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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:13 PM
Original message
No way does Obama deserve his current approval rating
Yes, it is HARD, darned hard, to get progressive change done in the U.S. in 2010. And maybe Obama isn't as progressive as some of us here would like him to be. BUT... that said...

I think Obama is doing an AWESOME JOB on a lot of things.

The economy could be a heck of a lot better. But we're not staring directly into the face of oblivion anymore.

I wish we were out of both wars by now. However, I always knew it's take longer than expected to unwind ourselves from Iraq. And I knew going in that Obama was more committed to the war in Afghanistan than he probably should be.

I thank my lucky stars that Obama won the election and not McCain. The main reason: GM and Chrysler would be out of business by now if McCain had been in charge. That would have been a catastrophe here in Detroit.

As things stand, GM is producing the Volt in its Detroit/Hamtramck plant and Chrysler is in the midst of hiring 1,100 production workers for its Jefferson Ave. plant. And, oh yes, both companies are hiring engineers again. Some auto suppliers are hiring again, too.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA! You saved my home town.

:bounce:
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Jennicut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
1. If it is because of the Mosque thing (which is really a community center)
then I really don't care. He did the right thing.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
2. lol. hiring at $14/hr.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:17 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. And that's worse than laying people off...How?
Huh?
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. layoffs are ongoing. $1/hr would be "better than laying people off".
GM is opening non-union plants & hiring at $14/hr, no bennies. To you, it's victory.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:23 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. GM's plants in the U.S. are unionized
And the company is hiring people again. A lot of the people being hired by GM now are engineers who make a LOT more than $14 an hour.

After GM is back on its feet, I have confidence that the UAW will get a better deal for the production workers. But if GM has been allowed to go under, there would be no chance of that happening.

Do you really think GM should have gone out of business and/or that such a thing would have been better for Detroit than what happened?
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #5
10. you haven't been paying attention to the "new" gm: right in your territory, too:
Edited on Wed Aug-18-10 02:42 PM by Hannah Bell
The “reinvention” of the “New GM” began with the opening of a lithium-ion battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, near Detroit. The event not only signals GM’s return to electric vehicles—for the first time in about 30 years, GM has opened a non-union plant in the U.S.

The new plant is funded in part by taxpayer dollars, and it is not rehiring any of the thousands of United Auto Workers members who were laid off when their plants closed—despite union promises that workers’ concessions on pay, benefits, and speed of work were their only chance for job security.

The plant, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, opened January 7 and currently employs 25 hourly workers. Last year former CEO Fritz Henderson said GM planned to fill 100 hourly jobs at GM’s second-tier wages of about $14 an hour.

http://labornotes.org/2010/03/gm%E2%80%99s-battery-plant-opens-non-union


As part of its plan to produce the Chevy Volt and other future electric vehicles, GM has opened new plants and facilities to produce its own electric-vehicle parts and batteries. Absent from these new facilities? The United Auto Workers union.

Although GM will be producing the Chevy Volt at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant with the help of UAW labor, other crucial parts will be sourced from eight different facilities in the region – some of which are non-union. This shift from pure UAW-sourced labor to open labor is seen by many as an indicator of the waning power of the UAW.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/gm-and-delphi-open-plants-without-uaw-labor.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7801026
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. That's a small, fairly new plant and the UAW is working to organize it
It's not really not fair to say that the plant is permanently "non-union." It's also a GM subsidiary. That will seem like a technicality to you, but it isn't.

Previously, it was a CLOSED plant. Would it have been better to have kept the place boarded up?

Your implication was that GM is opening non-union assembly plants, which is not the case. The

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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. lol. there's more than one. and uaw is *not* "working to organize it". a gm subsidiary = gm. gm
owns it & makes the rules. they're playing the china game -- setting up supply chains they control to give them distance from the shitty working conditions they're encouraging in the name of profit.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:20 PM
Response to Reply #15
20. OK, then
I'll put you down as one who thinks the Brownstown plant should have remained closed and who also thinks the UAW won't ever be able to organize that tiny plant.

