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Obama launches 2nd term; firmly defends government

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By STEVEN R. HURST

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Obama is a great President. @SushiSake Amen, you tell it like it is. Good on ya!

America's founding father's would draw and quarter some of these Republicans who seek to take away from Americans who live and work here. If America's founding father's could see the advancements that we made in medical technology and medicine they would draw and quarter those who do not wish to share it.

You are NOT an American to watch your family man die when you have an abundance to share. It's a democracy not a bureaucracy as the Republicans have us already steeped in.

A house divided cannot stand, but Republicans would rather see it burn than let it be run by a black man. Barack Obama is up against that deep seeded racism. It's age old racist hate in the hearts of deep conservatives who still look down on the minorities and the 47% as something that was meant to be used but not loved or cared for.

The next 4 years will be more of the same with events here and there. We will get things done but it will be at a slow pace. It's not that we can't get things done quickly, it's more like Republicans standing in the way of progress.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

A very sad day in American history, his 2nd term. God, please bless America once more.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

To lighten things up here, did anyone watch the Inauguration?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I sure hope his second term is better than his first term.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Today is an inspirational moment for American democracy. Look at these sea of peple celebrating. He was not chosen by the force. WE elected him to be our next president of US. WE THE PEOPLE......., it means a lot to me .

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I wish the President good luck in his second and last term. His speech was a disappointment, though, to people who wanted to hear about the real issues facing the USA.

He frankly needs to do some big jobs. Cut Medicare and Medicade first. Add means testing to them. Raise the age of eligibility. Ditto for old age security.Otherwise, the cost of health care will exceed the entire federal budget.

Pull back the military second. The Pentagon can make do with a lot less money.

SImplify the tax code third. There is no reason that it takes 70,000 pages of law to cover the simple process of collecting the necessary revenue to run the country. It can be done in a far simpler and fairer way.

Enact term limits on other elected positions than president fourth. There is no reason for Congress members to serve for decades. Politics shouldn't be a career, it should be a service. One term for Senators, two for Representatives.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

SS: If you can tear yourself away from demagoguing for a couple of minutes, could you perhaps provide some insight into exactly how the President plans to accomplish all he wants to accomplish? His history on spending is not good- and his future is similarly gloomy. Trillion dollar deficits from here to eternity. His history on freedom is also less than wonderful. Murdering American and non-American citizens at random with no recourse to the courts. The travesty of the Patriot Act and the Dept of Homeland Security violating AMericans' basic Constitutional freedoms within the country.

As for the ceremony? Far too Hollywood and not American enough.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

SS3,

" Bombing? Who's being bombed in Afghanistan? Are US bombers dropping their payloads? When? Where?"

Ummm, have you not been paying attention to world news for these last four years? Drone attacks(missiles are bombs, and they kill indescriminently) in: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and who-knows-where-else(national security SECRET) . All specifically, extrajudicially authorized by your idol.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

" Obama will take the country there and for that he will be mentioned along with Lincoln, FDR, Washington, Jefferson, Truman when it is all over. Today progressive have earned the right to celebrate."

Pretty sure you just insulted Jefferson, and maybe Washington.

Lincoln, FDR, and Truman... how many people died as a result of their warmongering? Not a group with which to be associated.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Obama will get more done in his second term because after trying for four years to work with the republicans he now knows he can get more done by not trying to cooperate with them. The republicans know just one word, no. Obama is about yes and moving the country forward. The republicans are a boat anchor of regressive failure. The good thing is that Obama is so much smarter than the republicans he will get what he wants now that he knows cooperation is not possible. The republicans cannot even say yes to themselves on policy. They are a cancer on the country basically caring about guns and coal over country.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Pamelot - you want to talk about repugnant?

Bring it on.

How's this for repugnant: the idea of increasing spending on defense - ie: buying and building more bits of steel - while wanting to slash funding for the sick, underprivileged and others in YOUR OWN society who are unable to care for themselves.

That's repugnant.

And the GOP is pushing for it harder than ever.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Obama Obama Obama !!!!! I love this man !!!! I wish Martin Luther King was alive to see his dream come true.

I'm a Republican and I voted for Obama. STOP THE CRYING and WIMPERING from both sides.

It's time for Republicans ( especially Republicans ) to work together with the Democrats.....

It's time to put skin color, rich, poor, and etc aside.

It's time to rebuild and work together.

Jimmy Carter & Bill Clinton was there. Where was Bush Jr. ? Why wasn't he present at the inauguration ? He's to busy ????? So funny !!!!

Everybody want to forget about GW and erase the historical chaos he caused. It's hilarious !!!!!

So hilarious !!!!!

Ganbatte Kudasai Obama.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Bass, you're losing credibility with virtually every post you write.

No, he is not.

