lostfan

Iran attacking the US in a state-on-state conflict is not what we're worried about though.

Um. No?

I wonder if Iran was listening when Obama said America will extend its hand to anyone if they were willing to unclench their fist? It was directed pretty much right at them.

There's already a similar rule for contractors, you can't be in a position that could possibly influence the award of contracts to an organization if you just left that organization. There's also pretty strict rules about giving personal gifts, etc. for example you can't give someone a birthday gift if you're a contractor and they're a government employee.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 09:09 AM) I stopped at a gas station saturday night to grab some beer and when i got to the counter I saw Barack Obama t-shirts, Barack Obama playing cards and President Obama trading cards. I just shook my head and laughed. There were Barack Obama air fresheners at the inauguration.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 12:23 PM) I could have sworn we just had a thread a few weeks back with the exact same topic, and the exact same original mis-description. I think we did, back then he was signaling his intent, this time he's actually issuing the order now that he can, correct?

No surprises there. This isn't a cut-and-dry issue though. He isn't closing Gitmo by the way, but the detention facility.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 11:52 AM) Novel idea. Yeah, ya think? That's like a pitcher going "oh, maybe I would stop walking so many guys if I threw strikes instead of trying to make them swing and miss all the time."

Geithner says he wants to be more careful with the remaining 350 billion, and to actually pay attention to where it's going this time. http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/news/geith...dex.htm?cnn=yes

If he can navigate us through the current mess we are in (which goes beyond the economy) with improvement, I'll say he was one of the better presidents we've ever had. If he can navigate us without sustained damage to the country as a whole, then I'll say he was successful. If things get worse (and if the problems can be attributed to him by people other than right-wing talk show hosts), or if he goes against American principles for whatever reason, I'll consider him a failure. Those are my expectations and I say they're reasonable. I expect him to tread water and get us through the mess, I think he's capable of doing more than that though, whether he can remains to be seen.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 10:51 AM) Satellite image of yesterday's crowd. The people really do look like ants. I wonder when that picture was taken? It was really even more packed than that, at least seemed like it from the places I looked. The closer to the Mall you got the harder it became to move. I was off to the right (which is north I believe, and north of Pennsylvania Avenue where I couldn't cross) and I may or may not have been in that pic depending on the time of day.

I really should split it and if I get time to do that at work I will. It's several pages though.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 09:17 PM) My wife is a pack rat, too. I get so annoyed by some of the crap she's kept that I occasionally go through it and donate/toss/sell it. Then I get annoyed that it's me and not her going through the stuff. lol, I didn't even think of that, now I have another, perfectly acceptable reason to b****.

So I got to work and got out of my car only to realize I was wearing two different shoes.

QUOTE (Steff @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 08:05 PM) Maybe you need to read it again because it had nothing to do with what Obama did or didn't do on stage. I know it's the norm to toss s*** back at others and they crawl away but I think it was incredibly ignorant of you to attack BS and Rock's opinion on the prayer and I don't have a problem saying so. I don't know what your point was. But that was mine. I think you really should retract those claws and tone it down some. Please.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 07:51 PM) Ha! Actually I experienced something of that nature when a lady wasnt allowed to ride the CTA bus because she had forgotten her card and she mumbled that this wouldnt be the case when Obama takes charge. Yeah, I know these dumbasses are out there, I just have yet to meet one.

I think he's whip-smart and he will approach each problem independently after asking a lot of other smart people what he should do. This is what he did during the campaign and said he'd do as president, and between the election and now, he seems like he's been following that MO. I think the federal budget won't get any better under him. Some of this will be his fault because of his general feeling towards spending, some of it is because of the economy he inherited.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 07:43 PM) That's a stretch. I could see if he said, "Obama has inspired me to do things I didn't think I could achieve." or "Obama is an example of what happens from hard work - we are able to achieve anything, regardless of race." Instead, he said, "Now I can go to college." I'm not saying this is representative of everyone, not even the majority, but there is a huge amount of the population that do believe this, again from 5-9%. Again, I am behind Obama and I think he is such a strong candidate and I wont' be dissapointed in what he does because almost anything is an improvement over this current regime. I'm speaking of people who expect Obama to part the red sea. I admit I have some dumbass friends, fortunately none of them are quite this dumb. When we were listening to Obama's speech in DC a black guy said "a black man is the boss now, no more excuses fellas, time to step it up." I've been hearing a lot of comments like that actually between people posting excited messages.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 07:37 PM) Obama paused to see if Roberts was going to correct himself. That was kind of funny, actually. What did you think, being there (or did I miss that in the thread?) I wasn't close enough to see it, I was a part of the sea of people, I was watching it on a TV in a bar and reading lips. I was thinking "wtf is there an extra line for, I'm confused?" I (and the crowd) could see "So help me God" clearly though. QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 07:38 PM) Funny moment indeed. lol, yeah. Chalk it up to it being the first time for both of them I guess.

I watched the oath again, and at first I thought it was Obama that blew it both times. Now what it looks like what happened is Obama interrupted Roberts on the first line, which seemed to throw Roberts off, and Roberts gave him the wrong words for the second line. Obama paused after a couple of words and nodded at Roberts to give the correct words.

I'm not really going to go over this again, it's pointless.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 12:56 PM) The energy was palpable from the TV. I saw it on tv from a bar. As soon as he said "so help me God" and lowered his hand you could hear a thunderous cheer from several blocks away. People shouting "Mr. President, dancing in the streets.

I'm typing from my g1 from a restaurant downtown. I didn't get to the mall, that was basically impossible.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 09:59 AM) The long shots of the massive crowds are breathtaking. Even moreso in person. Absolute insanity.

Well, I'm on my way to downtown DC folks. I'll be down there all day as my train doesn't leave until around 7 pm. Wish me luck.