I think both ideas are silly as heck. But, heh.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:25 PM
Response to Reply #20
22. you guys must own the straw factory.
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geek tragedy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 10:05 AM
Response to Reply #22
45. Well, your crowd's point is to bash Obama no matter what.
He saved the industry and all the jobs associated with it? You say, Boo! he should have made sure those workers got higher paying jobs.

One idiot in this thread compared what he did for the auto workers to what Reagan did to the air traffic controllers.

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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #45
61. it's not about bashing obama. it's about countering the sunshine & lollipops spin.
the gm bankruptcy didn't save jobs -- or even the industry. labor was only 10% of the price of a car prior to the bankruptcy.

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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 03:54 PM
Response to Reply #61
63. Sunshine and lolipops?
Look... Obama did NOT cause GM and Chrysler to go into bankruptcy. That was baked into the cake when he took office.

The only issue was this: Would the right-wing agenda (to kill the UAW and turn the entire U.S. auto industry to foreigners) prevail or not? Obama acted boldly and made sure it didn't.

Obama could not go back 30 years and change a lot of bone-headed decisions that led us to where we were. He could only move forward. And in 2009, the easy path would have been to say "hey this is how capitalism works, so sad, too bad."

Instead, Obama -- at GREAT COST in political capital -- did the right thing and saved both companies in an unprecedented government take-over of private firms. And it seems to be working. At the very least, Detroit has survived to fight another day

That's a SHIT LOAD more than McCain would have given us.
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #63
64. Yes, sunshine and lollipops...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=234120


I was a real estate appraiser for years. Until I got tired of appraising the dead and dying dreams of Detroit's working class. These were 1100 sq. ft. brick ranch homes that were lost due to union tier programs. The bone I have to pick is with your statement about suppliers getting jobs back. Take a drive down Gratiot or Groesbeck. 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers are gone, boarded up, lease signs in the windows. Is it Obama's fault? No. Should he be praised for anything with regard to restoring what amounts to nothing to the working force of Detroit? Heck no.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:11 PM
Response to Reply #64
66. So, what you really are saying is...
GM and Chrysler should have been allowed to just go out of business. That was, afterall, the other option available. Had Obama made THAT choice, would you be praising him? I doubt it. You'd be saying "he should have done something."

In this case, he did something, but you are complaining anyway.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:15 PM
Response to Reply #66
68. GM was in no danger of going out of business. anyone who kept up with their foreign operations knew
Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 04:15 PM by Hannah Bell
that.

They were expanding massively overseas as they were cutting back in the us. top-selling car in china at various times. since the opening to china, one of the first corps in.

fraud.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:28 PM
Response to Reply #68
70. Nope. That is just plain wrong.
GM would have ceased to exist had Obama not acted. Its China operation might have been spun off -- or more likely sold. But the corporate HQ on the Detroit River would have been abandoned. Same would have been true for the Tech Center in Warren and virtually all of the U.S. assembly plants.

Chrysler would have faced the same fate.

Any plants that remained open would have been those purchased (probably by foreigners) in the wake of liquidations of both companies. Union contracts? They'd have gone bye-bye. The white collar workers would not have been any better off.

Again I ask: What would you have done in Obama's place?
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 03:51 PM
Response to Reply #70
78. lol. right, that 10% labor cost was killing them.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 07:00 PM
Response to Reply #78
80. Ummmm... GM was lost tens of billions of dollars over just a few years
So, yes, it really was just weeks from being forced into liquidation at the time Obama acted. Check your facts. Those Chinese operations were not keeping GM afloat. Not by a long-shot.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 08:42 PM
Response to Reply #80
82. ummmmm - you evidentally don't read their annual reports.
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 08:53 PM by Hannah Bell
. 6:

GM's core automotive business generated 178 billion in 2007, an improvement of 7 bill over 2006.

"Adjusted" automotive earnings = 553 million.

Total adjusted net loss (excluding "special items") = 23 million, "reflecting a 1.1 billion loss attributed to our 49% stake in GMAC".

I.e. the loss comes from their finance dept., specifically mortgage loans - p. 7 - NOT their auto division.

