Obama on reddit live

empirex said:
Obama is as useless as Bush was.
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Except of course, that Bush inherited a surplus and no wars. Obama inherited 2 wars and a huge deficit. So stop spewing nonsense. No one is calling Obama perfect. But at least he's not Bush.
 
Geriatrix said:
I don't know, hey, have you followed some of the stuff Romney has spewed the last couple of months?
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Ok, so minor differences ;)

I guess my point is this: Obama promised (rhetoric) change. He delivered nothing, absolutely nothing of the sort.
Romney is doing the same, promising the world (rhetoric) but will deliver nothing, just as Bush did.

The f****** idiot voters in the US haven't caught on yet.

As soon as the Democrat / Republican soap opera campaign starts playing out on their TV screens the sheeple forget all that has come and gone and fall back into their comfort zones, getting sucked back into the false left / right paradigm.
Voting not for a good candidate, but for the better of two fools / liers.

Obama has been a complete and utter farce, more than anyone else, because he promised change. That was his ticket, his only campaign slogan, what he ran on. He delivered sweet bugger all in return, building extensively on what Bush created rather than correcting / breaking down those mistakes.

I had high hopes for him - I supported him when he ran against Hillary and McCain.

But he has been nothing more than more of the same; surrounding himself with more of the exact same lobbyists, big business and wall street parasites more than any president before him. He is not change in the slightest.
 
Randhir said:
Quality response as usual. /sarcasm

Waiting for empirex to start complaining about other's maturity now..
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Your responses deserve no less:


Randhir said:
Except of course, that Bush inherited a surplus and no wars. Obama inherited 2 wars and a huge deficit. So stop spewing nonsense. No one is calling Obama perfect. But at least he's not Bush.
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I'm a political scientist, and here's what Obama couldn't say in the AMA, but probably would.
Why am I doing this?

Politicians are limited in what they can say to the public. One of the most well-substantiated trends in election politics is that politicians who answer in an academically or economically accurate manner fail at the polls. Those who answer using pre-tested, ideological sound-bytes perform well. If you are mad that politicians don't offer candid answers, you need to blame the public and probably yourself to an extent. That's the catch-22 of politics — to reform the political system, you need to work within the constraints of the current political climate/system.

What are you going to do to end the corrupting influence of money in politics during your second term?

Obama is extremely limited by two other branches of government when it comes to this matter. The Citizens United ruling can’t simply be overturned, even if the court goes liberal. Well, let me rephrase that — it can, but it probably won’t. Judges don’t like overturning precedent in such a short amount of time, it reduces the appearance of the court’s legitimacy. The Congress has a direct interest in preserving Citizens United because it makes their job a lot easier. Currently, Congresspeople spend a massive amount of time in their tenure running an invisible campaign (fundraising mainly). SuperPAC funding, especially the undisclosed kind, makes it a lot easier for the politicians. They don’t have to fundraise as often when they can get big checks from unions (unions historically give more to campaigns than corporations, although that might change as labor unions continue to shrink) or corporations with just a phone call. No Congressperson likes flying back and forth from DC every week to fundraise. Then again, the CU ruling might create an arms race, forcing everyone to fundraise even more constantly. It’ll be an issue political scientists look at closely over the next decade and beyond.

So yeah, there’s not too much Obama can do UNTIL the American public gets ticked off enough to start voting out people who do not support campaign finance reform.

We know how Republicans feel about protecting Internet Freedom. Is Internet Freedom an issue you'd push to add to the Democratic Party's 2012 platform?

While no one disputes that media companies’ content delivery systems are massively outdated and often ripoffs to the consumers, media piracy does continue to take a significant toll on the industry. While there are a couple of studies (with weird [IMO] methodologies) showing that piracy increases media purchases overall, there are many more independent ones showing that opposite. More importantly, the media companies have a lot of money, and most Congresspeople do not understand how the internet interacts with privacy laws (actually, most scholars don’t either, along with the courts. It’s a new area of Conlaw). You can see how there are many other interests at play on the Democratic and Republican side of things other than the interests of those who support the EFF, etc.

Quite simply, the people who push the hardest for internet freedom are young, single, males who are middle class. They don't vote nearly as much as many other demographics, and that's why internet freedom is not a priority in politics.

Not to mention no significant legislation will pass through the government in 2012-2016 if any component of the Congress/Presidency goes to the GOP. So, again, Obama is limited on what he can do.

It's been stated that your favorite television show is The Wire. How do you think the war on drugs has affected America, and would you work to end it?

Old people disapprove of drug legalization. Old people vote more than young people (who don’t). We live in a relatively democratic country. That’s the simplest answer to this question. Once young people who approve of legalization start voting more than old people who want to ban drugs, you will have drug legalization.

Are you considering increasing funds to the space program?

If any component of the Congress/Presidency goes to the GOP, no discretionary funding increases will pass through the government. Nearly the entire academia believes this is terrible policy. Long term investment is badly needed in the USA, however, R&D research, both private and public, remains the highest in the USA among developed countries. I think France is second. I need to look at the numbers again though, it’s been awhile since I looked at R&D info.

I am recent law school graduate. Despite graduating from a top school, I find myself unemployed with a large student loan debt burden. While I'm sure my immediate prospects will improve in time, it's difficult to be optimistic about the future knowing that my ability to live a productive life -- to have a fulfilling career, to buy a house, to someday raise a family -- is hampered by my debt and the bleak economic outlook for young people. I know that I'm not alone in feeling this way. Many of us are demoralized. Your 2008 campaign was successful in large part due to the efforts of younger demographics. We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you. What can I say to encourage those in similar situations as I am to show up again in November? What hope can you offer us for your second term?