Dissent is part of democracy, as it was for past presidents, and it is now.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@warispeace

WRONG. Yes I will remember his legacy. I'll remember him as a President who didn't get Americans killed. A President who used the resources at his disposal to lead a war on Terror with the utmost efficiency.

I'll remember as the President who brought down Osama Bin Laden with surgical accuracy. I'll remember him as the President who brought my brother and my cousin back from harm's way.

Who are you to criticize the use of technology in war when you have an iPhone in your pocket or an iPad at home. Do you not know that we use this technology in war as well? You paid for it, you helped in the war effort.

He is by no means a corporation President. You mean Bush. George W. Bush who attacked a near defenseless Iraq. Don't even try to contest me on the question of whether or not Iraq had WMDS. American never left and we were always there doing doughnuts monitoring the No-Fly Zone.

How dare you criticize the manner in which your freedoms are protected and not take a post on some invisible line on map.

EVERY U.S President has followed America's policy that our military and it's technology are a deterrent to war. Our new submarines are ridiculously expensive as well as the massive sonar net that we have across the Pacific. You think we laid fiber optic cable across the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean floor so you can Skype?

Only one who was NOT out there would make such comments.

If you don't like drones then put on uniform yourself and go look for Al Qaeda on foot. Maybe your Starbucks tastes a little bit better now.

I bet those Japanese in Algeria who lost their lives wish that America's technology had been used. Maybe more lives could have been saved.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Sushi states

The right needs to learn to think for themselves because not doing so leads to blind obedience to the party line, unthinking hatred toward key people and concepts, and a general dumbing down of the group.

You exemplify your own premise.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I hear so much about the conservatives being bad, yet the message is not that extreme. keep spending in check, our debt has increased to astronomical levels since the Bush years- and all under President Obama. - not much to show for it.

as you can see- defense is not much of a concern- he wishes to make friends of the enemies- North Korea, Iran, China - so how do you make friends with these countries and the agenda is so set in stone?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Sushi

Complete nonsense,

Liberals always say that and yet, when the truth hits them broad face, they want to scurry from it like a crab running sideways.

He didn't start it. He inherited it, and he would prefer not to have done.

Lol and yet, he did, he double-downed and he sure did.

You have no idea where blame needs to be laid.

Unlike most liberals, I never believed GWB was a Saint, unlike you guys that believe Obama practically invented the Universe.

What's there to "own" about fantasy except the pretty images it conjures up?

You can walk away from it if you want, but Afghanistan is essentially Obama's war, but hey, I support him, just wish he'd do less bombing and interrogate, wait....we can't do that anymore, so I guess, we do it Obama style, bomb them, we don't need intelligence, just bomb them to kingdom come.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Before we grant the President too much of a mandate, we should remember a few hard facts;

a/ he got 7 million FEWER votes than 1008 b/ the GOP controls the majority of state legislatures and state governors c/ the GOP still controls the House of Representatives

So far, he hasn't done much other than spend his grandchildren's money and further limit the freedom of ordinary Americans.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Bass, ironically, it's opposition from people like you who are holding back the growth and jobs you cry so hard saying they just ain't there.

Surprise!

Health care law may mean less hiring in 2013

Many businesses plan to bring on more part-time workers next year, trim the hours of full-time employees or curtail hiring because of the new health care law, human resource firms say.

Their actions could further dampen job growth, which already is threatened by possible federal budget cutbacks resulting from the tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.

"It will have a negative impact on job creation" in 2013, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/30/health-care-law-jobs/1785641/

1 ( +2 / -1 )

SS " Herve - "missiles are bombs."

Even a grade schooler would laugh at that one. :-)"

Ah, yes. Then let the grade-schoolers to which you referred run the show.

As we know, the nation's leaders are adults, but often behave as grade-schoolers.

What we CAN expect from Obama is continuation of failed policies both at home and abroad. More secret bombings without legal recourse or restraint, more robbing of the productive segments of Americans that remain, and more curtailment of fundamental rights of citizens.

But at least we had that lovely tune by Alicia Keyes droning on about how "Obama is on fire". I didn't see any flames, but maybe there was smoke. Chooming at the Ball?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

SuperLib:

The socialist angle is a pipe dream.

I guess you missed the speech earlier this week. It was European Socialist's wet dream.

And all of it happened before Obama took office.

So you are telling me that the more than $1 trillion in annual deficits for the past four years is Bush's fault? Obama had full control of the US government for most of his first two years in office and he could have raised taxes as high as he wanted. For some reason he didn't want to pay for his increase in spending when he could easily have done so. Instead, he raised annual government spending from 20% to 24% of GDP.

We have trillion dollar deficits because we had a massive dip in tax revenue,

Total tax revenue in 2001 was a little under $2 trillion. In 2008 it was $2.5 trillion - so the Bush tax rates didn't result in lower revenue - just the opposite. Revenue dipped when the recession hit but the increase in spending far out paced the decrease in revenue.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=203

Stop telling everyone that we're living in some socialist dream where Obama was handed a smooth economy and wrecked it because of his socialist programs.

