I like Obama a lot and had high hopes for him, but more and more, I am starting thing think of him as a man with high ideals who is too stubborn to back down when he has made a mistake and too naive to be in office. A good President has to be pragmatic and he seems to be anything but.

The American people do not want his health care plan right now and it certainly seems to be the wrong time to spend so much money, but he insists that he is going to push it through. He is not exactly acting like a man of the people.

This is not a good time for America to have a guy on the hot seat who appeases the bad guys and gets tough with the good ones. Three more years of this?

Obama doesn't have the power or authority to push anything through Congress. The only way he could do it is it were very popular with the people, and it isn't. If our representatives in Congress push through something their voters overwhelmingly don't want, they will likely lose their jobs - as well they should.

UG:

While I do appreciate the fact you have been a supporter of Obama, my opinion has always been somewhat different.

I have said, on this forum and others, that Obama is nothing more or less than a sleezy politician from the sewers of Chicago and Illinois politics. Illinois is the state where the governors have a two term limit. The first term in office and the second term in prison.

I have had this opinion since he first started his campaign in Iowa and my opinion has not wavered during the past three years. I am simply hoping the US can withstand another three years until we can vote him out of office.

Sorry to disagree.

I also never thought Obama was presidential. But as a kid who grew up in Henry Hyde;s DuPage County, I knew that Illinois wasn't all Democrats.

Just as I suspected from the get go. Most bought the whole line......and hook, and sinker. Same as it ever was. Same disconnections. Same unawareness.

I didn't believe Obama; still don't.

The pendulum has swung.

First people were crying out for Bush to stop what he was doing, now many of the same ones are waiting for Obama to do something.

Obama comes across more as a public servant, as in a bureaucrat, than a politician. He has all the vices and virtues. The last thing the US needs is hurried decisions by people unqualified to make them.

After Bush, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

i was living in the states for clintons 1st term and i remember thinking of him as a smooth talking shoes salesman, my mother loved him inspite of being able to see him on the campaign trail say whatever people wanted to hear. I was on holiday in LA during the obama campaign and i was stricken by how emotional the black community was about his running, when ever we were on the streets we constantly being bombarded, by black activist screaming "yes we can". imo it is impossible to rational and emotional at the same time. I had a feeling that the fact obama had spent more time writing his books then doing anything in congress and had no real world exp. was going to be completely overlooked and it was. Obama is what he has always been a govt man. the problem is govt. typically creates more problems than it solves. obama is like a man on a boat in the middle of the rapids with no idea how to get himslef to shore.

The last thing the US needs is hurried decisions by people unqualified to make them.

So instead we get someone totally unqualified who takes forever to make a decision which turns out to be bad in the end. This is a guy who last summer was demanding that Congress quickly pass a health care bill before the August recess - in less time than it took him to come up with a name for the new family dog.

double post deleted

i was living in the states for clintons 1st term and i remember thinking of him as a smooth talking shoes salesman, my mother loved him inspite of being able to see him on the campaign trail say whatever people wanted to hear. I was on holiday in LA during the obama campaign and i was stricken by how emotional the black community was about his running, when ever we were on the streets we constantly being bombarded, by black activist screaming "yes we can". imo it is impossible to rational and emotional at the same time. I had a feeling that the fact obama had spent more time writing his books then doing anything in congress and had no real world exp. was going to be completely overlooked and it was. Obama is what he has always been a govt man. the problem is govt. typically creates more problems than it solves. obama is like a man on a boat in the middle of the rapids with no idea how to get himslef to shore.

The best public servants run countries quite well, it depends on your attitude towards government spending.

I've worked for both a government and a major corporation and you would be amazed at the similarities in the balance between the efficient and the incompetent at all levels. It's only the small businessman who can't afford the luxury of mistakes.

I'll rest my judgement of Obama until after he has been in a full four years. It's very difficult to undo all the damage done by the previous Bush administration. And, nobody can work miracles. I can't think of ONE good US president in the past 30 years. Of course I can't think of many good politicians ANYWHERE, or in ANY country.

I'll rest my judgement of Obama until after he has been in a full four years. It's very difficult to undo all the damage done by the previous Bush administration. And, nobody can work miracles.

Blame Bush? If the Bush Administration had gotten it's way back in 2003, we could have avoided this whole economic meltdown:

The New York Times

September 11, 2003

New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

By STEPHEN LABATON

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10—

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken.

A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.

''There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises,'' Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.

Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the companies.

.....

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said

Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee.

''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said.

Be very careful, Koheesti.

You are liable to confuse somebody with facts.

Is writing anything good about GW Bush permitted by forum rules?

Is writing anything good about GW Bush permitted by forum rules?

I wouldn't be surprised if someone whines and cries about it. By posting that article I probably am also somehow implying something bad about someone's wife. These vivid imaginations of theirs lead them to believe all kinds of wacky things. Hence their political views.

What were you guys saying about circle jerks earlier?

What were you guys saying about circle jerks earlier?

Listen, this has nothing to do with your better half so stop it already.

What were you guys saying about circle jerks earlier?

Listen, this has nothing to do with your better half so stop it already.

Sceadungenga has a BETTER half? Why does he keep it hidden so well?

Koheesti likes talking filth about Thai women, something about being married to a farang.

Koheesti likes talking filth about Thai women, something about being married to a farang.

Would you like to prove that accusation with a link? You like to shoot off at the mouth. Time now to back it up.

Post #19.

Post #19.

You're married to a woman? My bad.

Is English your second language?

As a product of one of the world's best education systems you must be a constant embarrassment to your fellow countrymen.

Is English your second language?

As a product of one of the world's best education systems you must be a constant embarrassment to your fellow countrymen.

Hey, I apologize. I don't know you. I can only make assumptions based on your postings. I haven't read anything to lead me to believe otherwise to be honest. It works both ways. You don't know me either yet that doesn't stop you from calling me names ("<deleted>" for one) and attacking me for having different political views than you do. Now you are also attacking my intelligence. Talk about irony.

What were you guys saying about circle jerks earlier?

And I'm not even taking part in the discussion....

LaoPo

What were you guys saying about circle jerks earlier?

And I'm not even taking part in the discussion....

LaoPo

Plenty of room LaoPo, plenty of room.

Is English your second language?

As a product of one of the world's best education systems you must be a constant embarrassment to your fellow countrymen.

Hey, I apologize. I don't know you. I can only make assumptions based on your postings. I haven't read anything to lead me to believe otherwise to be honest. It works both ways. You don't know me either yet that doesn't stop you from calling me names ("<deleted>" for one) and attacking me for having different political views than you do. Now you are also attacking my intelligence. Talk about irony.

OK, accepted.

As you like links find the one where I attacked you personally for your political views. I've avoided addressing you personally for a while now so it will be a long way back if there is one.

Virtually everything you want to know about me is on this board. I contribute to most of the discussion groups here, local interest, food, photography and have a 'blog which the powers that be, in their wisdom, have made hard to find.

Maybe if you contributed to the board in a wider manner I may see you as less of an anonymity spouting right wing politics and more of an expat with the same joys and problems the rest of us have living in Thailand.

You two will be taking long hot showers together next.

Come on in guys. The water is fine!