Hey, remember about six months ago, when President Obama told us that if Congress didn’t pass the stimulus bill, it would be a huge disaster and we’d go into the greatest depression since the last one? The unemployment rate would go all the way up to 8.5%. Why, they had to do something right then and there. They had to spend $787,000,000,000 to rescue the economy!
Obama got what he wanted, but six months later it doesn’t seem to be working. Unemployment is near 10%, the highest it’s been in 25 years, and the stimulus has done a whole lot of nothing to fix the economy. So much for whipping everybody into a panic if it wasn’t passed immediately, immediately, immediately.
Which is why it’s interesting that this little bit of audio has surfaced. It’s Obama on the Randi Rhodes Show in Nov. 2004, followed by NBC’s White House correspondent Chuck Todd speaking last March:
Here’s the lovely bit:
Obama: “When you rush these budgets that are a foot high, and nobody has any idea what’s in them, and nobody has read them…”
Rhodes: “14 pounds, it was.”
O: “Yeah, and it gets rushed through without any clear deliberation or debate. Then, these kinds of things happen. And I think that this is in some ways what happened to the Patriot Act. I mean, you remember, there was no real debate about that. It was so quick after 9/11 that it was introduced that people felt very intimidated by the administration.”
And now Chuck Todd is telling us that Obama’s strategy is to push through several things at the same time — let’s say, cap and trade a huge tax on energy, universal health care European-style health-care rationing, and card check eliminating the secret ballot for union elections. Obama wants to rush all this stuff through without any clear deliberation or debate, and he’s trying to intimidate anybody who stands in his way.
Past Obama and Present Obama find themselves on opposite sides yet again. Why don’t you just shut up, Past Obama?
Related posts:
- Present Obama Suffers Another Outlandish Attack from Past Obama During the neverending 2008 presidential campaign, Senator Barack Hussein Obama...
- Past Obama Continues to Vex and Bedevil Present Obama As if Present Obama doesn’t have enough to worry about...
- Past Obama & Present Obama in CIA Clash As you may know, for some time now here at...
- Once Again, Past Obama at Odds with Present Obama During appearances last week in Arizona and New Mexico, President...
- President Obama Suffers Unprecedented Attack That Has Happened Before Last night, during President Obama’s historic speech on health care...
He acted stupidly.
I passed a sign on US-15 on Sunday, saying that the repaving job was funded by the stimulus act. There clearly hadn’t been any repaving of the road within the last year (at least). I sincerely hope that it will be done soon. I’ll pass that way again in a couple weeks, so I’ll let you know. I did read somewhere (maybe even here) that $300,000 had been spent on signs that credited the stimulus act for projects. So if you make signs, I guess your job is safe…
I think that most members of Congress who passed the Patriot Act believed it to be necessary at the time. They may have felt pressure to vote for it, but that was probably more from the fact that the general public (voters!) would have freaked than because of any fear of the Bush administration. I get the feeling that Congress is much more under the thumb of Obama than they ever were of Bush. Regardless of your political leanings, you have to acknowledge that the media and Congress roll over for Obama.
And once again…NOBODY in the MSM will say word one against The One.
Obama’s motorcade passed by my office yesterday afternoon. One of the policemen stopped a coworker of mine who was leaving for an appointment.
Heh, so the healthcare bill hasn’t even passed and Obama’s already prevented my coworker from seeing his doctor (on time at least).
Actually, I wish the Present Obama would shut up.
This was not the past self I knew.
Dang, Koka-this is as fun as Strawman Bingo!
The man is from Chicago. One of the most, or it was it until recently, politically corrupt states. Did you expect anything less than total hypocricy?
It’s hard being a liar because you can’t always remember what you lied about in the past.
It is just sad that bloggers and others are finding his hypocracy, but others in the MSM turn a blind eye to what is really going on. It is the normal, hardworking citizen that is getting the shaft on this stuff and nobody, but us cares.
What happens when the Pope contradicts what he’s said in the past or what previous Popes have said?
Who cares? He is not in charge of my future like Obama is.
We only have to ask to a true believer. Old and present Obama are like the Old and New testament in the Bible; If you believe hard enough, you will see no distinction between the two.
I have a real problem w/comparing Obama to the Bible or anything else associated with God, because he’s clearly working for the devil–and that’s assuming he ISN’T the devil. Besides, Barry and his worshipers cultivate enough adulation on their own, without our assistance.
