The emotional side of this is covered pretty well at BPKillsFailWhale.com, but what I want to talk about here is the political and social aspects.
I’ll be honest — I was confused by President Obama’s Oval Office Speech on Tuesday night. It was not-so-uplifting and / or reassuring.
But here we are still absorbing Wednesday’s news . . . and $20B is a great start. Granted, we’d rather have never gotten into this mess, literally and figuratively. But let’s hand it to the President.
Good Job, Mr. President. $20B is a very good answer — given the circumstances — to “What have [ more . . . ]
BP Kills Twitter Fail Whale (click to visit and pay respects)
Twitter has been having a hard time for weeks and weeks. I think I’ve figured out why. Instead of Twitter’s ‘fail whale’ not surfacing because everything’s A-Ok (which it’s most certainly not), Twitter’s ‘fail whale’ is surfacing because of too much oil!
BP’s catastrophe in the Gulf is so monumental that it’s even affecting on-line wildlife! Even the little [ more . . . ]
Let’s not overlook what’s been accomplished over the past year. Yeah, it’s not sexy. Yeah, it’s not the kind of thing you want to work on. But it’s progress nonetheless.
. . . We’ve brought the economy back from the brink of the worst economic condition since the Great Depression. Heck, we’ve even already been paid back some of the bailout money so many people, including myself, are generally upset over.
. . . We’ve articulated a plan to withdraw from Iraq.
. . . Our standing in the world has dramatically improved.
. . . We have plans for Afghanistan that help focus [ more . . . ]
Remember, and listen carefully tonight, it’s what the hell we’re doing there in Afghanistan, i.e. the Mission, that’s what’s important, not necessarily whether we pull troops out or put more in.
For more in-depth perspective on Afghanistan, here’s a recent article, “Outside Thinking on the Inside of Afghanistan . . . What To Do?”, that tries to get to the nitty-gritty details of formulating a strategy that works.
I don’t like having troops there, either. I wish the Bush Administration had not dropped the ball by utterly ignoring its responsibilities in Afghanistan. But it’s the situation we find ourselves in, and [ more . . . ]
Seriously, what do you think? (And — Yes — the headline was irresistible. No offense intended.)
Who will more fairly, completely, and accurately summarize President Obama’s China remarks?
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I don’t know, at least not for certain anyway — And it’s likely no else does for sure, either. In math-speak, Afghanistan is fairly intractable, meaning very difficult to solve . . . and for a problem of this magnitude, that’s an understatement.
It’s also in large part why I’ve stayed away from commenting much on Afghanistan here at LittleDEM. Simply put, it’s too important a problem to be at all casual about.
But now is the time to put forth all ideas, suggestions, and observations to get Afghanistan right (or at least as right as we can make the situation). It’s [ more . . . ]
Ok, I have a day job so-to-speak so, I’m going to be quick and to the point.
First, FANTASTIC speech. And when I say FANTASTIC, I mean F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C.
President Obama came out, started with some lead-in on the State of the Union, and then dug right in on Healthcare Reform. Once he got going, he spoke with passion and determination, beginning with explaining the problem, then moving into the tenets behind the plan, covering on the back-end some of the very important and necessary points of how Healthcare Reform will be paid for (and other important details) before wrapping up with an [ more . . . ]
What do you think? What was President Obama’s best line from his speech to Congress? Yes, I know it’s a long list, but there were a lot of good lines to choose from!
What was President Obama’s best line in his speech to Congress? (Vote for up to 3)
“I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.”
“Know this. I will not waste time with those who have made [ more . . . ]
Let’s get something straight right off the bat, Healthcare Reform is a B-I-G issue. It goes without saying that ahead of actually making a decision on any big issue that people naturally get cautious, worried, and more emotional (than objective). It’s impossible to know with certainty what the future will bring, and it’s especially true for big, important decisions, which naturally leads to more angst than is typically warranted. (For example, think about how much you worry about doing your taxes verses the effort of actually doing them.)
That said, I think President Obama will make great strides tonight if he [ more . . . ]
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