Obama...Wow... Just, wow...

[LiveGoat]

Is he oblivious to how much of a jerk he makes himself out to be or does he just not care? It's the symptom of my generation. Everyrthing is an opportunity for self promotion and self aggrandizement. It's why we don't have real artists or any creative types. We are great at being oppotunists and careerists but piss poor at seeing the bigger picture or having humility.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111900904_pf.html

[AVGWarhawk]

Party like a rock star :rock:

[FIREWALL]

We need another New forum created....


"Political Soapbox" :har:

[HunterICX]

Just don't drop the soap...

HunterICX

[SteamWake]

"You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said. :o

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111900904_pf.html

[onelifecrisis]

Is he oblivious to how much of a jerk he makes himself out to be or does he just not care? It's the symptom of my generation. Everyrthing is an opportunity for self promotion and self aggrandizement. It's why we don't have real artists or any creative types. We are great at being oppotunists and careerists but piss poor at seeing the bigger picture or having humility.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111900904_pf.html

I read the linked article. Could someone please explain to me where (in that article) he makes himself look like a jerk? Seriously, I'm baffled by the quoted post... am I missing something?

[LiveGoat]

I dunno just seems a bit cynical to me to refer to people you're with as a "photo op". Granted, G.W. probably felt the same way (what politician doesn't) but still... This isn't really a political thing with me, I'm a bit of a lefty on certain things and he probably said in a jokey way but in print it seems, well...

[Platapus]

I read the linked article. Could someone please explain to me where (in that article) he makes himself look like a jerk? Seriously, I'm baffled by the quoted post... am I missing something?

Because it is President Obama and everything he does will be criticized. Don't try to read too much into this. It is not that deep.

[antikristuseke]

Because it is President Obama and everything he does will be criticized. Don't try to read too much into this. It is not that deep.

Even though everything he does is criticized he is being aparently papaered and not being called out on his mistakes.
No, this does not make any sense to me either, but since it is politics it probably shouldn't. Politics is like magic in Discworld.

[Blacklight]

I swear. People who dislike Obama and anything liberal will jump at "ANYTHING" no matter how rediculous to bash him and ANYTHING he does. The man can't seem to breath a breath without some conservative bitching about it. :nope:

[antikristuseke]

To be fair, Bush had it the same way, it appears to be the standard in US politics.

[Platapus]

I remember a quote from Lyndon Johnson.

"If I were to walk across the surface of the Potomac river, the headlines the next day would be 'President Johnson can't swim'"

[Biggles]

To be fair, Bush had it the same way, it appears to be the standard in US politics.

US politics? Try "human mind".:nope:

[SteamWake]

I remember a quote from Lyndon Johnson.

"If I were to walk across the surface of the Potomac river, the headlines the next day would be 'President Johnson can't swim'"

LOL classsic !

[antikristuseke]

US politics? Try "human mind".:nope:

We don't get quite this level of feces flinging over here, not even close. Then again we don't have two nigh on identical parties with opposing rethoric.

[geetrue]

You have to think something even it's wrong ...

Let Obama make mistakes without pointing them out to the blind all around him?

I don't think so ...

I know one radio talk show host who has made millions from hating the Clitons alone ...

You just wait and see ... Obama won't make it to the end of his four year term ...

He will walk away, retire to Hawaii, write his book and become fat dumb and happy.

Heck even Indonesia might be interested in him after he leaves office :haha:

[Platapus]

To be fair, Bush had it the same way, it appears to be the standard in US politics.

You bring up a very good point. This seems to be the fad to be openly disrespectful to the President. It really started with Clinton (that's when it got really bad, in my opinion) and seems to be the "in" thing to do.

People made fun of Carter, Reagan, and Bush 1 but not at the levels we saw with Clinton and Bush 2 and now with Obama.

I guess the cool intelligentsia disrespect the President. It shows how cynical and worldly you are. :nope:

I know that economically, too many people made a lot of money in the "bush bashing business" and they are not about to lose that revenue due to a change of administration. There is money in bashing the President evidently.

I wish there was a way to stop it, but I fear not. I honestly don't feel we can have a President that would not be abused like this.