Has anybody noticed that since Obama took office, the bitching about the Patriot Act has shut down? Now that it’s going to be used against US, it’s fine. Do you think that outrageous DHS report would have been okay with the MSM, had it come out under a Republican administration? It’s rather similar to the way in which so many social issues seem to go “poof” the minute a Democrat hits the Oval Office. “Oh, HE’S here. Now everything is peachy.” No, everything is not peachy. We’re all being readied for a vigorous rogering, by someone who portrayed himself as a knight in shining armor.
How about this one…
Present Obama: No one is talking about cuts to Medicare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGMEgCatW_E&feature=player_embedded
Past Obama:
President Barack Obama Saturday proposed an additional $313 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to pay for health care reforms expected to cost about $1 trillion over the next decade.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/13/news/economy/Obama_health_Care.reut/index.htm
Beige, I like the way you brought the whole Patriot Act on the table. I am following some podcasts who decry this very policy of keeping this madness of policy up.
On another subject. I am a man of no faith. Nevertheless, I can clearly understand the the positive points religion can bring in one’s life when integrated with reason and common sense. However, this line of thinking stop at the political/personal level. Barack Obama came into office with a “Cult of the Personality” and worshippers ready to whitewash all the comments he can make. As far as I am concerned, he’s as worst than Bush.
I am always worried by “White Knights” coming at my rescue when I am not in (apparent) danger. Don’t you? This is where my red flag raise.
Bah, Jimmy Carter is always right no matter what he said in the past……oops,I mean BHO of course.
Read this.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51702
When I put my kids to bed at night these days, I can no longer honestly tell them that there are no such things as monsters, because there are, and they’re running the country.
Damn Obama.
Ugh – you gotta stop with the “BEWARD SOCIALIZED MEDICINE OR WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!” fear tactic you pander too…
I’m a Canadian, living in a city with 700,000 people, we have two hospitals in our city and yes, waits are long (IF YOU’RE NOT IN IMMEDIATE NEED OF HEALTHCARE – this is better known as critically injured or dying) but the care we receive is top notch.
Just remember who put your country in the mess its in now and whose trying to put it back together. I won’t give ole dubya the benefit that he tried to rescue your once magnificent country because he didn’t.
Was it the Canadians?
It was Clinton or maybe Carter that got us in this mess. They are the ones who pushed loans to those who could not afford them. It is best if the Canadian reads up on our history before posting something pro Obama. Bush did not sign into affect all of these packages that has sent us into a huge spiral of debt. Obama has spent more money that we do not have in the first 6 months he has been in office than Bush did in the 8 YEARS he was in office, or any other President for that matter. BTW, you don’t live here so you do not have to suffer the consequences so it is best you just leave well enough alone.
Calling him “the Canadian” makes it sound as though you’re observing some type of strange creature in a zoo…
For all those who talk about how smoothly socialized medicine runs in THEIR countries, I’d like to point out this issue: it’s doubtful you had to live through a change in systems. Doctors here are NOT accustomed to and are likely unprepared for handling socialized medicine, and the same goes for the rest of the potential patients. So you might think your system is awesome and cool, but you’ve also never been immersed in another way of doing things. In addition, you probably don’t have any concern about specific parts of health care that are pretty much getting screwed the world over (mental health is one of the first things that comes to mind). On top of that, you are also probably not nearly as appalled as many of us are at the idea that a government agency will have access to all kinds of information it really doesn’t need – the first time I was asked to give my social security number to get a prescription (as part of some stupid new state legislation or something) I flipped. As far as I’m concerned, treatment is between my doctor and me. Period. The government shouldn’t even be keeping a record of what prescriptions I’m filling – it’s none of its business.
AAW, every time I see “Carter” on this site I think of Homer Simpson trying to describe a something-dollar bill over the phone.
-What President is on it?
“Uh. All of them. They’re having a party. Jimmy Carter is passed out on the couch.”
And as I was typing this, the television informed me that Obama is having beers with someone or other. I’m all for drinking…but that still made me giggle.
You know what? I don’t quiet buy this “Canadians” story. I live in a town across the river from Canada. Every year we get an influx of Canadians comming over for surgery. Not only that, but they come over and work in our hospitals because they prefer our services. If everything is soo peachy why does this happen?
Um, *no* President, neither Clinton nor Carter (interesting how you leave out the two Republicans in the middle–biased much?) nor Obama nor Bush nor the reanimated corpse of William Howard Taft, ever held a gun to anybody’s head to sign a loan agreement. No president made anybody think credit cards and LOCs were free money that just needed to be juggled from bank to bank. No president made Americans buy crappy foreign-made consumer goods at prices that undercut and effectively killed American industries. No president made millions of Americans too stupid and/or jealous of their next-door neighbors to see through advertiser bull$h*t and get sold homes, cars, and millions of other things they didn’t really need. Americans got themselves into this mess. Then they elected someone completely incompetent and possibly evil on purely emotional and superficial grounds: “he made us feel good when he talked” and “he looked good in a suit.” But the truth is, how could any President save us from ourselves?
