I am becoming a disgruntled Obama supporter

[Lynnie]

Mitt Romney- Of course, religion will play a large roll in the primaries but I feel like Romney would fare better in a general election than other "more religious" candidates (Palin, Huckabee). I would also worry about all his flip-flopping on issues that are very important to the Republican base. He also essentially designed the Obama healthcare bill, despite what he wants to tell you. I feel like he comes off as very knowledgeable and really knows what businesses need to create jobs. And I feel like he would do very well with independents in the general election.

Chris Christie- Strong fiscal conservative, powerful speaker, and I love that he is so adamant on sending teachers unions to hell. The problems I see with him are that he is unexperienced and he acknowledges that he is. Every candidate says they're not going to run for president right now, but he seems more sincere when he says he doesn't think he is ready and he doesn't want the job. He kind of seems like someone who wants to deal more with "governor" issues (education, small budgets) than deal with foreign issues all day.

Mike Huckabee- Probably the strongest social conservative in the race. Not afraid of the tea party, like other mainstream Republicans, and will get tea party support. His PAC has maybe been the most active thus far and that will get him a lot of political support come primary time. I think it turns a lot of people off when he makes such a big deal about religion in his speeches. I think his "fair tax" ideas could grow on people.

Sarah Palin- I love her as a political puppet to further the Republicans ideas and get Republicans elected. But as a candidate, I worry she will make the same mistakes she made in 2008. When she was a vice president she only had to be in the spotlight as a candidate for a few months and she only had one debate. But as a primary candidate it will be almost two years and a lot of debates, if she wants to be a serious candidate she better polish up on her knowledge of the issues.

Rick Perry- I know it may sound crazy, but I think he is just a better version of Palin. For a Republican, he is popular with Latinos and disliked by many for his somewhat moderate stance on immigration.I don't know if people outside of Texas appreciate how strong he is politically, and manages to just dominate opponents who are more knowledgeable and experienced than him (Kay Bailey Hutchinson). Could have a problem, like most governors, dealing with national issues. Many of his strong Texas supporters have said they don't think they would vote for him in a presidential race.

Ron Paul- I don't see it happening. If anyone has an argument for him, I would be happy to hear what it is. I just don't think he comes off very well politically.


Other candidates I think have a good shot are Mitch Daniels, Rubio, Jindal
It's still really far out and there could still be candidates we haven't heard of that end up becoming a factor.

Decent Roster, except for Palin. In 2008, however, I had issues with Romney and Huckabee, thinking I preferred a Separation of Church and State concept. But, Romney has grown on me since then. Huckabee is too far right, I think. As far as Church and State, I realized that I prefer someone with a strong faith and that's as far as I will take it. Jindal is someone to look at.

Sam Nunn, hands down, a winner......he is everything Happy2beme suggests and a PROVEN Conservative Democrat, who could make tremendous progress inclusive of healing the divisiveness of this Nation. I doubt he would do it, though.

 

[Lynnie]

He certainly couldn't have done worse than Bush.

Wishy-Washy Kerry? Done worse than Bush? I'd give it a tie, if not much worse.

 

[sarawind]

The French-looking, John Kerry, who by the way, served in Vietnam is a member of the hate America first crowd. Bush is a good man who tried to extend every opportunity to democrats to work together and was rebuffed at every turn. He did things I did not care but he kept us safe and cared deeply for the USA. Can't ya'll get past this?

Chris Christie is another interesting possibility but don't think he wants to run for president. Bobby Jindal is a good man but probably needs more experience. I like Sarah Palin for many reasons. The fact the liberal media can't stand her is a resume enhancement.

 

[Gidget]

OMG Geo, this thread is turning into aIMHO

Not sure it is what you had in mind when you started it. Some of the suggestions for POTUS blow my mind.

Here's an article worth reading - I think.

Obama and the BP oil spill : The New Yorker

 

[futurebeachbum]

At the risk of being attacked, I'd like to express that every President has had a unique set of issues on his plate. This President is no different and I, too, am extremely unhappy and quite baffled at how little has been done with this mess in the Gulf.

In my experience, when action is not being taken, it has eventually surfaced that there was an underlying issue. I am not saying that's the case with the Gulf, but.........just sayin'.

Here's my theory.

The Administration is committed to Cap&Trade or Carbon Taxing and has had little to no traction on the topic. If they let the oil spill get bad enough and they can use that disaster to convince (generally uninformed and stupid) public to go along with it. Why else would they wait 57 days before verbally addressing it and forever before actually taking any useful action.

To quote Rahm Emanuel "Never let a crisis to go to waste."

 

[30A Skunkape]

Mitt Romney- Of course, religion will play a large roll in the primaries but I feel like Romney would fare better in a general election than other "more religious" candidates (Palin, Huckabee). I would also worry about all his flip-flopping on issues that are very important to the Republican base. He also essentially designed the Obama healthcare bill, despite what he wants to tell you. I feel like he comes off as very knowledgeable and really knows what businesses need to create jobs. And I feel like he would do very well with independents in the general election.

Chris Christie- Strong fiscal conservative, powerful speaker, and I love that he is so adamant on sending teachers unions to hell. The problems I see with him are that he is unexperienced and he acknowledges that he is. Every candidate says they're not going to run for president right now, but he seems more sincere when he says he doesn't think he is ready and he doesn't want the job. He kind of seems like someone who wants to deal more with "governor" issues (education, small budgets) than deal with foreign issues all day.