TOTAL LABOR, BENEFITS, PENSIONS (including non-manufacturing such as marketing) = 53 billion, 13 billion of which = ADMINISTRATIVE (7.3% of revenues). Production labor + retirees = approx 22% of revenues.


p. 68

7 billion spent on "property"
10 billion spent on securities & acquisitions
= 17 billion = about half what they spent on all salaries & pensions for their entire line workforce + retirees

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4587720


fuckers lost money PLAYING THE HOUSING MARKET BUBBLE & are using it as an excuse to cut labor. long & short.

top 5 bigshots got $10 million in straight salary alone.

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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 05:36 PM
Response to Reply #66
73. Not complaining. Just not giving credit where no credit is due.
Detroit is not coming back to life. Not by a long shot. Unless they diversify into another industry; one that isn't the film industry taking advantage of a right to work state.

He didn't do anything, Lucky.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 07:05 PM
Response to Reply #73
75. Tell that to all those GM and Chrysler employees...
... in Detroit and Auburn Hills. Those folks are still earning paychecks instead of unemployment checks.
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 01:46 PM
Response to Reply #75
77. Really? I'll tell my laid off Chrysler employee brother in law that he's actually
still employed, along with my old next door neighbor, a cousin in law, my son's teacher's husband, the guy at the corner store. Oh, and I'll also let my American Axle dad know that his retirement benefits were not just cut. Thanks for clearing it up. They must be lying about not having jobs. :eyes:
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 06:57 PM
Response to Reply #77
79. So, because they were laid off...
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 06:58 PM by LuckyTheDog
... then the rest of the employees should have lost their jobs as well? What would that have served?

I never said all of the laid-off workers have been called back -- and you know it.

I will say this one more time: Obama DID NOT CAUSE THE RECESSION. He did not cause GM and Chrysler's problems. But, at a crucial time when it would have been easier to let those companies die, he acted to save them. And yes, the last time I drove past the Chrysler headquarters, it was still open. Those people are still earning paychecks, thanks to Obama's actions. Same is true at GM's HQ.

It is nonsense to say that Obama "did nothing" just because he could not roll back all of the impact the devastating recession had on the auto industry. It is ridiculously unfair to blame Obama for the problems that had been brewing for decades prior to his election.

Like I said: thousands of folks at the GM Tech Center, GM headquarters, Chrysler's headquarters and numerous other production and engineering facilities are earning paychecks now that would nobody would be writing if Obama had not acted. That is a good thing.t's hard to believe that anyone thinks it isn't.
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:02 PM
Response to Reply #79
85. No because many hundreds of thousands of employees have lost
their jobs within the automotive industry. Most of the work has been outsourced, and the ones who do get "hired" have no benefits with $14/hour. Sorry. Detroit is not coming back to life. It is a shame so many believe that. But, it's senseless to argue with blind worship. Take care.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 07:17 PM
Response to Reply #15
76. Oh. And the UAW really is trying to organize the facility (nt)
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B Calm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. And now your blaming Obama?????/???#?@
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:43 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. I suggest you read the post again. It's short. Nice straw, by the way.
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KharmaTrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:23 PM
Response to Original message
6. It's The Intangibles...
You can say this administration saved the economy from cratering...and I agree...but it's like proving a negative. The only way to prove how bad it could have gotten was to let it happen (and there were plenty here rooting for that). There was little "honeymoon" time with the corporate media who loves the controversy and showing the administration "whose boss".

Unfortunately people don't look at what might be or who caused the problems...they're expecting answers and solutions...unfortunately for too many out there it's not happening. While I put the blame on the kleptocracy of the booosh years that bankrupted the treasury and the 30 years of Raygonimics that destroyed the middle class, most people look at the here and now...whatcha done for me lately.

The progress have been in half measures...fighting a political establishment hellent on the status quo and it left everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. Accomodating to the GOOP wasted precious time that led to a healthcare bill that leaves more questions than answers and a supposed financial reform that does little to reregulate or prevent the banksters from turning the markets into a gambling casino (and much of it now with taxpayer money).