We are living the same Socialist dream that all countries that run headlong to collectivism go through. Bush was bad on the debt. But he was an amateur compared to Barry. Obama doubled down on government spending on everything when he took office. The US has the same unemployment rate today as it had when he took office. However, their are millions more working aged people and millions more on food stamps and endless unemployment insurance.

The single biggest factor hurting the country right now is uncertainty and instability, and we all know it's Republicans who are creating that by constantly holding important legislation hostage to extract concessions that they don't have the votes for.

The Democrat Senate hasn't passed a budget in four years. So who is holding up what again? The uncertainty is the amount of taxes that Obama is trying to foist upon the American business community. I might add that the Dems no longer have the votes in the House anymore either because of the other huge drag on the American economy - Obamacare.

The next time you want to talk about the bottom 50% not paying enough in taxes just rephrase your argument by saying the people who own less than 10% of all wealth in the US are paying too little in taxes and see how far that gets you.

OK, so we are not all in this together. Glad to have that straight now. I will remember that the next time I read about how Obama has given his buddy the CEO of GE an effective tax rate of 0%. It's funny you will attack some wealthy people but let Barry's corporate cronies slide. How about all of those pork laden farm bills and transportation bills that the Dems love to pass out to wealthy corporate interests? We have a corrupt tax system so it's no wonder there are so many incentives that keep people down. Add to that huge government welfare programs and it makes it damn near stupid for anyone to work hard to try to get ahead.

The wealth transfer that is taking place in that industry alone is unprecedented.

You can thank Barney Frank and Freddy/Fannie for that.

And these are the same people who say the same thing you do, which is that Obama is is a socialist trying to take all their money away and give it to the poor.

How much is a persons fair share? And why does Obama allow his corporate cronies to avoid this as yet unknown fair share?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

“We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war,” the president said

the "people" may believe that but many within the government and private sector dont - too much money to be made...

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@sushi

Correction! Hopefully, it might if Liberals can stop bickering and put sneaky partisan politics aside and do what he said he was going to do, instead of him doing what HE wants to do or what HE thinks the American should have. Leave the gutter-sniping alone, Obama should keep his promise and seriously try to work with conservatives, since he didn't do it in his last term. Leave the ego aside, create more private sector jobs, cut spending and that would make a significant start in his second term.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Bass - "Obama should keep his promise and seriously try to work with conservatives, since he didn't do it in his last term."

LOL! You must have been asleep these last 4 years. You've already begun re-writing history in your head like a typical conservative. :-)

Your president reached across the aisle multiple times during his first administration and all he heard from the GOP was 'no' and lots of snorting sounds.

Please start paying attention before you humiliate yourself again. :-)  

0 ( +4 / -4 )

A key problem with American politics today isn't actually political at all - it's patriotism.

The conservatives just don't have any.

All they dearly and passionately wish for and desire is the destruction of America, and by definition themselves and their families.

How very brave you are, to make such statements from a keyboard. In person, I'd wonder if you are all that brave, typing such repugnant comments about people you don't even know.

A shill and a writer with clever insight, are not always the same thing.

Are selective insults part and parcel of this site?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@Sushi

LOL! You must have been asleep these last 4 years. You've already begun re-writing history in your head like a typical conservative. :-)

No, that would be the Anointed one that was asleep and that he finally woke up from his hibernation, let's hope he will finally take the initiative and do what he said he was going to do.

Your president reached across the aisle multiple times during his first administration and all he heard from the GOP was 'no' and lots of snorting sounds.

NOT my President, didn't vote for the man and why should the GOP cater and bow down to this man his policies are totally opposite of what the GOP stand for. Did you feel like that when President Bush was in office how the Dems were constantly undermining him at EVERY turn all the while moaning and whining. Did you come on JT demanding the same from your fellow Liberals?

Please start paying attention before you humiliate yourself again. :-)

I have (We have been, that's why us conservatives didn't vote for this guy). What was humiliating was the fact that this president used a lot of fear mongering and intimidation and rhetoric to get into the WH again, tactic worked, but was still tacky.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Zurc, good post.

The GOP's even reverted to voting against their own bills.

If that's not political insanity, I want to know what is.

Zurc - "The republicans are a boat anchor of regressive failure"

I lay a lot of the blame for this with right wing media. The party puts out talking points and the minions regurgitate them.

During the healthcare debate, I saw a collage if videos of right wing media where all of them - almost without exception - quoted the phrase that Obamacare was being "rammed down our throats." it was repeated again and again by conservative pundits, especially on Fox.

I even saw some conservatives on JT parroting it.

It was pretty sad. The right needs to learn to think for themselves because not doing so leads to blind obedience to the party line, unthinking hatred toward key people and concepts, and a general dumbing down of the group.