Politics is about making tiny changes. But these tiny changes to a government of a country as large as the USA can have gigantic effects. Remember, many people only need life to be a little easier, not a LOT easier. It’s all about the statistics! This is why politics matters, even though sometimes it can be demoralizing to follow it.

If you had the ability to automatically enact or repeal only one law without congressional approval, what would you choose and why?

Being a Conlaw professor and the POTUS, I’d expect him to answer that he would rather not think about this. Why? As the POTUS, it would be political suicide. The next morning, foxnews.com would read “OBAMA WANTS TO BAN ALL GUNS WHILE RIPPING CONSTITUTION IN HALF” or something similar. As a conlaw professor, the most important thing to defend in a government like ours is the checks and balances. One must defend them at all costs to preserve the long term health of democracy. The instant you erase those checks, you risk dissolution. Montesquieu probably wrote the most on this subject if you want to read more about it.

Mr. President, What are you doing about returning soldiers with PTSD, particularly those that have acquired various drug addictions. I know there are a lot of VA facilities available, but they still have long waiting lists for the best inpatient programs. I ask because of my brother, who did three tours in Iraq, was prescribed oxycodone for a wartime injury, and came back with a bad heroin addiction. Please do more for these troops! Thank you.

All of this would have to go through a Congress which currently doesn’t want to increase spending on anyone except for old people and their Medicare. Troop care has never been high on the list because troops don’t act as the big swing vote. It’s sad, embarrassing, but true.

In what ways will you attempt to make university a more affordable path for students?

There are a ton of problems with the current university situation, but the solutions are NOT popular. Students want loans to continue to be easy to get, but the overavailiblity of loans is leading to massive tuition increases — a typical bubble. Now, there’s some credit to the fact that college tuition still costs less than the lifetime wage benefit of a college education, so keep that in mind. Now, as for solutions, colleges need to have a stake in making sure their students succeed. Students need to stop asking for incredibly expensive and fancy dorm-apartments and gyms. University administrators need to stop creating useless admin. jobs. University sports need to stop dipping into academic funds. Seriously, I could go on for hours. Problem is, a lot of these problems may not be fixed until the need is incredibly dire — like when a bubble pops and everyone defaults on their loans. That’s the way politics usually works. You put problems off until the last moment, and you only fix it in the long term when it hurts badly enough :(

Why haven't you closed Guantanamo Bay?

I’m surprised this was asked. There is extensive documentation that he tried to, and Congress shot it down because it was politically unpopular. His focus was on healthcare, an issue Americans care much more about the illegal imprisonment of innocents/maybe-guilties. Remember, when in doubt, people/voters are always selfish :)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ht-to-close-it/2011/04/14/AFtxR5XE_story.html

Mr. President, when will the United States officially move to the metric system?

This has always been a massively politically unpopular idea in the states (seriously, just google it!). It would inconvenience Americans mainly for the benefit of foreigners. Guess which economy and country is stronger, and guess who elects politicians. Those who live in the USA.

Why aren't you more actively fighting RNC voter suppression?

He is through the only legal way he can — Eric Holder, who has made it one of the Justice Department’s top priorities to fight voter suppression.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll be back to answer followups later. Sorry about the lack of citations, but I can provide them on an as-needed basis, even though most of my points can be substantiated with a quick google search. But I'll provide the academic sources if needed.
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ghoti said:
Well by that sentence its pretty clear you dont know what you are talking about. Im wasting my time. Cheers.
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I think it is you who don't have the slightest clue about what is going on in US politics. You take the Hollywood version of America and hold it up as truth. Look behind the scenes, policy skulduggery, real on the ground politics. Not this media fluff you dish out.

16 trillion dollar debt mark just passed.
More troops and funds are being pumped into Afghanistan.
NDAA
Gunatanamo is being expanded upon, not closed.
Bombing's in sovereign countries continue.
Extending Bush's Patriot Act.
Says he doesn't need congress to go to war.
Unemployment on the up.
More people than ever on food stamps.
etc., etc.
 
Empirex, I can agree with you there, Obama is just as useless as Bush was. Only difference is you can spot Bush's idiocity the moment you lay eyes on him, perhaps its his monkey face which is such a dead givaway whilst Obama is much smarter, charismatic but also deceiving which is a great recipe for trouble.
 
MessageBeliever said:
Empirex, I can agree with you there, Obama is just as useless as Bush was. Only difference is you can spot Bush's idiocity the moment you lay eyes on him, perhaps its his monkey face which is such a dead givaway whilst Obama is much smarter, charismatic but also deceiving which is a great recipe for trouble.
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For me it's less to do with the man (yes Bush's IQ seems a couple notches below Obama's ;)) and what he says, but rather what he does. Obama is intelligent (he taught constitutional law afterall), but you judge a man by his actions, not his words.

Obama spins a good line, teleprompter reading par excellence but he has failed as president; taken the US even further back, furthered Bush's policies, continued what the Republicans began.

We all know that politician's words mean nothing -- so go back and look at what he has done, not said on the talking box. You will be shocked.
 
empirex said:
For me it's less to do with the man (yes Bush's IQ seems a couple notches below Obama's ;)) and what he says, but rather what he does. Obama is intelligent (he taught constitutional law afterall), but you judge a man by his actions, not his words. Obama spins a good line, teleprompter reading par excellence but he has failed as president; taken the US even further back, furthered Bush's policies, continued what the Republicans began. We all know that politician's words mean nothing -- so go back and look at what he has done, not said on the talking box. You will be shocked.
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Shocking? Yes even scary, legislations like indefinite detainment without trial makes me wonder whats he up to, the debt crises and what more, worse than Bush in my opinion.
 
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And I see far to many pictures of him and Bush together, all smiles :-D. If I dint know beter I could swear they are lovers..
 
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