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Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
lol

You make some good points dream.

"I know it's not sexy, but staffing considerations. I mean, Obama's staff sucks. He has probably the most corrupt economic team ever,

If you want to solve issues and save face, Gino is right, but I think the Israelis would just shoot him if he did that.

Ending the war would help.

Tackling the economy.

Still, I'd feel a lot better if he got rid of some of the real crooks in his administration, and the clintons."

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
My advice to Obama? Same as it would be to ANY first-term President:

Rule Number One: First and foremost, FORGET ABOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT RUNNING FOR A SECOND TERM. You're a one-term President. Act that way. Tackle the issues, and own them. If all you're doing your first term is worrying about your second term, you'll never get that second term. Assume four years is all you've got, and make something happen. Do that, and the second term will take care of itself.

That would be the ONE thing that I would like to tell President Obama. If he followed that advice, everything else would fall into place naturally.

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Originally posted by Wulfenstar:

If I were Obama..

I would say,

over beers...and by "accident".

"Sharpton, Jackson, Barry, Kanye West... fuck... THOSE guys are niggers. I hate that shit. They make all black people look like clowns. Here I am, President of the U.S. and I still got to make myself look better than them. Did Bush have to make himself look better than the Klan? Goddamit, I even have to convince people Im not Farrakhan! What the hell?!!"

Then blame it on the beer.

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
My advice to Obama? Same as it would be to ANY first-term President:

Rule Number One: First and foremost, FORGET ABOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT RUNNING FOR A SECOND TERM. You're a one-term President. Act that way. Tackle the issues, and own them. If all you're doing your first term is worrying about your second term, you'll never get that second term. Assume four years is all you've got, and make something happen. Do that, and the second term will take care of itself.

That would be the ONE thing that I would like to tell President Obama. If he followed that advice, everything else would fall into place naturally.

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The only problem with that is you lose the political capital to get things through the houses pretty quick and then your just a lame duck.

Some of the things he could do through his executive powers... but any major legislation he would be handcuffed.

I wonder though, say with healthcare, couldn't a state, or a group of states provide a public option separate from any Federal program ?

If they could get it to work, wouldn't that make all the lobbying and debate moot... I mean I imagine people would look at a working system more favorably than a theoretical debate... Likely easy to implement too.



Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists


Lets party like its 1939

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

Quote:

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
My advice to Obama? Same as it would be to ANY first-term President:

Rule Number One: First and foremost, FORGET ABOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT RUNNING FOR A SECOND TERM. You're a one-term President. Act that way. Tackle the issues, and own them. If all you're doing your first term is worrying about your second term, you'll never get that second term. Assume four years is all you've got, and make something happen. Do that, and the second term will take care of itself.

That would be the ONE thing that I would like to tell President Obama. If he followed that advice, everything else would fall into place naturally.

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The only problem with that is you lose the political capital to get things through the houses pretty quick and then your just a lame duck.

Some of the things he could do through his executive powers... but any major legislation he would be handcuffed.

I wonder though, say with healthcare, couldn't a state, or a group of states provide a public option separate from any Federal program ?

If they could get it to work, wouldn't that make all the lobbying and debate moot... I mean I imagine people would look at a working system more favorably than a theoretical debate... Likely easy to implement too.



Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists


Lets party like its 1939

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Thing is, Obama came in with a mandate, a clear one, and the votes to implement sweeping changes. Where he went wrong (and "Hero" can't help but lie his ass off about this as well) is when he tried to include the Republicans in the debate, and tried to reach compromises with them. They never had any interest in working with Obama on ANY issue, and never will, so any attempt at compromise only weakened his position and strengthened theirs. Instead, he should have done what he said he was going to do, and let them howl about it, since they're going to do that regardless.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: An Executive Order would end this shit, today. Signed and done. Period. Let the courts take it up from there, if anyone has a problem with it.

Gitmo and the secret prisons. Ditto.

Health care. Could have pushed it through QUICKLY. Lack of health coverage kills more than 40,000 Americans every single year - more than ten times the number killed in the 9/11 attacks. If protecting American lives is important enough to wage wars over and enact things like the Patriot Act with no debate or no time to read it through, then surely the health of Americans is at least as important. Ignore the delaying tactics of the pro-death, die-quickly-and-cheaply Republican party.

Afghanistan and Iraq. Get out immediately, if not sooner. :)

Thing is, he actually could have done all this stuff, THEN started working on the stuff where he really does need consensus-building. But he didn't - he tried to deal with Republicans when there was no need, and it only emboldened them.

