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Obama's Train Ride and Inauguration

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Huh? I thought Obama was running against McCain? He won by 53% -vs- 46% of the popular vote. Not exactly a huge swing in demographics IHMO. Certainly not as close as Gore even. I'd call it more of a vote of protest against the current administration than a vote for or against any particular candidate. I'm still trying to figure out what specific "change" is suppose to happening anyhow. Another politician has become POTUS and hopefully he will do well. I don't see how anything fundamental has culminated in American society. The same legislators are still in office for the most part, familiar players are in positions of power, and the same think tanks are still relied upon for advice. The book's cover has a different photo and short description, but I don't see a huge change in content i.e: the people who actually DO the DOING.
 
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Bush won by a slim margin in 2000 because there was simply no difference between him and Gore, so people picked the more personable candidate. Then he won in 2004 because a war President is almost never voted out, not to mention Kerry was possibly the worst Democratic candidate of all time.

No, that honor would go to Mike Dukakis.

Huh? I thought Obama was running against McCain? He won by 53% -vs- 46% of the popular vote. Not exactly a huge swing in demographics IHMO. Certainly not as close as Gore even. I'd call it more of a vote of protest against the current administration than a vote for or against any particular candidate.

BINGO! Also not a huge "mandate for change". Nothing like what Nixon or Reagan had.

Now that the Congress has been seated, the real power for decision making lies with the Senate. The Dems and Obama are going to have to learn to work with the Republicans if they want anything to happen for the next 2 years.

baggss, if out of 100 people, only 10 people like ice cream, and if given the choice, 5 of them like vanilla and 5 like chocolate, then if given the choice between chocolate and strawberry all the chocolate people still like chocolate, but they gain one from the old vanilla camp, making it chocolate 6, strawberry 4, then you could say generically "it's all the same people voting (all 10 of them), but technically you still have a split camp. you may have a few people falling erratically to either side, but you know as well as i that a large number of people who regularly vote fall pretty firmly on one side or the other.
this makes the 20% vs 40% approval rating pretty significant, since skye's point about starting with about 50% is pretty close to accurate since most liberals will write jr off without even thinking about it.

That was possibly the most confusing post you've ever written.
 
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No, that honor would go to Mike Dukakis.

Actually, Dukakis managed to win ten states. I'd have to say the honor goes to Mondale, who only won one state and DC.

Now that the Congress has been seated, the real power for decision making lies with the Senate. The Dems and Obama are going to have to learn to work with the Republicans if they want anything to happen for the next 2 years.

Democrats have 56 seats. There are two independents who caucus with the Democrats, giving the Democrats 58 votes. Once Coleman gets over himself and Franken is finally seated, that gives the Democrats 59 votes. I'd imagine that it wouldn't be too difficult to get the vote of one Republican on most issues.
 
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Actually, Dukakis managed to win ten states. I'd have to say the honor goes to Mondale, who only won one state and DC.



Democrats have 56 seats. There are two independents who caucus with the Democrats, giving the Democrats 58 votes. Once Coleman gets over himself and Franken is finally seated, that gives the Democrats 59 votes. I'd imagine that it wouldn't be too difficult to get the vote of one Republican on most issues.

You might be surprised. The Franken/Coleman spat is likely to last for some time. As for pulling one Republican, it could happen. You are more likely to see Democrats from more conservative states vote against their own leadership though. Some of them can't afford to go off to the left at all lest they find themselves as one term wonders in a few years. Speaking of the Senate, I notice Joe Lieberman didn't lose anything for appearing at the Republican convention. the last thing Harry needs is Joe jumping ship now.
 
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Exactly. If the Democrats had managed 59/60 seats, they would have kicked Lieberman to the curb.
 
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The same people elected them both: the American people. The elected position, POTUS in this case, is only as useful as the level of expectation and accountability we people place on the person in the elected position. If you think your job is over once you leave the ballot booth, you already have lost your elected official. You may as well go back to sleep for another 4 years and vote for change all over again. The President isn't as important as how closely the people hold the President responsible for doing what was promised. Just MHO.

you know, i argue for this but at some point you get jaded like the lump. i look around and see people who watch fox new and spew talking points like they actually know what they are saying, sheep following the herd and i get jaded by this majority that i think is just simply too stupid to want accountability in their government so the support hilarious cuts to our personal liberties like the FISA junk, the Patriot Act, and giving the Federal Reserve a blank check while letting them do what they want with it behind closed doors.

No accountability.

yah, im jaded.
 
