It hasn’t sunk all the way in yet. Maybe by morning, I’ll feel like the dark ages of 8 years of a moron in charge are finally over. Maybe, we could even see Congress impeach Bush, and get started early.
When you have Mike Turner telling people he’s endorsed by Obama, even stranger things can happen.
While I have little respect for how John McCain ran his campaign, I was impressed with the class he showed in his concession speech. When I watched Obama speak, I felt as if I was watching a speech that will go down in history. The job that he faces, the obstacles to overcome, the challenges ahead are monumental and our country is still divided.
[1]With 52% of the votes counted, the country still has a red stripe dividing our nation.
It would have been divided no matter how the election turned out, looking at the maps – and the first objective is to work hard to put the campaign rhetoric behind us, and to silence the hate mongers who’ve incited fear for a living. The people have spoken, and it’s time people like Hannity, Bortz and Limbaugh either step out from behind the microphones and run for office, or shut-up, because we’ve got to work together like never before if we don’t want to end up a third world country.
Change is hard. The first thing we need to look at changing is the way we elect our politicians. We can’t keep spending 2 years and billions of dollars on sound bites, while we’ve got to create an economy with opportunity for all. It’s not about Red or Blue- it’s about Red White and Blue, and how can we stop worrying about us as individuals, and start working on us as a nation.
A client called me today, a woman of means. She was worried about what would happen to her business if Obama won. She knew it was wrong to think about herself, but, it’s natural. Now that he has won, and we’ve put this election and its mudslinging behind us, it’s time to remember, we make this country great- not our leader. It’s up to all of us to roll up our sleeves, work together, and try to watch out for our neighbors as we would want them to watch over us.
Think back to how we felt as Americans on September 12, 2001. This time, realize, we’re still the same nation, yet, we’re going to try a different approach. An approach that focuses on we, not I. An approach that realizes we’re part of something much bigger than what’s in it for me. It will be our attitude that will determine our altitude, and the controls are in our hands.
Be thankful of what has survived the last eight years of misguided “leadership.” We’ve seen the definition of inept redefined over and over, from the squandering of global goodwill after 9/11, to the botched response to Katrina to our current financial crisis where the compassion has been directed at the wealthy, while the worker gets the shaft.
It seems to me that our economy could be something we could all make an effort to jump start, without government intervention. After all, if $300 checks were a feasible solution from the government- why can’t we do it on our own?
President Obama was elected with an average donation of less than $100. His support came from the disenfranchised, the working class, the overlooked. If we all took $100 and spent it by Friday on something from within our own community, we could send a message that yes, we believe that times are changing, and we see a bright future with our new president elect. We could send a message that we’re going to do our part to say we’re confident with our choice. Maybe, Wall Street would take notice. I’d almost say we should all buy stock in Ford and GM, but, the problem is the CEOs still don’t think about the big picture, just themselves.
We also need to shut off the hate. Take stock in the numbers that voted, take a look at the message. Change will only come once we know that there is a power in we, and it starts with me. Redress those who spew hate, fear and negativity, because today is the first day of a new nation.
It’s late. I need to let this all soak in.
Yes, we can.
Can you think of other things we could do?
Obama is not a miracle worker. I won’t be any richer, thinner, or smarter today than yesterday. He’s not the messiah or “”the one”. But he will be a unifier, not a divider. He’ll be an intellect as opposed to proud of demonstrating ignorance. He will be deliberate as opposed to impulsive. He will be show empathy to the least of our society. A President who garners respect from friend and foe alike as opposed to mindless bluster. A son of a single mother who spent time on food stamps with a unusual(international) background makes America a beacon of hope. We’ve been witness to something as historic as Washington, Lincoln, and Kennedy.
Know hope.
I saw both speeches McCain and Obama and yes McCain gave a great concession speech, which reminded me why he lead me to become a Republican (A McCain Republican, not a Bush Republican like Mike Turner). The Obama speech was good as it’s most quoted lines are direct cadence influence of MLK’s I have a Dream Speech. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. PS listen to it The part of the speech that gave me hope was that he did not over promise as the crowd does expect a miracle (They get quiet). The miracle will occur if the policy is set within the next 6 months. I believe this country is totally on the wrong track and a new direction needs to happen immediately. For instance, if Obama bails out Detroit so they can continue making crap instead of having America invest in rebuilding the rail system, then we have will have no real change. The recession began with the spike in oil prices due to declining supply, which will continue to decline INEXORABLY. We need to change now, but do not believe me, let’s try this guy Jim Brown. Neither candidate has expressed a grasp of peak oil. Other than some campaign sound bites neither candidate is paying attention to the greatest problem we have ever faced. The U.S. and the world is running on cheap oil. We consume 87 million barrels per day and increasing by approximately 1.5 mbpd each year. The time is rapidly approaching where we can no longer continue business as usual. Within months of peak oil’s arrival the price of crude will skyrocket again but this time it will be permanent. How is the… Read more »
Mass transit now.