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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one of the talking heads on TV the other day ( I don't remember which ) theorized that he has not done that from the reason that when someone else gets in it can be changed back with a penstroke.

By going the longer road, it imbeds things such that it is harder to change them back and raise eyebrows when you start to


Iraq and Afghanistan I don't think you can just pull out... NATO could with Afghanistan, and really should.. but the US has made a mess of the situation there they really have to find a solution for it... ( I think mine would work, but it would upset alot of things )

Iraq they could pull out completely, but it would be better to deal with Israel / Palestine as well as Iran ( in that order ) while you are still there. Mind you if there is no intention to straighten out Israel, then pull the pin and go... But don't expect Iran to listen to anything you have to say for the next decade ( or anyone else in the area )

There is a big push from the Japanese for you to pull some of your bases out of there, why not scale back the global presence and call it cost cutting

Hell give Gitmo back to Cuba ( for some concessions )

Pull the advisors out of Columbia and put that " drug war " money into education and treatment programs


Hell, I'd get myself shot inside a month, but if I could accomplish any 2 or three of these thing... it would be worth it




Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists


Lets party like its 1939

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Hell, I'd get myself shot inside a month, but if I could accomplish any 2 or three of these thing... it would be worth it

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Hell, I'd get myself shot inside a month, but if I could accomplish any 2 or three of these thing... it would be worth it

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Yup, you and me both. But not before making some damn changes and getting some results.

Reason I brought up Executive Order as the way to end Don't Ask is that Truman did it when he desegregated the military. Do it, and THEN let someone try to reverse it. Think anyone will try to RE-segregate the military now? :)

As for Iran and anyone else in the area not listening to us for a decade or so, I'd say that ship has already sailed. Bush so fucked this nation's credibility into the ground that nobody believes us on much of ANYTHING these days!

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde [/font]

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lol

you mean like this

Dismay at Iran nuclear response
ElBaradei urged Iran to work with world powers over the proposed deal [EPA]

Senior officials from six world powers have expressed disappointment at Iran's response to an offer of a deal intended to delay its potential ability to make nuclear bombs and have urged Tehran to reconsider the proposal.

Iran is seeking further guarantees regarding the deal which was put forward following talks hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Geneva on October 1.

The agreement would see Iran send enriched uranium abroad for rendering into fuel for medical purposes in Tehran.

"We are disappointed by the lack of follow-up on the three understandings [in the proposed deal]," said Robert Cooper, a senior European Union official, after a meeting of officials from Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Russia and China in Brussels.

Cooper said: "We urge Iran to reconsider the opportunity offered by this agreement ... and to engage seriously with us in dialogue and negotiations."

Sanctions discussed

Under the proposed deal, Iran was given the option of shipping about 75 per cent of its low-enriched uranium out of the country for it to be converted into fuel plates for a Tehran reactor that makes isotopes for cancer treatments.

Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, said on Wednesday that Tehran had misgivings about the deal and suggested that his country would instead agree to exchange its uranium for an equivalent amount of nuclear fuel, but only on its own territory.

Mottaki said Iran wanted to guarantee it would receive fuel it had contracted for.

Asked whether Iran's stance would lead to new sanctions, a source familiar with the talks on Friday said there had been a general discussion on sanctions but no specifics were broached.

World powers want to reduce Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile below the amount needed, if refined to high purity, for a single atom bomb.

Iran has said that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

'Extreme distrust'

Earlier on Friday during a speech in Berlin, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, pressed Iran to work with world powers over the issue.

"I would hate to see that we are moving back to sanctions," ElBaradei said.

"Because sanctions, at the end of the day ... really don't resolve issues."

He said the IAEA had not yet received a formal reply from Tehran to its proposals, although Iranian officials had told him they would not send uranium for reprocessing abroad unless they first received promised fuel rods.

ElBaradei described Iran's stance as "an extreme case of distrust".

"And what we are really trying to do is replace distrust by a degree of trust," he said.

Mottaki played down the threat of sanctions on Thursday, saying embargoes had proved ineffective in the past and that he did not believe they would be tried again.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/11/20091120162734626961.
html



ElBaradei described Iran's stance as "an extreme case of distrust".


I think Iran has a point here, if the West wants this so bad, and they are serious about holding up their end then why not a one for one exchange

Broken deals lead up to the North Korean crisis

Why should they just take the IAEA's word for anything



Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists


Lets party like its 1939