Obama Wins! - So What's Next?

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I would actually like to have a third option. Of course, there are already numerous other parties out there (Libertarian and Green being the most well known), but it is unlikely for any of them to gain traction. Actually it's hard for any new party to gain traction as both the Dems and Reps always try to position their candidates as moderates. The current Bush is more of the exception that the rule in this regard in that he is far to the right. It's too early to judge Obama at this point, but Clinton was a left-leaning moderate, and the first Bush was a right-leaning moderate. The problem is that there is no room for a moderate third party - the Dems and Reps are already filling that space. A new party would be seen as either revolutionary or reactionary and therefore unlikely to gain support.

 

Aldeth - That's a good point, and it's certainly one worth making regarding the problems with trying to craft a thrid party. But I think the whole left/right dialogue is part of the empty rhetoric of the last decade (even longer) that has dominated our politics and that I'm referring to. As a result, some voters have looked at candidates within that context and not about who is competent enough to govern. I don't think the average voter really cares a whole lot about ideology at this point - they can't afford to. Now they are looking for solutions, rather than who's out in right or left field.

The last 8 years have been all about ideology and not about the ability to govern effectively. GWB is leaving behind the biggest mess I've seen the country in during my lifetime. As you commented, Aldeth, generally policy falls somewhere in the middle, because most people want moderate, competent goverment. I think that's pretty much where Obama will turn-up on the politcal spectrum, but he will not worry about ideology for the most part, but instead will work to achieve a synergy of policy solutions.

I'm not THAT arrogant....

 

Yes you are

Sorry couldn't help myself.

 

...well...I didn't think I was as bad as __.

 

Well so far I've actually been a little bit impressed by Obama. I say that because he seems to be changing his mind on many things. I don't remember who it was who said "You campaign with poetry, but govern with prose" knew what he was talking about.

However, the one thing that is disturbing me is the effectivness of his transition team. It seems like just yesterday everyone was screaming for the head of "Joe the Plumber" because he wasn't paying his taxes. Now Obama nominates someone to be head of the US Treasury and this bozo hasn't filed or paid his taxes in years. Now considering this guy will be in charge of the IRS I find this unbelievable.

I don't blame Obama, as I don't believe any one person is capable of knowing everything, but doesn't he have anyone doing due diligence and background checks on his people?

I'm further troubled, that it is being whitewashed as an honest mistake. This type of honest mistake could land myself in jail. What type of an idiot doesn't know if he has filed his tax return?

 

Since you clearly haven't bothered to check your facts on this, just passing on some nonsense you heard somewhere, I'll reserve further comment until you do.

I can see this is going to be a very, very long 8 years for you Snook if something as insignificant as this finds you "troubled."

 

What are those many things? I know that he has had to rethink a few things because of how jacked-up the economy is and now the ME policy is in shambles (along with many other things), but I really don't see that much there that he's changing his mind on. For instance I know that torture is out, and that the Rule of Law doesn't mean whatever the President and his cronies at the DoJ say it is. The Law may actually mean something to Obama.

 

@ DR - Yes, it appears that Snook doesn't know what he's talking about. I wasn't aware of it at all, but a quick google search painted a much different picture than Snook is trying to present. Geithner has filed his returns, and did pay taxes, but omitted an item which many people overlook.

Having said that, I agree that the issue is a bit of a concern. Granted, the error appears to be very common, and I could overlook it for anyone else, but a mistake like this for someone who is going to be head of the Treasury Department (which oversees the IRS) doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the man.

 

I agree. That is the one, and only, troubling aspect of the situation. But then, if this is the biggest skeleton in the closets of any of Obama's cabinet appointments to date*, we're in pretty damn good shape.

* Hillary Clinton conspiracy theories notwithstanding.

 

Haha, it's funny that the only part of the economy that nobama & his dem cronies have helped is the gun industry.

Since the election they have sold more in 2 months than the previous year.
It has been so busy that the ATF ran out of 4473's (the form you fill out when you purchase a firearm) & had to allow gunshops to photocopy existing stocks.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/010609atf_f4473shortage-notice.htm

Of course, being from the ATF it has a grammatical error.