I agree with all of us. Especially with your “we not me” reasoning. There isn’t a thing wrong with a little socialism when used in a way that makes sense for everyone. I’ve always thought the best form of government to be a synthesis of capitalism and socialism.
And it still hasn’t sunk in yet. It is amazing and inspiring that, more than two and a quarter centuries since the founding of our nation, we finally have a president who’s not the usual white man (only half so). Astounding!
Wondering: did you take a look at CNN’s metrics? Nothing unsurprising, really. But my visceral reaction is a twinge of disappointment in us white people.
some people think we are getting jobs, don’t have to pay our mortgages and now mass transit. you dumb asses need to know little will change, he may try but the job is harder than flipping a switch. I wish him luck.
Gene I agree that little will change, but if we want save ourselves alot must. I will again quote those smarter than me, but not smarter than you! I want to talk about the economy, Mr. President. I’ve seen who your economic advisers are, and that fills me not with pride but with a frozen chill. You know, Albert Einstein said that “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” That is a very wise observation. Albert was as good a thinker as he was a physicist. But then I see that your advisers include the likes of Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and Paul Volcker. These are all guys who created the problems. Which, if we follow Einstein, means thay cannot solve them. Can we agree on that? The economic issues we face today are profound, deep-seated and potentially debilitating for the entire country. They can’t be solved overnight, and they can’t be overcome with just a bunch of new laws or initiatives. You will need a complete overhaul, a 180 degree turn, and a very intense and sweeping clean-up of finance, banking, and yes, government policies. Rubin under Clinton was one of the main architects of what has gone so awfully wrong today. Throw him out. Larry Summers is a doofus. Out with the bathwater. Paul Volcker’s primary claim to fame is that Alan Greenspan was far worse than him, but that doesn’t make him a valuable source of information. If you, and the nation that so courageously elected you to be their leader, are to have a fighting chance at eventually beating the depression that can not be avoided, you will have to turn to people for advice who are not part of the banking in-crowd. Picking Jamie Dimon as Treasury Secretary, for example, is about the worst thing you could do. These are people who will always seek solutions in shifting things a little bit to the left or right, inside the existing paradigm. It won’t work, Mr President. Remember Einstein. Rubin and Summers are the… Read more »
While I didn’t vote for him, John McCain showed his very best side in his concession speech. See it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bss6lTP8BJ8&feature=related.
Money quote: “Whatever our differences (between Obama & McCain), we are fellow Americans. And believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.”
While Presidential campaigns are bruising, McCain is a real American hero. For doubters, see (try to listen over the annoying French translation): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=329RVT3I11w&feature=related
Obama: “we may not get there in one year or one term……..”
I think someone bit off more than he can chew. Or maybe he knows nothing will change. What a joke. McCain would have been no better. Obama is essentially saying that he can not, will not get the job done. Why? bc he is not qualified, and to be frank no one ever gets the job done. What a waste of time and money.
New Pres……. Where are all the jobs? market down 486……. it will keep sliding on speculation that Obama wants to hand hold 100 million American assholes. Hey, you sucker may get $50 to blow on Malt Liquor…….. that will be a nice weekend on him, or should I say on me.
Christ, Gene, lighten up a little. You remind me of that red-faced sonovabitch in Waking Life.
Gene, he’s not a miracle worker. No one should assume that he’s going to fix everything in two weeks or three months or a year.
What Obama said is that he cannot do everything by himself. We actually have to start living a little more responsibly.
Sorry that you’re so cynical.
My point is and always will be that Obama will not fix anything, neither would have McCain. I talked to a lot of people who assume that they will have a job soon (NOT!), that they don’t have to pay on their mortgage bc the banks are bailing them out (???) the war will end before the year is over (don’t think so) and that the economy as a whole will turn around before Christmas. One guy said we needed this, which I told him that nothing (or more to the point very little) will change and you still will be without a job. I hope people cheered Obama bc of the strides it made racially in this country. No, he is not a miracle worker, he is just a man, and he will let down a lot of people bc he is just a man.
