Whats the deal with obummer?

[McBell]

FYI: I'll bet all my savings that George W. Bush is smarter than you, and I. He's not a great public speaker, and I sure as hell didn't vote for him, but he is still a very charismatic person and you'd be wrong if you think that total idiots can obtain that office. If it were that easy, everyone would and could do it.

based on?

 

[Copernicus]

I'm not the one making the generalization. I bring up race and other emotional connections as a factor in response to the generalization that voters need to be somehow rational. There's no constitutional basis or any legal requirement for such a thing...

Nobody has argued that being rational is a prerequisite for voting. That is an obvious straw man. Nor am I denying that some voters base their votes on superficial characteristics (e.g. skin color) and visceral reactions (e.g. a friendly demeanor). But I think that the great majority of voters make some effort to look beyond those factors.

...There are some things that are fundamental for many people - they may not be a majority, or a minority, but they do exist. And discounting or using that, as a means to discredit an administration is an invalid argument.

I do not think that Bush's administration discredited itself because of stupidity, but I do think that their wrongful attitudes and poor judgment led them to do some very stupid things.

FYI: I'll bet all my savings that George W. Bush is smarter than you, and I. He's not a great public speaker, and I sure as hell didn't vote for him, but he is still a very charismatic person and you'd be wrong if you think that total idiots can obtain that office. If it were that easy, everyone would and could do it.

I would like to recommend the movie Being There for your enjoyment if you have not yet seen it. I'm not arguing that Bush was as simple as the gardener named Chance, but I do think that there is enough truth to the movie to make it an enjoyable satire. There is such a thing as the halo effect, and I do believe that politicians have to be egregiously bad to tarnish it once it has settled over them. Reagan was known as the "Teflon President" because the public tended to forgive him just about anything. The same is true of Bush, and the same is true of Obama, although both men have very different levels of intelligence.

As for how you or I compare with Bush, I have the same reaction as Mestemia. Based on what? The fact that I didn't get elected President or attend Harvard? I did teach undergrad and grad courses at Columbia--where Barack Obama was a student. (I don't think I ever ran into him, though I did get to know a few really interesting people.) That doesn't make me smarter than Bush, but I don't honestly think he could easily have landed a teaching job at an Ivy League university if he had come from my middle class background. BTW, I just came across this interesting assessment of Bush when he was a student at Harvard. Were this the only such story I had read about the man, I would have discredited it. But there are plenty more like it.

 

[kiwimac]

Can I just point out the derision in calling President Obama, 'Obummer', AFAIAC, that kind of drek is unnecessary, it simply makes the poster look ... ignorant and hateful.

 

[Smoke]

FYI: I'll bet all my savings that George W. Bush is smarter than you, and I.

If you can arrange to have him tested, I'll take that bet. And you'll lose. I mean, I don't know ... he might be smarter than you ...

 

[Reverend Rick]

If you can arrange to have him tested, I'll take that bet. And you'll lose. I mean, I don't know ... he might be smarter than you ...

:jester3: I would put my money on you Smoke. :yes:

Here is the thing, if everything was about being smart, we could settle most of these issues real quick.

I have never got this smart dumb thing here on RF. I guess it is generational.

Many folks on here think if you don't blindly follow every PC thought pattern, you must be stupid. Personally I believe many of them are afraid to have a conflicting thought.

What has always puzzled me was why so many "smart folks" would need or even want all these "stupid" people's money? I mean why raise taxes when you could just go out and make this money and donate it yourself?

What really impresses me about GWB is if he is really so stupid, how on earth did he ever become President?

I am equally impressed with Barack Obama. A junior senator who never ran a city, state or even a small business obtained the highest office right out from under a well connected rival.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

I just think it rather stupid to vote a "junior" senator into the most powerful office in the world.

Why?

McCain selected an even worse candidate for VP....If something had happened to him during his term she would have been the one left making the tough decisions...and as her interviews went during the campaign she was really, really clueless and out of her element.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Why?

McCain selected an even worse candidate for VP....If something had happened to him during his term she would have been the one left making the tough decisions...and as her interviews went during the campaign she was really, really clueless and out of her element.

That does not make sense. You should argue that neither should be President.

You either support an ideal or not. The individual has nothing to do with it.

As much as I despise Hillary Clinton, she was a much more qualified candidate.

