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Lay Off, Republicans
Gerald Herbert / AP Photo
It may feel good to rip on Obama now, but Republicans are wrecking their credibility should the president merit more legitimate criticism.
Unlike some of my Republican counterparts, I do not want President Obama to fail. If Obama’s policies help pull us out of the economic free fall we were in and voters choose to reward him with more Democrats in Congress two years from now, or another four more years of the Presidency in 2012, I say “Hurrah.”
We don’t know how close we came to absolute economic chaos and panic. And I mean people roving the streets with guns and people hiding with canned food in their cellars. Every man and woman for themselves.
I have a feeling we were a lot closer than most care to think. But in typical American style, we close our eyes, plug our ears, and filter out what we don’t want to acknowledge. And we revert to form and complain about how our political leaders bailed out AIG or the auto industry.
So, yes, Obama and the Democratic Industrial Complex is likely overcorrecting and taking advantage of the crisis to spend and tax us into a Wally World of fiscal madness for which we will be paying for decades. And over time, I believe Republicans will get their house in order and start providing leadership and answers to balance the scales.
But, in the meantime, I just can’t abide the GOP hysteria about Obama. Yes, I know I’m a Republican squish. But in order to regain the majority, the GOP will need us squishes. And I think we have to acknowledge reality. And the reality is for the first 100 days, President Obama has been a pretty cool cucumber through some of the most difficult challenges an incoming president has ever faced.
So, as Republicans, I say we should cut the spin and give Obama some credit for doing a pretty good job and pulling us through a real crisis in his first 100 days. If we are honest, we’ll get more credit down the road when legitimate criticism will undoubtedly be warranted.
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, causes, and individuals, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today’s rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Damn Damn Damn ...
Some (limbaugh) will say YOU, McCain and his daughter need to follow Arlen Specter to the cabals of the Democratic Party ...
I will say, more rational thinkers like you are needed in this country for a great upheaval ...
You Republicans and your "overspending" jabs. What have you done for us? What does cutting taxes on Anderson Cooper Vanderbilt get us?
The truth is the rich aren't going to war or growing any corn. So they must pay for their status through taxes. We can easily solve our debt problem: tax the rich. You included Mark.
But the rich are the ones that hire the illiterate that love the democratic agenda that says the rich should take care of the ones that don't want to work for a living. While the rich do work for a living.
Let's put this in a different perspective. When you say "tax the rich," Republican'ts think of Karl Marx, but no one is suggesting anything remotely similar. What we are suggesting is that we live in the only remaining super-power and a wonderful country, so it's reasonable to think that no legal U.S. citizen should go hungry or live in the streets. If you say that people will not work for themselves if we set up such a safety net, I ask you one question - Why do we have homeless when they could so easily find an excuse to go to prison, where they would be guaranteed three solid meals, a shower, and a warm place to sleep? (I'd also ask why Republicans are so eager to spend money on prisons but loathe to spend money on things like education and welfare to keep people out of prison?)
"People roving the streets with guns and people hiding with canned food in their cellars. Every man and woman for themselves." This is the Utopic vision of GOP, guns and chaos, the only way they think they can get back to power. How pathetic. What happened to "Morning in America" and all the good stuff? Until GOP has a better idea to solve the horrible situation they put us in, they will not get their (White) house back. Start thinking and planning, don't just spin and gripe.
We'll wait for you in the soup lines my friends.
talk about "out of context".... The GOP must die. They are a Frankenstein party that cannot be expected to ever reach a consensus because there are too many differing ideologies. Before you start hammering out your brain-washed Rush-babble about a Repub-volution that will sweep the nation, think about this: The "right" is not a homogenous group. There is a fiscal conservatism, a social conservatism, a religious right a.k.a. "American Taliban," and a large group of veterans who frequently rely on the very entitlement programs that the GOP attacks non-stop. Although you can say that the GOP is for small government and fiscal responsibility, actually making those policies legal reality is impossible because of the special interests within the GOP. Fiscal responsibility, unless it involves the Defense Department (verteran sub-division), prisons (social sub-division), or trying to impose the values, mores, and beliefs of an extreme, ultra-fundamentalist version of Christianity on the people of the U.S., most of whom practice a much more moderate form of Christianity, and wasting gov't money waging legal battles to dissolve the separation of church and state, claiming that the founding fathers intended for "freedom of religion" to mean the freedom to worship Jesus Christ in whatever way you choose, not as a blanket defense of other religions - a.k.a. pagan devil-worship (religious right). Small government, except for the pentagon, the Department of Corrections, the DEA, et cetera. States' rights, unless the states want to recognize gay marriage, medical marijuana, prostitution, et cetera.
