President Elect Barack Obama

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sky12065

sky12065

Conductor
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Jun 23, 2008
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The Villages FL - Formerly Waterford NY
Let me be the first McCain supporter to give congratulations to President Elect Obama!

Let's ALL of us give all our support to him as moves forward in fulfilling the promises he has made to all Americans!

In the same spirit of cooperation may we ALL also hold his feet to the fire should he fail to keep the promises he has made to ALL of us as we would have if McCain had won and failed to keep his promises!
 
I think it was sometime in May when Obama lunched with a family in Beech Grove, Indiana as he lamented America’s lack of high-speed rail and compared America's neglected passenger rail system with those of other industrialized countries. He even went so far as to suggest implementing high-speed rail Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and St. Louis. This is in sharp contrast to McCain's distinctly anti-rail stance which is well known. Nevertheless, the immense debt of our government will make most of the political promises of our new president empty ones, but the sentiment can't be bad news for Amtrak. One's attitudes, especially the president's attitudes, do matter.
 
sky12065 said:
Let me be the first McCain supporter to give congratulations to President Elect Obama!
Let's ALL of us give all our support to him as moves forward in fulfilling the promises he has made to all Americans!

In the same spirit of cooperation may we ALL also hold his feet to the fire should he fail to keep the promises he has made to ALL of us as we would have if McCain had won and failed to keep his promises!
Click to expand...

May McCain's supporters, if sincere in this sentiment of healing after a hard-fought election, allow their new president a bit of a honeymoon period. Bush had one at least into summer 2001. In "holding feet to the fire" there is a vast difference between healthy and proper accountability and declaring a presidency a failure from Day 2.

Also, may rational people on the right do their part to curb the hateful and false sentiments shouted at McCain/Palin rallies I mentioned in a previous deleted post. That is going to be a harder job than holding a government accountable, a more important job in terms of healing the nation, and only you can do it. If that hate does not speak for you, then let those people know in no uncertain terms. For the sake of your cause, if not for the good of the nation.
 
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George Bush would be equally incompetent, be he either Republican or Democrat. Thankfully, most Republicans are far, far smarter than Bush.

Now we have a President Elect who's national experience is only 1/2 of a term in the Senate. Men with far more experience found the Presidency overwhelming. We'll see just what Obama can now actually deliver upon his first year on office.
 
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Its very sad to see the debate here. It is exactly what is wrong with our country in general. BOTH sides have extreme views on the fringes that have driven their parties to become so strident and unyielding in their views. I for one have long supported basic republican views of self reliance and lower taxes. However over the years the hard right has taken it over and holds sway over all major positions. The vast numbers of people are not hard right, nor hard left. Both their views damage their parties. Although in victory such as this it blinds them to the fact that most people are not in favor of their positions and are voting for hope from the center.

For my self I didn't know till I got in the booth with the ballot in front of me which way to go. I balanced my views giving up some things and hoping for others and made my choice, which turned out to be the winner. I didn't do it for far left views, nor totally against some right views. I did in on things like hope for the countries workers, health care, things that make our country work.. And of course Amtrak was in the back of my mind also. I think that is the way people used to vote before things go so totally polarized. When either side tries to force their views on everyone people are repulsed. We should be able to believe what we are comfortable in and leave others to their views and protect us all from invaders and provide some basic services.

The last election I discovered that my longest friend whom I had really never particularly discussed politics with had decided that anyone that dared to vote as a republican he no longer had any time for.. I have not heard from him since after 35 years of friendship. As I told him, had it been the other way I would have still been his friend. However he lives in New York City where evidently partisanship is high priority and over time it has clouded his views. This choosing sides and friends by how they vote is totally Un-american in my view. That is why we have a two party system, no one will agree on everything. One issue I see is that instead of running a basic government, we have ended up with courts and lawyers who have from both sides thrown out positions that will by their nature divide us.

Attacking whole parties and persons who support them is totally against what this county should stand for. Hate in not the way thoughtful decisions should be formed, but it seems unfortunately to have taken a strong hold in many of our more vocal citizens.. I wonder if we can ever go back to politicians working for everyone and not just their party..
 
I should have also added that of course when the public is unhappy with the way things are going they indeed should vote and change it. But as adults we should be able to debate positions without name calling that has become the norm when you hold an opposing view from either side.
 