Introducing today's conservatives.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

FPSRussia

That post was so Childish, even Sushi can do better than that. You know nothing about me as to who I am and what I am, but I will tell you this for the record. I am American as Apple pie, I just live in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

People had hopes for this president, but he is turning out to be just like most of the others, all too willing to use US military power or its threat to protect the global interests of corporations and elites. In the end, after 8 years, we will remember him as the "drone president", not much of a legacy.

What MLK said in 1947 is even more true today.

"We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values... when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered." -- Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4, 1967

More information on the MLK index--a good indication of the health of the US--can be read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/mlk-injustice-index-2013_b_2516448.html

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bass - "But Afghanistan was Obama's war.."

What?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Please tone down your rhetoric and do not be intolerant of opposing views.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Peter Payne: Conservatives don't have any patriotism? Dude, they have about 1000% too much patriotism.

The only thing they have is unbreakable ideology fueled by the thought that they and they alone have the "correct" vision for America and therefore should engage in zero negotiations even if a majority of Americans are against them. The patriotism thing is just window dressing to rally the drones.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

When Obama first took office in January 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent. Today the unemployment rate is once again at 7.8 percent.

Guess we are starting the next four years in the same lousy place that we started his first 4 years as far as putting people back to work. He sure spends a lot borrowed money from China though.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Bass - "Obama screamed that Iraq was the wrong war and that the real enemy was in Afghanistan and so he used all of his resources to focus the war effort on Afghanistan, so yes, it's his war."

Complete nonsense,

He didn't start it. He inherited it, and he would prefer not to have done.

You have no idea where blame needs to be laid.

Bass - "I know you liberals HATE really HATE to admit it, but there you go, Own it. wake up!"

What's there to "own" about fantasy except the pretty images it conjures up?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Just looking forward to more taxes and more debt, a continuing recession, more credit downgrades, pretty expensive for there supposedly free condoms and birth control pills. The blacks in the US now have the highest unemployment rate after Obama and the Democrats took office , I'm very amazed he was reelected. The same liberal overspending policy's happened in Canada and eventually ran the Canadian dollar into the ground, the Canadians finally they got smart and elected a conservative government who were able to turn the economy back around. So it will have be 4 more years of the same dangerous, people as objects view that most socialists have.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

God is just giving them a little more rope, Democrats have been running the show for the last 4 yrs, and they have been a dismal failure. Conservative haven't been running it is has been liberals. Really what country in there right mind elects a community organizer with no experience to be president?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Starting tomorrow conservatives will have a list of grievances with the inauguration. But Fox News and AM radio haven't give it to them yet.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I saw another news story titled "President Obama celebrates second term."

But just over half of Americans voted for him, so nearly half of Americans aren't celebrating.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I'm sure you are never going to believe this but the republican party has plenty of black politicians, you racist angle is a mute point.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The conservative idea has pulled many near collapsing economy's back from near disaster, Puerto Rico, Chili, among others to say that conservative ideology is racist is ridiculous.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

In the US today, if you are a protestor, you are also a "low level terrorist". Do you like a particular independent candidate? Do you openly support this independent candidate? Congratulations! You are now considered a terrorist by the Pentagon! Certain sections of NDAA 2012 and 2013 are absolutely abhorrent.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Clearly, another GOP administration would be the final nail in the coffin of the global economy and very likely the end of usually habitable life on this planet.

Dang, and here I thought that an asteroid slamming into the planet was bad news for wiping out the dinosaurs. It's nothing compared to the threat of those Conservatives I reckon.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I propose the president launch a War Against Hatred, Failure and Stupidity

That would mean the end of radical liberals as we know it. A NEW day for America is approaching! I want to hear Will.i.am make a song about that.

and then deport all conservatives to a sinking Pacific island and only let them back if they stop denying climate change.

I got one better for you, how about all you whacky liberals hop on Al Gore's plane and go to that island together. Because the people and group that think together, stay together.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

VRWC - 

"His history on spending is not good-  [We can largely thank the recession handed to him by the GOP for that]

"Trillion dollar deficits from here to eternity. [Ditto]

"His history on freedom is also less than wonderful. Murdering American and non-American citizens at random with no recourse to the courts." [Military tribunals and killing by pilotless drones? Both started under bUSH.]

" travesty of the Patriot Act [Launched by the GOP/bush]

"and the Dept of Homeland Security violating AMericans' basic Constitutional freedoms within the country. [Launched by the GOP/bush]

I'm sorry, what was your point, assuming you have one??

0 ( +2 / -2 )

My point is that he hasn't done anything to fix the economy. He has failed to correct all those faults you pointed out from the Bush administration. You will have no argument from me on the shortcomings of Bush. You WILL have an argument over your "it ain't poor Barack's fault" attitude. When does he assume ownership of his administration and policies?

