[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: Kid in a candy store (click to view)
Date: November 10, 2008
President Obama will have very little to curb his political appetite once he takes office. For the first time in over a decade, the Democrats will control not only the White House, but both branches of the US Congress as well.

Obama has already laid out a few of his first immediate priorities- reverse the federal ban on stem cell research, implement the SCHIP plan for subsidized childrens' healthcare, lift limitations on foreign aid to oversees abortion programs, and reintroduce new limits on oil exploration in certain areas of the American coasts and wilderness.

And from there, who knows.

[roger-roger]

Im glad to see he wants to lift research bans, thats is a massive shot in the arm for science.

[Voyager]

First off, there aren't any research bans to lift; the only thing he's planning on lifting is a ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, and frankly, with the adult stem-cell work going on now, that's firmly in the OBE catagory.

Second, on the original topic, given the transition staff he's building, I suspect he's going to try for a Clinton-type run, minus the gory sex scandals. Problem is, he doesn't have the tech build-up that Clinton did. That, and this is only a guess based off of the make-up of the transition team.

That's the thing that bugs me about the incomming president; noone really knows what he wants to do. Is he going to be a hard liberal, the way his short voting record seems to indicate, or was that just politics, to keep in the good graces of the party? Is he going to be a left-of-center moderate, the way he ran in the campaign, or was that just politics, to get our votes? Does anyone know?

I read about a small uproar this monring about how his adgenda got taken down from his transition site recently. Why is it that this is even an issue? Why is it that after two years of campaign, we don't have his adgenda seared into our brains? "Read my lips, no new taxes." You have three seconds to name the former office holder. Now, who here didn't know who I was talking about by the end of "read my lips"?

So, what is Obama's adgenda?

[the_butler23]

Well, now they can use the stem cells from amniotic fluids that act the same as embryonic AND they aren't controversial either. That ought to make the embryonic stem cells kinda obsolete...

[mcfflyer]

J.J., Obama does't quite have free rein. It takes 60 members of the US Senate to override any filibuster (!), and I believe there are only something like 57 Democrats in the Senate. Still, he's almost there, and there are some moderate Republicans, so he should get most of what he wants.

Now, maybe the country I had stolen from me by the past administration, will be given back to all of us.

Lee Hower
Sacramento, California

[dog77_1999]

mcfflyer wrote:

J.J., Obama does't quite have free rein. It takes 60 members of the US Senate to override any filibuster (!), and I believe there are only something like 57 Democrats in the Senate. Still, he's almost there, and there are some moderate Republicans, so he should get most of what he wants.

Now, maybe the country I had stolen from me by the past administration, will be given back to all of us.

Lee Hower
Sacramento, California

Just some advice, don't ever give out your real name or location on the internet.

[Psudo]

mcfflyer wrote:

I believe there are only something like 57 Democrats in the Senate.

If you count the two independents that caucus with the Democrats, you're exactly right.

[Thanos]

Obama might be a political liberal but he's consistently displayed a mature, pragmatic, and (dare I say it) an almost conservative temperment. I highly doubt that he's going to behave in any sort of a reckless manner, and even if he did there's no way he'd even come close to replicating the damage done to America by the woefully inadequate impulses and instincts of George W. Bush. He could nationalize and socialize the entire health care system, the entire financial sector, and the entire auto sector on his first day in office and it wouldn't even come close to equalling the debt and deficit racked up by the 6 years of Republican irresponsibility from 2000 to 2006 (and note that I don't even include the war spending to be irresponsible or unjustifiable).

Republicans can whine and fearmonger all they want but they have no grounds whatesoever after their own dismal performance to criticize the economic or financial plans of the incoming government. Until they serious again about small government philosphically again and champion spending cuts again they should just keep their damn mouths shut and get out of the way.

[Zipperfish]

Thanos wrote:

Obama might be a political liberal but he's consistently displayed a mature, pragmatic, and (dare I say it) an almost conservative temperment. I highly doubt that he's going to behave in any sort of a reckless manner, and even if he did there's no way he'd even come close to replicating the damage done to America by the woefully inadequate impulses and instincts of George W. Bush. He could nationalize and socialize the entire health care system, the entire financial sector, and the entire auto sector on his first day in office and it wouldn't even come close to equalling the debt and deficit racked up by the 6 years of Republican irresponsibility from 2000 to 2006 (and note that I don't even include the war spending to be irresponsible or unjustifiable).

Republicans can whine and fearmonger all they want but they have no grounds whatesoever after their own dismal performance to criticize the economic or financial plans of the incoming government. Until they serious again about small government philosphically again and champion spending cuts again they should just keep their damn mouths shut and get out of the way.

The Republicans have an excuse for that one. It turns out Dubya was...gasp...a liberal!

[Sucros]

He was the worst of both worlds. Cut taxes like a conservative, spent like a liberal. Good for getting elected, bad for actually running a modern economy.

That's what's concerning, is Obama has the ambition to do some major things, but both spending and tax levels are at unsustainable Bush levels. He has a choice of cutting spending, raising taxes, or running the economy further into the ground.

Guess which one is the most politically expedient?

[Voyager]

Thanos wrote:

[...]even if he did there's no way he'd even come close to replicating the damage done to America by the woefully inadequate impulses and instincts of George W. Bush. [...]

Eh. I figure a war with a nuclear power would do it in perhapse all of five minutes.

Never underestimate just how far we can fall.

[sidd2600]

Obama's road is a tough one, and an easy one at the same time.

My family's from the south side of Chicago and very political (Union lawyers, woo!) so I've been following this Obama cat for some time. He's never had a serious political opponent until the presidential election, so he's bulletproof in a lot of ways many candidates aren't. But with today's media, will this translate to political success?

This, combined with the mandate of the Democratic party, will indeed give him the candy store to play with. However, this election proved more in the media then it did in the people, at least at this stage of the game.

People are already calling for impeachment for a man yet to take office, drunken rednecks talking about someone killing Obama are deathly serious in their tone, and the troubles along the way are many.

I don't think Obama being elected has done anything tangible to heal any kind of divided in a red state yet, but this is very early in the game, no?

Just some commentary from one of the few liberal Texans that lives outside of Austin.

[CaliShark]

The question is realistically: How much of a victory dance will Obama take against his opponents?

Obama is my president, and while I do not agree with many of his policies, I would like to be represented as well. Does Obama plan to represent all Americans, or just the ones who elected him?

I'm not supporting or defending Dubya here, I'm just worried that the incredible animus against "Evangelicals" in the media will give birth into something truly horrible now that the religious conservatives are gone.

[sidd2600]

Hahaha, you think the religious conservatives are gone. As someone who lives square in the bible belt, they aren't. Now they feel they are on even more of a mission from god, Blues Brothers style. Expect a hypocritical disparity on what an activist judge means, I can see a lot of the bible belt states that have elected judges declaring some insanity.

[chainsaw]

CaliShark wrote:

Does Obama plan to represent all Americans, or just the ones who elected him?

I can't not poke in on this one: It's not the president's job to represent anyone. That's the job of the House of Representatives. His job is to run the Executive Branch as well as he can.