Why I'm Scared of an Obama Presidency

[mickeysgal]

Here's the one thing I don't get about Obama. His whole campaign is focused on Change. That sounds good, but what does that really mean? Where's he been? Almost 200 votes of "present" is as non-committed to change as you can be?

If I felt so strongly that change needed to be made, and I was in the position to initiate change, I would take a leadership role and sponsor bills that would start that change happening. I wouldn't sit back and moan about the way things are. You need to be a leader to lead, not a Monday morning quarterback. Obama has not sponsored one piece of significant legislation in his time in the Senate. Why do you think that is? Are his ideas for change only going to surface IF he gets elected? And if he doesn't get elected, is he just going to take his ball and go home?

To qualify to be the leader of the free world, you need to be a leader, and show that you can make change happen. Don't just sit around and curse the darkness, light a light.

 

[DawnCt1]

Two words that he DID NOT say at that speech say it all for me. He talked about winning the cold war, he talked about reunification. He mentioned JFK speaking there before him, he talked about standing up to the USSR.

Not once did he mention say Ronald Reagan. You would think that even when he talked about tearing down walls of racisim, etc. he would have at least paraphrased RR's famous words to Mr Grobachev.

Nope. Couldnt do that.

I knew he would never mention Ronald Reagan, but to not mention a fellow democrat, particularly in connection with WWII events, is astounding; unless he didn't know that Truman was a democrat.

 

[DawnCt1]

The absolute LAST thing this country needs is a socialist in the White House, the govt spending in this country needs to be brought under control or the future is bleak. Its time that people in this country are expected to be held responsible for their actions!

I agree. While McCain was certainly not my first choice, I believe that when it comes to pork, he will use the veto pen. My one criticism of Bush is that he didn't veto enough pork barrel spending bills that ended up on his desk. The main purpose of income tax is to protect and defend the country; everything else is "fluff". We can afford some "fluff", not a lot of fluff.

 

[DawnCt1]

Interesting letter to the Editor (from the Richmond VA newspaper):

Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'
Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr. Sandy Hook.

Excellent post. We had a dear friend who hid under his family's porch at the age of 13 in Cuba. His family fled to Mexico with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They pulled themselves up by their boot straps and survived.

 

[Charade]

Well you can't have racisim without fear....but you can have fear without racisim, don't you know that "we" "the usual suspects" are smart enough to seperate the two.
BTW, I have restrained from even replying to the many not so subtle remarks made by a few conservatives on here lately about "diversity" etc...
It's not even worth it sometimes.

And how do you reconcile that with the fact that Obama routinely injects race into his campaign when it's politically expedient to do so? For example, he recent speech in Berlin.

 

[DawnCt1]

And how do you reconcile that with the fact that Obama routinely injects race into his campaign when it's politically expedient to do so? For example, he recent speech in Berlin.

And again he was wrong. Secretaries Rice and Powell have preceded him to Germany.

 

[CPT Tripss]

I knew he would never mention Ronald Reagan, but to not mention a fellow democrat, particularly in connection with WWII events, is astounding; unless he didn't know that Truman was a democrat.

Sorry I couldn't locate your original post about the Berlin Airlift . . . do I recall correctly an assertion that it was a US operation?
If so, just wanted to note that more Brits died in the operation and also the Brits played a major role in the outcome.

Total Tonnage by Commodity: US British
Coal 1,421,730 164,800
Food 296,303 241,713
Military Supplies --- 18,239
Miscellaneous 65,540 25,202
Wet Fuel --- 92,282
Total 1,783,573 542,236

Not bad for the country that was substantially destroyed

 

[Patch'sD]

Why I fear an Obama Presidency. I have $10 In my Pocket. Obama wants to take $ 9 and Pay for Tax Cuts, National Health Insurance, College Tuition and such. At the end I will have very little left to pay for Gas and Heating Oil which he plans do nothing on.

 

[Charade]

* McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

* McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/mccains-offsho...

* McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15781.htm...

* McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15863.htm...

* McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/10/mccain-flips-o...

* McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15825.htm...

* He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion,he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15864.htm...

* McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/now-mccain-is-flip-f...

* McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

* McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/28/mccains-abo... /

* McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15617.htm...

* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15557.htm...

* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15564.htm...

* He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15573.htm...

* McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/mccains-97-lob...

* He wanted political support from radical televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15633.htm...

* McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15699.htm...

*McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a“‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded.Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14761.htm...

* McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/mccain-...

* McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14818.htm...

*In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15033.htm...

* McCain has changed his economic worldview on multiple occasions.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15337.htm...

* McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15370.htm...

* McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15358.htm...

* McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off than they were before Bush took office.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/19/mccain-economy-bloo... /

* McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/06/mccain-earmark /

* McCain believes his endorsement from radical televangelist John Hagee was both a good and bad idea.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/21/hagee-flip-flop /

*McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting“irresponsibly.”His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15176.htm...

* McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/us/politics/16mccain....

* In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/10/emtimeem-has-m...

* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/31/mccain-... /

* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now he’s against it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/31/mccain-... /

* On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own legislation.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14447.htm...

*In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving“feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9658.html

* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral...

*McCain said he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as“a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.”In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/18/mccain-greatest-cri... /

* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310003 to saying the exact opposite.http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/mccain-abortion /

* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/02/mcc...

* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6988.html

* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6731.html

* On a related note, he said 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and insisted he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/us/politics/03mccain....

*In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1880630&page=1

* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
http://www.nysun.com/national/campaign-finance-effort-r... /

* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070115/pl_usnw/dnc__mcca...

* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8313.html

* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15637887 /

* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310003

* McCain decided in2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/mccain-kissinger /

* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and acorrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/mccain-kissinger /

* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/20...

* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8066.html

* And now he’s both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/mccain-abortion /

The dreaded “flip-flop” is, according to the GOP, the latest cardinal sin for someone seeking national office !!!

Do you have that on speed dial?

 

[DawnCt1]

Sorry I couldn't locate your original post about the Berlin Airlift . . . do I recall correctly an assertion that it was a US operation?
If so, just wanted to note that more Brits died in the operation and also the Brits played a major role in the outcome.

Total Tonnage by Commodity: US British
Coal 1,421,730 164,800
Food 296,303 241,713
Military Supplies --- 18,239
Miscellaneous 65,540 25,202
Wet Fuel --- 92,282
Total 1,783,573 542,236

Not bad for the country that was substantially destroyed

As you can see, It was Truman who ordered the airlift and that it was initiated by the US. No one believed that it could be done, including the CIA.
President Truman made the tough decision.

MISSING FROM THAT BERLIN SPEECH

Barack Obama had ample reason to recall the Berlin Airlift of 1948 during his dramatic speech in the German capital last week. The airlift was an early and critical success for the West in the Cold War, with clear relevance to our own time, the war in Iraq, and the free world's conflict with radical Islam. But having reached back 60 years to that pivotal hour of American leadership, Obama proceeded to draw from it exactly the wrong lessons.

The Soviet Union had blockaded western Berlin on June 24, 1948, choking off access to the city by land and water and threatening 2.5 million people with starvation. Moscow was determined to force the United States and its allies out of Berlin. To capitulate to Soviet pressure, as Obama rightly noted, "would have allowed Communism to march across Europe." Yet many in the West advocated retreat, fearing that the only way to keep the city open was to use the atomic bomb -- and launch World War III.

But for President Truman, retreat was unthinkable. "We stay in Berlin, period," he decreed. Overriding the doubts of senior advisers, including Secretary of State George C. Marshall and General Omar Bradley, the Army Chief of Staff, Truman ordered the Armed Forces to begin supplying Berlin by air.

Military planners initially thought that with a "very big operation," they might be able to get 700 tons of food to Berlin. Within weeks, the Air Force was flying in twice that amount every day, as well as supplies of coal.

"Pilots and crew were making heroic efforts," David McCullough recorded in his sweeping biography of Truman. "At times planes were landing as often as every four minutes -- British Yorks and Dakotas, America C-47s and the newer, much larger, four-engine C-54s . . . Ground crews worked round the clock. `We were proud of our Air Force during the war. We're prouder of it today,' said The New York Times."

Yet the pressure to abandon Berlin persisted. The CIA argued that the airlift had worsened matters by "making Berlin a major test of US-Soviet strength" and affirming "direct US responsibility" for West Berlin. The airlift was bound to fail, the intelligence analysts warned. Truman didn't waver. "We'll stay in Berlin -- come what may," he wrote in his diary on July 19. "I don't pass the buck, nor do I alibi out of any decision I make."

It would take nearly a year and more than 277,000 flights, but in the end it was the Soviets who backed down. On May 12, 1949, the blockade ended -- a triumph of American prowess and perseverance, and a momentous vindication for Truman.

But not once in his Berlin speech did Obama acknowledge Truman's fortitude, or even mention his name. Nor did he mention the US Air Force, or the 31 American pilots who died during the airlift. Indeed, Obama seemed to go out of his way not to say plainly that what saved Berlin in that dark time was America's military might. Save for a solitary reference to "the first American plane," he never described one of the greatest American operations of the postwar period as an American operation at all. He spoke only of "the airlift," "the planes," "those pilots." Perhaps their American identity wasn't something he cared to stress amid all his "people of the world" salutations and talk of "global citizenship."