Or is he just Bush 2.0 with a suntan and better teeth?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@VRWC

Exactly you hit it again on the nail. Liberals want to take ALL the credit that the Sainted Anointed one is the savior of America, but only when he succeeds ( which I haven't seen none to it, besides him getting a Noble Peace Prize, which he got just for NOT being Bush, which was the joke of the century) when Obama fails and the left NEVER want to point out his flaws( case in point, Benghazi) it's impossible for Obama to fail. At least, that's what liberals want you to believe.

@zuc

Obama is going to end up in the top five presidents in the history of the USA. He has already saved the country from another republican depression

Really? How? Lol didn't know that 16T is saving us, but then again, I guess, the majority of Americans can't read, silly me.

The economy will take off in his second term after four years of cleaning up from a republican disaster, with resistance of course everyday from the republicans to let their mess be cleaned up. Obama is working on the Big

The only way he can start to clean it, if he can stop spending and by the looks of it, that ain't going to happen, no time soon.

Obama is working on the Big Deal as Krugman puts it. He is taking the country exactly where it needs to go in terms of fairness, liberty, modesty and growth.

Growth???? We don't even have a National Budget and liberals want us to believe that? My God.....

The battle is over, the evil doers that bush mentioned but applies to his party, have lost. Mitt was their last chance and what a poor choice he turned out to be. The country is moving out of the 1950s mindset of the tired and angry republicans to a bright and balanced future.

Sounds like something out of "Lord of the Rings" narrative. We're moving out of the 50's? Is that why Obama's latest cabinet appointees are mostly WHITE MEN???? What a bold and bright future....pun intended!

Obama will take the country there and for that he will be mentioned along with Lincoln, FDR, Washington, Jefferson, Truman when it is all over. Today progressive have earned the right to celebrate.

Obama WILL take the country OVER the cliff and the only thing history will mention in the next 4 years is how he surpassed Wilson Hoover and Carter to be one of THE worst Presidents ever!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

VRWC - "My point is that he hasn't done anything to fix the economy. He has failed to correct all those faults you pointed out from the Bush administration."

Um, mate, to get pretty much anything of merit done, your president needs a Congress that says "yes" once in a while. 

Your president does not have a Congress that says "yes".

And who has majority control of Congress?

That's right - the architects of failure, the GOP. 

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Herve - "missiles are bombs."

Even a grade schooler would laugh at that one. :-)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

VRWC - "So far, he hasn't done much other than spend his grandchildren's money and further limit the freedom of ordinary Americans."

Meanwhile, folks like you cry and cry and so strongly support your failed party's opposition to the progress you so badly want.

You're part of the problem too. In fact, you're your own problem.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Back on topic please.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

" Your president does not have a Congress that says "yes"."

Um, because he's a dope.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Serrano, maybe it will if conservatives put their country before petty, childish, anti-American politics for once in their lives.

Just saying.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

To the author Steven R. Hurst:

Obama wasn't a professor; he was a lecturer, a position that the Chicago Law School said in 2008 "signifies adjunct status."

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

@SushiSake

"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America"~ Barack Obama

Are those the words of an American patriot?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Bass, today's ESOL lesson for you.

Bass, as English clearly isn't your native language, allow me to correct your latest post so that other readers can fully comprehend your valuable thoughts. 

Bass - "Correction! Hopefully, it might if Liberals can stop bickering and put sneaky partisan politics aside and do what he [<-- CORRECTION: "President Obama"] said he was going to do, instead of him doing what HE wants to do or what HE thinks the American [<-- CORRECTION: add "people"] should have. Leave the gutter-sniping alone, [<-- CORRECTION: "gutter sniping in this instance does not require a hyphen.] Obama should keep his promise and seriously......"

Bass, thanks for your post, but please don't make me have to ESOL your posts again.

Thank you and my pleasure. :-)

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Kabukideath - "Are those the words of an American patriot?"

After 8 tortuous years of failed bush/conservative "leadership", hell yeah.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

A house divided cannot stand, but Republicans would rather see it burn than let it be run by a black man. Barack Obama is up against that deep seeded racism.

Oh no, not this, again. Dissent and disagreement don't have a color!

Is it impossible for you to fathom that liberal ideas are objectionable to some, so bring in race, to make it easier for yourselves to vilify dissent.

As for Taro Aso, I may not agree with everything he says, but I can see how the media is doing the exact same thing to him, as they did to Mitt Romney- Disparage his wealth, discount his ideas by twisting his words to fit the villain mold you've got ready to pour him into...

How can there be free thought or discussion, with so much of this bullying going on?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Pamelot, just to make sure you didn't misinterpret my words.

The GOP wants to slash Medicare and Social Security.

For many of them, that would mean voting to slash benefits that their own family members and relatives are receiving.

You appeared to take that as "repugnant."

However, it's fact. 

It's a key policy area the GOP/conservatives want to  implement.