That should be "in its entirety" not "in it's entirety"

 

So have I, but I have to admit it does look more embarassing on an official document from a country that has English as its native language

 

What makes it even worse is that this is from an organization that has tried to put people in jail for spelling errors in the recent past.
They claim that a misspelling on an official 4473 form is a deliberate attempt to commit fraud by providing false information to the government.


On the obama helping gun sales
http://www.downrange.tv/artman2/publish/shepherd/392.shtml

Also brings up a point that a lot of animal conservationists don't wont to talk about

We, as gun buyers, already pay an addtional 11% on all of our firearm & ammo purchases yet some politicians still want us to pay more.

 

Just imagine, and so many people in the gun lobby thought an Obama presidency would be a danger to them and did so much to prevent him from being elected. It's turning out to be a fine business opportunity, don't you think? I hope he at least got a Christmas card from them.

It depends on what amount of the damage to the endangered species etc is caused by hunting - or, in other words, by people using guns. It's only proper that the parties responsible for the damage would pay for it; hunters have an additional stake of, after all, needing wildlife for their pastime. As far as I know hunting groups here (you need to be enrolled in the hunters and fishers' union here, otherwise you are considered a poacher) do a lot of things to take care of the game populations - i.e. leaving food during the winter, making shelters, that kind of thing. I'm not sure how hunting is regulated in the US - it doesn't make much sense for someone who buys a firearm for self-defense to pay as much as an active deer hunter.

On the other hand, I wonder how much of the funds paid for wildlife preservation/protection are paid by taxes levied on major polluters - afaik pollution is the main threat to many endangered species. Some of their taxes should be going towards environmental protection efforts, too.

 

Grammatical errors? Have you ever listened to our current prez? Sometimes he doesn't even sound like native of this planet. But people making common grammatical erros, even GWB, is no big deal. Everyone makes them (and I make my share). It's really the content that matters. Still, I don't mean to misunderestimate the value of good grammar.

 

Splunge i'm suprised by you, DR i understand to allow a dem to get away with anything but you i figured better of.
As even wiki admits

So to summise, He signed paperwork for YEARS saying he would pay the taxes & then did not. Now any, even barely competent, tax preparer could have spotted this HUGE error yet the man we are supposed to believe has the knowledge to lead the treasury dept missed it ? FOR YEARS??
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb011309d.pdf

He also didn't pay the owed taxes until obama expressed enterest in appointing him treasury secretary.

Now on another point, go back 4 years to bushs 2nd inauguration, the media & the dems lambasted him for having the temerity to "waste" ~$43 million on the inauguration.
They could provide armor for X number of soldiers & X million number of disease inoculations with that money.
Yet now obama & the dems are going to spend $150 million+ on this inauguration & there isn't a peep from the liberal press is there?
Just goes to show the bias against anything a republican or conservative does in this country today.

 

Two things, martaug, you really have no business doing: correcting people on their grammar (do you even read your own posts?), and making little passive-aggressive potshots that even a brief skimming of my past posts would reveal to be baseless.

Have a nice day.

 

martaug, I looked at several sources, but relied mainly on the NY Times article that wiki seems to be referring to.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/us/politics/14geithner.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

So the fact that he paid state and federal taxes means exactly what I said initially - he filed his returns, and paid state and federal income taxes, but on the advice of his accountant, didn't pay the payroll taxes.

Again, as I said, it appears that many people make the same mistake.

He signed a form without actually understanding it's implications. When you install a video game, and you get to the part where you have to acknowledge that you read the license agreement, do you actually read it? That's similar to the situation here. Not an excuse, but understandable, especially when he's relying on his accountant's advice.

The only thing that makes this disturbing is that I expect better from someone who wants to run Treasury.

Really, martaug, if you're going to go through life relying on wiki as your sole source of information, you're going to get into trouble.

 

Oh i dont splunge as wiki is notoriously liberal.
You would have to be an IDIOT not to realise when you sign a form stating you are responsible for paying your own FICA that you have to pay your own fica.

DR, you are one to talk, i was making an observation about an organisation that has tried to jail people over just these types of clerical/grammar errors. So Yuck Fou with a splintery 2X4

 

Again, if your tax accountant tells you that there's nothing to worry about, then you're not an idiot. Just a bit naive.

Yep, that's "class" without the "cl".