Are you willing to believe that President Obama feels this nation is hinging on total collapse &...

[Divine Discontent]

therefore, feels the need to be very cautious about where the energy of Congress and his cabinet/departments are focused at this perilous time?

I'm willing to believe massive energy and time are needed to secure this country from the destruction of the Dog Shit Administration over the past 8 years, and since they're not in office anymore, he knows what & will not be going on in his administration. I realize he's made some comments/decisions that are quite frustrating, but after reading that Raw Story thread, I wanted to gauge what a majority of the progressives on here are feeling - please vote!

I'm willing to pick the first choice below, at least until the crisis appears over, although it's hard to swallow - I don't want to believe he'd let the war criminal torturers get away with what they did, and think it's quite possible we could collapse into a massive depression. It's only been about 30 days that he's been in power after all.

[opihimoimoi]

1. The man understands what he reads.....far far more than Bush who failed to read the 9/11 WARNINGS

and comprehend it....

[Divine Discontent]

3. All right, you've covered your ass, now!

Bush's response to the CIA operative reading him the daily briefing in August 01 - oh what a total f*ck up W is - a royal abysmal f*ck up!

Exactly, Obama is very intelligent - I think he is taking a measured response to everything for the time being. Lots to decipher.

[leftstreet]

2. When did "believe" replace "think?"

These Obama threads that ask for an up or down vote based on belief...well they just never go well.

:popcorn:

[Divine Discontent]

4. ha!

well, once one assimilates and discerns all the information they have available they're going to believe something one way or the other based on their opinion of the 'facts'. Lots of different things going on in this gov't, for sure - hopefully for the best!

[Hippo_Tron]

5. You can't run a democracy and prosecute your political opposition at the same time

It has never been done in the history of our country. Nobody in the Adams Administration went to jail for the horrendous Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson merely overturned them and moved on. There was a rogue ambassador who helped support a coup d'etat in Mexico in 1913 without Taft's approval while the Taft/Wilson transition was going on. Wilson, who supported Mexico's democratically elected government, swept the incident under the rug and moved on. Wilson's Attorney General famously conducted illegal raids on suspected communist headquarters. The Harding Administration didn't do anything about it. Nixon got a pardon by Ford for all crimes related to Watergate but Jimmy Carter could've still tried to prosecute him and his underlings for illegal spying and intimidation of civil rights and anti-war groups, but they didn't. Instead we got the Church Commission and FISA.

Most of the crimes Bush has committed have been committed in some form or another by a previous President. Nixon had illegal spying covered, LBJ had going to war under false pretenses, and god knows how many 19th century Presidents have the torture thing covered when you consider the Native Americans.

In order to prosecute the Bush Administration, Obama would need to go against a 200+ year precedent that basically says "you ignore your predecessor's abuses of power". And while he should do that, I can understand why he isn't going to. People here are deluded into believing that Obama will be lauded as a hero because the public is thirsting to see the Bush Administration held accountable for their crimes. The public doesn't even know that what Bush did is criminal. They don't know because no other President has ever been held accountable for similar actions.

[PBS Poll-435]

6. Other

Nobody really knows.

This is uncharted territory.

The automakers are kinda screwn. The banks are semi-screwn. The food and grocery people are doing ok.



This is a very weird economic climate. Like V-Tach.

[4lbs]

7. Let's fix the economy first, and prosecute the Bushies when the country is on firmer footing.

I doubt that a person that is unemployed and on the verge of being homeless without healthcare will care very much about whether Bush/Cheney abused their power in Iraq and are prosecuted for it.

They, John Q. Public, are more concerned about where they'll be living and eating a week from now.

When the economy is on firmer ground, and the Iraq/Afghanistan situations are more concrete and favorable to us, THAT's when you go after the Bushies.

[Divine Discontent]

8. nice insight, and thanks for the votes, y'all!