it seems like the only thing they've gotten is a dog.
Well, I hate to be a nudge, but why has America become a nation that can't make anything bad end, like wars, farm subsidies, our oil addiction, the drug war, useless weapons programs - oh, and there's still 60,000 troops in Germany - and can't make anything good start, like health care reform, immigration reform, rebuilding infrastructure. Even when we address something, the plan can never start until years down the road. Congress's climate change bill mandates a 17% cut in greenhouse gas emissions... by 2020! Fellas, slow down, where's the fire?
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We might pass new mileage standards, but even if we do, they wouldn't start until 2016. In that year, our cars of the future will glide along at a breathtaking 35 miles-per-gallon. My goodness, is that even humanly possible? Cars that get 35 miles-per-gallon in just six years? Get your head out of the clouds, you socialist dreamer!
Let's look at some of that. We are getting out of Iraq, but slowly. Just up and leave and a large portion of the country, and a large portion of the world will get pissed, to Obama and the countries detriment. Afghanistan is another, as we already have conservatives here on the board bitching that Obama is not doing enough there. If we get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and there is another terrorist attack here(and there will be sooner or later, it's inevitable no matter who is president), or even a plot stopped, and people will be screaming that it's all Obama's fault for leaving those places and letting the terrorists come here. He is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, so he is going with what he sees as the right course both for us and Afghanistan. Whether he is right or not only time will tell.
Closing Gitmo is happening, it's just a slower process than hoped for. People who did not make the closing Gitmo are a big pat of the problem here, as congress is not exactly being cooperative.
Cap and trade? You of all people support this? With all the misleading statements being made on the subject(see
PolitiFact | Alexander claims that cap-and-trade will cost consumer $1,761 a year for one example), it's a hard thing to pass. Basic dishonesty seems to be a basic part of political discourse and this makes things a bit harder to do. However, the bill has not gone away.
In the 8 months(not 10) that Obama has been in office, he has kept 44 campaign promises so far, with 100 others in the works(
PolitiFact | The Obameter: Tracking Barack Obama's Campaign Promises. That is slightly more than just getting a dog.
Greenhouse gasses: You do know that it cannot be done overnight, right? We cannot come out and say "you will cut greenhouse emissions by 17 % today". It won't work, and people will throw a legitimate fit. It does take time to get things done.
And onto the car mileage that you talk about vague. First, remember again that the conservatives here threw an absolute fit at the higher mileage requirements(
http://www.debatepolitics.com/gener...hanks-barack-new-improved-cafe-standards.html start at post 14), and remember that again, it does take time to do anything. This is not as simple as make a more fuel efficient car, it's make the average mileage higher. We can make cars that get decent mileage already:
CNN/Money: Best gas mileage cars.
There are things that Obama has not done well on, things he does done piss poor on, but Maher's rant last night managed to pick all the wrong things, and on occasion the entirely wrong target. Obama has been busting his ass to get health care reform done, but when 1/3 of congress has no interest in passing any health care reform and is doing everything possible to sabotage any health care bill, it does make it slow, and it might not happen, since people are being fed lies by everyone involved, and at this point are pissed and tired of the whole thing.
