New York Post's 100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES

[kronus]

91. The $49 million inauguration -- triple what taxpayers spent at Bush's first inauguration.

$10 million of that 49 came from taxpayers. Much of the rest was raised by donations from Wall Street investors, as well as a huge drive for private donations.

94. "The United States government has no interest in running GM. Your [GM] warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it's ever been, because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty." -- Obama

95. GM is given $15.4 billion in loans from the government.

Weren't you guys just whining about how Obama was going to take control of the auto industry and drive it into the ground?

56. For an April 14 speech at Georgetown, the administration asked the university to cover up all signs and symbols -- including the letters "IHS" in gold, a symbol for Jesus.

...?

"We have begun to modernize 75% of all federal building space, which has the potential to reduce long-term energy costs by billions of dollars on behalf of taxpayers. We are providing grants to states to help weatherize hundreds of thousands of homes, which will save the families that benefit about $350 each year. That's like a $350 tax cut." -- Obama, describing something that doesn't cut taxes.

To the average taxpayer, $350 more in their pocket is $350 more in their pocket. I don't see why this is an issue.

40. Obama lifts travel and remittance restrictions on Cuba.


41. Obama considers dropping the embargo on Cuba.

The Cold War ended a while ago...

43. Obama is considering dropping a key demand to Iran, allowing it to keep nuclear facilities open during negotiations.

Nuclear power plant facilities. I thought we went over this a while ago....

44. In a letter to Dmitri Medvedev, Obama offered to drop plans for a missile shield in Europe in exchange for Russia's help in resolving the nuclear weapons issue in Iran.

This is a win-win situation. Less missiles, less nukes. Once again, the rest of the civilized world has realized that the Cold War ended.

45. Medvedev said he would not "haggle" on Iran and the missile shield.

How is this even an "Obama mistake"? Grasping at straws.

46. Obama asked Congress for an extra $83.4 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a special funding measure of the kind he opposed while in the senate. As a candidate, Obama promised to cut the cost of military operations.


47. After trying to woo Europe as the "anti-Bush," Obama made an impassioned plea for more troops in Afghanistan. "Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone," he said. "This is a joint problem it requires a joint effort." Only the UK offered substantial help, most others refused.

I thought you guys wanted more wars, more troops, more military shit. The amount of self-contradiction here is astounding.

49. Obama bows to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London.


50. "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah." -- An Obama aide

This does not need to be two points, and it's not a mistake. What did you expect him to do, kick him in the shin while waving around a Texas flag?

Done for now.

[wildstoats]

If the list is inaccurate, then you should have no problem in pointing out the most extreme examples...

Ok. I'll take the bait.

9. Turkey tried to block the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as new NATO secretary general because he didn't properly punish the Danish cartoonist who caricatured Mohammed. France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel were outraged; Obama said he supported Turkey's induction into the European Union.

How can you be outraged at someone's opinion? Also, what does Turkey's opinion on a NATO appointment have to do with Obama supporting them joining the EU? In what way is this a "mistake" by Obama? Is Turkey too "radical" to join the EU, is that what is going on here?

11. The picture of Obama and Hugo Chavez shaking hands.
12. Hugo Chavez gave him the anti-American screed "The Open Veins of Latin America." Obama didn't remark upon it. At least it wasn't DVDs.

Yes because just ignoring Chavez is a much better solution. Like the guy or not (I personally don't care for him) he is a head of state and must be dealt with. I appreciate Obama's effort to reach out and reopen formerly locked doors. Just because you're talking with someone doesn't mean you need to agree with them.

14. Executives at AIG get $165 million in bonuses, despite receiving an $173 billion taxpayer bailout.

While true, it's not a fair assessment of the situation. These bonuses while distasteful are part of peoples' salaries. More over AIG is under contract to pay these salaries. The only way to not pay them would be to nationalize AIG which no one is willing to do apparently. My opinion is that AIG should have been left to rot a long time ago but you can't just not pay people no matter how distasteful it is. The government doesn't technically own AIG.

16. "After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway." -- New York Post, 2/15

And?

