Do you feel better about Obama yet?

[Cruality]

It's a serious question. I now a few of you, humble included are really skeptical about Obama. Have some of his cabinet picks, and his fast and efficient formation of cabinet made you change your mind at all? Do you feel better about his experience and his ability to lead or no?

[Humbled Infidel]

Nope - His picks have just confirmed what I knew already.

[Cruelbreed]

Why do you feel badly about his picks, what's wrong with them?

[Humbled Infidel]

Here's what I'll do with you guys.

I'll discuss Obama with you all 3 months following the day Obama and his administration step into their rolls.

[Humbled Infidel]

Ok guys Obama is in. The Supreme Court won't hear "Obama natural born citizen" case.

Just in case you're interested:

This is posted by CrystalD at Dollards website. (http://patdollard.com/2008/12/breaking-scotus-says-no-wont-hear-obama-natural-born-citizen-case/#comment-339977)

For someone who ran a campaign promising transparency, he has managed to maintain a tight cover on his documented background.


Obama/Dunham marriage license — Not released


Soetoro/Dunham marriage license — Not released


Soetoro adoption records — Not released


Fransiskus Assisi School School application — Released


Punahou School records — Not released


Selective Service Registration — Released – Proven Counterfei (http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/004431print.html)t


Occidental College records — Not released


Passport (Pakistan) — Not released


Columbia College records — Not released


Columbia thesis — Not released


Harvard College records — Not released


Harvard Law Review articles — None (maybe 1, Not Signed)


Baptism certificate — None


Medical records — Not released


Illinois State Senate records — None (Locked up to prohibit public view)


Illinois State Senate schedule — Lost (All other Illinois state senators’ records are intact)


Law practice client list — Not released


University of Chicago scholarly articles — None


...

[Cruelbreed]

I'm quite sure the FBI/CIA have access to this information. If there was questionable information, he wouldn't have been able to run.

This is a pretty silly rumor, he was born in Hawaii Case closed. It's that simple. Born in hawaii, natural born citizen. Now that you think of it, Mccain was born in the panama canal?

[Humbled Infidel]

I'm quite sure the FBI/CIA have access to this information. If there was questionable information, he wouldn't have been able to run.

I'm sure they have the info too. I wonder if this is why both agencies are
panicking right now. Have you heard anything about that?

[Cruelbreed]

Yeah, they're panicking about increasing cyber crime. Panicking about terrorism, and down economy and stipulated loss of power.

[Cruelbreed]

Honestly we'll soon find out the truth, I think Obama will make a fine president and he's legitimate. If he isn't, I suppose i'll have to say you were right but I think that's a really slight chance.

[Humbled Infidel]

I just read an interesting article by Eric Wong

Here is just a short portion of it:

"Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.

Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.

“He has confirmed what our suspicions were by surrounding himself with a centrist to right cabinet. But we do hope that before it’s all over we can get at least one authentic progressive appointment,” said Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America.


OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: “Isn’t there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?”


You can read the rest here. (http://patdollard.com/2008/12/liberals-oh-shit-what-have-we-done/)

[Scott]

Honestly we'll soon find out the truth, I think Obama will make a fine president and he's legitimate. If he isn't, I suppose i'll have to say you were right but I think that's a really slight chance. yup indeed, surely he cant do a worser job then bush.

[Cruelbreed]

I just read an interesting article by Eric Wong

Here is just a short portion of it:

"Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.

Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.

“He has confirmed what our suspicions were by surrounding himself with a centrist to right cabinet. But we do hope that before it’s all over we can get at least one authentic progressive appointment,” said Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America.


OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: “Isn’t there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?”


You can read the rest here. (http://patdollard.com/2008/12/liberals-oh-shit-what-have-we-done/)
Barrack Obama is not president yet, and people are already trying to say he hasn't lived up to his word? All this speculation is almost laughable, the man isn't even our president yet. It seems to me he's choosing the most qualified people for the job, left, democrat or liberal. I wouldn't be surprised if John McCain got an invite to his cabinet.

Obama is not president yet.

