Obama's job approval rating plummets!

[dangolegators]

Yeah I'm a little disappointed with the Obama admin right now too. I think they could have handled the sequester better, been less defensive about it, and just dealt with it. So the ratings drop doesn't surprise me.

[CalSFGator]

Originally Posted by MastaG8r

Sorry, I was referring to your earlier comment.

Who or what do you blame for "the state of our modern political discourse," if not the evilness of Republicans?

Human frailty and our psychic tendency towards melodrama, primarily. The world is a big, complex and ever-changing place, people like to simplify things in to basic archetypes (good, evil; gods, devils; etc.) to ease the cognitive dissonance and quell the ambient noise.

[HALLGATOR]

According to RCP his popularity has dropped some but that was after a fairly good rise and it still is not that bad.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...oval-1044.html

[dangolegators]

The Breitbart piece is pretty funny though. The guy says this:

The Reuters poll also shows that Obama and his media failed dramatically when it came to blaming sequester on Republicans. Thirty-eight percent blame "all the political actors involved." A mere 27% blame only the GOP. Six-percent blame only Obama and Democrats.

So having more than 4 times more people blaming Repubs than blaming Obama is 'fail[ing] dramatically'?

[MastaG8r]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

Human frailty and our psychic tendency towards melodrama, primarily. The world is a big, complex and ever-changing place, people like to simplify things in to basic archetypes (good, evil; gods, devils; etc.) to ease the cognitive dissonance and quell the ambient noise.

Okay. And so how do you figure you managed to acquire immunity to such frailties and tendencies? Or perhaps I presume too much.

[gatordowneast]

No worries, he will lower the threshold for food stamps, housing assistance, day care aid and will upgrade all those free cell phones to include data and free texting and it will be up to 50 again. He is a master at tricking the uninformed, lazy and disadvantaged.

[CalSFGator]

Originally Posted by MastaG8r

Okay. And so how do you figure you managed to acquire immunity to such frailties and tendencies? Or perhaps I presume too much.

I falter as well, but strive not to by being aware of it and trying to. You should try as well.

You should start by recognizing what should be a relatively obvious fact: Obama is not some evildoer - he doesn't want to destroy the country - he doesn't want to be some monarch forever.


He has 3 more years in his elected position - and I have no doubt that he wants unemployment to go down, incomes to go up, people to approve of him, a higher standard of living - that's how you walk away with a great legacy. He does shameful things from time to time, and makes lots of mistakes, but he doesn't want to ruin anything. The same was true of Bush II, and every president we have probably ever had (with the notable exception of Warren Harding). I bet president Obama is even a really decent man. My biggest complaint would be his hawkishness, and I consider his drone strike practices to be war crimes - but I am mature enough to understand that a decent man in his position can commit war crimes and still be a rational actor.

[DeanMeadGator]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

a familar refrain. if/when it goes back up, you certainly won't claim it as evidence of them figuring out his value - you will chalk it up to a clueless electorate. It's great when eveything that ever happens in the world validates your worldview.

What about the deficit? Will it get better? My worldview is that the upward spiraling of the $17 trillion dollar deficit is going to ruin the U.S. economy and the futures of our children and grandchildren.

Perceived "value" (like beauty) is in the eyes of the beholder. Reality is something else altogether.

The Congress and the president do nothing but blame someone else. They are clueless when it comes to recognizing the reality that money borrowed must be repaid. The billions that we continue to get from China is one of two things: (1) a loan or (2) a gift. Is anyone naive enough to think we can continue to borrow and never have to repay??

Name one private business that has ever been run like the U.S. government runs the country's business. If you can name one, please enlighten us as to how long it lasted.

It is far easier to be distracted by the meaningless and trivial rather than deal with the economic disaster that has befallen our country.

[MastaG8r]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

I falter as well, but strive not to by being aware of it and trying to. You should try as well.

You should start by recognizing what should be a relatively obvious fact: Obama is not some evildoer - he doesn't want to destroy the country - he doesn't want to be some monarch forever.


He has 3 more years in his elected position - and I have no doubt that he wants unemployment to go down, incomes to go up, people to approve of him, a higher standard of living - that's how you walk away with a great legacy. He does shameful things from time to time, and makes lots of mistakes, but he doesn't want to ruin anything. The same was true of Bush II, and every president we have probably ever had (with the notable exception of Warren Harding). I bet president Obama is even a really decent man. My biggest complaint would be his hawkishness, and I consider his drone strike practices to be war crimes - but I am mature enough to understand that a decent man in his position can commit war crimes and still be a rational actor.

Judging by your posting in this forum I find it a little hard to believe that you would defend George Bush as not being evil to friends of yours who characterize him that way. As I suspect most friends of yours probably do.