Wake up, members of the Republican Party! The true conservative party is the Libertarian Party! Everyone needs to jump ship and and leave the religious right to go down with the ship, not to mention being honest with the veterans and not using scare-tactics to keep them hanging on to the very party that fails to care for them properly when they return.
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You dismiss the angry mob by thinking they can just be disarmed by the police.... what police state do you live in......I lived thru a hurricane aftermath and there are no police around when the shit hit the fan.......believe it.....
As for some trainer living in Bagdad.... had Saddam know any terrorist was hiding in his city he would have cut his tounge out and thrown him off a rooftop. Saddam was no pushover......Some one just like him needs to be in power over there....some meely-mouthed democracy loving lets go vote idiot aint going to get anything accomplished in Iraq except theirselves killed.
And remember what happened to the last party we tried to start in America....the Ross Perot American party........the 2 big partys killed that idea real quick.....do you think they are going to be brought down so easy.....no...they will have to bring theirselves down by allowing a complete mad-man like Bush into office...after he took over..he completly lost his mind.didnt know what he was doing but allowed his cronys to run amock..and thats just what they did.....he needed to get reelected with a war......so they brought it on..........whatever it takes......... thats who allowed the party to go to hell in a handbasket........Bush and his insane possee.......the insane clown possee...........
As a "right wing nut" I'd like to know when exactly it is that I have EVER had any credibility with the left...
I'd also like to know how it is that cowering and being complacent earns me credibility or respect?
Honestly the only thing a Klingon understands is a show of force, we must go on offense and stay on offence. Just because you are not offended by him, doesn't mean Obama hasn't been offensive, it is simply how the game is played.
If you are not comfortable with your own team pressing an advantage and trying to score whenever possible, then maybe you need to quit the field.
I wouldn't suggest joining the left to be good for your career either, while they might cheer you for a bit, to use an Obamaism, it is like letting a special olympian kid throw out the first pitch, everyone is going to cheer him on sure, but they arn't going to keep him on the mound the rest of the game.
ps: you would be the retarded kid in that analogy.
Pulling us through a crisis? Last time I checked, it's still just as bad as when he was elected. I'll give Obama credit when credit is due, and so far, he doesn't deserve any.
Weren't you one of the mutts who gave us McCain?
Oh yeah. Take a hike.
"Unlike some of my Republican counterparts, I do not want President Obama to fail. Voters choose to reward him with more Democrats in Congress two years from now, or another four more years of the presidency in 2012, I say, "Hurrah."
That doesn't even begin to make an ounce of sense. You say you're a Republican, so surely Obama's ideas, ideology, and plans for the nation differ wildly from your own. But you would applaud even more of that?
What is it with you self-identified Republicans who seem to just hate the party and all it stands for? Let's toss aside all of the party's ideas in order to kowtow to "moderates" who seem to fall in one of two categories- those that say "anything goes" and those that are actually fairly far to the left but only self-label as moderates down the middle. Thank goodness we have guys like McKinnon who can ignore the basic values and ideology in the chance of attracting these folks!
I must also say, I'm frightened by the commenter who said that the rich should be taxed to pay for their status. Sounds a lot like Marx to me. 'Live the American dream, but you better be damned well ready to pay for it, scumbags!'
Finally, Mark, you pulled the same confusing move Buckley did today when you said, "Obama and the Democratic Industrial Complex is likely overcorrecting and taking advantage of the crisis to spend and tax us into a Wally World of fiscal madness for which we will be paying for decades." But then you go onto say. "So, as Republicans, I say we should cut the spin and give Obama some credit for doing a pretty good job and pulling us through a real crisis in his first 100 days."
HUH?? He's spending like a madman into an insane situation we will paying the debt from for decades, yet gosh, he's so great he's pulled us through a real crisis. You guys are so weird with Obama. You suffer from these odd delusions then continue to speak out both sides of your mouth. It's maddening.
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The U.S. Economy shurnk 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, yet you say we should give Obama "some credit for doing a pretty good job and pulling us through a real crisis in his first 100 days."
That Kool Aid must taste real good, Mark.
Yeah, stop attacking Obama! Or I'm gonna cry, too!
Of course, with guys like this writer, there never will be a good time to point out the short-comings of the worst president ever (Opps, sorry to attack that loser but I can't help it).
Leave Obama alone! So, he's basically sold out the U.S. to China, saddling future generations with massive debt. And, he's also basically stopped enforcing our imm. laws. And, he's appointed people who'll embed their supporters in the federal government and that will affect us for years to come. And, the Census will reapportion Congress in a way that will greatly hurt the GOP and will allow foreign citizens who are here illegally to get even more benefits.
But, despite all those and many more, let's give him a pat on the back for some unspecified reason or something.
