In tonight's Press Conference President Obama faced the toughest critics out there, the Press. While I didn't hear the entire Speech and Press Conference, what I did hear was not only comforting, it was promising.
Like this Democratic President or not, this man has a great head on his shoulders and he's backed by a very confident team that has in place strategies backed with open answers and not fluff BS!
So my hat is tipped to Mr. Obama this evening for being open and honest. Let's just hope the rest of the American political base can learn to follow such a leader, unlike what our Mayor here in Salisbury has brought to us in the past 12 years.
Lead by example, I always say. You should all feel lucky you have Jim Ireton as a candidate for Mayor.
57 comments:
I flipped the TV off tonight to protest his intrusion of American Idol. I'm tired of listening to his arrogance.
Comforted? Did he quit?
So Joe
Have you ever heard the President say "he knows" this will work or "we know" this plan is solid.
No all he ever says is we think it will work or our hope is it will work.
The President and his dream team are shooting from the hip and hoping something sticks.
As brief as this article is, obviously some of you aren't capable of reading the entire thing. I would have to say to anonymous 9:15, it was your loss. It has been many, many years since we've not only had a President that could complete a sentence, we have a President that isn't afraid to face the tough questions and answer them with complete honesty. I personally fount that very refreshing. I could never stand listening to Bush #2 because he was constantly full of crap and secondly he had no clue wtf he was talking about. America made a great choice. You also have to remember, Obama was dealt this problem, he didn't create it. He's not running from it and he's not pointing fingers. He simply wants to do what's best for America and the Global Economy.
You must be smokin crack he evaded a lot of questions his plan is doomed to failure which mean we all suffer. The democrats tanked the economy to win an election!!!
anonymous 9:21, I disagree. Hopefully we can agree to disagree and not make this a pissing match.
Do tell me what YOU would do. I consider myself a pretty darned good businessman and let me assure you, I wouldn't want to face this problem. The President has the greatest advisors the world has to offer at his fingertips. Again, HE didn't create this financial mess, remember that. He is simply the man Americans chose to face it, handle it and make the best of it.
Again, in detail, tell us what YOU would do so differently. Put your money where your mouth is.
Very well said, Joe!
I read the entire thing. And part of what I read was that you didn't see the whole speech and press confernce. I guess you missed the part where Obama just decided not to answer questions he couldn't face and danced around giving answers to the tough issues. Still not impressed. Walk the walk and stop talking the talk, then I'll be impressed. So far this man has shown me NOTHING.
The greatest advisors?? Do you mean the Clinton rejects? Joe, you sound like a flip flopper.
I may have missed the very beginning but I sat down for dinner and listened to most of it. I heard every single question and I don't think the man dodged a single question. By the way, where have YOU been the previous 8 years while Bush was in Office????? He not only dodged the questions 99.9% of the time, he also didn't understand what he was being asked.
I agree with Joe.
A flip flopper? Are you serious. Get used to this right here and now. Obama is my President and your President. I'd take Obama over Bush any day of the week.
Touche, Joe. Those critical of our President have, as far as I've ever heard, no answers of their own.
If you critics are so darn unhappy and disappointed with his plan you should move to some other place whose leadership suits you better.
We'll miss you....
Joe, weren't you the one at election time telling people to stop living in the past? This isn't about Bush for me. That's history. Let's live in the present. It's also not about who I'd rather have or not - to be honest with you I am a republican who is mortified that the choice handed to me was McCain. I knew Obama was my next Pres long before the election was over. That's all irrelevant.
What is relevant is that Obama is skilled and trained in avoidance. It's not hard to see. I'll wait to see if he is able to pull anything off with all the corruption in his cabinet and advisory positions. Furthermore, it's real easy to talk. I'd like to see him spend more time on the country and less on time on talk shows and doing photo shoots for magazine covers. I'd also like to see him take his position a little more seriously. Then he'll be showing me something.
9:41 -- Get a life. Maybe we should move like all those idiot celebrities who claimed they would leave when Bush made office the second go round. Oh wait, that's right. They're still here. Unfortunately the USA can still claim Sean Penn as a citizen.