Personally I don't think of 0bama as a purely evil mastermind who intends to bring down America because he hates it. I'm sure he means well. However I think he would like to completely transform this country and the way it operates into something that he'd regard as more "fair" for everyone. And if he has to take actions that make things worse in the short term before ultimately leading to conditions that he would regard as better, I don't think he'd have a problem with that.

Sort of a microcosm of that is his brinksmanship with the Republicans over the budget sequester, and his obvious intention to go over their heads and make Americans mad in order to force the Republicans to relent and raise taxes. He's not even going to let any of us visit his house until he gets his way!

Lenin, Mao, Castro - I'm sure all those guys meant well.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by dangolegators

Yeah I'm a little disappointed with the Obama admin right now too. I think they could have handled the sequester better, been less defensive about it, and just dealt with it. So the ratings drop doesn't surprise me.

Very honest post, D.

[CalSFGator]

Originally Posted by MastaG8r

Judging by your posting in this forum I find it a little hard to believe that you would defend George Bush as not being evil to friends of yours who characterize him that way. As I suspect most friends of yours probably do.

Personally I don't think of 0bama as a purely evil mastermind who intends to bring down America because he hates it. I'm sure he means well. However I think he would like to completely transform this country and the way it operates into something that he'd regard as more "fair" for everyone. And if he has to take actions that make things worse in the short term before ultimately leading to conditions that he would regard as better, I don't think he'd have a problem with that.

Sort of a microcosm of that is his brinkmanship with the Republicans over the budget sequester, and his obvious intention to go over their heads and make Americans mad in order to force the Republicans to relent and raise taxes. He's not even going to let any of us visit his house until he gets his way!

Lenin, Mao, Castro - I'm sure all those guys meant well.

Well, feel free to find me calling anyone, outside of perhaps Tim Allen, evil. It's a child's notion. I didn't defend Bush much, but I never attributed his mistakes to cartoon character/James Bond villian motives. He was just wrongheaded about how to approach certain things.

You, as well as most on this board on the right, have completely lost perspective in my estimation. If you were to judge actions on their own merits, without such a jaded bias going into it, you would be much more sane. Just the fact that you are referecing Mao, Castro and Lenin shows how far from reasonable you are.

[dangolegators]

Hey Masta, I'm fine with being 'Sancho Panza', to River's 'Don Quixote', but can I be 'Goose' to CalSF's 'Top Gun' too?

[MastaG8r]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

Well, feel free to find me calling anyone, outside of perhaps Tim Allen, evil. It's a child's notion. I didn't defend Bush much, but I never attributed his mistakes to cartoon character/James Bond villian motives. He was just wrongheaded about how to approach certain things.

You, as well as most on this board on the right, have completely lost perspective in my estimation. If you were to judge actions on their own merits, without such a jaded bias going into it, you would be much more sane. Just the fact that you are referecing Mao, Castro and Lenin shows how far from reasonable you are.

Oh okay. Calling someone evil if you don't agree with them is for four year-olds. You prefer crazy. That's impressive. That's like on a nine year-old level, at least. Congrats!

[Gatorrick22]

Goose dies.... Just sayin'.

[MastaG8r]

Originally Posted by dangolegators

Hey Masta, I'm fine with being 'Sancho Panza', to River's 'Don Quixote', but can I be 'Goose' to CalSF's 'Top Gun' too?

Sure! It's actually Goose and Maverick, not Goose and Top Gun. But yeah that works great, considering the fairly obvious overtones and subtext in that movie. I've noticed you trying to emulate Maverick's condescending pseudointellectualism like you did to Gatorrick in post #42 in the "Email leak claims..." thread. Your vocabulary needs work compared to your partner's, though.

[wargunfan]

I believe we have reached the bread and circuses stage of governance in the US. The plebes don't want to hear the truth and Obama doesn't dare tell them. Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Obama plays golf. But it's OK; the Republicans will cave on the debt ceiling increase and Nerobama will keep the freebies coming. Maybe he'll even burn a few Christians to distract the plebes.

[dangolegators]

Originally Posted by MastaG8r

Sure! It's actually Goose and Maverick, not Goose and Top Gun. But yeah that works great, considering the fairly obvious overtones and subtext in that movie. I've noticed you trying to emulate Maverick's condescending pseudointellectualism like you did to Gatorrick in post #42 in the "Email leak claims..." thread. Your vocabulary needs work compared to your partner's, though.

Agreed. I'm no where near as good of a writer as Cal. Nice to know that you pay such close attention to my posts though.

[CalSFGator]

Originally Posted by Gatorrick22

Goose dies.... Just sayin'.

True. His fatal flaw is that long gooselike neck.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

True. His fatal flaw is that long gooselike neck.

[diehardgator1]

Down again today sinking fast People may be getting wise to the liar that he is

http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/