Disliking the President is part of American Politics. But this trend of blatant disrespect is not, in my opinion, productive or good for our nation.

Perhaps this can be linked to the Internets Tubes. Clinton was the first President with the public Internet. The internet gives people who would ordinarily not have a venue, a venue to voice their opinions.

The Internet gives nobodys (and face it, most of us are) a venue to express our opinions internationally with just a few keystrokes.

To paraphrase an old comedy routine by Bill Cosby:

The Internet intensifies a person's personality, some people are a$$holes. :D

[Blacklight]

People made fun of Carter, Reagan, and Bush 1 but not at the levels we saw with Clinton and Bush 2 and now with Obama.

Well, Bush 2 was easy to make fun of. I havn't seen anywhere NEAR the same level of "making fun" of Obama, but instead of that, I'm just seeing nothing but blatant HATRED from the conservative side. It seems lately that there has been NO middle ground between the conservatives and the liberals these past several years. The parties seem to be traveling in completely opposite directions. From what I've seen, the liberals have been attempting compromises left and right but the conservatives have been mostly so entrenched, that they refuse to cross the line uless they get 100% their way.

[LiveGoat]

Sorry if I offended and it was indeed a knee jerk reaction from me (I admit it!). I guess I'm around too many people for whom photo ops are like big signs that say "Free H#$d (H@#$d) Jobs" . There's a cynical, blase detatchment that they have that rubs me the wrong way, especially if it involves someone ouside of the public eye. So here's what I'll do: I'll rescind my OP and assume he meant it in a good natured manner because, hell, he probably did and I was just being overly cranky this morning.

Part of the reason for my hot headed post is I'm in a work environment where having an opinion that wavers just a hair can get you blacklisted so maybe I abused the GT of Subsim a bit to vent. But hey, the freedom of speech here is tempting eh? Second only to maybe RPG Codex, which is like a Hell's Angels bar or a party at Jim Croce's.

And with that, I'm off to the links to look for the real killer of my wife. :salute:

[onelifecrisis]

To be fair, Bush had it the same way, it appears to be the standard in US politics.

Well yes he did but, unlike Obama, Bush was a walking joke. US comedians had an easy life in those years... I mean comic material practically poured out of the guy's mouth every time he opened it! He was (at least in my lifetime) a completely unique president in that regard.

Edit:
So yeah, what BlackLight said. Didn't see his post at first. :oops:

[Torplexed]

Well yes he did but, unlike Obama, Bush was a walking joke. US comedians had an easy life in those years... I mean comic material practically poured out of the guy's mouth every time he opened it! He was (at least in my lifetime) a completely unique president in that regard.

Comedians have had an easy life with presidents for long time. Will Rogers comes to mind. One of most popular comedy records of the early sixties was an album called The First Family which poked fun at the Kennedys and JFK's Bostonian accent although it wasn't nearly as mean-spirited as comedy is now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Family_(album) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Family_%28album%29)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/TFF_cover.jpg

Interesting to note that Vaughn Meader's career pretty much died along with JFK.

[Platapus]

Anyone else listen to David Frye doing his Nixon routine? I understand that his stuff has been recently released on CD

Now I can retire my cassette of his act.

[onelifecrisis]

Comedians have had an easy life with presidents for long time. Will Rogers comes to mind. One of most popular comedy records of the early sixties was an album called The First Family which poked fun at the Kennedys and JFK's Bostonian accent although it wasn't nearly as mean-spirited as comedy is now.

I didn't say comedians never made fun of presidents before Bush Jr., I only said they never had it so easy as they had it with him. Your example (someone making fun of JFK's accent) seems to support my point.

[August]

I didn't say comedians never made fun of presidents before Bush Jr., I only said they never had it so easy as they had it with him. Your example (someone making fun of JFK's accent) seems to support my point.

You want an easy target look at some of the stuff they said about Lincoln.

Filthy story teller, despot, liar, theif, braggart, buffoon, usurper, monster, ignoramus Abe, old scoundrel, perjurer, swindler, tyrant, field-butcher, land-pirate..
Harpers magzine on Abraham Lincoln


and


Nothing more than a well meaning baboon
General McCellan on Abraham Lincoln