haters. big time. liking it.

If you're not happy with those tax cuts, feel free to pay more.

I like the faces of the republicans in the crowd

I, for one, am tired of the bullshit from our politicians. Time to quit talking and start doing. As far as I'm concerned, Obama is simply carrying out Bush's third term.

I just want the country to collapse so that we can get around to rebuilding it.

You will get your wish soon enough. I think we are past the point of no return on that.

i've been mentally toying with the idea of taking a page from the UK playbook and splitting the Democratic party into two -- a center-left and a liberal-left group.

then they can still pursue the policies they agree on, but not be utterly embarrassed by the ones they can't. and having two cohesive groups on the left makes for much, much better media narratives.

it forces the republicans to take a more intelligent tack too, else they can easily lose ground to a sensible centrist pary; and "obstructionism-oppositionism" makes no sense in a pluralistic environment.

it makes the House look much better, and it can't make the Senate situation any worse...

the only question would be how to do it: my current dilemma is between breaking out the Blue Dogs (and them taking 4-9 of the more conservative Senators with them) and breaking out the Progressive Caucus.

the key is to capture constituencies that can then build an identity with the new party.

I think it has been a very good speech so far, everything I've come to expect from Obama

Gotta love Pelosi's face when he talked about government living within its means. This after her $1M junket to the eco-summit in Copenhagen for which she still refuses to provide details. A dead fish rots from the head.

I think it was very ambitious and strong for a president. I, for one, supports establishing nuclear energy as a job stimulation. I hope the speech will bring some results in Washington.

And not to mention the nonstop nodding from Bidden. ;-]

Biden*

he did look like a bobble-head, didn't he?

Marionette more like!

He's pulling a Clinton, he seems to be abandoning the left because of the shocking gain of the Republicans. What do you guys think of the newly emerging third party, the Tea Party by the way, in my AP US class we are comparing them to the Populists of the 1890's but honestly I just see them as a bunch of ultra-patriotic, fear-driven Republicans... they have some valid points of course but for the most part it seems to be just the same only Conservative propoganda. not entirely related to the Address but still an important political development that may help partially explain aspects of the speech and Obama's plans moving forward. Third parties do play big roles after all, this cannot be denied.

rlumley you sound like a die hard GOP'er. that is a horrible perspective. you just want the Democrats to fail to glorify your own party. we cannot simply give up on fixing our problems, that is foolish and lazy. nothing good will come of it. read some Keynes please, government involvement becomes necessary in times like these to some degree. i don't think you'd be happy with the results of our simply quitting

The first 2/3 were pretty good, and the section on education even got the GOPers standing... the last 1/3 DRAGGED

I issue one penalty to each side:

Penalty to the GOP for Looking and Acting Like A Bunch of Stuffy Old White Men While the Rest of the Chamber Was Cheering... See More
-Penalty to the Demmies for Nancy "I'm Important... WHY?" Pelosi getting up EVER FREAKING TIME Obama finished a paragraph... we all see you, Nancy, and we all want you to sit down, shut up, and STAY THAT WAY.

Lol. Pelosi is a witch ugh I hate her.

Anyway, Obama is no socialist. Plenty of centrist stuff in the speech. I'm centrist. I still like Obama and there's nothing haters can do about it lol. He has a plan. He acts, he's not all talk. So I'm confident, and I support him.

DADT - good step
disarmament - good step
nuclear power - good step
isolate Iran - good step
tax cuts for middle class - good step
exports up - good step
do not renew cuts for the rich - good step
hi speed trains - GREAT step
education - good step

I have to say though. That bullshit about American jobs coming back from overseas? That's protectionism and it did not deserve the applause it got. I don't see how he can go to Doha and talk big about trade while demanding a protectionist jobs bill at home. Get a jobs bill, sure. That's urgently necessary. But screw protectionism.

I also appreciated his talk about the deficit and his plan to start drawing it down, in 2011, and so on. That was good stuff. It's nice to hear that it's actually crossing his mind. I was also fucking pissed when he said "that's how budgeting works" and they fucking laughed at him. Not only is it rude, it's stupid, because he's right. It is....

I don't Pelosi is a witch but she can be very annoying especially during speeches. I agree with you though Thucy, overall it was pretty good, though the centrist shift, as I mentioned, may alienate more Democrats, only time will tell, I suppose it's better than alienating Republicans maybe. I always see Republicans as snobby corporate interest funded old white money bags, so they showed up with their true hats, no surprise.

I think that forming a centrist left party would be a very good thing aswell, even though I'm more of a centrist right kind of guy. Either way, we absolutely need a centrist party because as it is right now the radicals on both sides run the party and the moderates are, to an extent, stifled and un-heard.

The big thing for me though is that we have stability. And I know that alot of europeans condemn us Americans for our love of balance and such in government, even though it tends to inhibit large scale bills from being past. Aslong as a given party can't gung-ho a bill through congress I'm comparatively happy.

I think that High Speed trains would be an absolutely incredible improvement, it would hep clean up airports aswell as reduce the need to every single freakin person to have a car. If it's true and he starts reigning in the deficit he may become one of my favorite presidents, but I really doubt it will happen until congress starts losing a part of their salary for however much money they spend that we don't have. THAT would fix our deficit problems I think, atleast it would help alot.

Yeah hi speed trains would be a miracle.