We don't all have to agree. And just so you know, Joe used to be very critical of Obama, too.
anonymous 9:43, fair enough. I'm not at all saying this man is perfect but I agree, he's better than McCain/Palin and you have to agree, Bush left him with a total cluster. I take that back, CONGRESS lefrt AMERICA with a complete cluster you know what.
You people need to start getting out there and voting before they do turn this into a Socialist Country.
Joe, just for clarification - not to spur. But, do you think Obama is great or do you think he and his democratic congress are trying to turn us into a socialist country?
I am critical of ALL of our Presidents, that's our right. Some days we're happy, some days we're not. Some of us have been married once, some twice, some three times, some even more. Just imagine if you had no choice and you were stuck with, oh, let's just say Barrie Tilghman or Gary Comegys. YOU have a choice locally this go around. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
I, like some of the others, almost fell asleep. I kept hoping to hear something positive, but I didn't see any stimulus for Salisbury yet or my bank account..
No, I don't think American's will allow him to do so. It may look to some like that's where we're headed but I truly don't believe it's possible to ever get there. I believe that's what these Tea Parties are good for as well. These are not a bunch of ut jobs trying to rebel. They are people who want to express their fears from what they are seeing and have seen and they want to remind American's of how we were established and why it's so important to stay the way we were.
We do need to go back to being a simpler America. We need to hit rock bottom so we can come back with self worth. Right now 80% of Americans are on welfare. That's right, 80% of you are so indebt you can't pay your bills and like it or not you're hoping to get some of this stimulus to get back on your feet. You're so in debt you can't afford the credit cards, the car payments and the mortgage, let alone the 2nd home you have at the Beach.
80% of you NEED to lose your Credit Cards and be forced not to use them again for 10 years. You need to lose your homes so that the rest of the 20% of the other Americans don't ever have to foot your bills again. Wait till your partner loses their job in the next year and then you'll know you are a part of that 80% because we aren't anywhere near rock bottom. They're preparing now to put up construction jobs paid for by the federal government. Yeah, they may be jobs but they won't be paying all that much, not enough to afford that mortgage you currently have.
All in due tie Folks. I know it sucks to hear it but just keep looking around at ALL of those signs that say FOR RENT and FOR SALE everywhere you turn in Salisbury. You haven't seen anything yet!
Obama is doing what is necessary and hopefully one day in the next 6 years or so our government will come up with ajn industry or industries in which we'll come back strong. I like my odds with Obama and I never doubted he'd be better than McCain.
My life hasnt changed. My job hasnt changed. My salary hasnt changed the only thing thats changed is we have a new President who isnt going to be able to change a damn thing in Washington. Promises promises. Change what a joke. Watch the Obama bummper stickers disapear.Find someone in a year that will admit voteing for the bum.
ALL easy things to say. Again, do tell everyone how YOU would fix our problems in America. Put up or shut up.
The same goes with the Mayoral race here in Salisbury.
I got a great idea...maybe the govt should take all our homes and let us live in them as long as we are productive mindless robots. that is where we are headed... Our schools are nothing but brainwashing/programing places that have no room for anything but liberal socialist atheistic hogwash.
It is time for Real Americans take this country back and fire every politician that does not support the Constitution of the United States.
N Ford
Just becasue you were "comforted" Joe, doesn't make him honest. You chose to believe him, good for you. You will be among the very very very few people, who may actually sleep tonight, in comfort.
Great post Joe and I like your open-mindedness about a Democratic President.
I agree that he inherited huge problems and he is doing the best he can in the what - 64 or so days he has been in office.
I ask the whiners - who do they think could have "fixed" things in the first two months? Where is this super-human person - tell us who he or she is?
At least it feels like we have someone with intelligence and a logical thought process working on the problems.
Give the President a chance folks! We didn't get here overnight and there are no silver bullets to get us out of it.
I saw the whole pres conference, and I have to ask some of you:
Which questions did he dodge? The only one I saw him dodge, was when Jake Tapper asked him if he would NOT vote for the budget if it didn't have cap and trade or the extra tax cuts in it. I can understand that dodge, because it's a set up question. "No" will be spun as "he wants to raise taxes!" and "Yes" will be spun as "He's willing to sink the whole budget on only two little issues!" It was a gotcha question that he answered with "I'll work with Congress to make sure that doesn't happen."