I honestly would like to feel better about this administration but I can't. I see it now reacting rather than being proactive and letting the corporate media and faux noise frame every issue now. This is the price you get for accomodation and all of us will pay if the GOOP retakes either the House or Senate in November...and even then this administration will get all the blame.
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daa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:29 PM
Response to Original message
7. Under Obama were have officially become a third world nation
Call center workers becoming cheaper in U.S.
By SINS
Tuesday, 17 August 2010, 19:54 Hrs
Bangalore: Due to high levels of unemployment, call center workers are becoming cheaper to hire in the U.S. According to the head of the country's largest business process outsourcing company, the wages in the country have come down to match the call center costs in India, reports James Lamont and Joe Leahy of FT.com.

High unemployment levels have driven down wages for some low-skilled outsourcing services in some parts of the U.S., particularly among the Hispanic population. But at the same time, wages in India's outsourcing sector have risen by 10 percent this year. Adding to it, senior outsourcing managers based in the country command salaries above global averages.

You think Chrysler and GM are a SUCCESS? Chrysler still has no cars and is bankrupt and GM selling Volts for $41,000. How many are they going to sell of that mini-car that can't make a round trip to the mall, to people working for Indian wages? Oh yeah, who have to buy health insurance now.

I am glad you are happy but you will not be so happy after the November elections when you find out that very few agree with you and think dems should retain power.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:18 PM
Response to Reply #7
18. Do I think Chrysler and GM are a SUCCESS?
... Never said that. It's too soon. But they have survived to fight another day and could well end up as successful companies.

Had McCain won, each would now be out of business and their factories would be shuttered.

And.. about the Volt... you need to look up exacty how a plug-in hybrid works before making nonsense assertions like "can't make a round trip to the mall." That just makes you seen uninformed.
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daa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 09:41 AM
Response to Reply #18
40. At 41 grand it doesn't matter how informed I am
NO ONE WILL BUY IT
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 12:18 PM
Response to Reply #40
48. Not true
My guess is that there will be a waiting list to buy it.
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geek tragedy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 10:06 AM
Response to Reply #7
46. Nice Tea Party talking points. Why do you post on a Democratic
blog if you blame Obama for the damage Bush did and want to see Republicans take over?
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daa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #46
52. UH auto manufacturing capacity 17 million
auto sales 10 million. Do you see a problem here? OVERCAPACITY. The last think we needed to do was preserve capacity for which there are no customers. You probably want to prop up house prices as well.

Everybody whines about the Wall street bailout but not the GM Chrysler bailout. How many government bailouts does Chrysler need.

If that is tea party talking points you better listen up because more bailouts will not win in November or haven't you checked the polls lately?
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zipplewrath Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
9. You get judged on what happened
Not on what didn't happen.

What happen was bonuses for the bankers, and layoffs for middle america. It was mandates for individuals, and millions of new customers for Big Pharma. It was no prosecutions of torturers, and arrest and prosecutions of the people who leaked the information. It was executing Bush's SOFA and keeping Gates, instead of getting us out. It was starting trials on 15 year old kids who had been tortured.

It was a stimulus that was too small. In the end that in and of itself is what earned him this rating.
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SammyWinstonJack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. Yep!
:thumbsup:
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metapunditedgy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:31 PM
Response to Reply #9
23. Well said. I remember being so very enthusiastic about Obama.
If his ratings trace my enthusiasm level, I'm not surprised.
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Nite Owl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:47 PM
Response to Reply #9
30. +1
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daa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:20 PM
Response to Reply #30
53. +2
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tritsofme Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:14 PM
Response to Original message
14. It's all about the economic pain caused by unemployment.
It isn't possible to be popular with 9.5% unemployment. Reagan saw his approval rating sag to similar lows in his first term when unemployment spiked, but he ultimately cruised to reelection.

Voters aren't going to be perceptive to the argument that things could have been worse. Politics isn't fair, but I think in the end despite what happens this November, President Obama will be ok.
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Poboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:14 PM
Response to Original message
16. "But we're not staring directly into the face of oblivion anymore."
If you say so.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:20 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. who is this "we" the op speaks of?
a lot of the population is, in fact, staring directly into the face of oblivion -- no income, no home, no hope.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:22 PM
Response to Reply #19
21. Alrighty then
What's your answer? Do you think we should have let GM and Chrysler go bust? Seriously... is that what you are saying?

