who did you vote for?
toldailytopic: If you voted for Obama, do you regret it?
- Thread starter Nathon Detroit
- Start date
who did you vote for?
It varied. I voted a split ticket and by candidate, though it cost me the ability here to vote primaries. Overall I voted for more Republican candidates in the last cycle here, which is usually the case with me, but not because of a party allegiance.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
Yes, I don't see how he can still get such unqualified support, considering how much damage has been done by this administration.
That's a tough question, and one that is making for some pretty acrid conversation between a few TOLers here at the moment. Was Bush better than Gore? Absolutely. Was he better than Kerry? Absolutely. Did I agree with him on everything? No. A couple examples: Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, immigration, border. Yes: No Kyoto, no world court, good Supreme Court nominees (once he got past the Harriet Myers debacle).
Some differences between him and our current? I don't think Bush played fast and loose with the truth. I don't think Bush wanted to fundamentally transform this country. I don't think he was interested in throwing his executive weight around. And I think the credentials of his cabinet and appointees were of a much greater caliber than anyone in the motley crew assembled by this administration.
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did you vote for Obama?
I did. Not wild about the result though. Like your fellow, McCain, he is wrong on the abortion question. And like McCain, he won't have anything to do with settling it.
But you were talking about shilling for a party. I voted for a Republican governor here and for every electable judge as well. Didn't vote the straight ticket, but it was decidedly red on balance.
bigbang123
New member
I don't see it that way. In my opinion he is just cleaning up Bush's mess (a recession that was much worst than originally anticipated)
at a slower pace than this ADHD (attention deficit disorder) society of ours can handle.
Specifically, what damage is this administration responsible for?
1) getting BP to set aside money for damages?
2) helping people with who lost their jobs with part of the expense of their Cobra payments for a few months?
3) getting Osama Bin Laden?
4) bring home some troops from Iraq?
5) removing banks as the middleman in getting student loans to kids
and thereby saving some money and making more loans?
6) Increasing the number of drone strikes to kill more bad guys in Pakistan?
7) Moving at a faster rate than Bush in kicking out of our country illegal aliens?
8) Being a part of an international group that helped remove Libya's dictator?
9) Consoling the country when a congresswoman got shot?
10) etc
Specifically, what damage is this administration responsible for?
Explain it to me, specifically, like I am a 5th grader.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
Crippling the resumption of oil drilling in the gulf?
Creating the climate for those jobs being lost in the first place. The stimulus was to have held unemployment at 8%. What's it at now?
By himself?
Closed Gitmo?
Prevented private banks from competing with the government for loans, stifling free enterprise and removing student ability to choose?
Causing more anti-west sentiment?
Like his uncle?
Leading from behind?
Are you kidding me?
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
Obamacare
Stimulus package
Czars
Regulation factory
Lack of transparency
Projecting American weakness
Spending at mind-boggling, historic levels
Federal interference in state matters
Just for starters.
bigbang123
New member
He oversaw the establishment of an Energy Partnership for the Americas, which creates more markets for American-made biofuels and green energy technologies. http://bit.ly/lZp73y
He made a deal with Swiss banks that permits the US government to gain access to the records of criminals and tax evaders. http://bit.ly/htfDgw
He established a Consumer Protection Financial Bureau designed to protect consumers from financial sector excesses. http://bit.ly/fnTayj
Greater Transparency and Better Government
He signed an order banning gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the Executive Branch. http://bit.ly/fsBACN
He signed an order banning anyone from working in an agency they had lobbied in previous years. He also put strict limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House. http://nyti.ms/gOrznV
He held the first-ever first online town hall from the White House, and took questions from the public. http://bit.ly/gVNSgX
The Obama White House became the first to stream every White House event, live. http://1.usa.gov/kAgOP5
He established a central portal for Americans to find service opportunities. http://www.serve.gov
He provided the first voluntary disclosure of the White House Visitors Log in history. http://1.usa.gov/hQ7ttV
He crafted an Executive Order on Presidential Records, which restored the 30-day time frame for former presidents to review records, and eliminated the right for the vice president or family members of former presidents to do the reviews. This will provide the public with greater access to historic White House documents, and severely curtails the ability to use executive privilege to shield them. http://1.usa.gov/gUetLb
He improved aspects of the Freedom of Information Act, and issued new guidelines to make FOIA more open and transparent in the processing of FOIA requests. http://1.usa.gov/gjrnp2
Has repeatedly beefed up border security http://bit.ly/mMYB4i
He oversaw a 50% decrease in cost of prescription drugs for seniors. http://bit.ly/e5b1iq http://1.usa.gov/fVNkt9
Under Obama, tax rates for average working families are the lowest they’ve been since 1950. http://bit.ly/f74pD8
He funded Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with an extra $1.4 billion to improve veterans’ services. http://1.usa.gov/huhqfo
He provided the troops with better body armor. http://bit.ly/hzSv2h
Created the Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record program for military personnel, in order to improve the quality of their medical care. http://1.usa.gov/f4yaxW
He put an end to the Bush-era stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan beyond their enlistment date. (personal note: my son will be in harm’s way for six fewer months with Obama as president, so you know I love this one.) http://nyti.ms/e2YQ7Q
He supported and signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which made more money available to enable better medical care for veterans. http://1.usa.gov/fN4ur1
He ushered through the largest spending increase in 30 years for the Department of Veterans Affairs for improved medical facilities, and to assist states in acquiring or constructing state nursing homes and extended care facilities. http://1.usa.gov/gY8O3x
He created the Green Vet Initiative, which provided special funding to the Labor Department to provide veterans with training in green jobs. http://bit.ly/epwUQY
He oversaw a $4.6 billion expansion of the Veterans Administration budget to pay for more mental health professionals. http://bit.ly/gjzTxX
Just for starters.
bigbang123
New member
Health Care Reform
Throughout the health care reform debates of 2009 and 2010, President Obama refused to commit to either a single-payer health care system, favored by liberal Democrats such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Howard Dean, or a government-sponsored public option-- the favored choice among other Democrats. Instead, the President focused on enacting legislation that would cover the vast majority of Americans and lower health care costs, even if it was not the first choice of liberal activists.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the law will cut the federal deficit by $138 billion over 10 years.