Larry H. said:
Its very sad to see the debate here. It is exactly what is wrong with our country in general. BOTH sides have extreme views on the fringes that have driven their parties to become so strident and unyielding in their views. I for one have long supported basic republican views of self reliance and lower taxes. However over the years the hard right has taken it over and holds sway over all major positions. The vast numbers of people are not hard right, nor hard left. Both their views damage their parties. Although in victory such as this it blinds them to the fact that most people are not in favor of their positions and are voting for hope from the center.
For my self I didn't know till I got in the booth with the ballot in front of me which way to go. I balanced my views giving up some things and hoping for others and made my choice, which turned out to be the winner. I didn't do it for far left views, nor totally against some right views. I did in on things like hope for the countries workers, health care, things that make our country work.. And of course Amtrak was in the back of my mind also. I think that is the way people used to vote before things go so totally polarized. When either side tries to force their views on everyone people are repulsed. We should be able to believe what we are comfortable in and leave others to their views and protect us all from invaders and provide some basic services.

The last election I discovered that my longest friend whom I had really never particularly discussed politics with had decided that anyone that dared to vote as a republican he no longer had any time for.. I have not heard from him since after 35 years of friendship. As I told him, had it been the other way I would have still been his friend. However he lives in New York City where evidently partisanship is high priority and over time it has clouded his views. This choosing sides and friends by how they vote is totally Un-american in my view. That is why we have a two party system, no one will agree on everything. One issue I see is that instead of running a basic government, we have ended up with courts and lawyers who have from both sides thrown out positions that will by their nature divide us.

Attacking whole parties and persons who support them is totally against what this county should stand for. Hate in not the way thoughtful decisions should be formed, but it seems unfortunately to have taken a strong hold in many of our more vocal citizens.. I wonder if we can ever go back to politicians working for everyone and not just their party..
Click to expand...
All I can add is Amen!
 
Hanno said:
Larry H. said:
Its very sad to see the debate here. It is exactly what is wrong with our country in general. BOTH sides have extreme views on the fringes that have driven their parties to become so strident and unyielding in their views. I for one have long supported basic republican views of self reliance and lower taxes. However over the years the hard right has taken it over and holds sway over all major positions. The vast numbers of people are not hard right, nor hard left. Both their views damage their parties. Although in victory such as this it blinds them to the fact that most people are not in favor of their positions and are voting for hope from the center.
For my self I didn't know till I got in the booth with the ballot in front of me which way to go. I balanced my views giving up some things and hoping for others and made my choice, which turned out to be the winner. I didn't do it for far left views, nor totally against some right views. I did in on things like hope for the countries workers, health care, things that make our country work.. And of course Amtrak was in the back of my mind also. I think that is the way people used to vote before things go so totally polarized. When either side tries to force their views on everyone people are repulsed. We should be able to believe what we are comfortable in and leave others to their views and protect us all from invaders and provide some basic services.

The last election I discovered that my longest friend whom I had really never particularly discussed politics with had decided that anyone that dared to vote as a republican he no longer had any time for.. I have not heard from him since after 35 years of friendship. As I told him, had it been the other way I would have still been his friend. However he lives in New York City where evidently partisanship is high priority and over time it has clouded his views. This choosing sides and friends by how they vote is totally Un-american in my view. That is why we have a two party system, no one will agree on everything. One issue I see is that instead of running a basic government, we have ended up with courts and lawyers who have from both sides thrown out positions that will by their nature divide us.

Attacking whole parties and persons who support them is totally against what this county should stand for. Hate in not the way thoughtful decisions should be formed, but it seems unfortunately to have taken a strong hold in many of our more vocal citizens.. I wonder if we can ever go back to politicians working for everyone and not just their party..
Click to expand...
All I can add is Amen!
Click to expand...
Very well put.

As I looked at the "victory parties" on my block last night, and this morning checked the website of a certain nameless radio host on the "other side," I wondered how people can get so excited about elections one way or the other. Other than foreign policy (admittedly very important), this government basically tinkers around the edges of our society . . . sometimes people seem to think it "runs" everything (I'm not saying anyone here). The little spending power the government had at one time is now so constrained by the looming social security/entitlement crises, with the war and current economic crises added on for good measure, it seems that all government can do is give a token program here and there and give inspiring speeches. And the occasional mind-blowing bailout . . .

I think the Federal Government can still do some good, or make things worse domestically, but not as much as people think.

It WILL be nice to not have a secretary of transportation going around the country on a "death to long distance trains" tour, gotta admit that.