19. Nixes a "buy American" provision in the stimulus bill.

This was "nixed" because of the potential disaster it would have caused in the international trade markets. During a recession protectionist strategies are a big no-no.

27. By releasing the torture memos, Obama opened American citizens up to international tribunals. A UN lawyer said the US is obliged to prosecute lawyers who drafted the memos or else violate the Geneva Conventions.

Good. Not only is that shit immoral it's illegal. As a "world leader" the US should realize that torture is ineffective at gaining credible intelligence (or you could ask the Spanish I guess).

34. Obama's doom-and-gloom comments and budget bill push the Dow below 7,000, from which it's only recently recovered.

If you honestly believe that Obama saying that the economy is in a sorry state on TV is the reason the DJIA tanked then we might as well end this conversation right now. Go look at the DJIA list and look at the companies included. Now look at which companies and industries are getting hammered right now. Obama didn't have anything to do with that. For more info see: The Credit Bubble or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Goldman Sachs.

Obama is not a great president I think there are plenty of places that he is doing a shitty job but stretching the hell out of the truth just to make it up to some arbitrary number is bullshit to put it mildly. Shit like that is what pisses me off about American reporting and Americans in general. People don't want to read and do research on issues and complex topics, no give me a top 100 list that I can forward to all of my friends, hehe. Nevermind that many of the points brought up are plain wrong, or taken out of context.

[E30 Cabrio]

I would counter that most of the explanations and rationalizations of Obama's gaffes are misleading or outright wrong to the point of being funny.

[kronus]

I would counter that most of the explanations and rationalizations of Obama's gaffes are misleading or outright wrong to the point of being funny.

I would counter that that's just, like, your opinion, man.

[E30 Cabrio]

The Obama apologists haven't taken the time to review the ramifications of his actions.

For example:

44. In a letter to Dmitri Medvedev, Obama offered to drop plans for a missile shield in Europe in exchange for Russia's help in resolving the nuclear weapons issue in Iran.

How do you think some of our European neighbors will feel about this?

They supported the US and the US in turn promised them protection against Russian missiles and now, Obama is pulling that promise leaving them vulnerable.

Since the media isn't mentioning this, at least not the US media, it hasn't occurred to many here in the States but it's a big deal to many in Europe.

[wildstoats]

The Obama apologists haven't taken the time to review the ramifications of his actions.

For example:

44. In a letter to Dmitri Medvedev, Obama offered to drop plans for a missile shield in Europe in exchange for Russia's help in resolving the nuclear weapons issue in Iran.

How do you think some of our European neighbors will feel about this?

They supported the US and the US in turn promised them protection against Russian missiles and now, Obama is pulling that promise leaving them vulnerable.

Since the media isn't mentioning this, at least not the US media, it hasn't occurred to many here in the States but it's a big deal to many in Europe.

Notice how that wasn't on my list. I also didn't say Obama was doing a bang up job. He's not. What I am saying is that when there is so much bullshit interspersed with real issues the source loses all credibility. The only thing articles like that do is stir people up and distract them from actually analyzing the issues objectively. I believe this thread is proof of that.

[kronus]

The Obama apologists haven't taken the time to review the ramifications of his actions.

For example:

44. In a letter to Dmitri Medvedev, Obama offered to drop plans for a missile shield in Europe in exchange for Russia's help in resolving the nuclear weapons issue in Iran.

How do you think some of our European neighbors will feel about this?

They supported the US and the US in turn promised them protection against Russian missiles and now, Obama is pulling that promise leaving them vulnerable.

Since the media isn't mentioning this, at least not the US media, it hasn't occurred to many here in the States but it's a big deal to many in Europe.

Well, seeing as we don't have any "European neighbors" because Europe and North America don't share any borders, I somehow doubt that that is an issue.

Besides, who is Russia threatening with missiles these days? Much of Europe relies on Russian natural gas, and Russia relies on Europeans buying this natural gas and other resources. Neither group is a threat to the other, due to the globalization of trade. The concept of protection with physical weapons among civilized countries is dated and shows your inability to move past a "those Russkies are commie bastards and hate our freedom" mindset.