(the commenter formerly known as stonegrigio)
aaw: high five on the rejoinder to the Pope comment!
My husband is a physician who works 80+ hour weeks. Yesterday he told me that if and when “healthcare” reform passes, he’ll finally be able to take it easy.
One little mention……VA hospitals. And yes, I have personal experience with one, I have a close family member under care in one and it sucks ditchwater with a holey straw.
If that ain’t government run health care I don’t know what else we could call it. AND IT IS NOT GOOD. Case in point, the little fiasco in the not too distant past with the contaminated equipment used on patients for colonoscopies. So to our neighbor up north…hate to break it to you….but the government taking it all over is NOT the answer for our health care problem in this country.
For as many stories as we hear on how wonderful Canada’s health care system is we hear stories on how terrible it is. Long waits, no care, deaths. So which is it? Propaganda or hard core truth? Guess since we aren’t Canucks we won’t really know. And those of us here that vote, and are familiar with what our government tends to do when they do something as upheaving as what Obamagic recommends doing, will hopefully head this mess off at the pass IF it ever hits to where we can have our say on it at the polls.
You see Darek, that is why we are adamantly against it. Every time the government steps in it screws things to hell and back. Forget the handbasket, we get to ride a damn rollercoaster. so its all well and good and peachy for ya’ll up north of the border of us. We do not want it.
I know this is long, but this thing REALLY chaps my hide. I hate what is going on, even if it did not hit so close to home.
Pasta, the article you linked to is frightening.
The Washington Post had an article about how the Democratic congress members are having “teach-ins” about the health bills, so that “no one can say [they] haven’t read it”. The REALLY scary thing is that they are still gung-ho after reading the details. Apparently most of them LIKE the idea of eliminating all individual freedoms: no buying your own individual health plan unless it is from the government! I suppose we should be grateful that Congress recognizes one truth: the only reason most people are on government run plans (Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs) now is that they don’t have much (if any) of a choice.
As for Canadian, European and other national health plans: few (if any) countries are really comparable to the US in terms of demographics, economics, etc. While a plan may work well in one country, that plan may not work well in the US, simply because the two countries are different. Many countries have very different demographics in terms of race/ethnicity, socio-economic classes, etc. The needs of our population are different, our laws are different, our expectations are different. Our medical problems are all over the place, in part because of our mixed population (some groups have more heart problems, some have more cancers, etc.). A more homogenous population might be able to focus resources on the “top” disease and the “top” cause and benefit most people. In the US, the number one killer for many groups may be heart disease (for example, forgive me if this is wrong), but the underlying cause might be different for each group: genetic, lifestyle, another genetic mutation, etc. Some medications work well for white patients, but are less effective in African-Americans. How do you channel resources? What is most effective and fair? These are hard questions in any case, but in a country that is very diverse, it is even harder.
I know that people don’t want to be seen as dragging their feet on such an important issue, but better to take the time to get it right than to enact a program that does more harm than good. Remember Hippocrates: first, DO NO HARM!
Congress is “gung-ho” because THEY WON’T HAVE TO SUBMIT TO THIS PLAN THEMSELVES. They’re just sticking US with it. They’re pretty much bastards, too, although Obama is definitely the mayor of Bastardville.
I feel I must apologize for my Canadian brother darek(good lord I just realized how stereotypically Canadian that is). Unfortunately we have people up here who lean just as far to the left as you do. These people look at the idea of what our healthcare system is and not how it is actually working. While it is true that if you show up at a hospital in an emergency condition(ie bleeding, unconscious) you will be seen right away. However, if you show up and nothing visible seems wrong with you, like a minor stroke versus a stab wound, you could wait months to see a specialist. Waiting lists for some surgical procedures and even cancer treatments can be up to 10 – 12 months. That’s the reason why so many Canadians go to the US for care. They can afford to do so, so why would they wait on a list? Right now we have the best of both worlds, if you you can’t afford care it will be provided, if you can afford it and don’t want to wait just go to the US.
BTW darek, where do you live? Two hospitals in a a city of 700,000?! We have three in a city of 250,00.
P.S. This is my first time commenting on here but I’ve read it for awhile and have to say I damn near pee myself laughing at some of the regular posters here.