Come to think of it, you're right - it IS repugnant.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It just boggles the mind how Liberals think that the gateway to prosperity is to spend, spend, spend and NOT cut back on anything, but want to blame Republicans for trying to stop SOME of this bleeding and calling it defiance, incredible. That's the real sad thing that Liberals are so mentally clouded in their own mental illusions of what America is as a nation.

@Whiskey...what are you talking about??

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Conservatives don't have any patriotism? Dude, they have about 1000% too much patriotism. Seen from Europe or Japan it's one of the biggest problems we have. Dial it back a bit, things will look brighter.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Correction:

"Bass, you mean like HOW Iraq was Clinton's war or something?"

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

In laying out an ambitious program for his coming four years, the president used his inaugural address to urge the country to join him in tackling a vast array of problems, from slowing climate change to honoring the dignity of men, women and children around the globe.

Climate change? Dignity of men, women, children around the globe?

How much dignity is there in collecting unemployment checks, food stamps, or welfare?

Where is the part where he says what he will do to allow/help businesses to prosper, and get more Americans back to work?

Instead, we've got "climate change" and "dignity" at the top of the "to do" list.

This speech carries about as much weight as a "World Peace" reply to the infamous "Miss America Pageant" question...

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Most of what Obama says was written by his speech writers, propaganda for the illiterate masses., Just like Hillary Clinton said, "don't listen to what he says but what he does."

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell: "I congratulate President Obama on his inaguration to a second term, and wish him well in the fulfillment of his duty to lead the U.S. at home and abroad during the next 4 years."

Too bad Obama won't lead the U.S. in the right direction.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Mark, what have you got against community organizers?

Really? I reckon candidate Obama could have been anything before entering politics and you guys still would have despised and poired vitrioll on whatever it was he did.

It's pathetic.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Obama launches 2nd term; firmly defends government

With 2 wars, ineffective stimulus, bailouts, and spending far in excess of its means I believe he is defending the indefensible. Targeted assassination of US citizens abroad, overtures of restricting 2nd amendment rights, and the extension of provisions of the Patriot Act hardly helps his case. I'm always going to be an angry libertarian nutjob but at least those in favor of a strong central government used to make a convincing argument. All I see now is the damage that these policies have wrought and the frantic attempts to assemble a patchwork recovery built on the same flawed system of subsidized mediocrity coupled with political deflection and appeal to emotion.

The president said Americans must make hard choices to reduce the deficit and debt. “But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future,” he said.

By hard choice he means increasing the debt limit and making cosmetic adjustments to the tax code. That doesn't sound like a hard choice to me, it sounds like a sedative that a pessimistic doctor gives to a patient on the decline. A hard choice would be to make the cuts; defense, medicare, social security, farm subsidies, and the like. Identify and prioritize the goals of each department and run a cost-benefit analysis on every program and every employee within those departments as to whether the cost justifies their contribution to the departments goal.

The drug war continues to drain on our police and prison system as well as doing unmeasurable damage to the lives and futures of millions of individuals engaging in victim-less crimes. Our focus on the middle east continues to deflect attention away from the very real danger of a failed Mexico.

What he is proposing isn't brave, what congressional republicans are rallying for isn't just, its just two different flavors of cowardice. They are afraid people will figure out how badly they've screwed up and take responsibility for themselves so they generate crisis like the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling, they generate controversy that will lead to nothing over gun rights, and they dangle the prospect of an economic fix in front of us in the form of this mythical 'grand bargain' that will remedy all of the problems that they created in the first place. Smoke and mirrors, dog and pony, or whatever other metaphor you want, it's all a sham. Establish a dependency then create a crisis, rinse and repeat for re-election.

And people wonder why I vote libertarian, the electoral equivalent of Mickey Mouse, every major election.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I propose the president launch a War Against Hatred, Failure and Stupidity and then deport all conservatives to a sinking Pacific island and only let them back if they stop denying climate change.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Clearly, another GOP administration would be the final nail in the coffin of the global economy and very likely the end of usually habitable life on this planet.

Thank god (the Christian one or one of the others) Americans rejected corrupt conservative ideology again.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Just been reading some of the inauguration news.

It seems the GOP's caving on raising the debt ceiling - albeit for 3 months - is possibly a sign that their hardline militant anti-American membership is starting to see the light.

I'm guessing they don't want that light to be the  collective headlamp of Americans as they turn off life support for the GOP this side of 2016.

But for America, the global economy and the planet's ecosystems, the absence of the GOP would be awesome.    

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Bass - "... we do it Obama style, bomb them, we don't need intelligence, just bomb them to kingdom come."

More mumble.

Bombing? Who's being bombed in Afghanistan? Are US bombers dropping their payloads? When? Where?

I know you just made that up to support a 'case' you never had.

Good try, though but he only people you'll sway with ludicrous nonsense like that are your fellow conservatives.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The irony of Obama's second inauguration on MLK Day is astounding.

