Change is Coming

[whitesoxfan101]

As much as I would like to see Universal Health Care, I doubt if it ever will get passed.

 

I would be shocked if we ever have Universal Health Care.

[GoSox05]

I'm fairly certain he was referring to transparency. To a degree I think that will be true but it's not like Obama's campaign was an open book to media. I just want accountability. Too many scandals were able to be crushed by Bush hiding behind executive privilege. Breaking the law is no privilege.

 

 

 

Yeah this is what I meant. Well said.

[Rex Kickass]

His first points of business will be:

 

Lobbyist reform

EFCA (which I think is an important step for working people to get the seat at the table they deserve)

Lily Ledbetter Act

Middle Class tax cut.

Some (possibly symbolic) withdrawal from Iraq.

[The Critic]

i agree with you guys on the energy stuff, and breaking the addiction on foreign oil...but that type of stuff is dependent on technology, so to put a time frame on it isnt reasonable IMO....i understand he can help to redistribute more funding in those areas, but those are things that will certainly take a much longer time than obama's term (and probably longer than 10 years) to be implemented, even if all the new technologies necessary are developed right now

REDISTRIBUTION OF FUNDING IS SOCIALISM!!!!!

 

Add me to the list of people who want to see alternative energy sources as a priority.

It's been way too long in coming as it is, I'd love to see some progress on that front really soon.

[Balta1701]

REDISTRIBUTION OF FUNDING IS SOCIALISM!!!!!

 

Add me to the list of people who want to see alternative energy sources as a priority.

It's been way too long in coming as it is, I'd love to see some progress on that front really soon.

A significant amount of progress has been made already with the government basically standing in the way. If they start helping rather than obstructing...

[whitesoxfan101]

I have a general question. Why did so many celebs endorse Obama? I understand some have more money than God, but when you look at the athletic landscape, it seems like the majority wanted McCain in office. Just curious.

 

Celebrities are like college students politically. Some are educated on the issues, but a lot of them do what everybody else is just to look cool.

Edited November 5, 2008 by whitesoxfan101

[DukeNukeEm]

I have a general question. Why did so many celebs endorse Obama? I understand some have more money than God, but when you look at the athletic landscape, it seems like the majority wanted McCain in office. Just curious.

The bleeding heart liberalism that's a holdover from the pre-Dean Democratic Party still brings in some votes. It's been largely abandoned by the party though.

[BigSqwert]

So, Obama is the next president... what REALLY gets done. Not what he wants to get done, what actually gets done.

 

This is interesting:

 

Dear Clients, Colleagues and Friends,

 

After the largest outpouring of American voters in a century (136.6 million), the United States has elected a new President. He is Senator Barack Obama and he has a mandate.

 

While the last votes are still being tallied, the results are clear: Democratic Party nominee Obama beat his Republican Party challenger by more than seven million votes, and secured more than 52 percent of all the popular votes cast. In the all-important Electoral College, his victory was a landslide. While 270 Electoral votes are needed to win the Presidency, Sen. Obama won at least 349 (at this writing, two states remain too close to call). He won states in all regions of the country – many that have voted solidly Republican for decades. And Sen. Obama built his victory on a multi-racial coalition that was unprecedented in its organizing and fundraising prowess. This coalition has proven its power and will almost certainly be mobilized again and again to achieve the policy objectives of the Obama Administration.

 

The Obama wave swept other Democratic Party candidates to victory as well. Democrats gained a commanding position in the U.S. Senate, gaining at least five seats with three races still undecided. But they fell short of the 60-vote majority necessary to stop Republican filibusters (a procedural means to halt passage of legislation) when issues split along strict party-lines. Similarly, Democrats expect to add 20 seats to their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, the largest Democratic Party margin in a generation. Democrats also make up 30 of the nation’s 50 state Governors, an eight-seat swing from 2004.

 

After an intensive and expensive (more than $5.3 billion was spent) election process, American voters have answered the question: “Who’s next?” But another question emerges: “Now what?” What policies are likely to come from President-elect Obama’s Administration once he is inaugurated in January?

 

Hill & Knowlton’s Washington, D.C Public Affairs team has analyzed information from President-elect Obama’s campaign and statements made by congressional leadership to prepare this post-election preview of some of the expected priorities of the incoming Administration and the 111th Congress. We hope you find our report informative and encourage you to share it with others.

 

We will keep a close eye on the President-elect’s transition team to identify opportunities for our clients to engage in the process that will emerge during the first months of the new Administration. But one crucial political reality is clear today: President Obama will govern through the people. Our clients must understand that traditional Washington lobbying alone will not yield success – building a broad base of support at the local and state level will be essential for persuasive advocacy.

 

Click here to view the report

[dasox24]

I think alternative energy needs to be addressed as one of the 1st things, as do many of you it seems. Also, I put re-vamping our education system before things like the Iraq war and health care. I mean, health care is important, but not implementing a universal health care system. Some sort of other changes can be addressed with health care, but those would probably come 4th on my list. Universal health care just doesn't work and the cost is running countries dry (like Canada). They don't have the money for it, but it's about damn near impossible to scrap the system once it's in place b/c of all the people that think it's needed. They're too scared of the alternative of going back to a privatized system. But, education is one thing that needs to be and can be changed. Not sure how to do it, but that's why I'm not the man in charge. Obama and congress have to come up with something. Unfortunately, that seems to be about the last thing on Obama's agenda.

Edited November 5, 2008 by dasox24

[bmags]

I still doubt that our education system can be "re-vamped" at the federal level. Giving more funding for charter schools, fine, but it's using a chainsaw to cut out a paper snowflake.

