Quote: (10-04-2012 09:50 PM)Fisto Wrote:
Guys I'm sorry but what all of your arguments in support of Obama boil down to is "it's not his fault" or "he's hasn't done NOTHING".
1. This isn't a rebuttal, and is more akin to an "argument to tone" (criticizing the nature of the argument rather than its actual factual accuracy).
2. My argument was not "Obama hasn't done nothing". My argument made a clear effort to show his accomplishments, which are more numerous than you gave him credit for.
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Athlone, you missed my point about the flip flopping comment entirely. My point was all of the criticisms of Romney being privileged, out of touch, rich, a flip flopper are hypocritical since they can all be applied to Obama.
And that point is off.
Obama is not as wealthy as Romney, and never has been.
Obama is not as out of touch as Romney (if anything, he has been criticized for being too "cool", a quality some say is irrelevant for a president).
Obama is not and never has been as privileged as Romney.
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Obama has enjoyed a privileged life. Downplaying his families' connections and his unsavory associates and then comparing them to Romney is a misleading.
Misleading?
You have consistently attempted in this thread to equate the socio-economic situations of these two candidates.
Obama's socio-economic situtation was in no way comparable to Romney's. The Dunham family was, at best, middle class, maybe upper-middle class on a good day. Romney grew up amidst the American elite with a senator and multi-millionaire executive for a father, and inherited a remarkable pedigree.
What is misleading is your attempt to downplay these vast differences in a desperate bid to equate the two and make your favored candidate look better and your opoonents look like hypocrites. The distinction between them is obvious-one does not need to be a hypocrite to notice that.
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If your'e going to do that, compare his life to the average American's and then he's back to being a spoiled rich kid who's had every opportunity handed to him.
Which opportunities was he handed, exactly? What was it precisely that he didn't earn?
A. His chance to go to Punahou? Did he not earn his scholarship? Did he commit an act with enough severity to justify his being kicked out of school or something? Anything? Or are you just saying this?
B. His chance to go to Columbia or Harvard? What, he didn't have the grades to make it to these schools? You gonna claim affirmative action here, argue that he didn't work before or after admission and that his presence there was merely a gift? If not, then what?
C. Did he not earn his shot to become editor of the law review? How so?
D. If he didn't earn the editorship, then I guess you'll argue he didn't earn the national media attention he got and the book deals that came from it? You think his books weren't worthy of the attention they got?
E. Jumping off of that, I suppose you'll argue he didn't earn the position he got at UChicago (lecturer for over a decade, fellow for the first few thanks to his book) either.
And I see we've moved the goal posts again, as we're comparing them to the average American now and not one another. Ok.
1. Both went to better primary schools than the average American. Of course, in this sense Obama could be said to be closer to the average American given his need to make use of scholarships to attend and lack of a millionaire dad to take care of things.
2. Both are far wealthier than the average American. Romney much more so.
3. Both were intelligent and displayed said intelligence at University. Both attended Harvard for graduate school, though I would contend that this is less a sign of privilege as a sign of their accomplishments. This wasn't "handed" to either of them (Obama become the first black editor of the law review and Romney completing a JD/MBA with honors are both very worthy accomplishments).
4. Romney had a millionaire senator father to help pay for his education and get him connected. If you really and truly cannot see the gap between the asset George Romney was in helping his son and the fact that Obama did not have a father in his life (much less a powerful one), then I just don't know what to tell you. Most Americans don't grow up the son of a senator/executive, so I don't see what Obama was handed there either.
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You're really acting like the editor's position in college is something that helps him in his function as President?
How doesn't it, exactly?
Seriously, why is this irrelevant? Explain to me how such an accomplishment (which would show a fairly strong understanding of the law and the legal process we use in this country) is so totally irrelevant to the job of any elected official (particularly a president, whose duties intersect with the practice of law on a regular basis)?
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Or a community organizer makes him a good politician?
Whoa, now. Let's back up and look at what I really said before we put words in my mouth, shall we?
Quote: (10-04-2012 08:37 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:
That, and I do not see how community organization is entirely irrelevant to the practice of politics. It isn't the Governorship, but that isn't an entirely useless thing for a future politician to engage in. In fact, given the nature of politics (ex: relating to voters, getting in touch with communities and their needs, etc), it seems like that experience could come in quite handy at times.
I did not say that stints in community organization automatically make him a good politician, just as it can be said that business experience does not automatically make one suitable for the presidency/governorship/etc.
What I did say was that community organization should not be dismissed as a useless field in the cultivation of a successful political career the way you have implied it should, and that it can cultivate skills useful to any future politician, up to and including a president.