Other than that, I can't think of another question that he dodged. Pretty straight and to the point on every other one.
He only speaks well because he uses teleprompters and the huge flat screen that he had in the back behind the reporters tonight with other people feeding him the answers. Not once has he given a speach without them. Can't think for himself because he has puppet masters pulling his strings. Joe you obviously didn't listen to all the questions because one reporter asked him if he would veto or vote for a certain bill if it didn't have certain stipulations and he wouldn't answer the question. Now he wants to be able to take over companies if the government feels that they may go under. Where do we live USSR or the USA?????
Rusty
You know, Joe, I don't always agree with your politics, but I agree everyone has the right to disagree. But sometimes the blog gets...over-political, in a crude instead of reportive way.
I took a giant leap forward in my respect for you and your enterprise not because I agree with you on this, but because you were willing to change your mind and say so, on this one. I am really impressed with that choice.
Thank you.
Oh, I'm sure if McCain had won, he'd have the financial crisis at LEAST 90% solved by now. After all, he'd have honest, non corrupt geniuses like Palin to turn to. His choice of her as a running mate shows the extent of HIS good judgement.
I just love this "Ask what my country can do for me" and this "Nothing has changed for me since he's been President" mentality. The man's been in office 64 days, for God's sake!
I wonder what you whiners and cry babies would've done during World War II when you had to park your cars for the duration because you couldn't get tires for them due to rubber being used for the war. Or how much you would've whined over meat and fuel rationing or the government asking citizens to grow their own "victory gardens" at home at home and buy war bonds until it hurt. You people make me sick.
Joe, I gotta tell you, buddy, I sure admire your guts as you attempt to enlighten this bunch of babies.
Y'all can go ahead and write all the derogatory comments you want about this post; won't bother me one bit. I'm a grumpy, crabby, nasty, stupid old man who should keep his opinions to himself - and will do so after this. I don't have enough pacifiers to go around.
Have at it!
You cannot throw this country into trillions of dollars in debt and expect to cut that deficit in half in 5 to 10 years. We as a nation are headed to bankruptcy and anarchy will be the result when we all wake up one morning and learn the value of a dollar is absolutely zero and we cannot buy food and other necessities. I believe socialism is his hidden agenda.
Right on, Joe! I was astonished and impressed in reading your opinion of the President's press conference tonight. I watched the entire thing, and my reaction was similar to yours.
You are very brave to express those observations, considering how very narrow-minded and radical some of your most devoted commenters are. As I read your words, I knew many would slam you for them, even though you simply expressed your opinion. And slam you they did!
Although this is the first time I have commented, I have been reading your blog since its inception. Despite some extreme posts in the past, you have provided a valuable service to our city and county by keeping us informed on many issues which we would not have otherwise known about. Thank you.
You people wanna blame G.W. and you're wrong!
This started 60 years ago when we rebuilt Japan and handed over our steel industry to them. Then we became the "saviour" of the rest of the world instead of taking care of #1.
Bill Clinton de-regulated the electric, gas, and cable industry and the cost to us has gone nowhere but up! Remember who signed NAFTA too. But that's neither here nor there at this point.
The answer in my opinion is let Capitalism do it's job. Let the dead beat companies go bankrupt; they will be replaced by others. Throwing trillions of dollars into businesses that are going to waste it or give it to their top execs is stupid. Let em go bankrupt!
We need to stop dealing with Communist Nations altogether, close our borders, adopt Canada and Mexico and to hell with the rest of them!
Take the money we send overseas and spend it here to rebuild the now dead steel industry; this will flow to the car manufacturing industry and will keep flowing thru the entire economy.
Remove the $90,000 cap from social security and it is saved too. How many of you know that once you make 90k in a year you no longer pay Social Security Tax for the rest of that year? Easy fix for S.S.
Stop the "pork" and wasteful spending; cut congress in half...we don't need 545 or whatever idiots destroying us when they could do it with half the people!
So many ways to fix this without throwing $3,900,000,000,000 into part time jobs...yes...thats what infrastucture jobs are!
Go ahead now and eat me alive but you won't change my mind and I still think Obama is the AntiChrist!