Mike Huckabee- Probably the strongest social conservative in the race. Not afraid of the tea party, like other mainstream Republicans, and will get tea party support. His PAC has maybe been the most active thus far and that will get him a lot of political support come primary time. I think it turns a lot of people off when he makes such a big deal about religion in his speeches. I think his "fair tax" ideas could grow on people.

Sarah Palin- I love her as a political puppet to further the Republicans ideas and get Republicans elected. But as a candidate, I worry she will make the same mistakes she made in 2008. When she was a vice president she only had to be in the spotlight as a candidate for a few months and she only had one debate. But as a primary candidate it will be almost two years and a lot of debates, if she wants to be a serious candidate she better polish up on her knowledge of the issues.

Rick Perry- I know it may sound crazy, but I think he is just a better version of Palin. For a Republican, he is popular with Latinos and disliked by many for his somewhat moderate stance on immigration.I don't know if people outside of Texas appreciate how strong he is politically, and manages to just dominate opponents who are more knowledgeable and experienced than him (Kay Bailey Hutchinson). Could have a problem, like most governors, dealing with national issues. Many of his strong Texas supporters have said they don't think they would vote for him in a presidential race.

Ron Paul- I don't see it happening. If anyone has an argument for him, I would be happy to hear what it is. I just don't think he comes off very well politically.


Other candidates I think have a good shot are Mitch Daniels, Rubio, Jindal
It's still really far out and there could still be candidates we haven't heard of that end up becoming a factor.

Here is a piece I heard on NPR the other day on Bobby Jindal. And no, I'm not endorsing him, just pointing out that he is playing his cards right at this time. The piece fails to mention that he has been furiously raising money all over the country. One wonders what might have happened had McCain chosen Jindal for VP instead of Palin. Oil Spill Crisis Puts Jindal Back On Center Stage : NPR

 

[futurebeachbum]

OMG Geo, this thread is turning into aIMHO

Not sure it is what you had in mind when you started it. Some of the suggestions for POTUS blow my mind.

Here's an article worth reading - I think.

Obama and the BP oil spill : The New Yorker

This is the funniest part of that article:

The day after his speech, Obama made up for its deficit of drama by jawboning BP, which under federal law is liable for only seventy-five million dollars in damages, into putting twenty billion dollars in escrow for an independently administered fund to pay for damage claims.

A person would have to be incredibly naive to believe that the $20B deal was struck after the speech was made.

It was, almost certainly, a done deal before the speech was made.

I can see arranging it so that it appeared that the Administration had 'cojones m?s grandes' but the downside of actually doing it that way are ridiculously huge.

No President in their right mind would make such a claim (for an action that was right but for which they had no legal basis for ) without having already arranged it.

On top of that, Obama is a lawyer. Lawyers are all about legal and illegal. They are disconnected from the concepts of right and wrong (its how they are trained.)

 

[Rita]

OMG Geo, this thread is turning into aIMHO

Not sure it is what you had in mind when you started it. Some of the suggestions for POTUS blow my mind.

Here's an article worth reading - I think.

Obama and the BP oil spill : The New Yorker

.
That is a good article Gidget. worth the read. It brought out points that in the back of my mind I had wondered about. Thanks for posting.
.
"... The President was right, of course, that the ultimate cause of the Gulf disaster is out-of-control consumption of a dwindling resource that must be extracted in increasingly dangerous ways. The most effective, most efficient way to rein in that consumption and make clean energy price-competitive would be to slap a heavy tax on carbon. (Ideally, much of the revenue would be rebated to the public as a cut in the payroll tax, since it makes more sense to tax things we want to discourage, such as oil use, than things we want to encourage, such as work.) This is what some European countries have done, and it may well be what Obama would do if he had the kind of legislative power that European prime ministers have and that many Americans, of all political persuasions, assume that he has, too.
But he doesn?t. As he did with health care, Obama is trying for the maximum that, in his judgment, our rusty, clanking legislative sausage-maker is capable of delivering. As he noted in his speech, a year ago the House passed ?a strong and comprehensive energy and climate bill.? That bill languishes in the Senate, where its weaker counterpart is on life support, with the filibuster poised to cut it off. If part three of Obama?s speech was cautiously, even uninspiringly, worded, that is because it is part of the delicate legislative strategy of a President who knows that, while the perfect is out of reach, the good (and maybe even the so-so) is its ally, not its enemy. ..."


.

 

[sarawind]

Here is a piece I heard on NPR the other day on Bobby Jindal. And no, I'm not endorsing him, just pointing out that he is playing his cards right at this time. The piece fails to mention that he has been furiously raising money all over the country. One wonders what might have happened had McCain chosen Jindal for VP instead of Palin. Oil Spill Crisis Puts Jindal Back On Center Stage : NPR

People vote for president, not vice president. I agree with you about Bobby Jindal.

 

[Lynnie]

Interesting: McCain/Jindal......might have pulled it off. I never thought of that.

Gidget, how is this thread a train wreck? I see everyone being civil, which is a plus for sowal message board community. (In fact, since the indoctrination of so many moderators, I have noticed those who typically inflame, haven't been doing so......just an observation.) Isn't everyone entitled to an opinion on a nominee? I don't see any thing jumping the track on that. I am cornfused by the trainwreck statement.