“We actually have to start living a little more responsibly” WTF! NO SHIT! This is what I have done, and for my hard work and keeping my financial house in order I am rewarded with higher taxes. Go frickin figure.
Folks, It looks like we picked a winner. Another 425 off today, 10% down in two days. I know he is not a miracle worker but the confidence on Wall Street is lacking. It is easy to bad mouth big business, but remember they provide a lot of jobs, and investment opportunities for small business owners to expand/hire more people. I think what we did is an Obamanation. Plain and simple, we may have fucked up.
And all bc he likes basketball and is hip and young……… that will not seem important when another 25 million are in unemployment lines. Hey, maybe you can play basketball while you are in the line. And those tax cuts seem a little premature……….Oh look, another lying politician, it’s a bird, it’s black, it’s OH SHIT HERE WE GO DOWN THE TOILET!
This is what happens when you get morons to vote.
There are people out there that think they do not have to pay their mortgages anymore – these were VOTERS!
Gene, i recommend that you go and read a book or something. You have obviously been wandering through life for many, many years with a whole head full of misinterpretations of reality.
I guess the weirdest thing is that you expect everything to break down completely, and you blame everyone on earth for it. Well, no argument there, i guess, except that it’s just a little premature to assume the absolute worst at this stage. America has had rough challenges to beat before, and we’ve always come out on top.
Since you seem to think that nobody in the world has any clue but yourself, why not tell us right now how to fix all the problems of humanity, so we can stop bitching on comment threads on (sorry D.E.) fairly obscure blogs and get to work? Or is all hope lost and mass suicide the only possible solution? And who should we have voted for? You?
Actually, I am just acting like the typical Democrat who used to blame everything on Bush, now I am just blaming everything on Obama. The reality is the president can do this and that, can say this and that, but at the end of the day little changes. That is my point. And when Obama fails to dramatically change anything (BC HE PROMISED TO CHANGE THINGS) you can expect people to complain. I am starting early and often, kinda like those who have been doing it for the last eight years (and yes, eight years before that we had a bunch of punk Republicans who did nothing but bitch and moan about Clinton)
I just wanted to be first!
Ok, points for having a sense of humor.
BTW, I actually am happy B Obama won. I think he will do a good job, but I just want to warn people that he can not and will not change everything – it is simply too complicated. We have people out there who think they will get a job bc of him, when the REALITY is some people may but many many people will still be in the same position, without jobs. D Esrati loves to have a “change the world” mentality. That is great. People love to say change the world, when often if they changed themselves their situations would be much much better.
I play basketball every day whats wrong with doing that in an unemployment line? More productive than drinking beer and smoking.
Voting for President is the greatest illusion in the world, or so I thought. Then there was President Bush and Dick Cheney. They really did a number on us Americans. I mean 9-11, Iraq, Katrina, Depression. I never thought a President could fuck up that much. Really never thought I would see it. That is when I realized it is best to put a President in there that won’t be inept. That is why I was glad McCain, Obama and Biden were on the ticket. I was fine with any of them. Palin was the only weak point this year. Hopefully the GOP does better in 4 years. If it is Palin I might actually become affiliated with an political party then.
YOU NEED TO EDIT THE “F” WORD DAVID!
The unemployed deteriorate our society. And Bush’s mistake was the war, everything else is it’s own animal. Noticed how Mississippi never complained. And Greenspan is more responsible for our fiscal health than any president.
You have a problem with the word f*&k Gene?
Something to think about. Are some of this administrations failures due to the Clinton administration, the Glory days! For Clinton!
I have a problem with the F word- and pointless rants. I deleted two of Gene’s comments due to the language and the ranting nature.
Please keep things civil- and intelligent.
For the record- I ignore most of what Gene says.
Of course you ignore what I say and what most other people say – you claim to be “open minded” but only when people agree with you.
You are known as JV in many circles.
So why don’t we talk about Obama – since being elected the stock market has tanked.
Also, remember the COMMERCIALS (both TV and radio) that said he was TIRED of giving tax break to US Companies who move their jobs out of the US and NOW he plans to bailout the US auto industry who has more than any other industry moved jobs to Canada and Mexico while expanding in Asia. Another Politician, Another LIAR.
Again, this in an Obama-nation.
I tell facts. I don’t pick and choose topics. Your guy is just another politician who is a liar. Get used to it. There will be no jobs, and after he takes MATH/TAX 101 those who make around 45k/year will see an increase (go see your buddy Bill Clinton, who also lied)
The math just does not work out. This guy is just another loser politician, and you frigs drank the Kool Aid. The reason I like him is bc now people can’t make excuses, heck, our President made it and he is black. Now everyone is a little bit more on a level playing field. The excuses are OVER, and so should the hand outs to businesses and to welfare losers.