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Or that's equivalent to Romney making millions of dollars by turning around unprofitable businesses?
It isn't?
You take that as a given. Given some of the reports regarding his career at Bain, it would seem that his career there may not be as big an asset as you make it out to be.
Your argument seems to depend upon an equation between private equity experience and possible presidential success. I'm not convinced that this correlation is as direct as you make it seem, nor am I convinced that it is necessarily more applicable than anything Obama has done. The skills you need to run a business and make money (which Romney was very good at) are not necessarily the skills you need to turn an entire economy around, much less complete other important aspects of a president's job description.
If I'm wrong on that, then fine: show me why this equation is closer than I think.
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You are being completely irrational to make the leap that Romney is going to run the country like a private equity firm.
Am I?
If he is not going to make significant use of the lessons, tactics and processes he learned in private equity to run the country, then of what significant value is that "business experience" you keep citing? If these lessons and experiences are not in fact going to resurface again, then why do you consistently cite his private equity experience as something that "qualifies" him for the job? Surely, this "qualification" is based on the notion that he will bring with him those lessons, experiences and tactics he acquired in private equity and thus would, at least to some extent, apply them to his daily work as president.
If he is in fact going to be doing something entirely different in manner and in composition, then how exactly can it be said that what he did before is so strongly applicable as an asset to his application for the new job?
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Is that how he ran Mass? Because it appears to me his accomplishments there are well regarded.
How effective a governor he was is debatable.
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Your link says 43% of total white votes voted for Obama. I'm not sure how you can say that wasn't the majority of the popular vote.
...because it wasn't?
55% of total white votes went for his opponent. The majority of the white popular vote did not go to Obama, nor was the portion of the white vote he did get "the majority of the popular vote" as a whole as you've just claimed.
To say that Obama won because "whites [in general] voted for him" is to tell a very small portion of an overly vague/simplistic story. 43% was a good result for him (higher than democrats have usually gotten) and it helped push him over the top, but at the end of the day whites, in general (that is, in the majority), did not (and do not) support him as a whole. Minorities do.
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Your link to what the fuck has obama done so far lacks any substance or credibility.
I don't see how so. Are the claims that it makes incorrect or inaccurate? Do you just think they aren't significant? Do they lack citations (or are the citations themselves inaccurate)?
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Obama made a bunch of grandiose promises, and those largely remain unfulfilled. So you can say "oh well he signed such and such bill" but that's not what he ran his campaign on, and so the argument that he's accomplished nothing is valid.
Uh...no, it isn't. I think your definition of the term "nothing" needs a reboot.
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How about if I just say "He's accomplished nothing of what he said he would"?
Moving the goal posts again, I see.
Regardless, that isn't true either.
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So now we're given credit to compromised promises that were "partially" kept? A promise is kept or broken. This "compromise" part should be added to "promises broken".
Says who? That doesn't make any sense. A compromise is, by definition, a settlement of a disagreement by mutual concessions. Delivering much of (if not all of) what you promised cannot be equate to the breaking of a promise in its entirety, especially in a profession where compromise is a norm.
The site is entirely right to create separate categories there.
Quote: (10-04-2012 10:26 PM)Fisto Wrote:
You guys love to point at "Fact check" but anytime it comes to true or false, yes or no, these "facts" would be presented much differently.
"True or false/yes or no" are not the standards for checking actual facts, so this claim here is no more than an irrelevant strawman.
The concept of nuance is important, and there is no room for it in your "standard". That is why fact checkers do not abide by it.
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Also, again, I'm talking about big promises the ones that he spouted off about when he had a 2 minute commercial,
Moving the goal posts again...
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Your link to a wikipedia page about death threats to Obama is pretty weak man. A cursory google search shows a shit load of the same kind of threats to George Bush and also Donald Trump and Tim Tebow.
Even this?
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Secret Service protection for Obama began after the Senator received a death threat in 2007, when Obama was still serving as then the junior U.S. Senator of Illinois and running for president. This marked the first time a candidate received such protection before being nominated
The fact that a new protocol for protection had to be created for him doesn't register here?
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That doesn't make the argument that people are threatening him simply because he's black or that this "target" on him is any different that the ones placed on past controversial presidents like Bush.
The racial aspect creates a clear distinction between those facing him and Bush, along with the new protection protocols the secret service was forced to provide.
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In Late 2008/09 I'm pretty sure the president was saying something along the lines of "I'll fix the economy in 3 years or this is a one term propostion". Well?
You're "pretty sure"? Source it and I'll respond.
Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time.