Anonymous for only a couple more weeks!
Hey Rusty,
You're going to have to watch Fox News a bit more closely. Didn't you see Obama at these town halls this week? No teleprompters, no notes, questions from the audience.
I suppose he's got an earpiece with some shadowy figures in the background are feeding him the answers? Seriously?
Also - would someone get these dittoheads a dictionary so they can look up the definition of socialism? The US Military is a socialist enterprise...that doesn't make the US Govt socialistic. Why stop at socialistic? Just call the guy a communist - why not?
You're all off the mark...LOL. We should have sent Debbie to Washington as President and Terry as her VP. I can picture Debbie right now rolling up her sleeves in the Oval Office and telling her cabinet, "Look, we're going to clean this mess up and I want an on-time, accurate audit on my desk in 90 days. Anyone who can't deliver, I want your resignation on my desk in the morning. Some heads are going to roll on Wall St."
Fortunately, though, these two champions of the people belong to little ole Salisbury, MD. As long as we keep them in office, a brighter day is ahead for us.
As for Obama, he's doing the best he can and I support him as my President.
Global Economy...GLOBAL ECONOMY!??
I don't give a flying frijole about the "global" economy. I want a strong vibrant sustainable AMERICAN economy. DO I want to trade with other countries of course. But I want fair trade. Not this scam we have that is designed to destroy the American way of life.
Joe, I love you man, but C'mon, you have to be able to see what has been happening since Slick Willy signed NAFTA. Average Americans have suffered more and more and our standard of living has gone lower and lower. This is because the corporate tax rates here punish American companies who stay here. We use to have laws that kept these companies here in spite of those high taxes. NAFTA took all that away. Now we can't even make condoms. The Chinese will be making those for us as well. And Obama, who is just an extension of Bush/clinton policy won't be changing anything. Because he wants China to keep on buying our debt.
I'm going to say this one more time.
We all have to get over the fallacy of right vs left. Right vs Left is what got us here. We have to stop excusing bad behaviour because Bush or Obama was 'MY" guy, the one that I voted for. I gave Bush a pass on Patriot act 1, Then when I saw P2 and Bushstimulus I realized I had been had.
You Obamabots have to wake up and see that Democrats WANT you to be poor, they want you to be dependant on the government and they want you to be stupid.
Now you other guys, here is the shocker! Are you ready? The Republicans want you the same way. The want you stupid, they want you compliant, and they want YOU to work for less than China wages.
And they want all of us to keep on watching the argument framing machine and be brainwashed 24/7.
WAKE UP AMERICA!
How can any of you NOT see this and NOT put it together?
Check the news, China wants a one world reserve currency. Russia the same thing.
Guess what Boys and Girls, that used to be US because until 1972 we were on the gold standard. It made our currnecy the envy of the world.
(Nixon took us off of it)
What is happening right now is what our founding fathers warned us about.
I truly pray to God that more Americans wake up to this fact and take a more active role in politics both local and National.
It sounded to me as if he was reading off the tele-promptor ? Oh yeah, thats right ....He was !
Any monkey can be taught to follow... I want a president that does'nt just read what his party wants him to , but has a definite idea or inkling of what is truely going on.
Yes Joe, Osama can read real good ! Very astute observation of you. Yet , it is still undeniable that he is doing exactly what Bush was any how. If we follow his plan we will be tripleling the defecit with in 10 years. Not reducing it.
I still remember his lies He promised on his campaign trail...Don't you ?
Now he is saying the complete opposit. About every promise he made. Our congress is robbing America right under our noses and you say He's a straight shooter ?
I want to know ....How much have "they" paid you Joe ? It appears your a sell out. You must be invested in one of the banks recieving the bail out money. All I heard was that we ,as Americans, have the greatest economy in the world and that he is going to change it. Still sounded like a bunch of caw caw to me only more boring than a pile of it.
Just one mans opinion thats all. And I did pick up on the race question too. It was a big subliminal B.S. address , only polished up a bit. And you know what they say about B.S. .....That you can't polish it . Maybe it was sugar coating sprinkled on it and Joe just has a sweet tooth. lol Cause it sounds like Joe liked up every drop of that crap Osama read off the tele-promptor to us all. What a crock.