The stock market is tanking because Bush installed liars and cronies. Paulsen has consistently lied said the damage is contained and that dumbass Paulsen did it again today. He spoke (lied) and the Market Tanked. Open yours eyes Gene-O, you seem smart, but ignorant; however, ignorance can usually be cured, but you have taken no steps in that direction so one must conclude…..,
I think there is no point as the warm glow of O’Reilly and H&C has warped any part of the sentient being you once might have been.
President Bush has been running a kleptocracy and Obama has been set up to royally fail. This is perfect success as the poor ignorant slobs like us will argue over “whose fault it is” Well Bush is at fault and it is still his watch. No there are no jobs as we better get used to all the cheap plastic crap we traded for worthless dollars and build an economy that is fair for all.
Here read up about how I used to get beat up…. OOPS pop cultural reference. Read up about the Idiocy that is America. It is really not funny, but we will blame Obama, the other or the poor for this debacle instead of stringing up bankers, Realtors, politicians and mortgage brokers.
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/655-Last-Chance.html
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/656-How-Do-You-Spell-Liquidity-Trap.html
Oh no no no……… Speculation of Obama’s policies is why it is tanking. You can not have it both ways.
Bush sucks. But Obama will not fix anything. Again, he may not have the power to do so.
Remember, your Democrat buddies were controlling Congress while the sh*t hit the fan …………….PLACE BLAME ON BOTH PARTIES.
Keep drinking the Kool Aid.
The head coach often gets too much credit when a team wins, and often gets too much blame when the team loses. Since everyone blames Bush for everything, including natural disasters and crazy Muslims, then Obama is in line to take blame over anything and everything. If I stub my toe it is NOW OBAMA’S FAULT, bc this is what the democrats have been doing to Bush for a long long time. What goes around….
BTW, GW Bush was set up to fail bc Clinton was too much of a wussy pimp and too busy getting head that he FAILED to take out the enemy, which attacked us and put GW Bush in a position no other president has ever had to deal with………. Keep making excuses for Barry Obama, but he is on the clock, and if he fails it is his fault.
And yes, an attack on the USS Cole is a declaration of war.
There’s more to it than the attack on the U.S., and Obama hasn’t taken office yet.
But speculation of his presidency (in regards to the stock market) has taken place, and we have had a terrible last 6 business days on the market.
Barack Obama may fail – and if so it is the fault of the voting public.
Truth be told though, if the media would just lie about the economy then people would be at ease – heck, all the politicians do it all the time.
OMG i know you, Gene! You’re that guy downtown with the foil helmet and the oversized sunglasses! Hey, that flyer you handed me the other day was completely blank. I read it over and over – I feel like i know your mind now.
Is my timing off? Didn’t the 700 billion dollar bailout happen prior to the election?
Come on, Jane. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that Obama has had more than enough time already (as President-Elect) to have fixed every problem in the known universe. And without having instantaneously fixed absolutely everything ever by now, he should be considered completely worthless as a human being.
:rolleyes:
You’re right, what was I thinking? Okay, I’ll give him one more day!
Jeremy, don’t work too hard to pat yourself on the back.
Your candidate will fail – I am just the first guy making that call. I am ahead of the curve.
The stock market is still tanking, THURS, and a lot of it has to do with Pres Elect Barry O.
He will not fix a thing, and the economic genius that he is will have us with higher unemployment. And when this happens you will point the finger at Bush. YOUR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS – you guys are on the clock to fail now, and I will have a great time reminding you of it.
These “animals” are much bigger than any one man, any president. That is my point, it always has been, but now I get to act like the Liberals and NOT support my president out of spite. I have become the crybaby so many liberals once were – and once you realize your selection has about as much power as David Copperfield then you will realize that the job of Pres of the USA ain’t all it is cracked up to be.
And NO MORE EXCUSES FOR ANYONE! We have a black president.
I’m taking the high road on out of this thread. Enjoy your miserable life, Gene.
Henry Paulson and his confusion at the helm has more to do with the market tanking.
Of course, since the markets have no relation to rational business fundamentals- it’s not something that any one person can fix.
Banking deregulation has brought much of this mess on. As has programmed trading- short selling- complex financial instruments that even the gurus on Wall Street are having a hard time explaining. Go watch “the smartest guys in the room” to see how Enron did the same thing.
Without fundamental change to the way the stock market works- none of this will matter.