Are you wishing McCain had won?
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metapunditedgy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #21
24. You can add "false dichotomies" to the strawmen above with that post. n/t
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #24
35. Where is the "false dichotomy"?
The choice in the election was McCain vs. Obama.

And later, either GM and Chrysler were going to go out of business -- or they weren't.
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bigwillq Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:36 PM
Response to Reply #21
26. Or you can just be happy with your President
and not care what anyone else thinks. There's always going to be critics, and there's always going to be people that don't think the way you do. No biggie.
I don't think (most) DEMS that criticize wish McCain had won. We can criticize and express our dissatisfaction, especially on a message board, without wishing this or wishing that.
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Bluebear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:15 PM
Response to Original message
17. >But we're not staring directly into the face of oblivion anymore.
As long as you're happy.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:39 PM
Response to Reply #17
27. Well
Edited on Wed Aug-18-10 03:41 PM by LuckyTheDog
Am I happy that the Jefferson Assembly Plant I dive by every day is adding another shift instead of closing down? Yes!

Am I happy that Chrysler's massive headquarters along I-75 in Oakland County isn't an empty shell with a "space available" sign in front of it? ABSOLUTELY!

Am I happy that also GM is hiring people instead of closing its headquarters on the Detroit River and shutting down all of its plants? Yeppers!

Am I happy that GM's huge tech center in Macomb County is still open for business and employing people at high wages? SURE!

Had McCain won, none of that would be true.

So yes, I am happy that Obama won the election.
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Bluebear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 05:27 PM
Response to Reply #27
33. Nobody here said they wished that McCain had won, so this is ridiculous.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 08:15 AM
Response to Reply #33
34. That WAS the other choice back in 2008
And THIS year, the choice is to hand the keys over to the Democrats or the Republicans in Congress.
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:22 PM
Response to Reply #27
54. Are you happy about the thousands of union workers who were layed
off, lost their homes and then were offered their jobs back at a third of their previous income? Are you happy that the once strong American Axle is no longer anything but an abandoned building in your hometown? Are you happy that retired employees of the big 3 and its suppliers can no longer afford to be retired? Are you really that happy?
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #54
57. Had GM and Chrysler gone belly-up...
...how would that have made any of that better?

I sure as FUCK am not happy about the fall-out of this recession. But 18 months ago, GM and Chrysler could have been boarded up and had their best parts sold off to the Chinese. Obama's actions saved us from that.
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:35 PM
Response to Reply #57
60. Newsflash...
Most of their best parts were sold off to Mexico...and the Chinese. At the cost of half of my family's livelihoods.

No cheers here. His actions have benefited the corps. They can now hire non-union at substandard wages with no benefits. Those people still cannot purchase any number of the hundreds of empty, foreclosed upon homes in our once proud state.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:41 PM
Response to Reply #57
62. gm was in no danger of going belly-up -- anyone who looked at their overseas profits knew that.
and btw, in case you missed my last post: THEY ARE SELLING OFF THE "BEST PARTS" TO THE CHINESE -- IN THE US.

Chinese corps are going to be manufacturing in the US -- & supplying GM. WITH CHEAP LABOR.

US labor now "competitive" with india, isn't that GREAT!
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #62
67. Still no solutuons?
Only gripes?

If you have any constructive ideas, please share them.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:17 PM
Response to Reply #67
69. solutions -- to WHAT? I just told you, GM was never in danger of going under.
Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 04:17 PM by Hannah Bell
They just wanted to shed their obligations to their us workforce & rachet down wages.

it's a massive fraud, & the devastation in detroit is "collateral damage". but gm doesn't care.

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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:29 PM
Response to Reply #69
71. See my response above
You are very wrong.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 05:16 PM
Response to Reply #71
72. you have no response above.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #72
74. Pasting it here (from above)
Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 07:01 PM by LuckyTheDog
GM would have ceased to exist had Obama not acted. Its China operation might have been spun off -- or more likely sold. But the corporate HQ on the Detroit River would have been abandoned. Same would have been true for the Tech Center in Warren and virtually all of the U.S. assembly plants.