"People of the world," Obama declaimed, "look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one." But the world *didn't* stand as one during the Cold War; it was riven by an Iron Curtain. For more than four decades, America and the West confronted an implacable enemy on the other side of that divide. What finally defeated that enemy and ended the Cold War was not harmony and goodwill, but American strength and resolve.

Obama's speech was a paean to international cooperation and unity. "Now is the time to join together," he said. "It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads." No -- it was a Democratic president named Truman, who had the audacity to order an airlift when others counseled retreat, and the grit to see it through when others were ready to withdraw.

Sixty years later, it is a very different kind of Democrat who is running for president. Obama may have wowed 'em in Berlin, but he's no Harry Truman.

 

[RvUsa]

My questions is:

O'Bama - McCain, are they the best this great country can come up with to run the free world?

 

[JonS99]

If/when Obama wins and we see footage of the terrorists in the streets cheering, THEN we will realize we made a mistake. With him in office, I fully expect to see us the victim of another terrorist attack on American soil.

When those of us that work and have chosen to be responsible for ourselves start seeing our paychecks decrease and the lifestyles of those that lack ambition starts to increase, THEN we will realize we made a mistake.

When he preaches change and then gets into office and does nothing, then we will realize we were snookered by a man that can give great speeches but nothing else. In his years in the Illinois house and now US Senate, what has he accomplished?

 

[JaxJags08]

I think this quote from Obama encompasses one big reason I'm scared of him becoming president:

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."

 

[JaxJags08]

The only thing that scares me about Obama being president is assasination attempts, there's a lot of racist yahoos out there who will NOT want him as POTUS just because of race and I fear them acting on their thoughts.

on the godless man/church/religion thing...am I the only one who doesn't give a rat's butt what religion our president is and how he practices? I think I'm alone in this opinion these days.

I'm not scared of the assassination attempts due to race AT ALL. My God, look at the deep-seeded hatred that people all over the country and the world have for Bush! Do you not think that there are thousands or more that would like to see that fate for him?

And the religion thing - if the church that my president attends is spouting racism and hate, I most definitely do give a rat's a**! He could have gone to any number of other churches. He knew exactly what was going on there and if he didn't then do we want someone so blind as our president? His choice of friends (Wright, Ayers) scares the crap out of me!

 

[Pin Wizard]

If/when Obama wins and we see footage of the terrorists in the streets cheering, THEN we will realize we made a mistake. With him in office, I fully expect to see us the victim of another terrorist attack on American soil.

When those of us that work and have chosen to be responsible for ourselves start seeing our paychecks decrease and the lifestyles of those that lack ambition starts to increase, THEN we will realize we made a mistake.

When he preaches change and then gets into office and does nothing, then we will realize we were snookered by a man that can give great speeches but nothing else. In his years in the Illinois house and now US Senate, what has he accomplished?

I've been contemplating the same for the past few days. Am I the only one that remembers news reports of how the terrorists would like nothing more than to see the US economy hit bottom? Hmmm...seems we've been having some real problems with that lately. Count me as another who sees Obama as their candidate.

 

[JaxJags08]

I've been contemplating the same for the past few days. Am I the only one that remembers news reports of how the terrorists would like nothing more than to see the US economy hit bottom? Hmmm...seems we've been having some real problems with that lately. Count me as another who sees Obama as their candidate.

Do you honestly think that we are at rock bottom right now? Honestly?

 

[Pin Wizard]

Do you honestly think that we are at rock bottom right now? Honestly?

Of course not. But are you not seeing things getting way too expensive...food, gas, etc. People losing homes.

 

[DawnCt1]

Of course not. But are you not seeing things getting way too expensive...food, gas, etc. People losing homes.

And the Democrats' answer to that? Drill on oil leases that have no oil. Release oil from the strategic oil reserve. Things are way too expensive because we have been prohibited from recovering our own oil within our borders. Obama will only continue THAT policy which is no policy at all.

 

[agentpleakley]

To adopt DisUnc's phrase --highly concerned -- there are numerous reasons to be highly concerned of an Obama presidency, including his socialist leanings -- please refer to fordfamily's brilliant post on the hate McCain thread --

I disagree with just about everything Obama says, his policies, his plans for the USA, etc. -- what makes this election vital to the future of the US is the fact that if he is elected he, Pelosi and Reid will have control of this country. There will be no checks and balances and they will be able to bulldoze their socialist agenda into law.

 

[JaxJags08]

Of course not. But are you not seeing things getting way too expensive...food, gas, etc. People losing homes.

While I would like those prices to be lower, I would hardly use them as evidence that terrorists are winning.

As for people losing homes, the large majority of those problems are due to stupid lending practices by banks and people making the idiotic mistake of buying a house that they couldn't really afford to begin with.