Quote of the Day

Wow, a presidential President!The start of laying down the “us and them” attitudes will go a long way in opening dialog and paths to peace.Thank you Mr. President.

ANTICHRIST 101PEACE IS COMING!!That means the end of the world and Obama will bring the “flames” from heaven and call forth the sea “beastie”.*dons tin foil hat, loads a ridiculous arsenal, low crawls into bunker, turns AM radio to evangelical end times preacher(Glenn Beck) and prays for what we Spartans call a glorious death)Hallelujah!

But.. I thought if they weren’t with us, they were against us.What’s with all this diplomatic outreach bullshit?USA! USA!

and republicans will see this as a bad thing.

Did he read that off a teleprompter? If so, the quote just isn’t valid.

Wow!MY President!!!Go get em, B.!!!! *HUGE SMILE*!!!!

That’s my mofo!Seriously, between this and the France/China Corner Treaty Talks (TM) yesterday, I am just beaming with pride for our preznitch

That is some badassery. I love that Obama’s basic philosophy is “you stop being dicks, we stop being dicks, and it’ll all work out, yo.”

J: It’s more like, “Can’t we all just stop being dicks?”

And you know we had a chance back when Carter was president to be grown-ups. We could have engaged in peace as exuberantly as we decided to engage in war. We could have engaged in alternative energy as madly as we instead engaged in oil. So here we are again with this choice to be grown-ups and to say we’re not perfect but neither are you guys; to say some things are our fault, yes, but together we can fix those things. The Republicans will no doubt continue with their insane-o-screaming and head-spinning to make Obama look stupid and wrong and unpatriotic, and they will use the word “France” a lot and a large number of Americans will buy it.Are we finally ready to be adults? Will it stick this time? Can we talk honestly about our faults and our strengths with other countries? I am doubtful, but like many of you I’m proud of the President. I’m proud of Secy Clinton regarding her remarks recently.I know it’ll take a while, and it’s so frustrating hearing journalists constantly miss the point and reduce everything to it’s most dramatic, most petty. And to hear the likes of Malkin and Beck just make it up as they go and to know that people buy it.

Another in a long line of examples as to why so many of us worked so hard to get this man where he needs to be.

Oh no! Hillary and McCain were right! He’s too “inexperienced” to deal with foreign countries! We’re all suffering due to his “on the job training”!Thank God there were enough voters who didn’t buy into that kindof crap. I know this presidency has barely begun, but its entirely possible that we’ve just elected this century’s FDR (and Eleanor!). I’m still waiting for Barack to do or say something that I don’t approve of. BRAVO.

Thank you Mr. President. I am very proud of you. And of us, because we worked so hard to get you there.

>>I’m still waiting for Barack to do or say something that I don’t approve of.Ah, so maybe this is the segue I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been working on this for a few days (pardon the length; I’ve edited it down as much as I can at this point). I’d been trying to figure out when/where to post it, as I know it’s not the kind of thing that’s much welcome in the PTTs.So anyway, any opinions about Obama’s recent apparent change in attitude regarding outsourcing (see below) that he expressed at the Online Town Hall meeting? (this affects me personally, very much) I’m willing to place the majority of the blame in the Geithner/Summers’ court … but that still doesn’t help me accept it all that much better, really.Last week, at the Town Hall meeting, Obama answered this question: “DR. BERNSTEIN: Next we have a video question from Harriet in Georgia about bringing jobs back to America: “Hello, President Obama. Here is my question for your online town meeting. When can we expect that jobs that have been outsourced to other countries to come back and be made available to the unemployed workers here in the United States? Thank you so much for all your hard work. God bless you. Bye-bye.”"THE PRESIDENT: … Now, a lot of the outsourcing that was referred to in the question really has to do with the fact that our economy — if it’s dependent on low-wage, low-skill labor, it’s very hard to hang on to those jobs because there’s always a country out there that pays lower wages than the U.S. And so we’ve got to go after the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future. That’s why it’s so important to train our folks more effectively and that’s why it’s so important for us to find new industries — building solar panels or wind turbines or the new biofuel — that involve these higher-value, higher-skill, higher-paying jobs.So I guess the answer to the question is, not all of these jobs are going to come back. And it probably wouldn’t be good for our economy for a bunch of these jobs to come back because, frankly, there’s no way that people could be getting paid a living wage on some of these jobs — at least in order to be competitive in an international setting.So what we’ve got to do is create new jobs that can’t be outsourced. And that’s why energy is so promising. …”Versus this, e.g., in February 2008: “And as president of the United States, I intend to make certain that every agreement that we sign has the labor standards, the environmental standards and the safety standards that are going to protect not just workers, but also consumers. We can’t have toys with lead paint in them that our children are playing with. We can’t have medicines that are actually making people more sick instead of better because they’re produced overseas. We have to stop providing tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States of America.” (emphasis mine)(along with multiple, multiple other instances where he spoke out against offshoring/outsourcing, as well as reiterating his commitment to actually doing something about it)As can be seen in this Democratic Underground thread, which is where I first learned of this, I’m certainly not the only one who’s feeling extremely, extremely disillusioned by this turn of events. I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about it elsewhere in the progressive/liberal blogosphere too, actually.Thanks for any enlightenment, talking down, commiseration, or whatever you can throw this way.