 

That said, I think people are underestimating Health Care reform. Obama has won convincingly and has a majority. Now think to when Bush 2 gets in office. He won on a highly contested, incredibly close election and did not have a congressional majority. He pushed more of his policies through in that that term, REGARDLESS of 9/11 because the domestic policies had nothing to do with that, than in his second term with the majorities.

[Soxy]

I think they're also going to have to do something about the rapidly rising cost of higher education.

[RockRaines]

I think they're also going to have to do something about the rapidly rising cost of higher education.

Thats a great point Soxy.

[bmags]

I think they're also going to have to do something about the rapidly rising cost of higher education.

 

I hope. I live in a state that has the worst tax effort towards higher education in the country. Tuition has raised way over inflation rate for 4 straight years. They are also planning on cutting the newspaper that is the biggest reason we have the #1 journalism school in the country. This state is pathetic...if I could reiterate.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Obama Team Weighs What to Take On First

 

With the economy in disarray and the nation’s treasury draining, President-elect Barack Obama and his advisers are trying to figure out which of his expansive campaign promises to push in the opening months of his tenure and which to put on a slower track.

 

Mr. Obama repeated on Saturday that his first priority would be an economic recovery program to get the nation’s business system back on track and people back to work. But advisers said the question was whether they could tackle health care, climate change and energy independence at once or needed to stagger these initiatives over time.

 

The debate between a big-bang strategy of pressing aggressively on multiple fronts versus a more pragmatic, step-by-step approach has flavored the discussion among Mr. Obama’s transition advisers for months, even before his election. The tension between these strategies has been a recurring theme in the memorandums prepared for him on various issues, advisers said.

 

“Every president is tempted to take on too much,” said one Obama adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “On the other hand, there’s the Roosevelt example and the L.B.J. example, which suggest an extraordinary president can do an awful lot. So that’s the question: Is it too risky for the president to be ambitious?”

.....

The argument for an aggressive approach in the mold of Franklin D. Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson is that health care, energy and education are all part of systemic economic problems and should be addressed comprehensively. But Democrats are discussing a hybrid strategy that would push for a bold economic program and also encompass other elements of Mr. Obama’s campaign platform, even if larger goals are put off.

 

One could argue that a "New Deal" focused squarely on Energy Independence could kill two birds with one stone. Imagine a massive work project building a new energy grid and erecting wind turbines coast to coast.

[Flash Tizzle]

I think they're also going to have to do something about the rapidly rising cost of higher education.

Wait, doesn't everyone have their parents pay for their education?

[DukeNukeEm]

Do you think Obama will abolish the ridiculous Axis of Evil?

[The Critic]

Do you think Obama will abolish the ridiculous Axis of Evil?

I hope so.

Nothing more pointless than trying diplomacy with a nation you officially refer to as evil.

[bmags]

abolish all token vocab words that made it look like we were doing something. Goodbye color coded terror alert system

[LosMediasBlancas]

With so many huge issues needing to be resolved, Obama has an almost, almost impossible task at hand. If/when he is unable to fix everything overnight, opponents will be all over him with the 'see, told you he was bad idea' attitude. This country is in panic mode and extremely impatient over a lot of issues. The economy being at the top. He needs to work quickly and swiftly.

 

Unfortunately, I see a Rep reclaiming the throne is 2012 and 2016. I hope I'm wrong.

[lostfan]

Do you think Obama will abolish the ridiculous Axis of Evil?

Obama, in general, has a hell of an opportunity when it comes to diplomacy, I haven't seen this much of an outporing of pro-American sentiment across the globe since 9-11 and I keep reading over and over things like "now THIS is why America is such a great country!" Granted, some of them seem to be under the false impression that Obama's going to drop some of the strategic objectives that they didn't like just because he isn't Bush, they have to remember he is still the U.S. president. What's going to change there is the tone (so yeah, no more Axis of Evil type statements) and willingness to use diplomacy in general.

[Balta1701]

abolish all token vocab words that made it look like we were doing something. Goodbye color coded terror alert system

I'm pretty sure that said goodbye on November 2, 2004.

[HuskyCaucasian]

A Weekly YouTube Address?

3rd to Last Graff:

"We're entering a whole new day of politics in America," says Simon Rosenberg, president of the liberal NDN think tank, which has studied the youth movement in American politics. He raises the possibility that Obama may substitute the weekly presidential radio addresses that began with Ronald Reagan with a weekly appearance on YouTube.

 

Not that the audio from the YouTube address couldn't be used on the radio, but the idea is very interesting.

[NorthSideSox72]

A Weekly YouTube Address?

3rd to Last Graff:

 

 

Not that the audio from the YouTube address couldn't be used on the radio, but the idea is very interesting.

I think we are seeing a lot of indications that Obama plans to do some significant rebranding of the Presidency. Hopefully, he can put some real actions behind the marketing.

 

[HuskyCaucasian]

I think we are seeing a lot of indications that Obama plans to do some significant rebranding of the Presidency. Hopefully, he can put some real actions behind the marketing.

almost a... modernization in a way. Not just the office of the presidency, but I think you'll see modernization across government.

 

And hey, the guy uses a Mac, so that's a start!

Edited November 11, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[bmags]

Well then do you know what I want? A question hour. Virtually every parliamentary system has an hour ONCE A WEEK where the prime minister or leader comes to the legislature and answers any and all questions. It has different variations of names, but most have one.

 

On the other hand, we used to have something like this IMO, when I think Kennedy became president, but maybe it was Ike, they had weekly press conferences. Now that is being replaced with the spokesman, and the president has Q&As less and less, and there's been a lot of manipulation. I think Obama should have a weekly press conference or a question hour.