Let's move on: what is President Obama going to be like?

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

You guys sound like idiots. Calm down.

There's no doubt in my mind that Obama and his fellow libs in congress want european style socialism in America. Zero doubt. Question is, can they get there?

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

They were cheering Bush on as he turned the America and the world into his sandbox. I understand why they particularly don't expect restraint from Obama.

If this is directed at me, you've never been more wrong.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

They were cheering Bush on as he turned the America and the world into his sandbox. I understand why they particularly don't expect restraint from Obama.

Link?

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Venkman

There's no doubt in my mind that Obama and his fellow libs in congress want european style socialism in America. Zero doubt. Question is, can they get there?

OK.

Hey, you have enough supplies in your bunker? That food runs out faster than you think.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

It's not hyperbole if it's true. And I think you hit the nail on the head here. Obama is a far leftist and should the current house leadership remain, there is nothing to stop him from turning the US into France.

I have one suspicion about a Dem Congress and Obama. As stupid as Pelosi and Reid are, I don't think they are 100% on the Obama train. I have a hunch they know he's an empty suit and are looking forward to taking advantage of that, esp. Pelosi.

I'm curious to see if Pelosi tries to run Washington from the Speaker's office. There may be more friction there than you think.

And don't underestimate the motivation of an angry Hillary scorned in the Senate.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by Tex

I have one suspicion about a Dem Congress and Obama. As stupid as Pelosi and Reid are, I don't think they are 100% on the Obama train. I have a hunch they know he's an empty suit and are looking forward to taking advantage of that, esp. Pelosi.

I'm curious to see if Pelosi tries to run Washington from the Speaker's office. There may be more friction there than you think.

And don't underestimate the motivation of an angry Hillary scorned in the Senate.

But what does that mean for the country? Aren't they on the same page policy-wise? Are you saying Pelosi will be more moderate because they're afraid of a 1994 repeat?

[Levin]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Who are the conservative SC justices that are going to retire/die so that Obama can replace them with liberal ones, thereby shifting the balance of power on the bench? I guess I missed that memo.

Ignoramus! SCOTUS decides 80 cases a year. The federal district and federal appellate courts decide thousands and thousands of cases, and more importantly, the appellate courts are the last word on what the law is on a great, great majority of issues. I don't think you clerked at the appellate level, so maybe you wouldn't know this. Also, you're a transactional lawyer, right? In that case, just go to dinner and make a deal. Leave the thinking to us.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Levin

Ignoramus! SCOTUS decides 80 cases a year. The federal district and federal appellate courts decide thousands and thousands of cases, and more importantly, the appellate courts are the last word on what the law is on a great, great majority of issues. I don't think you clerked at the appellate level, so maybe you wouldn't know this. Also, you're a transactional lawyer, right? In that case, just go to dinner and make a deal. Leave the thinking to us.

Thanks for that primer. I guess you make a solid point.

Once Obama takes office, he is going to replace all conservative judges at every level with liberal ones.

It is going to be a fiasco.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Is he going to be more centrist than he was as a Senator? Or is he going to feel like he has a mandate to enact a lot of really liberal policies?

Of course the GOP is going to try and make him the most unpopular president in modern history. But how does the GOP reinvent itself? Will they once more shed their congressional leadership, or are they just going to keep doing the same ol' same ol'?

I think domestic policy and foreign policy are two different things here. As far as foreign policy, it won't be remarkably different that what McCain would do or what Bush is doing. This for the simple reason that once he gets his hands on the levers of power he will find that he has very few options. He may have a different style, and that should be good, but the substance will be the same or nearly. In fact, he as moved pretty far away from statements of his primary campaign and where as people are out of patience with Bush, I believe they will get behind Obama even if in his inaugural address he tells everyone that he has a ten year plan to get us out of the middle east.

Domestic policy is different. Even McCain seems to think that something has to be done about health care so I imagine that we are going to see another huge expenditure that we cannot afford to in some way address this. I am actually very discouraged after the debate last night because everyone seems to agree that with our ballooning deficit and the economy in a tailspin, what we really need most is to spend a bunch more money and also cut taxes. My guess is that at the end of the day Obama and the Democrat congress will raise taxes on those making more than 250K, give some of that money to the middle class in the form of a tax cut, and give the rest of it to the poor in the form of free or subsidized health insurance. Obama also wants to spend 150 billion dollars to "help people at the pump" and subsize corporations who make "green" products. He wants to raise the minmum wage, give a billion dollars to "help get people working."

What will he actually do? Well, he isn't going to have the money to do half of what he is proposing so my guess is those things will be compromised and some will go by the wayside. I think he will do some liberal things but mostly govern from the center. I say this because he gives the appearance of being Clintonesc in having his finger to the wind. Once the boogey man of W is gone, I believe he will find (and I think already knows) that the nation's Bush fatigue is not synonymous with an endorsement of liberal policies. If he oversteps as Clinton did in his first term, he risks losing congress. I don't think he will do that. I think he is too politically astute. Yes the liberal establishment will get thrown some bones early on, some of them symbolic, but in the end I belive he is too smart to go too far down that path. He will appease conservatives by doing nothing dramatic on the war front and will win some over just by being able to talk cogently about why he is doing what he is doing.

So botton line, a few liberal things in the first year, but by 2010 he will be back to the middle and trying not to lose house seats.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Venkman

But what does that mean for the country? Aren't they on the same page policy-wise? Are you saying Pelosi will be more moderate because they're afraid of a 1994 repeat?

No, no. But not even all liberals agree on the best solutions to their own imagined problems. And there's always the issue of who gets the credit.

Parties who own both sides inevitably end up with internal squabbling. I'm curious to see how this one pans out, given that Obama will likely make a terrible executive.