Instead of taking the bus from Austin to Houston for instance to go home on a weekend, I could take the train. It would be cheap, fast, good for the environment, and just plain cool.

Okay yeah Pelosi's not a witch but she's a partisan so I harbor extreme distaste for her. The way she gets all gloaty when Obama references what was essentially ram-through in the House makes me kind of sick... that sort of glee doesn't help bi-partisanship at all.

But yeah I'm happy with the centrist shift I'll tell you that.

Look, the far left Demo-nazi types aren't going to abandon the party just because its drifting right. All that will do is keep the new blue dogs on board for 2010 and make the party more reasonable and palatable as a whole. And it will make the GOP's stupid attacks more toothless (even more than they are already. Socialism, death panels, I don't know what all. Most of them probably still think he's Muslim).

Anyway. 60 Senators from one party is a magic number. Not too high, so bi-partisanship is required, but high enough that stuff can actually get done.

Now it's at 59. Just gotta hope there's one Republican out there that isn't a complete tool.

YEAH!

I REALLY want those hi-speed trains... could get to LA in like half an hour instead of a 2-hour drive in traffic, or maybe a 2-hour blast up to San Fran to see my 49ers play and then back home again!

Look obiwan, in case you've never been out of country, japan and china both use high speed train, and not only are the companies gaining huge money from the train, but also reducing traffic and provide cleaner environment. the fact that US drives all the time eat up gas, and the train is one solution to our oil dependency and can bring us to nuclear energy as well

and speaking of nuclear, wall street journal reports on nov 8th of 2009 that nuclear energy has created 15,000 jobs in the past one year and will continue to create 530,000 jobs in the next 20 years, and the fact that national center for policy analysis reports in jan of 2010 that uranium is highly sustainable and that US has enough uranium to power all of world's reactor of the next 300 years clearly proves the nuclear is a better energy source.

i absolutely advocate what obama claimed tonight. i just hope washington will respond positively and start getting bills passed.

apologize for grammar errors. was typing really fast. ;-]

yeah that kind of stuff is legit but it really really gets over looked because people want to talk about other crap that's more partisan. hah. it's like they're actively trying to keep america in the 20th century.

but dude obiwan.... the 49ers suck man. don't waste your time.

take a train to Seattle though, watch them SEAHAAAAWWKKS

lol

It's because no one votes with their conscience any more. They just do what the party tells them to. As seen with healthcare, no one really cares about what they believe is right, they just end up being forced to jump on with their party because if they dont they won't get funding for the next round of elections, ect, ect. Every single person on Capitol Hill is incredibly power-hungry. It's what power does to people, give them a little and they become addicted. That, I think, is another reason so little gets done. When you think about it, the people that have really accomplished feats worth recognizing have not simply gone with the political flow of things, but have stood up for what THEY themselves thought was right or wrong. A perfect example of this is William Wilberforce. His idea of ending slavery in England was not popular, but he still took it and held onto it until he saw the thing through. We need more people like him who are willing to stick out their necks and risk something, becuase without risk there is no gain.

Thucid... the 'hawks?

Really?

With Kurt Warner leaving and the Niners 8-8 with a repaired Alex Smith, beasts in Frank The Tank Gore and Vernon Davis, Crabree and Josh Morgan, Willis and our D...

The Niner Empire's BACK! (Or will be come this time next year...)

The Niner's lose so many games that barely anyone knows they exist.

Aside from policy, Obama basically said this...

Politics are not a game, they're a public service. If senators try to play diplomacy and get support for their initiatives and battle with one another they go to war and end up with legislation that is the result of battle scars. Work for the people and you get productive functioning government. This is a lesson constituents and citizens at large need to learn too. We're americans (those of us who are).

jmann, I agree with Obi on this one, it's Crabtree by the way, not Crabree, I know it was a typo but still. I give mad props to the 49ers new thread please. they haven't been in the mix the last decade but they seem to be on the rise and playing well (the Pack still beat them though, only to lose to... you know what I don't want to talk about it)

hey all... it's been a while.
I liked what Obama said - and I think he connected with more of the GOP then he has before (as well as getting less grumbles from the left)... He is definitely a centrist - and maybe that's what everyone is starting to get that... though I really hate how the GOP sits on their hands when Obama talks about reigning in the banks and corporate abuses... it really tells you where they stand on that... 100% Wall Street, 0% Main Street. (both parties are too close to Wall Street) But then there seemed to be less animosity in general than there was months ago. No one heckling, for example. I loved the way Obama politely but firmly called out the Supreme Court for their recent pro-corporate-power decision (including how this puts us at risk from foreign corporate influence). I've never seen a president address the Supremes during a State of the Union speech before. Remarkable.

Does anyone ever go back and look at these SotU speeches and see what actually came of all the promises that are made every year?

Or is this just a scam to pacify the people who are paying enough attention to listen to the speech, but not enough to keep score?

I'm still waiting for Obama to pull the troops out of Iraq. He said that was going to be his top priority when he was still trying to get elected, and it would be done within the first year. We're still waiting, Barry...

I think Tolstoy nailed it.

Obama continues to make ridiculous promises he has no means of keeping. I really hope the Massachussetts election was an reflection on Obama because the idea of three more years with this guy, let alone seven, make me want to hit things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNMPvFZctIA

Are you a victim?