To hear a fellow Afro-American's input is enlightening, to say the least. A terrific blogger is Gary Gibson at TDV:

http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2013/1/21/obama-inauguration-irony-on-martin-luther-king-jr-day.html

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I wonder what the next four years will bring?

Chaos, disaster, disappointment.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Obama actually used the phrase "peace in our time" in his inaugural address. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about this mans twisted world view. He has been handed one the greatest governing legacies of all time and is bastardizing it so as to re-engineer it to the specifications of like minded elitists at the expense of the common man. Obama's social engineers do not understand all of the differing needs and desires of the common man. But they surely believe they do.

His Imperial Highness Obama will ultimately fail because the money will eventually dry up. Yes, my Socialists friends, wealth matters. You cannot run annual deficits of $1 trillion in perpetuity despite what the Messiah would have you believe. You cannot force people to throw good money after bad. The half of the nation that still believes in the idea of America will either resist or seek to undermine the corrupted system the Left is building. Liberals cannot force people to participate in the theft of their freedoms. In the end, you will not be able to force people to live their lives the way your ideology insists. Sorry, but the Socialist-in-Chief is only giving you false hope of a collectivist utopia that can never be.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

To lighten things up here, did anyone watch the Inauguration?

I didn't. I read the speech, saw photos and re-caps, heard about Beyonce's lip synching from a pre-recorded performance, I guess that girl is not into inprov- ;) Everyone looked well, even Biden, in his ghostly whiteness... Michelle got bangs, and Hillary finally got a haircut that suits her... The site of all those people waving in the cold, was pretty fly.

I watched the first one, with awesome Aretha Franklin, singing "My Country Tis Of Thee" a lot of us grew up with that song...

I just didn't feel it enough to watch it, this time, Vernie...

What did you think of it?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Bass - wrong again, bud.

"It just boggles the mind how Liberals think that the gateway to prosperity is to spend, spend, spend and NOT cut back on anything,"

Check the facts. Deficits have gone up/rocketed under EVERY GOP president since the war, and risen slowly or gone backwards under most Dem presidents.

"but want to blame Republicans for trying to stop SOME of this bleeding"

Too little, too late. 

Why, then, did conservatives - like yourself - not call time out on the insane spending that took place under bUsH? His administration rubber stamped every spending bill they saw. Look it up. 

They jacked up the deficit massively and then when  this Dem administration is paying for it and trying to reverse it, conservatives cry like babies and then  pretend to be deficit hawks.

What's that saying about the pig and the lipstick?

That's primarily why no-one takes conservatives seriously when they talk about debt.

Their history shows they only know how to do one thing with debt - explode it.

And YOU know it but pretend not to, which only erodes your credibility even further.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@sushi

Here's a couple of reasons you are so off.

He would have long ago if your guys didn't just say "No" to every policy idea he presented.

Don't you understand that????

So give Obama a blank check, borrow more from China not knowing how to pay our debt, but let Obama write in ANY number and spend like a drunken Sailor of money we already DON'T HAVE.

Apparently, you don't understand that.

What, you mean like funding infrastructure, research, kids education, Pell grants, and the like?

Yes, like funding that liberals never intended to use anyone and since when are liberals are all of a sudden interested in our failing infrastructures, not to mention the tax payer has to pay for teachers that are not even qualified to teach and have ZERO business being in a classroom, my uncle just retired as a high school teacher in the state of NV, Las Vegas. He just turned 50 and for the next 35 years or more, I have to pay for him collecting his pension?? What a.... outrage! This is also the reason why California is bankrupt, Over bloated pensions that the state is paying out to government workers. Horrible and insane! This is a partial reason why my "types" are against this thing. And this is why we have no more room or the financial means to pay for all of this. The real question is, Liberals don't give a...about our kids, NONE!

LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!

Coffee spray all over my PC.

Buy a bib!

I never said that. But Afghanistan was Obama's war, but liberals didn't have a problem with that. Now we HAVE to support OBama and his war against the Taliban in Afghanistan or we are NOT real patriots. Calling the kettle black!

Not losing credibility, that's why I chose not to endorse this President. I keep my feet firmly on the ground, liberals are doing an excellent job at making fools of themselves and I can hardly wait to see the bump and crashes of the next upcoming 4 years of this crazy admin. how it will all playout.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

MEMO TO ALL THE VERY UPSET CONSERVATIVES OUT THERE

Upon the second inauguration of YOUR president Barack Obama, please remember the following:

1/ The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

2/ Americans who voted for Obama "just don't get it."

3/ We, the GOP, are a party that knows how to cut the deficit because we've got a solid history of cutting the deficit.

4/ We must "take our country back!"

5/ The president is a "Socialist" "Marxist" "Kenyan" "Muslim" "not a Christian" and most of all, he is "not one of us."

