tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post8370054041405179971..comments2023-06-30T05:06:42.335-04:00Comments on My Life, at 24 Frames Per Second: Question for the Day: Time to Leave?Kenji Fujishimahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10635553450551818306noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post-25207313322320099842010-09-10T14:49:18.425-04:002010-09-10T14:49:18.425-04:00Thanks for that comment, Anonymous. I think I agre...Thanks for that comment, Anonymous. I think I agree most with your points about President Obama's Mr. Nice Guy, reach-across-the-aisle demeanor and how that seems to have gotten him nowhere during the first half of his presidency. For that reason, like you, I actually like the more-vigorous-than-usual comments he has publicly directed toward Republicans. <br /><br />I sincerely do hope things in this country get better in the next two years of Obama's presidency. Besides, as someone on Facebook reminded me, one should not forget the, um, frustrations of the presidency that preceded his.Kenji Fujishimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10635553450551818306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post-49529995775278958202010-09-10T14:39:04.702-04:002010-09-10T14:39:04.702-04:00I don't think you (and all of us) got rooked i...I don't think you (and all of us) got rooked in the last election. Your other choice would have made Sarah Palin the VP, so what kind of choice was that? Here is the problem:<br /><br />Obama is a great President; he is brilliant and a man with high ideals and noble vision. Trouble is, he is not the great communicator that he was in the campaign. He is like a professor; he is Mr Cool and Mr Detached. For most of the last year and half he has tried to make peace with the Republicans. He held back and tried to be Mr Nice Guy. Look where that got him? He failed to get his message across to the average American. He has not connected. Yes, he passed Health Care Reform and Wall Street Reform. Since most Americans cannot FEEL any difference from these accomplishments, its hard for the Democrats to take any credit. He has been good in the Foreign Policy deparment, but again, no credit. The economy stinks, and has not recoved this summer like they hoped. The Fox News crowd is out there talking in simple easy to understand terms: "No more big government", "reduce spending", go after the illegal immigrents, etc, etc. People seem to understand this kind of talk, even though its meaningless. (Will there ever NOT be "big government" in a country the size of the US?) The President, lately, has come out swinging and has been hard hitting in his road speeches; but it is late in coming. He has also had bad luck: the oil spill, the Mosque, the Gainesville Preacher, etc. All these are distractions that took time away from the real issues: The economy and jobs. That is what will make or break a presidency. So, when we all voted for Obama, we got a good guy, with intelligence and a vision; too bad he has not had good advisors helping him connect with average man of the street and tell the story of what he has done and what he is trying to do. The Republicans and Tea Party Fox people have been better at that; hopefully over the next few weeks Obama will speak more and more and will be hard hitting instead of just "cool" and "nice guy". Maybe then the Democrats will lose less seats in Congress; but they will lose some for sure. And lots of people are disappointed in him and that is what you are seeing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post-24709328845302251502010-09-09T07:04:57.610-04:002010-09-09T07:04:57.610-04:00Don't get me wrong: I myself am not planning t...Don't get me wrong: I myself am not planning to relocate abroad anytime soon; I still think I have some kind of future here in my corner of the U.S. (If I do decide to move overseas, it would more likely be for careerist reasons rather than anti-American ones.) It just kinda bothered me that so many people I know seem to be doing so <i>now</i>, a couple years removed from the nightmarish George W. Bush presidency, after all of Obama's promises of "change we can believe in" during his presidential candidacy. Me, I'm still waiting for that "change" to manifest itself. (Even the end of combat of Iraq doesn't necessarily mean a complete end to the war; there are still, I think, 50,000 troops there.)<br /><br />Besides, what I'm talking about here is probably not new to American history. Many people viewed Jimmy Carter's presidency in the wake of Richard Nixon's American nightmare as a failure at the time. Sometimes I wonder if history really is just doomed to repeat itself over and over again.Kenji Fujishimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10635553450551818306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825798.post-80028036790323033932010-09-09T01:50:20.704-04:002010-09-09T01:50:20.704-04:00Oddly enough, I'm more patriotic this year tha...Oddly enough, I'm more patriotic this year than I ever have been. This means me and the people rarely ever see eye to eye, of course, but when a President can get the two (arguably) most important tasks done in his first couple of years in office (securing health care reform, ending the war in Iraq), I tell ya: I'm proud to be an American once again.<br /><br />Maybe Brian De Palma should respond to the pastor who's going to burn those Korans by filming a faux documentary about domestic religious and politial fundamentalists/terrorists. September 11 is his birthday, after all.Adam Zanziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14524618281515322239noreply@blogger.com