I've watched ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and CBS tonight. The one thing they had in common was when the moderator asked "How will President-Elect Obama govern?" the answer was the same: "We don't know." When Gloria Borger, George Stephanopolous, Jeff Greenfield and Juan Williams all agree, there is something seriously wrong. The bottom line is that this country is so desperate for change, we've elected a complete unknown.
He is really a smart dude...so maybe just maybe He will play it cool, then when he gets in office he will do the following. Deport illegal immigrants. Cut spending for all the bullshit we don't need (about 55 percent of the budget as a rough guess) ah fuck, I know that won't happen so why keep going?
It depended upon whether or not the republicans retain cloture in the Senate. Now that they have he will have to move a bit towards center. I'm interested to see how his cabinet shakes out.
This is called the honeymoon phase. When he takes office on January 20th, the marriage begins. With a Democrat-controlled Congress, he's going to be able to push through almost anything he wants. We're going to get a big dose of liberalism in this country for the next four years, so brace yourself.
Yeah, other than the most successful, groundbreaking, historic political campaign in the history of the United States. But yeah, other than that, he's pretty much at the same level as some homeless guy begging for change. Good call. -Pop
Regardless of what you think about the message of his campaign, the real success story was the operations of his campaign. The use of technology to get people involved, the ground operations in traditional red states, the anticipatory strategies, etc. It was easily the best run political campaign we've seen in quite some time, and perhaps in American political history. If you don't think that somehow translates into how he's going to consensus-build, and govern, and involve Americans in the political process, you haven't been paying attention. -Pop
What does it matter? We worry about the chattering classes not being able to get a handle on it? Answer this, after Bush was elected in 2000 there was all this talk about how he would govern and what he would do. They based it on his past as Governor of Texas and how close the election was and on his campaign rhetoric. So, they guessed he would be cautious, that he would build bridges with moderate Democrats, and that he would move toward the center away from some of the campaign promises made to shore up the base. How well did the chattering classes guesses hit the mark? So again, who gives a hoot if those same chattering classes are having trouble coming up with plausible blueprints for an Obama Presidency because they lack a track record? What good is looking to the past when that past may or may not give a clear indication of the future direction?
With George Bush you had an idea about his policy ideas. Whether or not he would be cautious wasn't an issue. You were going to get No Child Left Behind, money for faith-based charitable organizations, etc. But we literally have a blank slate with no check on his powers. The fact that those who have met him, spoken with him, asked him questions and opined on him have NO FREAKING IDEA what is his worldview is stunning. Absolutely stunning.
I think you are not comprehending what the announcers mean, because you are not reading the whole story line. Over the last several years, many of the democrats that have been elected to office have been "conservative democrats." They actually hold a lot of seats, and don't see directly, eye to eye with left democrats. Secondly, folks are wanting to see if he backs up his talk about reaching across the aisle. So the question is, does Barack Obama govern more to the center, or not? That is what they were referring to. Lets get this straight here folks. It doesn't matter if it is a republican or democrats being elected for office, whatever office it is. They are all politicians, and you can only listen to so much before you have to just sit back and find out if they back up their talk with the walk.