6/ The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

LOL! :-)

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Wolfpack: His Imperial Highness Obama will ultimately fail because the money will eventually dry up. Yes, my Socialists friends, wealth matters. You cannot run annual deficits of $1 trillion in perpetuity despite what the Messiah would have you believe.

The socialist angle is a pipe dream. We have trillion dollar deficits because we had a massive dip in tax revenue, historically low taxes, and a massive recession where social safety nets kicked in to a greater extent than they normally do. And all of it happened before Obama took office. Stop telling everyone that we're living in some socialist dream where Obama was handed a smooth economy and wrecked it because of his socialist programs. The single biggest factor hurting the country right now is uncertainty and instability, and we all know it's Republicans who are creating that by constantly holding important legislation hostage to extract concessions that they don't have the votes for. Want to see more hiring tomorrow? Find a permanent solution to the fiscal cliff. The second biggest factor affecting unemployment is the massive reduction in government workers offsetting the increase in private sector workers. I have no idea how you could describe that as a socialist agenda.

Want to talk about wealth redistribution? Let's look at the fact that the top wealth owners in the US have increased their share of ownership over everyone else. That's real wealth transfer, not the fantasy stuff made up by those who hate Obama. Right now the top 20% of the US have 85% of the wealth and that number is increasing. Again, that's the real wealth redistribution taking place. The next time you want to talk about the bottom 50% not paying enough in taxes just rephrase your argument by saying the people who own less than 10% of all wealth in the US are paying too little in taxes and see how far that gets you.

I work in real estate, and what I'm seeing is astounding. You have investors buying distressed property portfolios for 20% of value and buying notes for pennies on the dollar. The wealth transfer that is taking place in that industry alone is unprecedented. The recession is the best thing to happen to those guys....ever. And I mean ever. And these are the same people who say the same thing you do, which is that Obama is is a socialist trying to take all their money away and give it to the poor. And they do this at a time when they're doubling their investments in 6 months or less.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@Sushi

Obama screamed that Iraq was the wrong war and that the real enemy was in Afghanistan and so he used all of his resources to focus the war effort on Afghanistan, so yes, it's his war. I know you liberals HATE really HATE to admit it, but there you go, Own it. wake up!

You are most certainly welcome.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Pamelot, if the climate gets much further out of whack, the economy will be one of the last things you'll be worried about.

You conservatives love to go on and on about the economy while being virtually oblivious to the fact that if the US regularly gets hit by 1-2 Sandy-size hurricanes and widesoread droughts and massive forest fires every year - which if these last few years are any indication, could well become 'normal' - local economies will get trashed, FEMA will have no funds and you and your fellow Americans will start to wonder how to feed yourselves.

Nothing trumps climate except ignorance of the consequences.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Obama's speech - boring. Obama's Agenda - heading for severe opposition. Obama's hidden, unspoken agenda - sinister. The next four years will reveal exactly the kind of man he is. I fear for America, and I fear for Democracy in America under Obama. He has signed more Executive Orders in the past 4 years than all the other presidents combined. He still has not come clean on Benghazi, either. He and his wife spent the last four years apologising for America, mostly to America's enemies. I wonder what the next four years will bring?

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

A key problem with American politics today isn't actually political at all - it's patriotism.

The conservatives just don't have any.

All they dearly and passionately wish for and desire is the destruction of America, and by definition themselves and their families.

There's something seriously ill about that but - amazingly- conservatives see their concerted effort to destroy their once proud nation as a positive trait. 

I'd coin a phrase to describe the nature of today's conservative: hellbent on national and personal destruction.

Someone call the medics.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

What? I thought conservatives were going to make their new leader a 1-term president?

Looks like he turned them into a 1-word, no-hope party: the Party of "No."

Sorry conservatives, Americans are sick of your continued failure, hating and lies.

Good times. :-)

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Obama is going to end up in the top five presidents in the history of the USA. He has already saved the country from another republican depression. The economy will take off in his second term after four years of cleaning up from a republican disaster, with resistance of course everyday from the republicans to let their mess be cleaned up. Obama is working on the Big Deal as Krugman puts it. He is taking the country exactly where it needs to go in terms of fairness, liberty, modesty and growth. The battle is over, the evil doers that bush mentioned but applies to his party, have lost. Mitt was their last chance and what a poor choice he turned out to be. The country is moving out of the 1950s mindset of the tired and angry republicans to a bright and balanced future. Obama will take the country there and for that he will be mentioned along with Lincoln, FDR, Washington, Jefferson, Truman when it is all over. Today progressive have earned the right to celebrate.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Bokuwamo - God? LOL! :-)

If it wasn't 'god's plan' for Obama to be re-elected, it would never have happened, right?

But it did, so it >must< have been God's plan.

Which means that any and all Christian conservatives who are hating on their president are going against God (the Christian one)'s will.

Too funny. :-)

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

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