Obama Is Average.

[Felt]

"Obama is average" | Salon News

Oct. 27, 2009 | Mr. Krauthammer, did the Nobel Commitee in Oslo honor or doom the Obama presidency by awarding him the Peace Prize?

Charles Krauthammer: It is so comical. Absurd. Any prize that goes to Kellogg and Briand, Le Duc Tho and Arafat, and Rigoberta Menchú, and ends up with Obama, tells you all you need to know. For Obama it's not very good because it reaffirms the stereotypes about him as the empty celebrity.
Why does it?

He is a man of perpetual promise. There used to be a cruel joke that said Brazil is the country of the future, and always will be; Obama is the Brazil of today's politicians. He has obviously achieved nothing. And in the American context, to be the hero of five Norwegian leftists, is not exactly politically positive.
It hardly makes sense to blame him for losing the Olympic bid in one week, and then for winning the Nobel Prize the next.

He should have simply said: "This is very nice, I appreciate the gesture, but I haven't achieved what I want to achieve." But he is not the kind of man that does that.
Should he have turned down the prize?

He would never turn that down. The presidency is all about him. Just think about the speech he gave in Berlin. There is something so preposterous about a presidential candidate speaking in Berlin. And it was replete with all these universalist clichés, which is basically what he's been giving us for nine months.

Just a little bit from the beginning. Fairly long interview.

I thought it was interesting and I liked it. I'm nowhere near as politically savy as most of you are.

What do you think?

[Rebeltoker86]

Interesting interview. However, I think in America we fail to acknowledge the influence Obama has had on the way the rest of the world views us. Public opinion in the world for America has skyrocketed with Obama's occupation of the White House.

I would admit that he hasnt done a whole lot to bring about world peace, but maybe thats not what this award is about. Obama is the current embodiment of Hope and Change for the world. I think his nomination for the Nobel reinforces this idea.

Also, Obama's acceptance of the award as a call to action was politically brilliant. He didnt boast about, he didnt turn it down, but rather used it as motivation.

[kingmonkey]

Obama is a self-righteous elitist douche. He hasn't done anything of any importance and everything he wants to do will do more to impoverish this nation than help it. He has the same foreign policy, economic policy and domestic policy as Bush. He is no different. No, sorry, I'm wrong on that point. He has done one thing: he neutralized the anti-war left and bought a dog. Woot. He sure is the savior of the world.

[Rebeltoker86]

Originally Posted by kingmonkey

Obama is a self-righteous elitist douche. He hasn't done anything of any importance and everything he wants to do will do more to impoverish this nation than help it. He has the same foreign policy, economic policy and domestic policy as Bush. He is no different. No, sorry, I'm wrong on that point. He has done one thing: he neutralized the anti-war left and bought a dog. Woot. He sure is the savior of the world.

In the nine months that Obama has been in office ha has: 1.) Passed an economic stimulus bill. 2.) Improved America's image around the world. 3.) Made the most progress toward Health care reform in American history. 4.) Closed Guantanamo Bay, one of America's most unconstitutional prison. 5.) Upheld the his commitment to allow states to offer Medical Marijuana... do I really need to say more about what Obama has done?

Regardless of whether or not you agree with what he has done you must acknowledge that he has accomplished a lot in his term thus far.

As for being self-righteous and elitist please provide support for this statement, because I fail to see any evidence of this.

[zen_sunrise]

Just a friendly correction, Guantanamo Bay has not been closed yet.

[Rebeltoker86]

True, however it is in the process of closing

[hydrosRheaven]

Originally Posted by Felt

"Obama is average" | Salon News



Just a little bit from the beginning. Fairly long interview.

I thought it was interesting and I liked it. I'm nowhere near as politically savy as most of you are.

What do you think?

I do not think Obama is average.

[MountyBounty]

Everyone knows that Obama isn't "average" he is one of the most powerful writers since Julius Ceasar


Obama 'Most Powerful Writer Since Julius Caesar,' Says NEA Chief

Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, declared in a speech to art philanthropists in Brooklyn last week that President Obama is the world's most powerful writer since the days of Caesar.

