What Would You Like To Ask President Obama?

[red dog 1]

http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse

You can ask President Obama the questions that are on your mind
about the direction of the country and vote on others that you think should be asked.
He'll answer several of your top-voted questions during a special interview which will take place on January 30, live from the White House.

A selection of people who submit questions will also be invited to join a
Google + Hangout Live with the President during the interview.

The deadline to submit is January 28 at midnight.

[Politicalboi]

1. I'm sure my question has already been asked

A gazillion times. Will you allow medical Marijuana busts to keep happening, or will you support legalization of pot.

[red dog 1]

2. LOTS of folks have asked this "Q"...He'll probably have to answer it, but

Go to the website & see the questions for yourself.

The Pot issue seems to be the number 1 or number 2 issue so far, as well as questions about making the top 1% pay more taxes.

But you should go there and vote on the pot question,,,the more votes, the more likely he is to have to answer it.

Obama & the White House are NOT the ones who decide which questions are posed to him, it is strictly a matter of which questions get the most votes.

[rhett o rick]

3. Bravo for the campaign Obama. Will you carry this attitude thru if reelected? nm

[wundermaus]

4. Voted for several posts but mostly similar to this -

"Why did you sign the National Defense Authorization Act (a law which opened the door for trial-free, indefinite detention of anyone, including US citizens, so long as the government calls them terrorists) when you said you were going to veto it?"

[JoePhilly]

7. He's already answered that question ... you can read his answer here ...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/31/statement-president-hr-1540

Early on, it says this ...

The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

And then he goes on to discuss specific provisions.

You might not LIKE his answer to your question ... but he has in fact answered your question.

[wundermaus]

12. Yup, he sure did answer my question and...

Yup, I don't like it.

[JoePhilly]

14. So why ask him a question that he's already answered?

[zipplewrath]

5. Iraq

You campaigned heavily upon your differences with Bush over Iraqi war policy. Yet when elected you kept his secretary of defense, you kept the same basic command staff, and you executed, without modification, the Bush SOFA, and your administration engaged them in the very same talks for extending our occupation that Bush had been conducting prior to leaving office.

Exactly where was the change in such a policy?

[JoePhilly]

8. Bush adopted Obama's policy on his way out the door.

Obama proposed the path out in Jan 2007.

At that time, Bush was FIGHTING to not have a time line of any kind. In July 2008, Bush adopted Obama's time line.

Listen to the time line Obama lays out in the video.

Re-deploy of combat troops in about 16 months. Obama did that after taking office. Obama also says we'd keep some troops there to make sure things don't collapse, which would allow some troops to remain longer. Which he also did.

I suggest you watch it. Bush adopted Obama's time line as a way to undercut Obama on this issue to help McCain.

And so the GOP, and sadly others, claim that Bush is actually the one who removed us form Iraq.

[zipplewrath]

9. The Iraqi's did

If you are going to credit anyone, credit the Iraqis. The demanded the SOFA and they got it. Some suggest they read the political tea leaves in the US and saw the opportunity to make these demands. I don't think people understand how badly they wanted us out.

But he didn't change the agreement in any way (surprise since he kept Gates on to advise him) and he could have easily. And at the end, he allowed continued negotiations for us to stay, negotiations that had been going on since Bush had tried at the end of his term in order to trap Obama into have to stay as long as possible. But the Iraqi's really wanted us out and would only let us stay if we were subject to their laws.

[JoePhilly]

10. Which Iraqis proposed this same time line prior to Obama?

The Iraqis want the US to leave from DAY ONE. No one disputes that.

Can YOU find another American in the executive branch, or in congress who took the position Obama takes in THAT video BEFORE Obama did so???

You started by claiming Bush was really "the one" ... now you claim it was really the Iraqis.

Obama was the first to go on the record with this time line. And when he became President, he carried it out.

And he deserves credit for having done so.

