President Obama's first 167 days
- Thread starter minidog
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Obama order GiTMO closed within a year his 2nd day in office. Funding to do so is being withheld by congress until there is a clear cut transition plan for the detainees. He's gotten Palau to agree to take the Uighur detainees who have been found to pose no threat by the previous administration and he's brought the first detainee here for trial.
What more can he do about GiTMO. Everyone decried the law by fiat Bush/Cheney engaged in...Now that Obama wants to come in and do things by the book according to his constitutional responsibilities....that's still not good enough for some.
Gays are pissed at him about "don't ask, don't tell" but it's congress' job to pass the laws....that's the way it should be done in this case.
Idealistically: He can convince them to do it. That's what the president is supposed to be, the figure in government that represents the nation, and even though there are things that are outside of his hands, it ultimately falls upon him to bear the responsibility for it.
Realistically: There's nothing he can do about it, and I don't except him to. I know the president is just a figurehead. But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it and the fact that he couldn't keep the promises he made to get elected, even though no one ever does - another thing that I'm not happy about.
They get to be in office 4 years for a reason. One of them being that they're not going to be able to get much done in 167 days.
Hmmm....in either case, "idealistically" or "realistically" I don't think 6 months is a realistic measuring stick for whether or not a POTUS is living up to his campaign promises. Especially when most of which time has been hijacked by major league, inherited crisis. But then again, maybe some actually did believe he was here to walk on water....:dunno:
OK, well then when exactly is the cut-off date for when we should start to see something worthwhile get done?
half a year isn't long enough? maybe that is the problem right there. I wonder if that will work for all my creditors... "Hey guys you didn't really expect the economy to rise back up so quickly, did you? It's too soon for me to do anything. Come back in six months, and then I should be set to pay you, ok?":wave2:
There is no "cut-off" date (unless you're talking about your utility services). There are what's called "priorities".
Your initial complaint in this thread suggested he broke some promise with GiTMO when he did no such thing. He did what was consistent with his power as POTUS with a circumstance like GiTMO. It's operation is a strict function of the executive branch...he issued an executive order closing it within a year on his 2nd day in office. He's not just paid lip service to the order as he's taken concrete steps to begin dispositioning the detainees as I pointed out in a previous post.
He's taken unprecedented steps on the economy, attempted to rescue some of this country's iconic industries and corporations and taken the steps he promised in his campaign with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan.
I hope some of you are not delusional enough to think you just snap your fingers and some of this stuff just gets done.
Certainly Obama has made it clear that if he's to spend this kind of money in the economy, he wants to make sure these contracts aren't hastily done and we end up with the same waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars that prevailed in Iraq.
He was inaugurated on Jan. 20th and in less than a month the ARRA (stimulus bill) was signed into law. Obviously it is a more comprehensive process than simply doling out $300-$600 checks which basically just keep you from whining but don't do anything to solve the long term economic malaise.
The economic firepower sapped out of our economy (and economies worldwide) by skyrocketing gas and oil prices didn't happen overnight and the solution won't occur overnight either. People will need to start working and spending in appreciable numbers for the process of the turn around to begin.
That's the cold, hard facts. We'll see where the economy is by the holiday season.
yeah, and he needs to get his straight. But thanks for making it clear that you don't seem to have any expectation of him doing that either.
Here's one for you, and it's from the example that you cited; what is he doing about pushing for an oil-free America? Nothing.
Instead he is focusing on Russia to get rid of a couple of it's nuclear missiles by promising that will will also reduce ours. Good. So now there is only a few million of them in the world.... not counting the ones that North Korea will soon have, of course.
yes, I agree :yesyes:
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