Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
Bush was the cause of some serious partisan division in the United States. Now, I don't think that's very bad. Partisanship within a democracy can mean some very good things such as logical and fierce debate are occurring for the sake of the common good. The problem that I have with Bush is moral in that I think his actions harmed the Republic more than it helped it; especially his decision to authorize the use of torture in intelligence gathering.
That said, Captain is totally right in his comparison to Obama. Bush was more of a substantive President. He acted courageously to execute his vision even when it was extremely unpopular.
Obama is a nowhere man. He's bogged himself down so deep in meaningless rhetoric that it's obvious he lacks what Bush had in courage and decisiveness.
I would have thought I was crazy for saying this a year ago, but I predict Obama as a one-term President.
|
The partisanship of the country is real. The partisanship among the actual politicians is much more tied into image than reality. Republicans and Democrats largely have the same goals, but seek to present opposite images to their appropriate constituents. Their goal is to promote the corporations that pay their bills and will give them very well paying jobs when they vacate office.
The Health care bill is a good example of this. The Democrats had the ability, if willing, to pass a public option. That's what a majority of the country wanted, they had 60 seats in the Senate, a large majority in the House and a President to pressure wavering Democrats into supporting it. What happened? The public option passes the House, however murmurs started from the White House stating that they aren't going to push for the public option. "Moderate" Democrats come out against the public option, and Obama, instead of pressuring these small amount of Senators, pressures the progressive Democrats into giving in. A bill then gets passed by the Senate that has no public option but still makes health insurance mandatory without price controls.
Mission accomplished for the corporatist Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans maintain their image of small government and low spending by being completely uncooperative during the entire process. The Democrats maintain the image of "change" and fighting for the little man. The health insurance companies get to put the entire population of the United States on their client list.
The Financial reform bill passed in a similar fashion.
The US government is broken. They need to find a way to get the politicians out of bed with the corporations.
That said, Obama would win re-election in November, and will win re-election in 2012. For the simple reason that in American politics, you don't have to be appealing, you just have to be more appealing than the other guy. Right now, the Republicans don't have anyone that is more appealing than Obama and I don't see one coming about in the next two years.