Chrysler would have faced the same fate.

Any plants that remained open would have been those purchased (probably by foreigners) in the wake of liquidations of both companies. Union contracts? They'd have gone bye-bye. The white collar workers would not have been any better off.

Again I ask: What would you have done in Obama's place?


------------------

Added: And maybe you don't care about the fates of the office workers at GM's HQ or the engineers at the tech center. But the wages of those people support a lot of economic activity in Detroit and the surrounding area. They have families and mortgages. And most of them make a lot more than Third-World wages.
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bvar22 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:34 PM
Response to Original message
25. Obama has "saved the auto workers"...
..like Reagan saved the Air Traffic Controllers.
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geek tragedy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 09:59 AM
Response to Reply #25
43. Very good observation
Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 10:03 AM by geek tragedy
so long as one doesn't value the truth and only wants to smear a Democratic president.

Ignorance and hate are the enemies of truth.
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Lucian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:41 PM
Response to Original message
28. What awesome job has he done?
I think me and you have seen two completely different presidents here...
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. I know, I know
Obama totally FAILED to reform America in 18 months by ending capitalism, establishing a worker's paradise and ending the stinkiness of farts once and for all.

But given the reality we actually live in, I think he has done very well.
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Javaman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:51 PM
Response to Reply #29
31. I don't recall him running on any of those promises. nt
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Fla_Democrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 08:32 AM
Response to Reply #31
39. Maybe not, but I gotta admit
Any candidate that ran on the promise of ending the stinkiness of farts once and for all.... I'd have to give serious consideration. :smoke:
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tallahasseedem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 08:20 AM
Response to Reply #29
36. Well said Lucky...
I think he has done an incredible job! Well, except for the stinkiness one! ;)
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deacon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 08:29 AM
Response to Reply #29
38. He's kicked some serious ass. Everything against a unified "No!" vote. n/t
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Barack2theFuture Donating Member (353 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-18-10 03:52 PM
Response to Original message
32. Well, at least we agree on the subject line.
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deacon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 08:26 AM
Response to Original message
37. In a way, the kitchen sink was thrown at the economy to get it where it is.
It shows how bad the GOP ran us down. And, they didn't even want to do anything about the ecomony. "Tax Cuts" and "No!" votes were their solutions - And they still are!

Our auto companies would have been owned by china under GOP leadership.

What bush and the GOP left us was no snap finger situation for cures. And they did it intentionally.

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TheKentuckian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #37
56. A variety of trickle down solutions isn't the kitchen sink.
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MadHound Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 09:47 AM
Response to Original message
41. Depends on where you stand
As a teacher, I'm directly effected, and appalled, by Obama's war on public education. As a liberal, Obama's abandonment of the public option felt like, and was, the breaking of a promise. As one who supports the LGBT community, well, frankly I think Obama is screwing with them, courting them for their vote only to abandon them when it becomes crunch. And as one who wants us to get out of these illegal, immoral wars, well, my disappointment runs deep, very deep in that regard.

The fact of the matter is that many on the left, myself included, feel like we were played by Obama, and that he has abandoned the left. We weren't expecting to have all our issues addressed, but a couple of crumbs would have been nice.

And again, as a teacher, I'm appalled by the war Obama has unleashed against me and my profession. What, I should keep smiling and voting against my own interests? We laugh at 'Pugs who made that same mistake with Bush, why should we make that same mistake with Obama?
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geek tragedy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 10:02 AM
Response to Reply #41
44. Maybe you should get more perspective and tone down the drama.
His education policies are not a war on teachers. That is bizarre hyperbole. They are certainly not all that good, but to call it a "war on teachers" is absurd. If you want to know what war on public servants is like, see what Chris Christie is doing in NJ or what Reagan did to the air traffic controllers.

And, you must have missed the news from yesterday regarding Iraq.

You suffer from what many here do--the complete inability to see the good as well as the bad.