Angry Army Wife – “Bush did not sign into affect all of these packages that has sent us into a huge spiral of debt. ” – no he just threw your country into an illegal war that cost how many billions per month? AND before you throw some nonsense that I’m a Hippy Liberal that can’t understand the sacrifice of the brave men and women serving overseas – I fully support our troops (all of them, British, Canadian, American, Polish, etc) because a cousin of mine served in Afghanistan, three tours, and finally as returned home safe and sound. I once was against the war of Afghanistan but after I saw the pictures he brought back and what the Taliban did to a once BEAUTIFUL and VIBRANT country and culture, I stood behind him and all the troops, 100% – it’s the administration that is USING them that i abhore.
“Obama has spent more money that we do not have in the first 6 months he has been in office than Bush did in the 8 YEARS he was in office, or any other President for that matter.” – to FIX, or at least TRY to fix the problems, the Bush Administration started.
“BTW, you don’t live here so you do not have to suffer the consequences so it is best you just leave well enough alone.” – then stop complaining.
Pearce “So you might think your system is awesome and cool, but you’ve also never been immersed in another way of doing things. ” – Yes we are. We don’t have full coverage in every aspect. Cosmetic surgery isn’t covered by insurance; dental procedures require private insurance (even required dental surgery like wisdom teeth removal); homepathic medicines aren’t typically covered. We have the basics provided for us – cut off a toe? broke a bone? need surgery? Show your health card and boom, you’ll have service. The degree of service you require changes from the urgency of the procedure that is required but that’s fair.
“In addition, you probably don’t have any concern about specific parts of health care that are pretty much getting screwed the world over (mental health is one of the first things that comes to mind). ” – Mental health is provided for in Canada. You need a referral from your GP but after that, it’s taken care of.
“On top of that, you are also probably not nearly as appalled as many of us are at the idea that a government agency will have access to all kinds of information it really doesn’t need – the first time I was asked to give my social security number to get a prescription (as part of some stupid new state legislation or something) I flipped.” What does your social insurance number (that’s what we call it up north) have to do with filling a prescription? I would’ve flipped too and had my doctor speak to the pharmacist (which can be done here). All you need is a health card – that’s all you show to DOCTORS, pharmacists only care about getting paid for their medicines, which needs to be covered by private insurance to avoid the costs.
“As far as I’m concerned, treatment is between my doctor and me. Period. The government shouldn’t even be keeping a record of what prescriptions I’m filling – it’s none of its business.” – and what if you’re a dope fiend that has an addiction to a powerful sedative and are in the care of children? Shouldn’t those records (where the government would be suing to take your children out of your custody) be readily accessible to the state, since a democractic’s state first responsibility is to it’s citizens? I’m just saying the fear you feel about the government having that information MAY be a little unfounded becuase that information can also be used for good.
Ln – I’m guessing you’re from Michigan possibly? I also have heard of stories of patients that cannot get access to surgery quick enough BUT it could be impatient patients (I’m punny) that simply don’t trust their doctors for whatever reason, wanting the surgery as quickly as possible and can afford the ridiculous bill that will be tacked on for the services provided or they require a very specific service that may not be provided in Canada (these services are RARE and could also not be provided for in the US requiring even further travels). However, even if outside surgery is required, that bill you receive from the foreign government can be paid for by the Canadian government, so long as your doctor can vouch and state you urgently require that service. Most surgeons that are referred to by doctors are actual colleagues of the doctors – they know their work and they know what type of service can be expected. The surgeon that removed my kidney had a picture of him and my family doctor posing with a fish they caught while on vacation together, lol.
Koka – “You see Darek, that is why we are adamantly against it. Every time the government steps in it screws things to hell and back. Forget the handbasket, we get to ride a damn rollercoaster. so its all well and good and peachy for ya’ll up north of the border of us. We do not want it.” then tell that to the people who have died waiting for care (in YOUR country) because they can’t afford it or those whose children have no college fund because daddy needed that kidney transplant or mommy needed that lump removed from her breast. Stop with the generalizations – YOU may not want socialized health care but you don’t speak for the rest of your country. Neither do I – I am speaking from the PERSONAL experiences I’VE had with the socialized healthcare in MY country.
If I’m a dope fiend, it’s up to the doctor(s, since most people along those lines fill multiple scripts) to figure that out. Yes, prescriptions can be abused, and yes, with more privacy more people are probably capable of doing so. And? Again, I think the potential for preventing people from being idiots (okay, more idiotic than they already are) does not come close to outweighing my right to privacy and advice from my own physician. This particular regulation has been responsible for things situations such as…
I am going on vacation and need to refill my birth control a week early so I’ll have it with me.
