President Obama

[Sneakgab]

Maybe there will be a labor or socialist party to soak up that support by the next election.

The current Democrats and the Republicans are already very similar when it comes to the important issues. Who exactly is looking for a party that would be a middle between the two?

I mean, how many people are less conservative than the Republicans while being more conservative than the current Democrats (remembering that the gap between the two is generally small for the important issues)? Why try to move the democrats to become more conservative if all there is to gain is this ultra small vote?

If they move closer to the Replubicans, those more conservative than the Replubicans will have no reason to change their vote. On the other hand, those less conservative will want to choose the least conserative party, which would remain as the Democrats. (so, with addition of the ultra small vote mentioned above, they might get some negligible gain by doing this, at the expense of sacrificing their ideology/goals. Also, some voters who were already as liberal or more liberal than the Democrats (Basically) might choose to simply abstain from voting as a result, so it would be questionable whether there would any gain at all (might even be a loss).

Only on some issues where the gap between the two parties is large could there be any interest. Things like abortions, gay marriage and the like. I bet on those issues at least most people are probably quite polarized and uninterested in some kind of halfway btw the current Democrats and the Republicans.

Moving away from political strategy, if the Democratic party became even more conservative this would mean even less significant choice when it comes to governance.

[chatfsh]

President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.  

Now, I

[Sneakgab]

You know, the first thought that crossed my mind was that that link was going to take me an ''the onion'' article.

It didn't really seem ridiculous enough to be an ''the onion'' article though.

So I thought that maybe Hwi meant that he was ''nominated''.

In any case I clicked the link and found a ''real'' looking site saying Obama had won...

Then I thought, it's not April fool's day right :D

Still in disbelief, I thought maybe this was a ''fake news'' site, so I googled the event just in case.

Well, multiple sites came up with the headline so I guess it is real.

[exatreide]

Epic win.

[Edric O]

Every single person I know immediately checked to see if this was an Onion story when they first heard about it. That says something about how ridiculous it is. I mean, what... how... huh? Words fail me.

At least there is precedent. In response to Hwi's question: No, it has definitely been established that you don't need to do anything - at least, not anything peaceful - to merit the Nobel Peace Prize. Several war criminals got a Peace Prize for, um, promising to stop being war criminals. Henry Kissinger has a Nobel Peace Prize. Many different people got Nobel Peace Prizes for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Heh. With so many peace-bringing people, the Middle East must be one of the most peaceful places in the world!

[chatfsh]

Given that Obama has neither started nor stopped doing anything, I still fail to understand why he received the award.  I believe the article mentioned something about Obama managing to set the proper mood for some peaceful events to take place at some unspecified time in the future. 

The whole thing is absurd.  Perhaps this is supposed to help us forget about the whole 2016 Olympic debacle.

[Edric O]

But... but... Obama wants to CHANGE, um, things... and things are rather un-peaceful right now in many parts of the world... so if he changed them, that would mean promoting world peace...

Yeah. That makes sense. ;D

Ok, in all seriousness now, the Nobel Peace Prize has always been a way to make a political statement. So, this year, the statement is "we support Obama." The real question is who is making the statement, since, technically, the Nobel Prizes are handed out by the Bank of Sweden, and that's not exactly a major player in world affairs. And the bank itself does not choose the person who receives the prizes; that choice is made by special committees composed of various international experts in each of the Nobel Prize fields. I don't know what counts as an "expert in peace", but I'm guessing the Nobel Peace Committee is composed of representatives of NGOs and international organizations that work for peace. And they wanted to show their support for Obama.

So, what this means is that Obama is very popular with a bunch of NGOs, and probably also the UN. Well, we already knew that.

In other news, this little piece of satire was circulating today among graduate students in my department:

Pfuffnick's Nobel Economics Prize triumph hailed by many

LONDON

[chatfsh]

You gotta love the fact that the nomination deadline for the Nobel Peace Prize was Feb. 1, which meant that Obama had been president for less than two weeks at the time of his  nomination.

In other words, even the vague -- yet to be accomplished -- goals that are being touted as justification for the award weren

[Edric O]

I had no idea he had been nominated. I'm not sure if Obama knew he had been nominated. It's like winning a prize in a competition that you didn't know you were in.

But ex is right - this qualifies as an epic win on the grounds that Obama won without even trying. ;D

[Sneakgab]

How do you think he became president? He's so awesome that he doesn't need to do anything he just needs to talk about it and it's instant win.

other contestants: But tha...

He said CHANGE, that means GG B!TCH.

[Andrew]

I love how Obama gets the Nobel PEACE prize, yet the USA invaded and currently occupies two sovereign countries no where near USA, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Obama hasn't fixed that yet. He made some promises, and really hasn't done anything since becoming president.

Looks like the democrats are divided. See Nancy Pelosi give the eye (as in yeah right) when the other democrat talked about bipartisanship? It was on daily show.

[Andrew]

Gays question Obama 'don't ask, don't tell' pledge

Ah, yes Obama promised to get rid of it. And now he promises it again. If he cared he would have gotten rid of it already. He says he is getting rid of it, yet no timetable. I'm guessing it will be one of his platforms to do during his second term. Maybe wait until the two wars are over?