Hate for George W. Bush is what got Obama elected, pure and simple.

 

[Magic Man]

:jester3: I would put my money on you Smoke. :yes:

Here is the thing, if everything was about being smart, we could settle most of these issues real quick.

I have never got this smart dumb thing here on RF. I guess it is generational.

Many folks on here think if you don't blindly follow every PC thought pattern, you must be stupid. Personally I believe many of them are afraid to have a conflicting thought.

What has always puzzled me was why so many "smart folks" would need or even want all these "stupid" people's money? I mean why raise taxes when you could just go out and make this money and donate it yourself?

That's a lot of straw, man.

What really impresses me about GWB is if he is really so stupid, how on earth did he ever become President?

His father and the intelligence level of the average American.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

That does not make sense. You should argue that neither should be President.

No I shouldn't. I'm fine with Obama being president. I was not confident McCain's choice for VP nor that he and Palin had a clue as to what was going on in America or the world or had a plan as the get us back on track.

The individual has nothing to do with it.

I simply think that McCain and Palin were out of touch. That's what I gathered when they spoke.

Hate for George W. Bush is what got Obama elected, pure and simple.

No..."WE" just had enough of republicans and felt as though Obama was a better choice than McCain.

 

[Reverend Rick]

So tell me Penguin, what has got better since your man took office?

 

[Reverend Rick]

So tell me mball, do you have one single issue where you part company with our President?

Is there one issue you hold that does not follow the liberal lock step agenda?

One thought of your own that differs from your liberal buddies?

 

[McBell]

So tell me Penguin, what has got better since your man took office?

ROTFLMAO

OMG!
You are a riot!

 

[McBell]

So tell me mball, do you have one single issue where you part company with our President?

Is there one issue you hold that does not follow the liberal lock step agenda?

One thought of your own that differs from your liberal buddies?

transference?

 

[Reverend Rick]

ROTFLMAO

OMG!
You are a riot!

I am glad I have entertained you Mestemia.

 

[Reverend Rick]

We can both hit a mile marker today.......:yes:

 

[Magic Man]

So tell me mball, do you have one single issue where you part company with our President?

Yup, very much so. I can't stand the fact that he hasn't repealed DOMA after calling himself a "fierce advocate" for equality for the LBGT community.

Is there one issue you hold that does not follow the liberal lock step agenda?

I don't know, but probably not. That's mainly because the "liberal lock step agenda" generally attacks problems using reason and logic.

One thought of your own that differs from your liberal buddies?

They're all thoughts of my own. I happen to agree with liberals, but that's because when you think about the issues with logic and reason, those are the ideas you come up with.

Having different opinions than others of your label isn't what makes you an independent thinker. What does that is whether or not you think for yourself. For instance, same-sex marriage. I don't think it's a good thing because other liberals do and have told me so. I think it's a good thing because there is no good reason not to allow it. For another instance, the health insurance thing. I look at it from the perspective of what has worked in many different countries. It's very simple when you look at it like that. Many countries use something like a universal system, even if it's not technically one. And those countries do a lot better in the health department than we do because their systems work. I don't believe universal healthcare is good because other liberals say it is. I believe it's good because of the facts, but I know you're not so fond of those little things.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

So tell me Penguin, what has got better since your man took office?

Your're kidding right?...Were you expecting him to unravel everything we've been put through over an eight year stretch in "less" than one year?

 

[McBell]

Your're kidding right?...Were you expecting him to unravel everything we've been put through over an eight year stretch in "less" than one year?

Certainly seems that way.
Though I am not surprised with that attitude one bit.
Seems there are lots of people with very same attitude.

 

[Engyo]

Certainly seems that way.
Though I am not surprised with that attitude one bit.
Seems there are lots of people with very same attitude.

What is hilarious to me is that these are the same people who would be making the completely opposite argument had McCain won the election.

 

[ayani]

honestly, i voted for him. i was really, really excited by what he was saying and promising, and by how he presented himself. i was happy to be able to vote for someone young, articulate, and with a more international perspective than his predecessor.

i also recall a lot of my friends saying things like "the only reason you woundn't vote for him is if you were a racist". so among my white and also non-white friends there was a subtle pressure to vote for him in part to show that you were not a racist, and that you welcomed an African-American into the White House.

did anyone else get this?