Political question

[Uncle Remus]

General lack of trust in the current administration - on every issue.

Absolutely!!

 

[disneyjunkie]

So once again we return to the old fear and smear tatic. Let's see if you voted democratic you must be waiting on a welfare check. (didn't work to well during the election either. LOL)

It could be that too many people got tired of mommy government taking care of big business and coporate ceo's while hard working folks watched 30%of the 401K's disappear and then have an clueless president come on TV and say "THE ECONOMY IS FUNDEMENTALLY SOUND", 2 days before he gets right back on TV to ask for 700 billion dollars to bail out banks. Oh let's not forget it took them an entire year to figure out we were even in a recession


Oh and don't worry about us being let down, we've had the last 8 years to sink to this level, can't get much more letdown than that.

So in a nutshell

The economy sucks.

 

[loco4dis]

So ya mean it didn't have anythin' to do with the issues?
How'd you base your votes?

I don't vote for liberal democrats. Never have. Never will. That's how I based my vote. Seriously.

Of course "issues" have something to do with it, but the overriding "issue" was that the Republicans had held Congress for 12 years and the presidency for 8 years, and that frequently means a party change. The pendulum swings both ways. I know for democrats it's probably really exciting right now to imagine that this is the beginning of a democrat ascension that will last for decades or something, but in 4 or 8 years people will be looking for something different. They always do. And that's a good thing. One party governance only leads to corruption, greed, and inertia in preservation of the status quo — no matter the party.

 

[jimmiej]

Genuine question for those more in the know than me. What caused the 2001 recession vs. what caused the current one?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have to say the war in Iraq. The economy was the final nail, but the war was the albatross.

 

[jimmiej]

I have to say the war in Iraq. The economy was the final nail, but the war was the albatross.

Glad to know someone agrees with me.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that it's both the war and the economy. They're both ugly and people got tired of ugly.

 

[LuvOrlando]

To me, the main issue is OPEC. We learned nothing from the 1970's. OPEC can still bring us to our knees with very little effort. Oil so permeates our lives that price increases made it impossible for us to rebound. I think everyone should take a moment to consider how much spending power we lost due to the doubling in the price of oil. Lets not even consider the increases in the cost of food and goods.

We have 2 cars and my DH commutes so my auto gas bill went from $200 to $400 a month. This meant we alone had $200 less a month to pay bills and infuse back into the Economy with discretionary spending... further, financial concerns over how high it would go kept us from new purchases that would require a fixed monthly payment or chunk of savings (like a new car & a big trip to WDW). Multiply this by the millions and millions of Americans just like me & you'll see that billions were siphoned off from our Economy. The amount is staggering yet no-one is talking openly about it and I just don't understand why.

 

[chisnpeke]

So ya mean it didn't have anythin' to do with the issues?
How'd you base your votes?

The number one thing that voters base their vote on is not issues, it's the party, candidate image, then the issues.

 

[Galahad]

Mostly it's because the pendulum swings both ways. The Republicans had their run; now it's the democrats' turn. Sometime down the road, it'll be the Republicans' turn again. And so on and so on.

Yep. Particularly in the 2008 Presidential election - there were, really, no "issues". Not complaining. I didn't vote for President Obama but I think we have every indication he'll do fine.

 

[Galahad]

Genuine question for those more in the know than me. What caused the 2001 recession vs. what caused the current one?

2001 - a smaller bubble - dot.com, Y2K, and other inflated economic activity. 2008 - Bigger, much bigger bubble. Housing to be sure, but mostly we (the world) are finally leveraged more than we can sustain and we must collectively reduce our debt. Therefore this one will be much more painful - regardless of what governments do or don't do.

 

[LukenDC]

2006---Lack of confidence in GOP leadership in wake of Iraq imbroglio and Katrina

2008---Economy

 

[edwardsfire]

I don't vote for liberal democrats. Never have. Never will. That's how I based my vote. Seriously.

Of course "issues" have something to do with it, but the overriding "issue" was that the Republicans had held Congress for 12 years and the presidency for 8 years, and that frequently means a party change. The pendulum swings both ways. I know for democrats it's probably really exciting right now to imagine that this is the beginning of a democrat ascension that will last for decades or something, but in 4 or 8 years people will be looking for something different. They always do. And that's a good thing. One party governance only leads to corruption, greed, and inertia in preservation of the status quo — no matter the party.

This is actually very correct.
If Obama wins re election, then look out in 2016, the Republicans will win big.
Thats just how history shows it will happen.
Good post and very historically accurate.
Note: due to what happened in '94, i think you will see a VERY "Conservative" Obama in his first term.
MANY more liberals will be upset than conservatives. By a mile.

 

[Galahad]

This is actually very correct.
If Obama wins re election, then look out in 2016, the Republicans will win big.

I think sometimes the cycle is 12 years or more. There is always a cycle, but I don't think it is axiomatically two Presidential terms.