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Watched this last night.

It gave me some hope that the bitter hostility and venom of the past year could be lessened, that Democrats and Republicans could attempt a clawback of a more respectable and less vitriolic way of disagreeing. That compromise could lead to finally freeing up the country to move forward instead of remaining entrenched and locked in a stalemate.

I thought the mixing of the political party seating was a great idea and alleviated the previous 'camps of enthusiasm and disapproval'.

It was an olive branch and an invitation to the right to work together, I hope the Republicans take that offer up. There were conciliatory tones in the Republican response and I'm hopeful there is a climbing down from the mutual hostility we've seen escalate over the last year.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/25/obama.state.union/?hpt=Sbin

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/26/in-new-civility-era-obama-strikes-polite-tone.html

I thought he delivered it well enough, and the tone of it is something I approved of anyway.

He said a lot of things he would like to do, he didn't really say how he was going to do it. I thought he made some nice 'promises' but I've seen it before, and they rarely ever happen.

The thing is, even in the best of times the president has to fight congress tooth and nail.

Gordon Ramsey was excellent. Those Spanish restaurants had me watering for turbot and I hate sea food.

Overall I found myself strongly supporting Obamas ideas and would hope that perhaps they can inspire a little bipartisan cooperation.


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Frazzled wrote:Gordon Ramsey was excellent. Those Spanish restaurants had me watering for turbot and I hate sea food.

I missed Gordan Ramsey??...Damn it!

It's not an election cycle so I really didn't even pay attention.

That stupid banner on youtube kept asking me to submit questions for it and I was busy watching videos of old arcade game endings.

FITZZ wrote: Overall I found myself strongly supporting Obamas ideas and would hope that perhaps they can inspire a little bipartisan cooperation.


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Frazzled wrote:Gordon Ramsey was excellent. Those Spanish restaurants had me watering for turbot and I hate sea food.

I missed Gordan Ramsey??...Damn it!

Both restaurants were awesome, but the traditional Spanish restaurant won. I think they won it on service which was blindlingly inspired.

Was there a speech or something?

Frazzled wrote:Gordon Ramsey was excellent. Those Spanish restaurants had me watering for turbot and I hate sea food.

I thought the other guys should have won.

State of the Unions are like high school papers, full of BS. Judge on what one does, not on what he says one day out of a year. All State of the Unions are this way, not saying Obama is bad or anything, I just find it odd we place so much on what Presidents say on one single day. Lead with action, not words.

Melchiour wrote:Lead with action, not words. But also with speeches.

The SotU Outlines what the pres whants to do. I think it's cool. For Obama it's also a place to trick Republicans. His "Khorn and Slannesh can be friends, so can we! was hidden with low jabs. It worked. The guy is a political shark, if nothing else. People loved his speech.

My question was why would republicans come out with such bad return speakers. That response was a damn shame. I mean for real. The fake forced prayer hurt to hear. The over the top, doom of America "unless we do something now, we are going to go over the edge!!!11one!" The stilted speech. The Man in the firing lane look. It was painful to watch.

Bachmann Couldn't be bothered to look into the camera. I guess she was talking to her Invisible Friend Lucky the two headed hippo. Although she she yelped that she could save the country 435 million, like that was a big number, I laughed so hard I mannaged to sneeze burp and fart at the same time. Then my wife kicked me out of the room.

sexiest_hero wrote:The SotU Outlines what the pres whants to do. I think it's cool. For Obama it's also a place to trick Republicans. His "Khorn and Slannesh can be friends, so can we! was hidden with low jabs. It worked. The guy is a political shark, if nothing else. People loved his speech.

I guess my thing is what one says they want to do, or will do, is seldom what they do actually do. It happens with all politicians, talk big, look good, and then don't deliver on a number of things. Then next time you talk just promise more. I just can't buy into it anymore, from either side.

Course, given that Obama has at least attempted to do everything he promised when he ran for President (which apparently is the reason people don't like him?), I think his record is a little bit stronger than most politicians

He did not run on what he would try to do, he ran on what he said he would do. Big difference. He said he would accomplish certain things. No points for effort here sorry.

If you elect President Bob because he promised everyone candy, and then said well I tried, everyone has a right to be upset.

It all goes back to politicians make promises and then always "try." You can give credit for trying, I just don't see a point when its status quo.

Melchiour wrote:He did not run on what he would try to do, he ran on what he said he would do. Big difference. He said he would accomplish certain things. No points for effort here sorry.

