Obama admires Reagan's ability to streamline the government...hmmm.

[elixir]

Keep in mind that Obama has espoused admiration and respect for former president Reagan, the man who personally ruined our lives for over 15 years. Although it was general comment it provides some insight into his view of government.


"Obama explained he did not agree with many of Reagan's policies but admired the former Republican president for changing decades of political discourse and streamlining the government."

[blm]

1. Reagan's Wet Dream: "The Era of Big Government is Over" proclaimed the Democratic president

who rolled over and accepted Reagan's governing philosophy in front of all America.

[griffi94]

2. if i were you

i'd give up trying to change any of obama supporters minds....just wait till he wins...he'll disappoint em soon enough and they'll turn on him...he can't end the war...or bring universal healthcare or advance a green agenda without making compromises....and as soon as he does...all his younger supporters will bail...as soon as they become disenchanted...and all of his more pure supporters will abandon him....just like they abandon anybody who can't pass a purity test

[goodgd_yall]

9. Either that or

he'll be cut lots of slack. If anybody else did it, they'd be blasted.

[griffi94]

14. nope

the true believers will turn on him like a pack of wild dogs...and the repubs won't ever give him a pass....imo obama is trying to offset some of the more fierce rw attacks that he knows are coming his way...by praising reagan and any other rw hero....it won't work...they'll go after him harder than they went after clinton....you think clinton is hated....lol....just wait....and his supporters won't stick....that's the problem with the youth vote...and idealist vote...they have short attention spans and get disenchanted too easy...this shits hard

[BeatleBoot]

17. Couldn't agree more

sounds like you've been around the block once or twice as I have.

very astute post. idealists and young voters do exactly that when the shit hits the fan. I've seen it happen so many times before at so many different levels.

and you're right, this shit IS hard.

I like putting it this way: They don't know, and they don't know that they don't know.

thanks for the post. it made my day.

[BlackVelvet04]

24. Yep....

they don't know and they don't know that they don't know. It's really rather pathetic.

[Sapphocrat]

23. I'm not at all convinced...

...Obama really understands the ferocity of the RW attacks that are indeed coming his way. He's never had to go up against a tough Republican opponent* and he hasn't received so much as the first love tap from the GOP attack machine. The Right is keeping its powder dry for now -- but when they decide to fire the first shot, methinks Mr. Obama is going to be knocked back on his butt.

Well, if nothing else, maybe it will temper his zeal to "reach out" to the very people who are going to put him through a meat grinder, then take what's left and run him through again.

I suppose it is entirely possible that all this Kumbaya chatter is solely for the benefit of his primary (and caucus) Dem voters, and, once he lands the nomination, he'll turn from Dr. Jeckyll to Mr. Hyde overnight. He's going to have to, or the GOP goons will eat him alive.


* For anybody who thinks Alan Keyes was tough, get real: Keyes is such a rabid extremist, I could beat him, just by showing up. Keyes versus Obama reminds me of what Molly Ivins once said about Rush Limbaugh: "I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle."

[TwilightGardener]

3. Hillary Clinton listed Reagan as one of her favorite Presidents.

But, you run with these scissors--I'll enjoy watching.

[Kittycat]

13. ..

:spray:

[Frances]

4. The way Reagan streamlined the government

was through privatization, which is what enabled Halliburton and Blackwater to get so much money and so much power although they are far more corrupt and incompetent than government employees ever were.

[bellasgrams]

16. He also promoted breaking the unions, ie air controllers was

just the beginning. Dereg. of the phone companies that was supposed to make our bills less. Did anyone see a reduction in their rates? We started seeing all the foreign products flood our markets. Foreign cars started getting popular, now they have taken over. I know people like to put all the blame on Clinton but they probably weren't here then to see it for themselves.

[high density]

5. Welcome to last month

Jeeezus this is old.

[TwilightGardener]

6. They are expert recyclers. The whiff of desperation pervades DU.

[goodgd_yall]

7. Sounds like contracting out of even more jobs

And understaffing government agencies would be in the offing in an Obama presidency. I hope that means cutting back on the military and not the EPA.

[boppers]

8. My Reagan Years...

Were pretty good actually. Might just be me.

I *can* think of a whole warfare department that could use some serious streamlining, as well as reduction in scope creep.

While we're at it, we might want to also reduce entire departments and programs that exist to provide companies like WalMart and McDonalds with money to help "promote" themselves...

[elixir]

10. Welcome to DU. YOu must be disappointed that Romney dropped out.

[boppers]

21. Huh?

I was in SLC for the Olympics. That guy couldn't manage anything unless he had a near-inexhaustible flow of money.

He tried to run a political campaign the same way, and well, we saw how that turned out. ;)

Oh... you mean the Reagan years thing? Well, age 9-17 was pretty decent for me, the family small-business grew like gangbusters, as did our farm, I had an excellent public school education, and aside from the constant silly fear-mongering about boogymen, things were good.

Then.. ick. Iran-Contra, Desert Storm, Massive Deficits, Recession, etc. That pretty much changed how I saw the world.

[bellasgrams]

19. You are the first person I've ever heard of except a repb say

the Reagan years were pretty good. I saw nothing good about the Reagan years, Iran Contra, Ollie North and his buddies, alot like what we've seen in the Bush yrs. The unemployment rate was high. In those days you had to go to the unemployment ofc and sign up every week to get your check. I worked a couple of blocks from there and everyday they were lined up for 2 blocks outside the bldg. and I live in a relative sm to med sized town. Then there was Reagan himself, who I always thought was senile and it turned out to be Alzheimers. When the reporters would ask him a question, he'd put his hand up to his ear and pretend not to hear them. Then of course there was Nancy that called in the fortune tellers to get their readings on running our gov. I saw nothing good in Reagan. NOTHING.

[boppers]

25. Well, I did say *my* Reagan years...

I think part of why there is a such a weird, almost cult-like, worship of the guy is that people like my parents did quite well, and actually flourished under his presidency, and attributed that partly (or totally?) to him.

A great number of them even still consider Iran-Contra to be bogus, think the Cold War ended because of him... all kinds of hilarious stuff. (Yeah, Reagan worked in the East Germany Border regulations office. Riiiiight.)

I think it's the differences between hating the time frame, hating the policies enacted, hating the man, hating the culture of the day. The guy himself turned out to be something of a duplicitous sleazebag, but what did I know at the time? :)

[Blue State Bandit]

11. Do we have to school you tools again?

Not directed at the Hill supporters who have the decency to to not act as though they work for Karl Rove.

[Hill_YesWeWill]

12. well, us Real Hillary supporters will continue to remember Bill admiring

Reagan also. In fact, he was admiring Reagan when Reagan was even more popular, and his idea even more "dangerous", to the American people

your point?

[jasmine621]

15. He needs to study history. Regan actually grew the Federal government.

I don't know what he means by streamlining the Fed government. Goverment began to be contracted out but by the end of Reagan's last term the Fed roles were bigger than ever, more red tape, and all the paper tiger red tape concerning all those contractors and their government fraud.

[BeatleBoot]

18. You're right...

W has the largest government expansion, Reagan next.

[Thrill]

20. Keep trying Hillary supporters

trying to bring up stuff from last month

[DemGa]

22. Keep talking Obama; Keep exposing the facade

Light criticism and praise for Reagan: condemnation of Clinton.

Duplicitous come to mind.