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you know, i argue for this but at some point you get jaded like the lump. i look around and see people who watch fox new and spew talking points like they actually know what they are saying, sheep following the herd and i get jaded by this majority that i think is just simply too stupid to want accountability in their government so the support hilarious cuts to our personal liberties like the FISA junk, the Patriot Act, and giving the Federal Reserve a blank check while letting them do what they want with it behind closed doors.

No accountability.

yah, im jaded.


What, so only those who watch Fox news are bad people who could care less? Are the viewers of CNN and MSNBC simply better people because they have a left leaning slant vice a right leaning slant? It cuts both ways and you may want to be careful how you classify people based on your perceptions. Not all of us who are more to the right are idiots, nor are all that are to the left.

As for the blank check, expect more of the same after today just on a larger scale. Accountability isn't just going to happen, not with the folks running Congress in charge. They'll simply pick and choose whom they want to hold accountable and whom they don't.
 

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baggss, i know you understand the concept of subsets, don't pretend like you don't.
 
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No, I understand but when one group is called out like they are the only ones, it tends to get offensive. Stupidity abounds everywhere but to allude that it is only one group is silly and short sighted. To be blunt, skye alluded to those on the right and more or less only those on the right. Frankly, I take offense to that.
 

eric


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that was in response to my post, baggss, not skye's. you know, subsets:
everyone on the planet
\/
everyone in the us
\/
everyone who normally votes
\/
people who normally vote liberal

and so on.

maybe the post was a bit wordy, but i stand behind the logic.
 
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that was in response to my post, baggss, not skye's. you know, subsets:
everyone on the planet
\/
everyone in the us
\/
everyone who normally votes
\/
people who normally vote liberal

and so on.

maybe the post was a bit wordy, but i stand behind the logic.

Ah, gotcha.
 
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What, so only those who watch Fox news are bad people who could care less? Are the viewers of CNN and MSNBC simply better people because they have a left leaning slant vice a right leaning slant? It cuts both ways and you may want to be careful how you classify people based on your perceptions. Not all of us who are more to the right are idiots, nor are all that are to the left.

As for the blank check, expect more of the same after today just on a larger scale. Accountability isn't just going to happen, not with the folks running Congress in charge. They'll simply pick and choose whom they want to hold accountable and whom they don't.

the viewers of any MSM puppet who quote the talking points as if they were what they actually believed after doing their own research are the ones i am talking about.

sorry for any offense that seemed intended towards the right. i just chose FOX news because they are much more blatant in their political agenda while claiming to be fair and balanced.

we won't have more accountability until we have a revolution.
 
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I don't care what anyone says, this is an exciting time to be an american.
 
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sorry for any offense that seemed intended towards the right. i just chose FOX news because they are much more blatant in their political agenda while claiming to be fair and balanced.

As opposed to MSNBC which has no political slant at all....:Smirk:

I don't care what anyone says, this is an exciting time to be an american.

I disagree, but whatever. Enjoy!
 
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:Confused: As opposed to how dull it's been prior to this???
 
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As opposed to MSNBC which has no political slant at all....:Smirk:

Looked like skye was referring more to Fox's hypocrisy rather than stating that Fox is the only one with political bias. Though it would seem as though skye has general disdain for all forms of mass media, so I'm not sure why you keep taking offense at what he's saying.

I just find it all hard to believe that Bush is finally gone. It's absolutely surreal.
 
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I find it sad that the whole ceremony was marred by people who were too immature to put aside the partisan rhetoric even for one day.

The boos and the childishness displayed towards the outgoing administration by the crowd at the ceremony were quite disgraceful. These are the same people who will proclamation "respect the office" now that Obama is in charge, but they themselves didn't have the maturity to display the respect for 1 day. Then again, these are the same types who removed all of the "W"s from the White House keyboards 8 years ago today.

I just find it all hard to believe that Bush is finally gone. It's absolutely surreal.

Sad.
 
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I find it sad that the whole ceremony was marred by people who were too immature to put aside the partisan rhetoric even for one day.

The boos and the childishness displayed towards the outgoing administration by the crowd at the ceremony were quite disgraceful. These are the same people who will proclamation "respect the office" now that Obama is in charge, but they themselves didn't have the maturity to display the respect for 1 day. Then again, these are the same types who removed all of the "W"s from the White House keyboards 8 years ago today.

They are getting off easy if all they get is a couple of boos. i.e. War crimes..
 
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Inauguration is over so signing off of this thread. It's been fun as usual and best wishes to all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled bureaucracy, already in progress... Thanks all! ;)
 

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