Unfortunately, being a president isn't as clear cut as being a jedi...

He is attempting to bring about the things he said he would. The opposition are unsurprisingly blocking this. That is fairly clear to anyone.

For those who were actually paying attention (IE, not the majority of the population), he did in fact make promises. Pretty much all of which he promised he attempted to do, and it's not like he was hiding it. Anyone could have gotten on his website and looked it up.

Melissia wrote:Course, given that Obama has at least attempted to do everything he promised when he ran for President (which apparently is the reason people don't like him?), I think his record is a little bit stronger than most politicians

So did Lenin.

Melchiour wrote:If you elect President Bob because he promised everyone candy, and then said well I tried, everyone has a right to be upset.

Only if 'everyone' is ignorant of the fact that Bob doesn't get to just hand out candy, he has to convince about 535 other people to agree with him that everyone should get candy too. And about half of those will vote 'no' on the Everybody Gets Candy proposal because they automatically oppose everything Bob does, despite the fact they pushed identical Candy for All proposals themselves previously.

Melissia wrote:For those who were actually paying attention (IE, not the majority of the population), he did in fact make promises. Pretty much all of which he promised he attempted to do, and it's not like he was hiding it. Anyone could have gotten on his website and looked it up.

He ran as a moderate, and was elected to work on the economy. What he tried to do was not that.

In the words of the Immortal Bard: "How's that change working out? "

Frazzled wrote:

In the words of the Immortal Bard: "How's that change working out? "

Given that the country did not continue it's nose dive into full blown depression as forecast, given the number of industries and businesses that survived... I'd say that Change was just what we needed, wouldn't you?

Lets say you get hired for a job and you say you can do X for them. If you fail to do X guess what, excuses will not fly. You failed. The President should be held to the same or higher standards than anyone else. I am not saying Obama did bad as a President. I like some of what he has done. I am saying that in today's America we give them a pass and look too much at what is promised and not what is delivered. Crying you could not pass what you wanted to because Congress is an excuse. I don't know about where everyone else works, but excuses are not permitted in my professional career.

Melchiour wrote:Lets say you get hired for a job and you say you can do X for them. If you fail to do X guess what, excuses will not fly. You failed. The President should be held to the same or higher standards than anyone else. I am not saying Obama did bad as a President. I like some of what he has done. I am saying that in today's America we give them a pass and look too much at what is promised and not what is delivered. Crying you could not pass what you wanted to because Congress is an excuse. I don't know about where everyone else works, but excuses are not permitted in my professional career.

Surely you must realize that making this sort of comparison is inaccurate.
I'd hazard to guess that you at your job do not have to contend with groups of individuals who make every attempt possible to prevent you from achieving the goals you hope to achieve.

Two points.

1. Yes, I must compete with numerous groups or entities that fight to prevent me from doing my job as required.

2. Presidents know going in what a challenge it is to past laws and measures and still makes adamant promises. Politicians know how hard it is, and know how unlikely it is that what they promise will succeed, yet they make these promises to sway voters. They are not surprised that the other party works against them.

Link title /page name NSFW:

What Has Obama Actually Managed to Get Done?

The president is doing the work of governing, which entails listening to the opposition and brokering compromise. If the major criticism (from right or left) is that he doesn't have a magic wand to make the economy all better of a sudden, well -- I'd say you should scrutinize the critic rather than his subject.

Manchu wrote:The president is doing the work of governing, which entails listening to the opposition and brokering compromise. If the major criticism (from right or left) is that he doesn't have a magic wand to make the economy all better of a sudden, well -- I'd say you should scrutinize the critic rather than his subject.

You misunderstand. My issue is with the grandstanding and promises when they know they will not succeed at them. They say one thing to get votes knowing it may or probably will not happen. I understand how hard it is. My point is that the State of The Union is just more grandstanding BS promising.

Frazzled wrote:

Melissia wrote:For those who were actually paying attention (IE, not the majority of the population), he did in fact make promises. Pretty much all of which he promised he attempted to do, and it's not like he was hiding it. Anyone could have gotten on his website and looked it up.

He ran as a moderate, and was elected to work on the economy. What he tried to do was not that.

Apparently you weren't paying attention to his platform then, because-- for example-- he promised to work on healthcare and even outlined what eventually became the basis for his health care reform after his election.

And then proceeded to do just that, amongst other things.

There is a big difference in saying you will "fight to make something happen" and promising that it "will happen".