fyi: The reply posts in the above-cited Democratic Underground thread are all opened down below the individual blue hyperlinks (which I think automatically happens there whenever there get to be more than 20 or so posts in a thread) — no need to click on each link.

Damn! That Obama is really really really good.First president in my lifetime that I’ve wanted to quote.

Can we please blame Glenn Beck and the GOP for the Anti-Immigration shooting in NY?

I would say this speach is emblimatic of the “Teaching Moment” that Barak used with his campain speech on race in Pennsylvaina during the Rev. Wright uproar.

I think I will start calling President Obama’s approach to conflict resolution “Diplomatic Judo”, (I was kinda tempted by “Sweep the leg-fu” but I was worried it would come off as to butch and Macchio.) He at once uses first emphasizes his weaknesses (Eat Crow), emphasize strengths, then Proclaim others’ strengths (Ego boost), then make them eat a little crow, AND inconclusion, lets make up.

I know he was constitutional scholar, but damn this guy knows his basic interpersonal communication 101, and legal strategy Consulting!

>>Thanks for any enlightenment, talking down, commiseration, or whatever you can throw this way.That would be talking -me- down, heh.

dy, i care about this issue as well! i have a lot of thoughts (pros/cons) but not a lot time right now. keep an eye on this thread for my response in a couple of days!

“Thanks for any enlightenment, talking down, commiseration, or whatever you can throw this way.”Are you trying to say there is a discrepancy in his statements?I believe he has mentioned both answers at different times during (and after) the campaign. And they both seem to be true to me. Some of the jobs cannot be brought back, while you still have to improve some of these trade deals. His budget contains clauses on the elimination of “providing tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and giv[ing] those tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States of America” and he wants these jobs here to be high paying green jobs. It a lot of policy wonkishness but it all ties in together. I don’t see the discrepancy, maybe I am missing something.

GItheJoe – Actually the shooter was a former IBM employee. IBM recently fired 5,000 americans and planned to hire 5,000 in India. The shooter acted out on innocent immigrants. He should have acted out on the executives instead.

Thanks, gypsy, will do!And thanks for that lead about the budget, chuk (which I am admittedly not that informed about). That gave me some more to work with research-wise. Unfortunately, from most of what little I’ve read so far, the budget provision in question appears to be lacking in detail and fairly vague, and nobody seems to have a very good idea how it’s going to play out.I do still feel that there are discrepancies in his recent answer compared with past ones that I’m aware of. If nothing else, by the simple sin of omission. Not once, ever, in his full 11-paragraph answer at the Town Hall (I didn’t copy the whole thing above, obviously) did he comment about eliminating tax breaks for offshoring companies — whereas he seems to have made a big point about that virtually every time the subject has been brought up before this (like I said, as far as I’m aware of). Especially during the campaign. There is also just something about the tone of his Town Hall answer that seems to me like he is pulling back from some of his former promises in regard to this issue.Hopefully you’re right, though, chuk, and there are times where he just shies away from any (any at all?) mention of the proposed corporate sanctions (essentially) when answering questions about outsourcing and focuses on his job creation plans instead. Maybe the Democratic Underground posters were getting into a Chicken Little frenzy, which I was starting to get caught up in too. As Bob might say, fear can certainly be a powerful motivating factor on the path to delusion — whichever side of the political coin you happen to fall on (mixed metaphor alert there … the “path” and “coin” remind me of a bad Jewish joke I was told, which I totally flipped back on the joke teller by turning it into a Republican one and lowering the $$ amount: “How do you start a Republican parade? Roll a penny down the street.” … ba-rump-bump).Anyway, I’ll be watchfully — much more watchfully now — waiting to see what the administration actually does in the future in terms of outsourcing, even if the DU thread that got me worried was possibly verging on the edge of paranoia and over-reaction. Which I really do hope it was, actually.

