The Obama Presidency

[Othello Harrington]

Get off whatever bathtub meth you've been snorting this week, you're all over the place.

[Doc Holliday]

Sucks to be you, huh.

[Gooch]

Obama will ride this depression into part II just like Bush rode the Iraq War into a sequel.

Agreed.

Only difference is Obama was handed this tragedy and just needs to sustain it. Bush, unfortunately had to make his own.

He was handed it to him by his own administration and he's making things worse, so in that way, he is making his own.

[youandwhosearmy]

Well no matter how you feel about him, at least he's about to do something rational people can agree on.

President Obama to Sign Executive Order on Stem Cell Research Monday

March 06, 2009 3:44 PM

ABC News has learned that on Monday morning President Obama will hold an event at the White House in which he signs an executive order overturning the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

The announcement will be about "restoring scientific integrity to health care policy," an administration official tells ABC News.

In August 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order banning federal funding on embryonic stem cell research except for a few dozen lines that were grandfathered in. The White House at the time estimated scientists would have more than 60 cell lines to use, but ultimately fewer than two dozen lines were usable.

Twice during his presidency, Mr. Bush vetoed efforts to overturn his ban.

On the campaign trail, then-Sen. Obama pledged to overturn the ban, as did Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., making a reversal in policy all but assured. Mr. Obama said the ban "handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations."

- Jake Tapper, Brian Hartman and Lisa Stark

UPDATE: ABC News' Karen Travers reports that Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del, co-author of the stem cell legislation that President Bush vetoed twice, welcomed the White House decision.

"I could not be more excited to hear that President Obama will finally lift the stifling restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research -- something I have actively fought for over the last five years," Castle said in a statement. "This single action symbolizes a new day for scientific research and highlights the importance of a strong federal role in promoting potentially life-saving science. I look forward to learning the details of the executive order, and immediately working with the President and colleagues in Congress to codify the policy to ensure that scientists are deciding what research to pursue from here."

UPDATE 2: House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offers this: “Advancements in science and research have moved faster than the debates among politicians in Washington, D.C., and breakthroughs announced in recent years confirm that the full potential of stem cell research can be realized without the destruction of living human embryos. This issue is not about whether federal dollars should fund stem cell research. There is little debate about that, and Republicans enthusiastically support adult, cord blood, and pluripotent stem cell research that have shown so much promise in recent years. The question is whether taxpayer dollars should be used to subsidize the destruction of precious human life. Millions of Americans strongly oppose that, and rightfully so. Taxpayer dollars should not aid the destruction of innocent human life.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...ent-oba-7.html

Lawl at John Boehner not understanding how stem cell research works.

[Hero]

I think this is all nuts. In terms of spending one of the few things I believe we should be spending on is national defense. In that respect increasing military spending isn't that bad, but then again I think we ought to be looking at our scope of influence as a nation and really weigh what effect we have as being the world's police. There must be some way we could be spending less time and money in some parts of the world to bolster national protection as a whole.

The rest of the spending is even worse. The scariest realization is that this whole pre-packaged salvation plan is a gamble, and I don't think we should be putting so much money into a gamble. Especially when we, our kids, and their kids will have to deal with paying the whole thing back. Its frightening to consider all this, know that it doesn't take much insight to figure out, and yet still see the government set full steam ahead for the plan.

Add into that a $50 billion tax increase in CA, a bill that proposes to carry those increases an additional 2 years, a $9 billion payout to teacher's unions, and I can't imagine how its possible to get ahead anymore. Especially here lots of companies are leaving or folding because it's too expensive to do business. Those that remain saddle huge hidden hiring costs, so shift to freelance work over full-time, gainful employment.

The government tells us our solution lies in higher spending, higher taxing, and social works. They hamstring the private sector, claiming they need to do their fair share and be watched over. These have noble roots and the best intentions, but when it scares every last money maker out of town, who will be left to fit the bill?

[Drewbacca]

I'd rather see more done to end poverty than to limit or ban guns. I think that would have a bigger impact on crime and murder in the US than making laws about this and that weapon.

This is entirely accurate. People were committing murder long before guns or knives were even invented.

[Spent]

America doesn't police the world, it just pushes its' agenda where it sees fit. It's hardly impartial when it comes to who it helps and doesn't.

[TODE]

Obama's safety net: the TelePrompter

Like they say, it's really just a modern version of notecards... though I suppose he could just have notes he looks at from his BlackBerry.

[Frogacuda]

I think this is all nuts. In terms of spending one of the few things I believe we should be spending on is national defense.

No. What we should be doing is building shit. Roads, bullet-trains, skyscrapers, whole cities, spaceships, I don't give a fuck. If we're spending money we should do it on shit that will create jobs in one of the hardest hit and most accessible industries (construction) on stuff that will have long-term value and generate revenue. That's how you get out of a depression.

Defense spending doesn't need to be increased, it needs to be re-allocated. Stop fucking outsourcing shit to companies that are ripping us off. We flush insane amounts of money on defense that are just wasted. Don't throw more money at it until you plug up the leaks.

[Advocate]

Stop fucking outsourcing shit to companies that are ripping us off. We flush insane amounts of money on defense that are just wasted. Don't throw more money at it until you plug up the leaks.

You fuckin' people... you have no idea how to defend a nation. All you did was weaken a country today, Kaffee. That's all you did. You put people's lives in danger. Sweet dreams, son.