Obama Press Conference

[Bob Juch]

So who do you think should have become President? Certainly not Hillary.

You're asking this question like it matters.

Well it is moot, but I'd like to know what he thinks.

My opinion: The President is like a CEO. The CEO hires a CFO whose job it is to handle the finances. A CEO who knows as much as his CFO is wasting his time and overlooking other things.

[Jeemie]

So who do you think should have become President? Certainly not Hillary.

You're asking this question like it matters.

Well it is moot, but I'd like to know what he thinks.

My opinion: The President is like a CEO. The CEO hires a CFO whose job it is to handle the finances. A CEO who knows as much as his CFO is wasting his time and overlooking other things.

Obama's CFO inspired so much confidence that the stock market fell 5% when TARP 2.0 (or is that 1.3?) was announced.

And the good CEO does not outsource what is likely to be a very seminal piece of legislature for partisan hacks to load up with pork.

[Bob Juch]

You're asking this question like it matters.

Well it is moot, but I'd like to know what he thinks.

My opinion: The President is like a CEO. The CEO hires a CFO whose job it is to handle the finances. A CEO who knows as much as his CFO is wasting his time and overlooking other things.

Obama's CFO inspired so much confidence that the stock market fell 5% when TARP 2.0 (or is that 1.3?) was announced.

And the good CEO does not outsource what is likely to be a very seminal piece of legislature for partisan hacks to load up with pork.

Most of the bank stocks that fell yesterday are up a lot today even though the market is slightly down. The "experts" who blamed TARP 2.0 don't know jack.

It sounds like you're in favor of a dictatorship.

[Jeemie]

Most of the bank stocks that fell yesterday are up a lot today even though the market is slightly down. The "experts" who blamed TARP 2.0 don't know jack.

I'm guessing they know more than most of us do.

It sounds like you're in favor of a dictatorship.

Not at all.

But this stimulus bill will, for better or for worse, be associated with Obama, and Obama's leadership.

This is one thing he and his staff should have been LOADS more hands-on with to make sure it aspired to his vision (and if this DID adhere to his vision, God help us all).

Instead, he immediately had to go on the road and hold staged press conferences and town halls (if anyone believes "Henrietta Hughes" and the dude who's been working at McDonald's since he was 14 were "real people" telling true stories , I've got some oceanfront property in Iowa to sell you, going cheap...), doing damage control.

He has a greater command of the English language than Bush (at least, when he's reading off the teleprompter).

I see no signs of greater competence.

[Bob Juch]

Most of the bank stocks that fell yesterday are up a lot today even though the market is slightly down. The "experts" who blamed TARP 2.0 don't know jack.

I'm guessing they know more than most of us do.

I sincerely doubt it, but they don't get paid for saying, "I don't know why the market went up or down," so they come up with something that sounds good. In fact, I've heard the same explanation for why the market went down as to why it went up - several times - from the same guy.

[Jeemie]

Most of the bank stocks that fell yesterday are up a lot today even though the market is slightly down. The "experts" who blamed TARP 2.0 don't know jack.

I'm guessing they know more than most of us do.

I sincerely doubt it, but they don't get paid for saying, "I don't know why the market went up or down," so they come up with something that sounds good. In fact, I've heard the same explanation for why the market went down as to why it went up - several times - from the same guy.

That's just the thing...Geithner inspired zero confidence in the market.

A well-thought out plan might have.

[Bob Juch]

I'm guessing they know more than most of us do.

I sincerely doubt it, but they don't get paid for saying, "I don't know why the market went up or down," so they come up with something that sounds good. In fact, I've heard the same explanation for why the market went down as to why it went up - several times - from the same guy.

That's just the thing...Geithner inspired zero confidence in the market.

A well-thought out plan might have.

But the bank stocks are back up 4% or so today. Guess they have more confidence today than they did yesterday - or maybe there's no correlation.

[Jeemie]

I sincerely doubt it, but they don't get paid for saying, "I don't know why the market went up or down," so they come up with something that sounds good. In fact, I've heard the same explanation for why the market went down as to why it went up - several times - from the same guy.

That's just the thing...Geithner inspired zero confidence in the market.

A well-thought out plan might have.

But the bank stocks are back up 4% or so today. Guess they have more confidence today than they did yesterday - or maybe there's no correlation.

We shall see...

[silverscreenselect]

So who do you think should have become President? Certainly not Hillary.

You're asking this question like it matters.

Well it is moot, but I'd like to know what he thinks.

My opinion: The President is like a CEO. The CEO hires a CFO whose job it is to handle the finances. A CEO who knows as much as his CFO is wasting his time and overlooking other things.

The CFO may know the details about finance, but it's the CEO who is responsible for the overall direction of the company. The U.S. is rudderless right now. Bush may have had us going in the wrong direction, but Obama's listening to everyone, allowing a bill to be put forth that tries to do everything and accomplishing nothing besides spending a lot of money.

And I do think that Hillary would have put forth a bill that she understood and believed in and wouldn't have handed the whole thing off to Nancy Pelosi. And she wouldn't have stood by while Ben Nelson and Arlen Spector decided what was and wasn't an acceptable level of pork.

[Spock]

I am mildly surprised it's taken so little time for the hope-and-change express to derail...

I'm not.

I called it...before the election.

I said nothing would change...that nothing substantial has changed for 30 years.

The only pleasure I get from being right is that maybe some people will start to wake up and stop looking to the government for solutions to problems...because none will be forthcoming.

Now...more than ever...what Reagan said so many years ago IS true...government IS the problem.

If you're going to worship at the altar of Saint Reagan, at least get his thoughts right.

You've taken the quote out of context (as many others do). Reagan actually said (emphasis added), "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." This crisis, of course, is nothing remotely like the economic problems facing the nation in 1981. The risk we face now is deflation and an economy that will not be exploited at anything close to its capacity because people will not spend the money necessary to make that happen. This is precisely the sort of crisis in which government is a necessary ingredient to the solution, because no other institution has the necessary resources.

Later in the same speech (his first inaugural), Reagan emphasized the more limited nature of his point: "Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it." And that's exactly what the stimulus package is designed to do. --Bob

So Bob-How is government as the solution working out in California?



I

[Bob78164]

So Bob -- How is government as the solution working out in California?

Lousy, primarily because state government is effectively paralyzed by a ridiculous provision of the California Constitution that requires a two-thirds majority to approve either a budget or a tax increase. That requirement, combined with (a) draconian term limits that ensure a complete lack of institutional memory within the Legislature, and a consequent recognition of when it's necessary to stop posturing and get to work, and (b) district boundaries that ensure the greatest threat to any legislator's re-election is a primary battle, rather than the general election, ensure an intractably polarized Legislature that hasn't got a prayer of closing a budget gap in excess of $40 billion.

California just passed redistricting reform, so I have some hope things will change for the better after the 2012 elections. But it will be a long, long wait. --Bob