Okay, so I’m back to Summers, and Geithner too, as scapegoats for any possible watering down of outsourcing policy. They’re both corporate tools who make me cringe just to look at either of them.>>Actually the shooter was a former IBM employee. IBM recently fired 5,000 americans and planned to hire 5,000 in India.Whoa, that was strange synchronicity, what with my above posts. And I don’t think *GItheJoe was even trying to go there?*I don’t know if it’s been brought up here before here in conjunction with your moniker or not, Joe, but I thought I’d just throw some Fensler Films PSAs out there for any who haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing them yet.

Well, dy, in our conversations about this I keep forgetting to say this: I wonder if you are beginning to experience a little bit of the “honeymoon is over” syndrome. You know how I feel about outsourcing; my job, too, could be on the line.Having said that, I believe he is still the man we elected. He also knows more about what he is up against than either you or I know. Of course, my Pollyanna outlook on life reminds me to cut him some slack, continue to wait and see, and keep emailing him about this. I am pretty tolerant of broken promises (although I don’t think this is an actual broken promise) than most people, especially remembering that he is, after all, just a man!

Hey, JM, nice to see you here again! Another Cescan convert in the house soon, hopefully. From our e-mails, I think you know that I was still in the honeymoon phase when I happened to run across that Democratic Underground thread that smacked me upside the head. And, you know, even with that disappointing (to me) answer he gave, I think I would still have been coasting along nicely if it really were mainly just him and the very much like-minded responsible for any potential outcomes. But with Geithner and Summers (who I really do think are corporate tail-waggers) in positions of such influence, it’s definitely difficult for me to totally keep the rosy glow going, no doubt about it.

By the way, however inconsequential some might find this apparent change in tone and attitude in Obama’s policy, India most definitely is not taking such statements lightly. At least 11 out of the top 20 Google hits (as of this writing) about that particular outsourcing answer are Indian, with what seems mainly to be the same IANS (Indo-Asian News Service) article — which is very specifically, directly focused on that single answer — repeated on all the Indian sites. There’s also a similar ratio of results for Indian vs. non-Indian sites on Google about this topic in general.I recently saw this on an Indian job forum and was going wahoo, Obama doesn’t even have to actually do anything about outsourcing, just make a strong point that he is going to be doing something, for there to be an effect: “Some other people in India lost good accounts, client is telling that as per Obama statements of taxes etc, we are searching local people for work. As precautionary measure, taking back accounts.”India is waiting with bated breath for whatever Obama says about outsourcing, and I would think he and the administration surely, hopefully know that. Which is why I am indeed concerned about the way he answered this Town Hall question.

Much as I like the consiliatory tone Obama takes here, I’ll be bold and say that at this point in history, the USA needs Europe a whole lot mote than vice versa.

By the way, however inconsequential some might find this apparent change in tone and attitude in Obama’s policy, India most definitely is not taking such statements lightly. At least 11 out of the top 20 Google hits (as of this writing) about that particular outsourcing answer are Indian, with what seems mainly to be the same IANS (Indo-Asian News Service) article — which is very specifically, directly focused on that single answer — repeated on all the Indian sites. There’s also a similar ratio of results for Indian vs. non-Indian sites on Google about this topic in general.I recently saw this on an Indian job forum and was going wahoo, Obama doesn’t even have to actually do anything about outsourcing, just make a strong point that he is going to be doing something, for there to be an effect: “Some other people in India lost good accounts, client is telling that as per Obama statements of taxes etc, we are searching local people for work. As precautionary measure, taking back accounts.”India is waiting with bated breath for whatever Obama says about outsourcing, and I would think he and the administration surely, hopefully know that. Which is why I am indeed concerned about the way he answered the Town Hall question.

Oops with the double posting. Got stuck in moderation because of all the links, so I tried again. Made a mistake with the “this topic in general” link too (it kind of goes without saying that if the word “India” is in the search, a lot of the sites will be Indian). It should have been this topic in general.