[Woodbutcher824]

Barrack Obama is not president yet, and people are already trying to say he hasn't lived up to his word? All this speculation is almost laughable, the man isn't even our president yet. It seems to me he's choosing the most qualified people for the job, left, democrat or liberal. I wouldn't be surprised if John McCain got an invite to his cabinet.

Obama is not president yet.

Yep, I'm just sitting back unemployed, getting ready to crack a beer, waiting for Obama to save me. :nono:

That is what some people are doing, but not me!

I started drinking at 7am this morning!!!:thumbup:

[Woodbutcher824]

Barrack Obama is not president yet, and people are already trying to say he hasn't lived up to his word? All this speculation is almost laughable, the man isn't even our president yet. It seems to me he's choosing the most qualified people for the job, left, democrat or liberal. I wouldn't be surprised if John McCain got an invite to his cabinet.

Obama is not president yet.

All jokes aside.

You are right Obama is not the president yet. But, what has just happened with the Ill governer and Obama's vacant senate seat, is really starting to bother me.

I'm waiting for what is going to happen next.

[shootfirst83]

The problem is that no matter how you vote, you get a politician. They're all the same. They just feed us all bullshit and tell us the world is going to be rainbows and butterflies once they get elected and people end up voting for what sounds the best. No matter who is in office, we get fucked. Our government is a sham. I love my country but I can't stand my government.

(Sorry for the soapbox, I swear I'm not a conspiracy theorist...)

[Woodbutcher824]

(Sorry for the soapbox, I swear I'm not a conspiracy theorist...)

Shootfirst, use the soapbox, voice out your frustrations, that is what we want here.

This is why we need more people speaking out.

By DEANNA BELLANDI and CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writers

CHICAGO – With pressure mounting by the hour for him to resign or face impeachment, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich went back to work Thursday in what an aide described as an attempt to "return to normalcy."

Blagojevich, facing federal charges accusing him of putting President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat up for sale, did his best to ignore, or appear to ignore, the storm swirling around him.

Obama himself called on Blagojevich to step down. Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn urged lawmakers to quickly begin impeachment proceedings. And the state's attorney general threatened a last-resort option of getting a state high court order declaring Blagojevich unfit to serve.

"Illinois is in crisis," Quinn said at the state Capitol.

Blagojevich, meanwhile, returned for a second day to his Chicago office and was in an "upbeat, positive" mood, spokesman Lucio Guerrero said.

"There's a sense of trying to return to normalcy," he said, adding that he doesn't know whether Blagojevich will step down. "That's something that obviously he'll decide on his own."

Allegations that the governor tried to sell or trade Obama's seat form just part of the federal charges that led to his arrest Tuesday. Obama said at a news conference that neither he nor members of his staff were involved in making a deal with the disgraced governor.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan again threatened to go to the state Supreme Court to have Blagojevich declared unfit to hold office if he doesn't resign soon or get impeached.

"Obviously right now in the best of all possible worlds the governor would do what's right for the people of the state of Illinois — he would resign," Madigan, a longtime Blagojevich foe who is considering a run for governor in 2010, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

But "at this point he appears to be staying put" and Madigan wants a signal from lawmakers about whether they will move quickly on impeachment proceedings.

Legislative leaders planned a special session Monday to strip Blagojevich of his power to pick a new U.S. senator, putting the decision in the hands of Illinois voters instead. Lawmakers also prepared to discuss the possibility of impeachment.

Quinn said the impeachment process should begin when the Legislature convenes and if that lawmakers don't take action to remove Blagojevich, he would support Madigan going to the Supreme Court.

"The Legislature should focus on the source of the problem," Quinn said. "The governor is in office and he needs to be removed from office. ... I think that is what the people of Illinois want."

A poll taken since Blagojevich's arrest shows 73 percent of those surveyed support impeachment and 70 percent think he should resign. The poll by Chicago-based Glengariff Group of 600 Illinoisans surveyed Tuesday and Wednesday shows Blagojevich's approval rating at an abysmal 8 percent. The telephone poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.

Four House Democrats sent a letter to their colleagues Thursday seeking support for a motion to impeach Blagojevich. The letter asks members to indicate whether they oppose the idea or support it, or even whether they want to co-sponsor the motion.