[zipplewrath]

15. We basically agree on the facts

"The Iraqis want the US to leave from DAY ONE. No one disputes that."

"Can YOU find another American in the executive branch, or in congress who took the position Obama takes in THAT video BEFORE Obama did so??? "

Plenty, all those folks who voted AGAINST the war for one.

"You started by claiming Bush was really "the one" ... now you claim it was really the Iraqis."

Bush negotiated the SOFA. The Iraqis ALSO negotiated the SOFA. I thought that was pretty obvious. You on the other hand want to give primary credit to someone who wasn't even involved in the negotiations.


"Obama was the first to go on the record with this time line. And when he became President, he carried it out.

And he deserves credit for having done so."

Actually, I did exactly that. I said he executed the SOFA without change, even though he could have. And he tried to negotiate an extension, which he DIDN'T campaign upon.

[JoePhilly]

16. We do agree on SOME of the facts ...

I took your response to me, and used BOLD for my responses back.

"The Iraqis want the US to leave from DAY ONE. No one disputes that." "Can YOU find another American in the executive branch, or in congress who took the position Obama takes in THAT video BEFORE Obama did so??? "

Plenty, all those folks who voted AGAINST the war for one.

You are answering a question I did not ask. In the video, Obama outlines a plan to GET US OUT. I asked you if you know of anyone who actually proposed such a plan BEFORE Obama did. The fact that some voted against going initially is irrelevant, Obama also took that stance. The reality is that we WENT into Iraq. And in the video I provided, Obama lays out the path to GET OUT. And so you should have no problem finding videos of others who said "we need to get OUT, and THIS is MY timeline."

"You started by claiming Bush was really "the one" ... now you claim it was really the Iraqis."

Bush negotiated the SOFA. The Iraqis ALSO negotiated the SOFA. I thought that was pretty obvious. You on the other hand want to give primary credit to someone who wasn't even involved in the negotiations.

Wait ... so you mean the sitting President (Bush) and the Iraqis negotiated the deal ... really? See, I thought some other people might do that!!! Maybe Obama should have been negotiating it, since AGAIN, Bush adopted Obama's time line.


"Obama was the first to go on the record with this time line. And when he became President, he carried it out. And he deserves credit for having done so."

Actually, I did exactly that. I said he executed the SOFA without change, even though he could have. And he tried to negotiate an extension, which he DIDN'T campaign upon.

Obama did not follow SOFA exactly. Which is proven because he offered the Iraqis an extended time line. But with some very specific conditions. Which they did not want to accept. And so we left.

But hey ... maybe we can get the "Mission Accomplished banner out of storage and have Bush land on another aircraft carrier.

[zipplewrath]

17. He offered the same extensions that Bush did

You're really going to have to decide whether Obama both is responsible for the SOFA or not.

I suggest that you're going to have a hard time, because there isn't a hoots worth of difference between the line of action Bush negotiated with the Iraqi's, and his subsequent efforts to negotiate and extension with them and what Obama did.

So you're going to either have to claim he couldn't do any better than Bush, or he didn't try to do any better than Bush.

[JoePhilly]

18. I never said that Obama negotiated SOFA.

Bush negotiated that, and he used Obama's time line when he negotiated it.

Obama clearly could not do that negotiation because *gasp* Obama was not President at the time.

And so ... Obama enters office in a situation in which Bush had already negotiated a time line that is the same as the one Obama put forward in the video I provided.

Again, Obama did not have to do better than Bush because Bush adopted Obama's time line.

[think]

6. K&R For those that wanted to have their voice heard and a Prez who's making it possible

It is a refreshing change from the Bush era insanity.

[ThomThom]

11. Why not single payer and get the corporate profit out of health care?

[Tx4obama]

13. Obama answered the question regarding single-payer several times during the 2008 campaign

Several times during the 2008 campaign at town halls etc 'Senator' Obama said that single-payer would be the way to go if we were starting out from scratch, but that doing it now wouldn't be a feasible option.