“It’s too early to fill this prescription.”
Okay, but…I’m going on vacation.
“It’s too early to fill this prescription [add in underlying "...you crazy drug addict" tone].”
Um. Okay. What am I supposed to do then?
“We can transfer the prescription to wherever you’re going.”
…um. Do you have branches in (popular island destination location)?
“No.”
Okay, so how am I supposed to get my freaking birth control?
“It’s too early to fill this prescription.”
I’m so, so glad there’s a regulation in place to keep me from selling birth control to elementary schools. Because there’s a huge, awesome black market for it. I hear it’s all the rage amongst all those brats who won’t get off my lawn.
This is what happens when our government sticks its dirty little paws into things with which it has no business. It decides it’s going to protect everyone from themselves, and people can’t get birth control or even one-time prescriptions for cough syrup (ohhhh, when you try to fill a script for THAT, then they REALLY treat you like an addict).
People who are going to be drug addicts or do stupid things are going to find ways to do stupid things no matter what. Maybe they’ll start smoking salvia and convince themselves that their a purple elephant laugh factory. Maybe they’ll start drinking mouthwash. Maybe they’ll just go buy whatever it is from a dealer or come up with their own dangerous way to get high. They will exist no matter what. In the meantime, the rest of us need our birth control, post-surgery painkillers, and antibiotics, and it really isn’t the government’s business what we’re taking or why we’re taking it…and that’s exactly the information this particular legislation gives them.
And you still have never been immersed in another system. Yes, you pay for some things out of pocket. That doesn’t change the fact that your system has been in place for a long time. You probably don’t have any idea of the chaos that would ensue if we decided to try to implement such a policy for the first time.
Argh, I hate typos…
“Cash for Clunkers” started on Monday. It’s already out of money, and is called off.
It’s been five days.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124898886526095011.html
Now on to health care! Are these really the people that you trust with that now?
Hey….hey Pasta…you wanna buy some Yaz? *shifty eyes*
Also, apparently they decided to throw more money at Cash for Clunkers…
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/national_world&id=6942065
Epic fail.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_on_go_co/us_senate_dodd_cancer
Gee. Should we tell him (and Kennedy) to just take painkillers when things get rough?
It’s awesome the way you think I might be cool enough to know what Yaz is.
Crazy kids.
I love how foreigners like to tell us how to live. My husband fought in that war, so how dare you tell me to quit complaining. It is not an illegal war and AGAIN, Bush still only spent 1.2 Trillion dollars versus what Obama has done. You might want to stop sniffing the glue.
No, the polls do.
Amazing. The Obamabots just can’t accept the incredible HYPOCRISIY on display. That’s why they call it DENIAL…
Oh, Pasta. I always thought anyone touched by His Noodly Appendage was the epitome of cool.
Darek…..did you NOT read what I posted? I do have personal experience with what our country will do AND IT IS NOT GOOD. For 12 fargin’ years I have dealt with it as a patient advocate.
How the hell do you call that a “generalization”?
There is a bridge somewhere in the Great White North that is missing its troll.
I love you, Koka.
Pearce, you are so sweet!
“YOU may not want socialized health care but you don’t speak for the rest of your country.”
—–
And those who want socialized medicine are certainly welcome to have it. Let them set up their own little system they can voluntarily opt-into and share share share until their hearts are content. But that doesn’t give them the right to force it on those who don’t want it.
But that’s the monkey-wrench in the gears of your argument, isn’t it? Because what you’re doing is essentially saying that those who want socialized medicine can speak for those that don’t want it. And not only speak for them, but also force it on them.
I got nothin’ to say on healthcare, but unlike Pasta I’m gonna own up and ask what Yaz is. ‘Cause to this aging Gen-Xer, it’s an electro-pop duo from the early 80s.
Vince and MC Mom, I love y’all. And I remember somewhat about “If You’re Leaving, Can I Go Too” or something.
Darek, I’m aware that people here want socialism.
They’re every bit as wrong as you are. If you think the government can do what it promises, you’re a fool who doesn’t know history. Or even the present.
Yaz is a lower-dose version of the birth control pill Yasmine.
Vince, duh, obviously we don’t want it because we don’t know what’s good for us; the government and everybody who wants socialized medicine need to protect us from ourselves.
http://post.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quizresults.php
As of today.
shhhh Beige. Who cares what the American public wants? Oh wait, we do!
Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance
http://www.breitbart.tv/uncovered-video-obama-explains-how-his-health-care-plan-will-eliminate-private-insurance/