Have you all forgot that it will cost every American $116,000.00 each to pay back the money already taking from us by congress ? Why not issue each of us a re-bate check instead ? It would be the opposit of what past Gov.'s have done. He is still trying the trickle down affect. If they just gave each of us are share it would be a trickle up affect. And I for one feel this would work much better than allowing a few the oppertunity of not doing what they are suppose to do with our money, but let each and every one of us equally have the choice our selves.
Humblly in disagreeement with you on this call Joe. Have you been hanging out with two-senseless or something ? Better get back to your roots my man. Your being washed with dirty tub water .
Joe - Honestly, when I first started reading this post I thought that you had to be joking. I appreciate your honesty in the article, and I can't for the life of me understand how any American can't be impressed with the job this guy's been doing for the past 60-some days. These haters must have had blindfolds and ear-plugs on for the past 8 years.
Agree or disagree with some of his policy decisions, Obama's openness and willingness to be held accountable is a breath of fresh air.
So Walmart is our favorite store, and where do we get all that cheap stuff we buy = we buy cheap stuff made in China and other similar places = we buy cheap imports and not more expensive American made items. If all of our goodies were made in the USA, we would have a lot less. Maybe that would be good. But until Americans stop patronizing Walmart and buying imports, no point in complaining.
Joe, this was very brave of you. I too am a republican who voted for Obama. I love and respect McCain, but his own party sacrificed him because they knew Americans were done with the Bush Chaney team. And remember it was the Bush Chaney team that started the rescue of Wall Street by giving them money with no strings attached. History will judge all of them and us! Again, thank you.
Joe,
You must be starting to become frustrated with these commenters who are so closed-minded and have such narrow views...welcome to our world. It's incredibly annoying to read these examples of their thinking. Anarchy? Anti-christ?
Geeeeezzze.....good luck with that.
Joe. you just make sense. Your take on the previous 8 years is spot on. Stand your ground.
Bush used teleprompters and couldn't put two words together. David Letterman has nearly nightly bits on Bushs ineptness. The only thing Bush proved as President is the the mentally challanged have a chance to be President too. Great observations Joe, thanks for keepin' it real.
I'm just curious, what happened to keeping big companies from becoming even larger by gobbling up their competition and creating a monopoly? AIG did it and now they are so large and with so many tentacles intersperesed throughout not only the U.S. economy but other countries' as well, they're too big to allow to fail.
are u crazy this guy is bankrupting our country and he hasn't he gotten to social security and medicare yet... wait he is going to tax the rich again probably 90% That will make me quit and move to a caribbean island
I admire you, Joe, for being willing to listen to the "other" side and for having an open mind. You've taken off your blinders and are willing to change your mind when presented with new information. It's not "flip-flopping," it's listening and forming an opinion. You and this blog have changed since I began reading your blog regularly. You have grown as a person, and I am proud to have you as a friend.
The mayoral race in Salisbury is absolutely meaningless in relation to what Obama is doing. Absolutely meaningless
There won't be a Salisbury without huge changes in Washington and to stop the incredible wasteful spending and class warfare.
Even if he taxes the so called rich 100% of there money--that's right... take it all every last cent THERE ISN"T ENOUGH to pay for his ludcrous programs. People who make over $250,000 generate 1.3 Trillion dollar a year in Salary.... so take it all and it's still not enough to pay for 63 TRILLION dollars in unfunded mandates over the next 25 years (SS and Medicare)
So how are we going to pay for it... Ask yourself How???????
Nobody cares.. they think the Gov. can just print money... that is called INFLATION and it is coming big time. Make Jimmy Carter's inflation look like nothing. Think of 10-15 maybe 20% per year inflation. and Interest Rates that will go up to 20% like it did in the 1970 and early 1980's.
REMBMER????
THere is nothing for free.. not healthcare, social security... nothing. It all has to be paid for..
Like I said tax the rich 100% (that will really get them working hard let me tell u.. working just for the Gov. and their employees... would get me up early in the morning to make the donuts that is for sure.