~~ http://24ahead.com ~~
You write,"Democrats in Congress two years from now, or another four more years of the Presidency in 2012, I say "Hurrah" Wow. What garbage you are. You failed to mention one good thing Obama has done ebsides outspending Bush 3 to 1 in 100 days. The economy is sinking faster than American journalistic ethics.
McKinnon,
You speculate as to how bad the economic situation was - but don't have proof. "I have a feeling we were a lot closer than most care to think." Wow.
"We don't know how close we came to absolute economic chaos and panic. And I mean people roving the streets with guns and people hiding with canned food in their cellars. Every man and woman for themselves." Sounding a lot like a libtard.
Like we are supposed to believe you.
You seem to forget how New Yorkers helped each other after the crisis following 9/11. If the government stays out of the way... Americans will help Americans - better than any new federally-funded social program can. That is, unless you're a Democrat - then you want to eslave everyone else - united, worshipping our massive & unaccountable federal government.
No one gave Bush a chance before the criticism were flying. Now its Obama's turn.
You may want to pay for Obama's spending... Fine - you can pay off the debt that he's dumping on my family, and every subsequent generation. In fact - RINOs like you were the ones who were crazy about irresponsible policies and spending in Congress - making Democrats look good.
You are the type of republican who would sell out a colleague to gain an advantage with the opposition. (Say, is this the same type of back-stabbing RINO that Sarah Palin suffered from those within McCain's campaign? The kind who would concede Michigan to Obama rather than fight? Coward.)
What's next... sell NYC to Saudi Arabia?
Either start your own party - or the republicans as we know it will go the way of the Whigs. Which may be the best thing. A new party can be born.
You said it best... "I'm a republican squish." That's right. you are... and have little or no respect from those who are willing to stand for what they believe is right. This is one thing that non-US enemies of this country, and those committed to protecting it have in common as well. Rest assured - they (nor we) won't respect you either.
I am not going to become a slave working for this government. And, I suppose, not many other people will either. So give us your money, and enslave your children and grandchildren to paying off the trillions and trillions of $$$ our great new leader has spent...
Kumbaya... kumbaya...
FYI - No "new party" is needed. The Libertarian Party already exists and is a truly conservative party, not in bed and hamstrung by the "religious right," whose policies are frequently on the "political left." I love the Libertarian Party - Let me give you an example why. Consider the War on Drugs: Undeniably a complete failure. The Libertarians stick to their conservative principles of personal freedom and small government. The DEA is "big government," no denying it. The Republicans, in bed with the religious right, cannot afford to do so. If you legalize marijuana and tax it, on the federal level, you leave it up to the states to decide whether they want to spend money on enforcement of laws that don't work or save money and make money through taxation. Many of the southern states would benefit most from such a change because they have the agricultural infrastructure which would be growing the pot. By the way, this is a general example. I don't smoke pot (although I did at one time) and I've been called a MEGA-liberal because of my belief that killing living creatures is wrong, whether you call it war, abortion, or capital punishment. I would support the Libertarians as a second party, however, because I believe in the principle of states' rights and personal freedom.
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It is, indeed, very amazing how Mr Obama has, as you've said stated, "been a pretty cool cucumber", given all the trials that were immediately shoved onto his plate. It's not just the old problems from the previous president, but new ones as well, like the latest Swine Flu issue. Mayhaps, he might just be the one who can fit into the, very dusty, Leader of the Free World shoes.
I think your comment that "Obama and the Democratic Industrial Complex" are "overcorrecting" is the understatement of the century. The immortal bureaucratic leviathans Mr. Obama creates during our economic crisis will long outlive his presidency. More dangerous, though, are Obama's attempts to shift our culture dangerously far to the left.
America's choice is simple: do we want a) a future of government expansion, leading us to economic stagnation or purgatory (at best); or b) a future with a limited role for government, leading us to either economic stagnation, purgatory, or upward economic progress. At least the latter choice gives us, no pun intended, "hope."
It seems almost impossible that a piece that's so short (less than 400 words) could be so confused, but I have to hand it to you, Mark. You've succeeded.
You start by saying that you don't want Obama to fail and that if his policies work you'll say "Hurrah."
You then tell us that you believe Obama's policies will likely "spend and tax us into a Wally World of fiscal madness for which we will be paying for decades," but that Republicans should "give Obama some credit for doing a pretty good job and pulling us through a real crisis."
Your logic has been tortured ever since you attempted to thread the needle of supporting McCain and not wanting Obama to win while simultaneously refusing to work for McCain's campaign because Obama's run was historic.
I think you should get back to your work on the Bush legacy-burnishing project. At least in that effort your song and dance is straight up BS, instead of this meandering mess that about Obama that always seems to trip you up.
Thank you.
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