Best Wishes to those of all political colors,

JPS
 
Hanno said:
Larry H. said:
Its very sad to see the debate here. It is exactly what is wrong with our country in general. BOTH sides have extreme views on the fringes that have driven their parties to become so strident and unyielding in their views. I for one have long supported basic republican views of self reliance and lower taxes. However over the years the hard right has taken it over and holds sway over all major positions. The vast numbers of people are not hard right, nor hard left. Both their views damage their parties. Although in victory such as this it blinds them to the fact that most people are not in favor of their positions and are voting for hope from the center.
For my self I didn't know till I got in the booth with the ballot in front of me which way to go. I balanced my views giving up some things and hoping for others and made my choice, which turned out to be the winner. I didn't do it for far left views, nor totally against some right views. I did in on things like hope for the countries workers, health care, things that make our country work.. And of course Amtrak was in the back of my mind also. I think that is the way people used to vote before things go so totally polarized. When either side tries to force their views on everyone people are repulsed. We should be able to believe what we are comfortable in and leave others to their views and protect us all from invaders and provide some basic services.

The last election I discovered that my longest friend whom I had really never particularly discussed politics with had decided that anyone that dared to vote as a republican he no longer had any time for.. I have not heard from him since after 35 years of friendship. As I told him, had it been the other way I would have still been his friend. However he lives in New York City where evidently partisanship is high priority and over time it has clouded his views. This choosing sides and friends by how they vote is totally Un-american in my view. That is why we have a two party system, no one will agree on everything. One issue I see is that instead of running a basic government, we have ended up with courts and lawyers who have from both sides thrown out positions that will by their nature divide us.

Attacking whole parties and persons who support them is totally against what this county should stand for. Hate in not the way thoughtful decisions should be formed, but it seems unfortunately to have taken a strong hold in many of our more vocal citizens.. I wonder if we can ever go back to politicians working for everyone and not just their party..
Click to expand...
All I can add is Amen!
Click to expand...
I totally agree as well. Back when I in college in the early nineties, I remember a group of us going to a local watering hole shortly after the '92 election (Bush/Clinton/Perot). All of us had differing views and the conversation was more 'I voted for x, because of y' and most would be 'yeah I can see that, but for me A issue was more important.' There was some mild bantering, but not at the level it is today. Now, people are doing 'well if you voted for X, then you are a (fill in with derogatory term here). We've actually witnessed it on this board as well. It's too bad, because I enjoy debating politics, but in today's climate, it becomes quite hazardous to reveal too much about your political views.

Hopefully, things can maybe calm down a little bit and some headway can finally be made in the next couple of years - for Amtrak and a the other list of issues out there.

Dan
 
Probably too soon, but anyone have any ideas on cabinet members who will be selected by the president elect?
 
MrFSS said:
Probably too soon, but anyone have any ideas on cabinet members who will be selected by the president elect?
Click to expand...

I'd like to see:

Colin Powell floated for either Sec. Defense or Sec. State.

Patrick Fitzgerald, Atty. General (though there's a local downside)

Bill Weld back on the national scene, but I'm not sure what he'd do.

I do NOT want Rahm Emmanuel anywhere near the cabinet.
 
sky12065 said:
WhoozOn1st said:
Apparently the Administrators have a thing about partisan gloating, but I'll keep trying.
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You just never learn do you?
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Nope, and I hope he never does. Things would get mighty boring around here if he did.

Watching McCain's concession speech briefly, I lament how a candidate can lose so much listening to crappy advice from stupid advisors. While I did not want McCain for president, because I truly believe his methodology (mostly involving trickle-down economics, reduced regulation, and program-based reduced government spending) was right for America at this point, I will be the first to admit he is a good man. Presidential material? For sure.

His advisers persuaded him to pick an Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee. Stupid. And they pushed him to the area of running a negative campaign, which is not the kind of person McCain actually is. He seems to hold Obama in a decent degree of esteem. It is not his nature to be doing what he was to such a person.

Between the two, we got a landslide against him, electorally, and a notable margin against him popularly. That shouldn't have been the case. It really shouldn't. I pulled the lever for Obama. But for the first time in many many years, depending on your theories of how to run the country, you couldn't have gone wrong pulling either lever. The way he ran his campaign stopped people from seeing that.

Now, as someone who supports Obama I am not unhappy that McCain didn't win. But I offer him my respect. I wish we didn't have to have this long, drawn out, and very rivaled election to do it.

I hope that my judgement in character, and that of the other people who elected him, was right, and that he helps lead us in this trying time. So I offer my congratulations, both to Obama, and to McCain. Obama for winning. McCain for having the class that the past 3 candidates in the past 2 elections didn't have. That is, to concede, and do so before even the last poll closed. Frankly, both men are in our government, and they are both better then we as a people often deserve.
 
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I think he is going to be Chief of Staff appointed today the news is saying. We will just have to see, I don't think for a minute that the attitudes of politicians have changed. Only maybe the top and that remains to be tested. My bet is it will still be my way or the highway up there. Sprinkled with a "you deserve it" attitude. We can only hope not. The really odd thing about these elections is how we mostly keep the very people that are so polarizing and rarely replace them, expect to replace them with yet more entrenched views.
 