Et tu, Rocco?
Maybe President Obama will win the Nobel Prize for Literature, too, now that the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts has declared that "Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar."
Rocco Landesman rendered unto Obama that considerable compliment in a little-noticed speech to a group of art philanthropists in Brooklyn, N.Y., last week, praising the president as an "Optimist in Chief" who is developing "the most arts-supportive administration since Roosevelt."
Putting the president in the pantheon with such pencil-pushing powerhouses as the man who was, literally, the Czar of all Czars, Landesman said that since Obama "actually writes his own books," he's the most powerful man to be a true writer in the 2,000 years since Caesar strode the narrow earth.
"That has to be good for American artists," he said.
But one man's praise is another's dagger, say presidential historians, who called the speech a "bizarre" and illiterate attempt to praise a political patron -- and a big misfire for the NEA chief.
"Julius Caesar is historically the last person in the world that American presidents would want to be compared to," said historian Richard Brookhiser, who has written widely on the Founding Fathers. "He tried to subvert the republic -- that's why he was killed."
Though Caesar has been justly celebrated for his commentaries on Rome's Gallic and Civil Wars, he has been cursed by democrats for centuries for his role in the systematic destruction of Rome's republican government.
"Caesar ... was certainly the symbol during the whole founding period of the despot, of the aspiring despot," said Brookhiser. "The Founders insulted each other by calling each other Caesar."
A spokesman for the NEA called the chairman's comparison a "bit of an overstatement" -- a "rhetorical flourish" that still scored an important point.
"I think the underlying point is a serious one, which is that we currently have a president who had an identity as an author, as a writer, before he had an identity as a president," said Jamie Bennett, the NEA's director of communications.
Bennett said that "it means a great deal for writers in particular and the creative community in general" that Obama spent time struggling with his own writing, and for that reason can better understand the struggles of the artistic community.
Despite the confusion, Landesman came to praise the president, not to bury him -- and beamed that in the Obama White House "the arts can play a starring role," because it is one "where words like change and hope and aspiration have real meaning."
That embrace of the president has pricked some ears, particularly after the NEA’s previous director of communications, Yosi Sergant, was forced to resign for promoting the president's political agenda on a conference call with artists he hoped to prod into backing Obama's domestic policies.
Landesman made clear that his agency would never advocate for a "particular program" like health care reform, but he added, "I have no intention of walking away from the compelling themes of this presidency and a historic opportunity in arts policy."
His kind words for Obama nettled a historian of the NEA, who worried that Landesman may bring greater scrutiny on the agency by skirting political lines in his speech.
"For people who are concerned about the Yosi Sergant thing, they're going to be watching Landesman for signs that he agrees that the NEA can push these (Obama political) agenda items," said David A. Smith, author of "Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy."
"It doesn't do him any favors ... to have the appearance that he's in Obama's pocket."
Smith added that the NEA's head honcho may be giving short shrift to some of the nation's other great authors-in-chief. Though he mentioned Theodore Roosevelt, he left out quite a few presidential penmen:
Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs are canonized in the Library of America as a national treasure; Calvin Coolidge translated Dante's Divine Comedy for his personal pleasure; Herbert Hoover wrote around 25 volumes before his death in 1964; Richard Nixon authored another eight volumes in his own hand; and many other presidents besides managed to publish before they perished.
Abraham Lincoln, whom Landesman called the greatest American author, never actually wrote a book, though he's been the subject of thousands. Smith suggested a better comparison for the president might have been a writer and leader like Winston Churchill, who won the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature, or an American like Grant, rather than an assassinated Roman tyrant.
"There's not a shortage of presidents who write books," said Smith. "Don't muddy the waters by dragging Julius Caesar into this."

Source

[hydrosRheaven]

Originally Posted by MountyBounty

Everyone knows that Obama isn't "average" he is one of the most powerful writers since Julius Ceasar [/B]




Source

Regardless of how you feel about Obama, a Black American President is by definition unique. He is the only one.

[MountyBounty]

Originally Posted by hydrosRheaven

Regardless of how you feel about Obama, a Black American President is by definition unique. He is the only one.

I totally agree with you, a black president is unique. It's a great thing that the American people can overlook skin color but it does not qualify him for being "above average".

[Gloom]

Originally Posted by hydrosRheaven

Regardless of how you feel about Obama, a Black American President is by definition unique. He is the only one.

Hurray, we have a unique president, all we need now is a clown suit and we would really be pushing boundaries.

[NateRiver]

Originally Posted by kingmonkey

He has the same foreign policy, economic policy and domestic policy as Bush.

Which would explain why conservatives like the interviewee are so supportive of him, right?

[lovetobtokn]

I understand wherr some of u arr coming from with the imperialism shit and the political interventionism. But do you understand you live the life u do right now because of the things we as a nation have accomplished? Obama and bush are one in the same.

Public opinion ab us has changed bc he went around basically saying we suck an hes sorry.

Healthcare is basically a new form of welfare.

Our national debt is about to triple because of obama in like 10 years, when it took like half a century to accumalate

sometimes we have to do things for others may not like to ensure that we as a country can stay successful. There is no black and white on any political issue, picking sides is stupid imo. But i for one dont appreciate how negatively everyone views the us bc regardless the world would be a worse place without us and that is a fact. Who would have saved europe from germany, who would stand up for israel and other countries in similar situations, who promotes democracy more than us trying to give people in other parts of the world the right to have a voice and elect their own governments. Its easy to jump on pur case and i definately dont like the democrats or republicans, but have a little pride people. Im tired of the people who just have attitudes like we shouldnt torture terrorists n shit tosave thousands of lives. Its the same attitude more and more young people are displaying

[edward]

Originally Posted by NateRiver

Which would explain why conservatives like the interviewee are so supportive of him, right?

No, because Bush wasn't conservative, silly.

[willisvillis]

Originally Posted by lovetobtokn

Im tired of the people who just have attitudes like we shouldnt torture terrorists n shit tosave thousands of lives. Its the same attitude more and more young people are displaying

Has torture saved thousands of lives?