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MadHound Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 11:48 AM
Response to Reply #44
47. Spoken like one who isn't in the field of education
Nothing like having your president praise the mass firing of teachers, promote unlimited charter schools, follow the failed NCLB policies of Bush, in fact proposing to expand upon them, encourage unqualified candidates to become teachers, drop sixteen billion dollars in school construction and repair funds in order to replace them with more tax cuts in the stimulus, and constantly promote the idea that teachers lie at the root of all that is wrong with our schools. This, as I said, a war on public education (despite your misquoting me as saying it is a war on teachers:eyes:)

You bring up Reagan and the air traffic controllers, well gee, what do you think the promotion of charter schools and TFA teachers is? Oh, yeah, union busting.

As far as Iraq goes, the drawdown is fine, but that still leaves fifty thousand troops in Iraq as an occupation force, troops that will still be going at on combat missions, still dying in an illegal, immoral war.

I have the ability to see the good as well as the bad, but the fact of the matter is that the bad is far outweighing the good in this administration. That may be a harsh truth to you, but it is the truth nonetheless.
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #47
49. The "war on public education"...
... is about as real as the war on Christmas.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #49
58. I wish. Teaching has always been my back up
and at this rate, I won't be able to get a teaching job in the foreseeable future. It is a war and teachers are losing.
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geek tragedy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 12:58 PM
Response to Reply #47
51. "the fact of the matter."
Your opinion is not truth or fact. It is merely an opinion that you share with the Teabaggers and Michelle Bachmann.
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daa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #44
55. Guess you are not a teacher
And what news about Iraq? The RE BRANDING. Are there still 50,000 service men there? 50,000 is not out. It is typical re branding by Obama. Like crappy health Insurance reform is called Health CARE reform. Come off it. How many contractors are there? And Afghanistan? Another success story. All to chase 200 al Queda in PAKISTAN.
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Ishoutandscream2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 08:54 PM
Response to Reply #55
84. +infinity!!
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BlancheSplanchnik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 09:55 AM
Response to Original message
42. I think the reason for low polling is the twisted public information
Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 10:05 AM by BlancheSplanchnik
in other words, the biased MASS media creates a closed system--infecting the rabble with contaminated information, then polling and crowing about the success of their misinformation. All of it done in the most sincere of tones: "Remember, the most important thing is sincerity. If you can FAKE that, you've got it made."


jeezus H. christ, even stupid ass Yahoo headlines unfailingly present far-right repuke bullshit in supportive tones (republicans call for birth certificate verification, or some such shit---I remember and was nauseated by the friendly tone of the headline)

Meanwhile, all of Obama's accomplishments are ignored. The low-brow criticisms they cultivate themselves are presented in sneering tones. They know that many people just read headlines and create their "understanding" of the world from that. God! How sophomoric. Like this latest piece of bullshit like low poll numbers gets in their top five headline list. It's the media-created padded room reality. dick weeds.

How I wish it were easy enough to switch email servers so I wouldn't have to see this bullshit, but all my contacts are through them.

sickening

:rant:
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KansasVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 12:20 PM
Response to Original message
50. Many unemployed people would disagree. Right or Wrong.
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 02:33 PM
Response to Original message
59. "GM and Chrysler would be out of business by now "
Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 02:33 PM by ScreamingMeemie
Ummm...

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/the-layoff-kings-the-25-companies-responsible-for-700-000-lost/19588515/

Yay for the Layoff Kings!

snip-

The 25 Companies Responsible for 700,000 Lost Jobs

NUMBER 1 (that's ONE)

General Motors
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 107,357


In case you're wondering, Ford and Chrysler are in that number too...

Thanks for being happy about my currently unemployed former employee brother in law, who has been on 125 interviews without a job in sight. Yay! Gobama!




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JNelson6563 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-19-10 04:03 PM
Response to Original message
65. I'm right here with ya!
I'm a grateful Michigander. :toast:

Julie
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LuckyTheDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 07:01 PM
Response to Reply #65
81. Thank you (nt)
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Liberal_in_LA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 08:46 PM
Response to Original message
83. K&R!
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