[Dante]

I'm told that Obama's books - yes, he not only reads books but actually writes them! - are very good. Perhaps it's his pre-presidential work that got him nominated, though it still seems a bit premature.

Oh hey, look at that, healthcare. Rhubarbrhubarbrhubarb...

[Sneakgab]

Yeah, I seem to remember recalling him writing a book advocating single payer or something like that... Only for him to mysteriously declare it ''off the table'' (or at least minding when others did) after getting elected (in an election campaign where he was paid millions by health insurance companies...)

Well, it could be the timing. He could be concerned about this recession business and thinks everybody (actually just the non rich it would seem) needs to go without/less for now. Not sure how much this ''saving'' idea makes sense though since single payer would apparently be cheaper than his reforms.

[Andrew]

Example of failure in US health care system:

Insurer refuses to cover baby, says he

[Andrew]

Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, the emolument clause, clearly stipulates: "And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."

Great, now Congress will debate whether Obama can receive the Nobel prize for the next 6 months. Congrats America, yet another excuse to ignore real problems.

[Andrew]

Wife’s cancer prompts man to enlist in the army

So his wife gets cancer and he is forced to get into the military to pay for treatment.

Healthcare in USA sucks.

Soon the cost of his family health coverage was going to triple, then a few months after that, nearly triple again. They needed coverage so Mom could fight her cancer.

Huh? why the fuck would his coverage triple twice?

So as soon as you get sick in the USA, your insurance goes up? So no matter whether you have insurance or not they will make you pay more if you get sick.

In Canada he could have found a basic job if laid off, and there would be no triple/triple increase in costs for his wife to get treated for CANCER. He could thus see her daily and be there for the family. Now their THREE children have a mom with cancer and a father who is forced to move away for 4 years to pay to treat cancer.

Fuck American health care.

Obama needs to grow a pair of balls and screw bipartisanship and adopt some form of Canadian/European healthcare system. With the economy all messed up now is the only time for it to happen. When the economy recovers it will not be possible to do as "everyone" will have jobs with healthcare "coverage".

Obamas "change" is promising big, and then ripping it apart until it is yet another pointless bill.

[Sneakgab]

''So his wife gets cancer and he is forced to get into the military to pay for treatment.

Healthcare in USA sucks.''

What are you speaking about? Haven't you heard? They need more soldiers to go ''fight terror'' and perform other ''noble missions'' set for them in Afghanistan, Pakistan and wherever else. So, Healthcare is working great in that respect :D (much like the rest of the economy. More in the poor house, more in the army. More in the army, more companies overseas. More companies overseas... = more money in economy !? Cure to recession found! :D. j/k of course)

''Obama needs to grow a pair of balls and screw bipartisanship''

I'm not sure it's about balls and bipartisanship. I haven't really given it much time (and don't have much info about it), but the possibility exists that what is lacking is not balls but will (ie: he doesn't necessarily WANT serious health care reform, or anything like it)

Oh well at least America will remain free of sick disgusting socialism evilness. :D

[Andrew]

What's the difference between Bush and Obama?

Obama acknowledges that American soldiers are being brought back in coffins.

Obama honors fallen Americans at Dover

With Pic of Obama next to a coffin. Whereas Bush banned all photos of coffins.

[Tatar Khan]

dash American health care.

Obama needs to grow a pair of balls and screw bipartisanship and adopt some form of Canadian/European healthcare system. With the economy all messed up now is the only time for it to happen. When the economy recovers it will not be possible to do as "everyone" will have jobs with healthcare "coverage".

Obamas "change" is promising big, and then ripping it apart until it is yet another pointless bill.

The following article from Economist magazine shows what is wrong with the bill. However it looks the best they can push through right now.

American health care

What a waste

Oct 15th 2009

From The Economist print edition

Barack Obama

[chatfsh]

Obama needs to grow a pair of balls and screw bipartisanship and adopt some form of Canadian/European healthcare system. With the economy all messed up now is the only time for it to happen. When the economy recovers it will not be possible to do as "everyone" will have jobs with healthcare "coverage".

Oh, but the Democrats must tread lightly if they hope to have any chance of winning their re-election bids in 2010.  Last night

[Edric O]

If they care more about being re-elected than about doing what is right (and what is urgently needed by the American people), then they are worthless cowards.

If I were in Congress or the White House, I would gladly sacrifice all my chances for re-election for the sake of passing the most socialist legislation I possibly can, as quickly as I possibly can, and making it as irreversible as I possibly can.

[Anathema]

Well, you wouldn't be elected if you ran an honest campaign :P

[Edric O]

Heh, of course not. I was speaking hypothetically, if I got placed in government by divine intervention... ;D

[Wolf]

Well, if you're in the White House, all you can really do about legislation is cajole, threaten and harass. If you ran Congress, on the other hand, you might be able to accomplish that. But, assuming it wasn't vetoed (alright, so you have to have a red flunkie in the now-interestingly-named White House), the "irreversible" part might be hard to come by: the courts may be the weakest branch, according to some, but they have some of the most sweeping governmental powers available to them.

I wonder, though... what if Presidents, or other public servants, for that matter, couldn't occupy terms contiguously? Then they wouldn't have to worry about their re-election chances--a term "off" would be all the time they need to massage their image once out of office.