Way to go, Joe! The anti-Obama fanatics out there will be hating on you today, but the rational people--even those who do not like Obama--will welcome a reasoned discussion. I'm so tired of the nuts who truly think Obama is the anti-Christ! newsflash: he's a man. He will make mistakes, but he is facing a major crisis and I think he is leveling with the American people in a way we haven't seen in a long time.
A bunch of words out of his mouth that mean nothing. Useless and full of crap. Just like him.
Last night was refreshing. Finally a leader willing to answer to the people. No spin, no hyperbole, no catch phrases, no BS. An adult acting like an adult. God Bless the President.
Joe i agree with 99% of the stuff you post, but really? Were you smoking crack last night?
seriously, guys... the "teleprompter" attack that Rush Limbaugh told you to use is pretty silly. Bush used them, too, and STILL screwed up his speeches. All speeches by all recent Presidents are done on teleprompters. McCain used them in his campaign, too. C'mon guys.
And that was only for the 1st 3 minutes of the press conference. After that he took questions directly from the press. No teleprompters used. He didn't use them for the town halls last week, either.
Feel free to email Rush, and tell him to get a new attack point that doesn't make the right-wing look so silly.
Hey Joe Obama is not my President until I see a birth certificate. You make comments on GWB intelligence but he had less time to put together a cabinet and hit the ground running you forget he took office under the Clinton recession only to bring it back to record highs it wasn't until the democrats came into office that it tanked.Bush also had better grades in college than Gore,Kerry or Obama!!!
Actions speak louder than words.
Obama's words change day to day.
His socialist leanings scare me as it should frighten everyone.
His "advisors" are all academics and not one has any real world business experience.
Geithner wants to take over insurance companies, Cardin wants newspapers, and sights are set on health care, pharmacutical, and auto companies.
Your 2009 income will now be taxed on the first dollar. Now only .92 will go to individual and .08 to the Feds. Last year the first $150.00 was untaxed.
You asked for other solutions?
1. A $25,000 tax deduction for any buyer of a foreclosed property would have moved the back log of home inventory.
2. Natural gas powered autos would have helped end dependence on foreign oil. Natural gas is plentiful and it is OURS.
When world leaders from China, Japan, India, France, Great Britain, Italy and even Putin warn that our path to socialism and our destuction of our capitalism is wrong, should we not listen?
Conservative, liberal or rational liberal, this is our country and we should not spend recklessly into oblivion.
Remember, actions speak louder than words.
1:32,
If you haven't seen a birth certificate, then you must have been asleep last year.
Do you openly refute the findings of the FEC, State of Hawai'i, and the Supreme Court of the United States? Because that is who has verified his natural born citizenship.
Ummm do you mean the altered copy of a copy that he pathetically presented? He went to a Muslim school that you could only attend if you were a citizen of that country and could not have duel citizenship do your homework and stop drinking the mainstream media KOOL-AID...
11:18,
Mainstream Kool-aid?
Official statement from Hawai'i confirming the authenticity of Obama's birth in the State in 1961:
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2008/08-93.pdf
Record of U.S. Supreme Court throwing the lawsuit out:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/orders/courtorders/120808zor.pdf
Now, I will repeat this one more time: Do you openly refute the State of Hawai'i and The United States Supreme Court?
Don't lecture me on "doing your homework" when you will buy any extremist-right-wing crap you read on Michelle Malkin's website without doing your due diligence.
Wasn't if the Governor of Hawaii that is refusing to release the birth certificate. Also an expert deemed it a fake he's a link
http://sunlituplands.blogspot.com/2008/08/expert-obamas-fake-birth-certificate.html
And to back this up his Muslim school only accepted Indonesian citizens read this link
http://www.danielpipes.org/5544/barack-obamas-muslim-childhood
Don't let the daily kos be your only source for information.
3:02,
Neither one of my links are from the DailyKos. No, the Governor didn't refuse to release it, and I sent you a link from the State about it. One "expert" deems the official copy from Hawaii is a fake? Oh my! Yeah, I'll take the word of the STATE OF HAWAII over your "expert" from a blog. Finally, he never went to a "Muslim only" school. It was a multi-denominational school.
So, while you offer links to blogs that state unsubstantiated rumor without proof, I give you official links which you ignore. Are you planning on keeping your head in the sand much longer on this issue?
Post a Comment