I listened to the President congratulate Obama on the radio. No matter what you may think of him, and most of that is tainted by politics, he is very gracious and warm in situations like this and more politicians could learn from it. I think he was mostly dealt a bad hand by circumstances and in the environment we have been discussing here it was a given he would be "hated" by the opposition almost no matter what happened. Not that Clinton was so well liked either. The fault can easily be spread around. I mean can you fathom how in world war I and II the hollywood types supported the war with great music and nostalgic movies. Now we get hate em songs and horror stories. Its almost like who's side are we on? Something, perhaps selfishness that has grown to be a national pastime has replaced pride in the total country no matter what its president.
 
I don't know where else to mention this, but I found it interesting that last night, USA ran an episode of "House" originally aired back in 2005, which was about a black US Senator running for President. I wonder just how fictional that seemed back then.
 
fizzball said:
MrFSS said:
Probably too soon, but anyone have any ideas on cabinet members who will be selected by the president elect?
Click to expand...

I'd like to see:

Colin Powell floated for either Sec. Defense or Sec. State.

Patrick Fitzgerald, Atty. General (though there's a local downside)

Bill Weld back on the national scene, but I'm not sure what he'd do.

I do NOT want Rahm Emmanuel anywhere near the cabinet.
Click to expand...
I suspect Al Gore's name to be floated- even if they have to create a 'secretary for the environment'. I don't know if he'd take such a post- but II'll be my bonnet they'll ask him to do something.
 
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I suspect Al Gore's name to be floated- even if they have to create a 'secretary for the environment'. I don't know if he'd take such a post- but II'll be my bonnet they'll ask him to do something.
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Are there historical examples of former Vice Presidents taking cabinet positions?

There's already a certain amount of overlap between what the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of Transportation need to do if we want to import less petroleum. Having a Secretary of the Environment to tell us we need to burn less petroleum just seems redundant, though granted there are other environmental issues, and maybe some of them even have less overlap.
 
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I've heard rumblings (pure rumors at this point) that James Oberstar is being considered for Transportation. Would be great for Amtrak. As an added bonus, he would then not be able to bloc the bill allowing the Delta Queen to continue to sail--but that's a completely different issue. From my perspective, a win-win if the rumors are true.

Dan
 
fizzball said:
sky12065 said:
Let me be the first McCain supporter to give congratulations to President Elect Obama!
Let's ALL of us give all our support to him as moves forward in fulfilling the promises he has made to all Americans!

In the same spirit of cooperation may we ALL also hold his feet to the fire should he fail to keep the promises he has made to ALL of us as we would have if McCain had won and failed to keep his promises!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
fizzball said:
May McCain's supporters, if sincere in this sentiment of healing after a hard-fought election, allow their new president a bit of a honeymoon period. Bush had one at least into summer 2001. In "holding feet to the fire" there is a vast difference between healthy and proper accountability and declaring a presidency a failure from Day 2.
Click to expand...
The sentiment was sincere! There were two things that were overlooked in my OP. The first was my mine when I made the presumption that others would not interpret "keeping his feet to the fire" to mean on day two! As I stated in a previous but now also deleted post, that I probably should have said "should he fail to REASONABLE keep the promises"! The second oversight was with others failing to recognize that the statement applied to McCain too had he been elected! I couldn't have made a more unbiased statement than that!

fizzball said:
Also, "may rational people on the right do their part to curb the hateful and false sentiments shouted at McCain/Palin rallies" I mentioned in a previous deleted post. That is going to be a harder job than holding a government accountable, a more important job in terms of healing the nation, and only you can do it. If that hate does not speak for you, then let those people know in no uncertain terms. For the sake of your cause, if not for the good of the nation.
Click to expand...
You're right and that is exactly what I saw John McCain do when I saw it happen on his side! I can't however say the same for the other side! Unfortunately I can't say more about that because that could make me appear to be "a sore loser!" (Not your quote)

Larry H. said:
Its very sad to see the debate here.
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Although what occurred here could technically be called a debate, I would prefer to call it what it actually was; political activism and reactions because of it! Without the political activisms that were directed at me, I wouldn't have reacted and there wouldn't have been any "debate!" My apologizes to those who may have been aggitatated as a result of it!

I'd also like to thank you and other posters who have successfully commented the election and/or politics without politicizing the discussion.
 
Regardless of political leanings and opinions on the results, it has to be encouraging that voter turnout was relatively high, especially among young voters, African-American voters and Hispanic voters.
 
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