[E30 Cabrio]

Well, seeing as we don't have any "European neighbors" because Europe and North America don't share any borders, I somehow doubt that that is an issue.

Besides, who is Russia threatening with missiles these days? Much of Europe relies on Russian natural gas, and Russia relies on Europeans buying this natural gas and other resources. Neither group is a threat to the other, due to the globalization of trade. The concept of protection with physical weapons among civilized countries is dated and shows your inability to move past a "those Russkies are commie bastards and hate our freedom" mindset.

OK, our Euro allies if that suits you better.

Russia isn't threatening anyone?

Tell that to the guy who was poisoned by the KGB recently.

And our Euro allies who have sided with us are now unprotected, or will be if Obama has his way.

Right about now, they are feeling a bit uneasy.

Read some Euro newspapers and see how they view Obama's policies, especially when it comes to Russia.

Missile threats from Iran and NK are a real and emerging threat as well.

Either way, it was a major policy gaffe by Obama.

[E30 Cabrio]

16. "After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway." -- New York Post, 2/15
And?

------------------------------------------------------------------
And no one had any time to read the bill because of that rush. Obama claimed that any bill would be posted to the public for X amount of days, blah, blah, blah, which didn't happen.

Are you always this careless about how our tax money is spent?

Remember the 11 month "rush to war" with Iraq?

Yet we pass a spending bill that rivals the cost of the Iraq war without so much as any debate or anyone even having a chance to review the spending bill because Obama's vacation plans couldn't wait.

[Collin]

And our Euro allies who have sided with us are now unprotected, or will be if Obama has his way.

The missile shield has never worked and will never work. The only time it came close was during testing; when a GPS device was in the missle telling our missle "shield" where it was.

If you recall our european allies didn't want it back when bush first proposed it anyway. It does nothing but piss off our former adversaries and destabilize international relations.

"Hey guys we're all pals now ok? I trust you won't shoot me; but I'm going to hang onto my bulletproof vest anyway. Oh by the way, my vest isn't actually bulletproof. And it's not really a vest. It's more of a blankie I had left over from the Reagan years."

Obama's vacation plans couldn't wait.

Bush spent 879 days at his ranch in 8 years in office. That's roughly 30% of his time. In 100 days obama has taken one 3 day vacation. 3%.

Edit: I didn't include the 840 some days he spent at camp david, or the 43 up north with SR. Or that bush took 6 weeks off his first 100 days, but I should have.

[Massive Lee]

91. The $49 million inauguration -- triple what taxpayers spent at Bush's first inauguration.

Hmmm... Considering that Bush's party in Irak is costing the US taxpayers $720 million per day, Obama's $49 million inauguration is petty change...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102074.html

[CreamE30]

Why did my tax dollars buy GM's whole lot of cars? Wouldn't it make sense to at least be able to buy an American car and call it a tax write-off?

[wildstoats]

16. "After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway." -- New York Post, 2/15
And?

------------------------------------------------------------------
And no one had any time to read the bill because of that rush. Obama claimed that any bill would be posted to the public for X amount of days, blah, blah, blah, which didn't happen.

Are you always this careless about how our tax money is spent?

Remember the 11 month "rush to war" with Iraq?

Yet we pass a spending bill that rivals the cost of the Iraq war without so much as any debate or anyone even having a chance to review the spending bill because Obama's vacation plans couldn't wait.

Wow. So let me get this right ... CONGRESS not taking the time to read the bill and passing it without doing so is Obama's mistake? Sorry but you're going to have to work up a more convincing argument than that.

[Julien]

whats funny is though... none of this matters to the hard core libs. obama could pick up an AK 47 and take out half the white house staff and the libs would justify it. its called blind faith. fucking morons

hmmmmmmmm I remember you defending bush on every account.......right?

[Massive Lee]

Pfff... the $787 billion stimulus bill (initially approved by W) is nothing beside the $3 Trillion Irak fiasco... a war that was supposed to cost "only" $100 billion...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846.html