The Affordable Care Act has been compared to the health care law Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney enacted four years earlier when he served as the Governor of Massachusetts. Romney’s law created exchanges designed to increase competition in the purchase of health insurance and included a requirement that every individual purchase health insurance.
The Affordable Care Act has also been compared to health care legislation co-sponsored by 19 Republican Senators in 1993, including current Republican Senators Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar.
The 1993 Republican bill called for government subsidies to low-income individuals and families to help them purchase their own health coverage, and included a requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance. Both of these provisions are supported by 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich.
Said former Republican Senator from Minnesota David Durenberger soon after the Affordable Care Act passed, “the legislation which President Obama signed is the best we can do as a nation… right now. It is historic. The commitment to universal access to health care through universal insurance coverage is the law of the land.”
Some conservatives went further, directly taking on Republicans attempting to characterize the Affordable Care Act as un-American. In the words of Norman Ornstein, of the conservative think tank The American Enterprise Institute (AEI):
“To one outside the partisan and ideological wars, charges of radicalism, socialism, retreat and surrender [regarding Obama’s healthcare reform] are, frankly, bizarre. The Democrats' health-reform plan includes no public option and relies on managed competition through exchanges set up much like those for federal employees. The individual mandate in the plan sprang from a Heritage Foundation idea that was endorsed years ago by a range of conservatives and provided the backbone of the Massachusetts plan that was crafted and, until recently, heartily defended by Mitt Romney. It would be fair to describe the new act as Romneycare crossed with the managed-competition bill proposed in 1994 by Republican Sens. John Chafee, David Durenberger, Charles Grassley and Bob Dole -- in other words, as a moderate Republican plan.”
Included the in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 are provisions which:
1.Eliminate lifetime limits on insurance coverage
2.Prevent health insurance companies from denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition
3.Allow young adults to remain on parents' insurance until age 26.
4.Provide subsidies for individuals and families and are not covered by an employer to purchase their own insurance.
5.Creates healthcare exchanges for uninsured people to purchase coverage at competitive rates.
6.Gives people on Medicare new access to free preventive services such as screenings for cancer and diabetes.
7.Closes the "doughnut hole" gap in Medicare Part-D by 2020.
8.Slows spending increases for Medicare beneficiaries to 2% per year, from the current rate of 4% a year.
bigbang123
New member
Conservatives are hypocritical on this issue.
The Heritage Foundation, one of the leading conservative think tanks — which has historically provided many of the policy ideas for the Republican Party, Republican administrations, and Republicans in Congress — has aggressively attacked President Obama’s efforts to reform health care in America. In addition to providing academic voices in the media to knock reform.
– Heritage On Romney’s Individual Mandate: “Not an unreasonable position, and one that is clearly consistent with conservative values.” [Heritage, 1/28/06]
– Heritage On President Obama’s Individual Mandate: “Both unprecedented and unconstitutional.” [Heritage, 12/9/09]
– Heritage On Romney’s Insurance Exchange: An “innovative mechanism to promote real consumer choice.” [Heritage, 4/20/06]
– Heritage On President Obama’s Insurance Exchange: Creates a “de facto public option” by “grow[ing]” government control over healthcare.” [Heritage, 3/30/10]
– Heritage On Romney’s Medicaid Expansion: Reduced “the total cost to taxpayers” by taking people out of the “uncompensated care pool.” [Heritage, 1/28/06]
– Heritage On President Obama’s Medicaid Expansion: Expands a “broken entitlement program,” providing a “low-quality, poorly functioning program.” [Heritage, 3/30/10]
http://www.heritage.org
bigbang123
New member
Of course not - in the same way Reagan didn't bring down the
Berlin Wall by himself - but you can't deny that he played a
big role in getting it done.
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(music begins 50 seconds into the video)
http://youtu.be/xlOIy6QEbes
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it is historically significant that the hostages in Iran came
home during the administration of Reagan rather than during the
administration of Carter. It is equally significant that Bin Laden
was brought to justice during the administration of Obama rather
than during the administration of Bush.
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do you agree or disagree?
See, this is why answering any question you pose becomes problematic. You don't appear to actually pay attention to the answer, which was already contained in the next sentence you omitted, the answer you ask for:
But then, neither answer goes to your specious assertion regarding shilling, which I answered in the next bit:
I don't think so
so why don't you just clear this up and tell us
if
you regret voting for Obama
I have no regrets about voting straight republican in 2008
That may be, but I did.
It's too general a question to answer any other way than I did. By which I mean a yes/no answer would be misleading.
How do you reconcile voting for McCain given both his stand on abortion and your apparent view that the president impacts the issue?
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
TH - will you be voting for him again? If you said so earlier in the thread, I missed it.
I honestly don't know who I'll support at this point. I was disappointed in a great deal of the current administration's work, but I'm unconvinced at this point that the opposition has any better ideas.
As with any election, not having a partisan oar in the water, I'm open to convincing.