Gold said:
JohnRoberts said:
He actually addressed that in one of the debates. He can't give a detailed plan with exact specifics because that isn't what leaders do. He defines the direction and the desired result then instructs congress to work out the details (I think in his explanation he was describing how he passed legislation in MA as governor). Of course he gets involved to break up logjams and keep the dialog going, but deliberation and negotiation is done by the congress.
I have some sympathy for that. I understand the devil is in the details.
No perhaps I was unclear. Difficult bipartisan legislation is never crafted whole by the president or even one side. Pretty much every aspect is negotiated between the two parties in committee since they have to decide the specific give and take, then report out what they agreed to the whole house or whole senate for them to vote on. When both the Senate and the house versions have been approved by each house have versions that they can agree on, those two versions need to get consolidated and differences negotiated.
During 2008-2010 the requirement to get agreement from republicans was not necessary since the super majority in the senate could over ride a filibuster so the legislation was written without much republican input.
Since the Obama care legislation didn't get a final second senate version finished before they lost the super majority in 2010, they used a gimmick to pass it as a reconciliation (budget cost adjustment) to the previously approved version, that only required a simple majority.
Obama got soundly critisized for doing just that with the budget process.
My criticism regarding Obama budgets is increased deficit spending... Our public debt has surpassed our GDP. As economist warn that much public debt can slow economic growth by itself. Our 100%+ is not quite as bad as greece's 150%+ but at least Greece is trying to reduce their debt.
How about a general outline? Romney's five point plan was laughable and there wasn't much info on the website. I checked. It also fit in a pattern of not saying anything about anything for fear of saying the wrong thing and tanking like his father. He was timid and weak.
I still haven't read his 5 point plan, his website wanted some personal information for me to sign on. \
I just want government to stop doing what they've been doing so far.
Be careful about your new sources.
I'm a little it of a foreign policy buff. It has fallen by the way side the last few years but I still like reading foreign policy journals and even get a peak at Jane's every once in a while.
I've never read or even seen a foreign policy journal. Jane's is a military hardware catalog of some sort? I lost interest in military hardware after I got out of the army in 1971.
I think the NYT is pretty good.
They appear to show some editorial favoritism. Giving weak anti-romney stories dominant position, anti-obama stories get buried. It seems even the WSJ got a little more liberal a few years back when they changed ownership (just the news side, not the editorial, that remains conservative). Or perhaps I shifted a little more conservative?
I can parse language and separate analysis from fact. TV news is terrible with the exception of the PBS Newshour. Fox and MSNBC are the worst with CNN close behind.
I don't even try to get "news" from TV, MSNBC and some of those other nut case channels should be embarrassed to call themselves news. I will watch some fox commentary but find most of it a little too shrill, the other stiff is impossible to watch.
Wow... he seems to have a pretty good grasp from where I sit. I and many others are disappointed that he gave Obama a pass on the Benghazi cover up in the third debate.
Romney went to Poland because his big foreign policy idea was to rattle his sabre at Russia at the convention speech. That was a big lead balloon. Never heard about that again. I hope his advisors didn't come up with that idiocy.
The symbolism of getting an endorsement from Lech Walesa resonates with me. I may have a different viewpoint of Soviets. I was over in Germany in 1970 on nato maneuvers, with other nato armies, while the soviet bloc armies were doing the same thing a few kilometers away across the border.
I am not happy about backpedalling on the missile defense shield just to keep russia happy... but this is what they were expecting Obama to have more freedom to do after the election.
Coverup is a pretty strong word. Mistake yes, coverup, no. The Obama administration has been remarkably scandle free.
Holder gets his own chapter, there are several notable screw ups but I'd rather not have to collect and submit a list. I try to forget about them as fast as I can. It's easy because they don't get much press.
Benghazi is the closest and it's nothing.
I heard on the news today that the investigation is ongoing...
A dead US ambassador is not NOTHING. Mischaracterizing it as a spontaneous reaction to a video, even after it was obviously a coordinated terrorist attack (on 9/11 anniversary), needs to be explained IMO.
Petraeus fell on his sword as he should if he was in charge of embassy security.
Petraeus was in charge of the CIA, AFAIK Marines are tasked with embassy protection not the CIA. it would be nice to get some straight answers about this.
I don't know the facts but Petraeus apparently didn't attend the ceremony held upon the return of the ambassadors body. This could be interpreted as an effort to conceal CIA involvement. One theory being floated is that Petraeus was scheduled to testify at a senate investigation where he would be under oath, and have to walk back some comments or information he gave the committee earlier when he wasn't under oath.
OTOH maybe all he did was boink that woman who wrote a book about him, but it seems the head of the CIA should be able to keep a secret from the FBI.
If he is falling on his sword now related to Benghazi it seems it might be to conceal something, not accept personal responsibility.
I always thought Petraeus was one of the good guys, but I liked Colin Powell too...maybe I'm a sucker for 4 star generals. I lost respect for Powell over his reported handling of the Plame leak.
The opposition was crying coverup as it was happening. There has barely been time to investigate. I don't blame the Republicans for making hay but it's a stretch. If the shoe was on the other foot Schumer would be jumping up and down.
Many do.. Obama gave a speech in Berlin before his 2008 run.
Right. He also went to see the troops in Iraq. I can't recall Romney visiting the troops overseas. I could be wrong but I pay pretty close attention. I consider a presidential candidate not visiting the overseas troops unpatriotic. That makes him unfit for the position in my book.
I'm not sure when candidates were required to visit troops in war zones. Does going to Afghanistan and meeting with Karzai count for anything?
http://2012.republican-candidates.org/Romney/Afghanistan.php
"AFP reported that Romney made a private visit to Afghanistan in January 2010, and had a closed door meeting with President Hamid Karzai. Karzai’s office subsequently released a statement on January 10 that quoted Romney as saying, “ … the US is well aware of terrorists' presence in Pakistan and its border regions and this is a threat to Pakistan and Afghanistan … The situation in Pakistan is an indicator that terrorists are not only attacking Afghanistan but are causing lots of troubles for Pakistan too”."
JR
PS: I recall seeing Obama on TV when he was a Freshman senator, at a senate hearing where Petraeus and Crocker were testifying about the Iraq war and his question sounded more like a campaign speech peppered with potential sound bites than actual questions that Petraeus or Crocker could answer. At the time he was in the "Iraq is a lost cause" and we should give up camp.
