Obama - the one term president

[East_coast]

It is looking more likely that Obama will be a one term president.



Who is likely to be the next?

[Raccon]

Who is likely to be the next?

Sarah-Shrieking-Palin

[chowfun]

A truly moderate leader would be nice.

[hullexile]

A truly moderate leader would be nice.

So Obama is not a moderate?

[gypsy3x4]

If DADT gets rebuked and the tax reforms get revoked for the wealthy then he could win on a second term. Right now congress and the house keep stalling him when he tries to get things done. He is a wonderful speaker and most of the young america likes him. If they continue to vote for him in the next election along with the african american, gay and latino communities he could pull off a win.

[Dreadnought]

I'll wait to see who the Republicans nominate as their horse. Hopefully by then they will have put their house in order.
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[virago]

Not sure if Letterman is the most appropriate political correspondent. Though if most Americans get their political convictions from him than you probably understand why they are in so much trouble.

I was watching a doc on Jimmy Carter. Didn't know much about him actually but they are starting to consider Obama could rival Carter as the least effective President. It was interesting to note that Carter had more success that most in getting his bill past. Better than Bush (snr and junior), Clinton. It's a shame, too many issues and not enough wars to engage and fight!

[Football16]

Not sure if Letterman is the most appropriate political correspondent. Though if most Americans get their political convictions from him than you probably understand why they are in so much trouble.

I was watching a doc on Jimmy Carter. Didn't know much about him actually but they are starting to consider Obama could rival Carter as the least effective President. It was interesting to note that Carter had more success that most in getting his bill past. Better than Bush (snr and junior), Clinton. It's a shame, too many issues and not enough wars to engage and fight!

Clinton served while the Republicans dominated Congress but he acted very fiscally responsible and didn't spend like a Democrat is supposed to do. If you read Woodward's book Clinton had met with his then Secretary of the Treasurer - the very astute former Senator Lloyd Bentzen - who had President Elect Clinton meet Greenspan to be told that if he did what he wanted to do his deficit would be so great by the next election he'd not be getting a second term. That book reveals that this topic would come up from time to time and Clinton supported the fiscal conservative approach rather than spend like a Democrat was supposed to. Canada has conservatives and they too spend more like the old liberals did.

Carter had no vision for his Presidency and got screwed by the Iran hostage situation and the fact that Regean's folks made sure the hostages were not released until after he took office.

Obama is a great orator and the current situation is a debacle that he is least suited to work his way out of. He does inspire. Not sure who would be a good President right now but if they did not have term limits I'd like to see Bill Clinton in office as he is at least experienced and not training.

Too early to tell who would be the next POTUS or even if Obama is sunk. Never underestimate the gullibility of the electorate. They elected George Bush, Jr who has to be the dumbest President only to re-elect him when he had more than proved that his brains were fried back in college.

[virago]

Don't get me wrong, I have little understanding of Amercian politics.

I thought Clinton dismantled the financial regulations that allowed bankers to do what they will.

[Football16]

Don't get me wrong, I have little understanding of Amercian politics.

I thought Clinton dismantled the financial regulations that allowed bankers to do what they will.

Yes, there were changes but not taking out regulations. Your characterization that alludes to how financial institutions made money off paper was not what the legislation provided for. However, that didn't stop Republicans from alleging it was his fault nor Dems from blaming War President Bush who did not do it either.

What this did was take the pillars and allow banks to get into insurance etc. Historically strong lobby interests kept that all separate but things like kiosks in malls selling insurance grew up just like in Canada which theoretically retains the pillars thinking to these things but in fact it is pretty much gone. In Canada, they just can't do do tied selling where they will give you your mortgage only if you buy their insurance.

Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system

Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system
By Martin McLaughlin
1 November 1999

An agreement between the Clinton administration and congressional Republicans, reached during all-night negotiations which concluded in the early hours of October 22, sets the stage for passage of the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history, lifting virtually all restraints on the operation of the giant monopolies which dominate the financial system.

The proposed Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 would do away with restrictions on the integration of banking, insurance and stock trading imposed by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, one of the central pillars of Roosevelt's New Deal. Under the old law, banks, brokerages and insurance companies were effectively barred from entering each others' industries, and investment banking and commercial banking were separated.

The certain result of repeal of Glass-Steagall will be a wave of mergers surpassing even the colossal combinations of the past several years. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "With the stroke of the president's pen, investment firms like Merrill Lynch & Co. and banks like Bank of America Corp., are expected to be on the prowl for acquisitions." The financial press predicted that the most likely mergers would come from big banks acquiring insurance companies, with John Hancock, Prudential and The Hartford all expected to be targeted.

Kenneth Guenther, executive vice president of Independent Community Bankers of America, an association of small rural banks which opposed the bill, warned, "This is going to begin a wave of major mergers and acquisitions in the financial-services industry. We're moving to an oligopolistic situation."

One such merger was already carried out well before the passage of the legislation, the $72 billion deal which brought together Citibank, the biggest New York bank, and Travelers Group Inc., the huge insurance and financial services conglomerate, which owns Salomon Smith Barney, a major brokerage. That merger was negotiated despite the fact that the merged company, Citigroup, was in violation of the Glass-Steagall Act, because billionaire Travelers boss Sanford Weill and Citibank CEO John Reed were confident of bipartisan support for repeal of the 60-year-old law.

----

Clinton defends this here:
http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/...0/01/id/325666



A very good analysis that doesn't blame Clinton or Bush Jr. but identifies what did occur:


Meltdowns and Myths: Did Deregulation Cause the Financial Crisis?
Published on October 22, 2008 by James Gattuso WebMemo #2109


"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that aren't true." -- attributed to Mark Twain

http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...nancial-crisis