Democratic Rep. Jack Franks, one of the governor's fiercest critics, said he hopes Madigan will soon make clear that the House will launch impeachment proceedings unless Blagojevich resigns.

"It would be music to the ear of everyone in this state," Franks said.

Franks said he has gotten "a deluge" of calls from lawmakers wanting to be part of any impeachment committee.

Blagojevich's lawyers insist he is innocent and stress that he still has important work to do for the state of Illinois.

The White House on Thursday said President George W. Bush finds Blagojevich's alleged behavior "astounding."

It was unclear what incentive the governor has to give up his office.

A resignation might make him appear guilty. The office also gives him a certain amount of clout, which can help him raise money for his defense.

Republican Sen. Christine Radogno said it's possible Blagojevich would use his resignation as a bargaining chip with prosecutors and agree to step down in exchange for leniency.

Blagojevich's decision to show up for work Wednesday and Thursday like it was another day at the office angered much of the state's political establishment. The prospect that the second-term Democratic governor might still try to appoint someone to the Senate also loomed.

Guerrero said Thursday he didn't know whether Blagojevich had a plan for the seat.

"Not that he has shared with me," the spokesman said.

On Tuesday, FBI agents arrested Blagojevich at his home and took him away in handcuffs. Prosecutors released a thick document that included excerpts of wiretapped conversations in which the governor allegedly schemed to enrich himself by offering to sell Obama's Senate seat for campaign cash or a lucrative job inside or outside government.

They also allege he pressured the Tribune Co. to fire editorial writers at the Chicago Tribune after several negative editorials about Blagojevich.

Blagojevich is charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit bribery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and 10 years, respectively.

More than 24 hours after the arrest, Obama joined other prominent Democrats in calling for Blagojevich's resignation.

"The president-elect agrees with Lt. Gov. Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Asked whether Obama supports a special election to pick his successor, Gibbs said Obama believes the Illinois General Assembly should consider how to fill the Senate seat and "put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois."

Senate Democrats were more pointed in a letter to the governor: They "insist that you step down" and not name anyone to replace Obama. An appointment by a new governor would "be the most expeditious way for a new senator to be chosen and seated in a manner that would earn the confidence of the people of Illinois and all Americans," wrote Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and the party's second-ranking leader, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois.

They suggested the Senate might reject anyone chosen by Blagojevich. The Constitution gives the Senate authority to refuse to allow a member to be sworn in.

When Illinois lawmakers meet Monday, they'll consider changing state election law to fill Senate vacancies by special election, rather than leaving the decision to the governor.

Quinn, the lieutenant governor, strongly criticized that approach, saying it would cost millions and leave Illinois with just one senator for months. He said Blagojevich should be quickly removed so he can take over and make the appointment.

Brown, the spokesman for the House speaker, noted that any change in the law would go to the governor's desk, where Blagojevich could let it sit and still pick a senator.

"Despite our best efforts, the governor could play hide the ball. That is an inescapable reality," Brown said. "I'm hoping that's not the case."

Brown said the speaker hasn't ordered staff to begin researching impeachment but that individual legislators are doing so. The speaker's office also compiled a memo earlier this year on arguments for impeaching the governor.


This is too fucked up. Money talks, bullshit walks.

[Humbled Infidel]

Norm is the one to talk with about this. He lives in that state.

[Cruelbreed]

Norm is the one to talk with about this. He lives in that state.

Where is Norm? Been a while

[Humbled Infidel]

Where is Norm? Been a while

He was online about an hour ago. Norm has a bad back injury. So he's not been online much lately. But he did say his back is still not good but it is getting better.

[Woodbutcher824]

He was online about an hour ago. Norm has a bad back injury. So he's not been online much lately. But he did say his back is still not good but it is getting better.

Been there on the back injury, had a wall fall on me. Major surgery, 3 vertebrae fused together in 03, out commission for a long year. I can tell you when it going to rain or bad weather is coming before the weather person.

Feel better Norm!

[Cruelbreed]

Feel better Norm, miss you bud.

[Humbled Infidel]

Ok Tavarez are you ready for this conversation now? Or do we really need to?