~The First One Hundred Days~

Good.
"In order to permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration time to review the military commission process, generally, and the cases currently pending before the military commissions, specifically, the secretary of defense has, by order of the president directed the chief prosecutor to seek continuances of 120 days in all pending case," prosecutor Clay Trivett said in the written request to the judges.

The request said freezing the trials until May 20 would give the new administration time to evaluate the cases and decide what forum best suits any future prosecution.
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His first 100 days are going to be spent cleaning up, as they should be. If he doesn't clean up Bush's messes, then it becomes his mess. I, for one, am glad he's getting started right away.



Are the ~'s necessary? It makes this topic look like a 13 year old's LiveJournal post. :p
 
I agree with Dogbert. I actually think that Bush has inadvertently done Obama a favor (or whoever his successor would've been) by being a big enough idiot to soak up all the blame for crap like Iraq, Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, the Patriot Act, etc. Obama needs to wash his presidential hands of as much of that as possible, as quickly as possible if he hopes to maintain power longer than this term.
 
Gordon "I saved the world" Brown is going to be pissed.
 
So, everyone who ragged on him for "talking too much change"... is this what you were looking for?
 
tigger said:
I agree with Dogbert. I actually think that Bush has inadvertently done Obama a favor (or whoever his successor would've been) by being a big enough idiot to soak up all the blame for crap like Iraq, Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, the Patriot Act, etc. Obama needs to wash his presidential hands of as much of that as possible, as quickly as possible if he hopes to maintain power longer than this term.
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Wrong.

Just for the record, there probably wont be much change at all, at least as far as foreign policy is concerned. One of Bush's biggest mistakes was to try and undo everything Clinton had set up, and that led him down a sprialing path to unpopularity and bad decision making. Bush in his second term has set up very good foreign policies such as building up China and other Asian countries' economies and helping struggling countries set up proper governments. Combined with Bush's decision to not only take N.Korea off his 'axis of evil' list but also to try to start negotiations with them. He's done more good than people give him credit for because hey, he's fun to make fun of, but don't write off Bush as an awful president whose done no good for America or the world because the Daily Show and satirical internet web pages told you so. The Iraq war is starting to end itself thanks to a successful government finally starting to establish itself. Afghanistan is the next target, and with the lessons learned from Iraq Obama should have no problem with getting them up to speed, and unified against the Taliban with a competent government and security force. They will crumble as all organizations of the sort do if they don't have the support or fear, respect, etc from the locals.

EDIT: I'm taking the article i had posted and am miking a new thread about it. I think it's worth it.

here
 
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wooflepoof said:
The Iraq war is starting to end itself thanks to a successful government finally starting to establish itself. Afghanistan is the next target, and with the lessons learned from Iraq Obama should have no problem with getting them up to speed, and unified against the Taliban with a competent government and security force.
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One of the major issues he discussed during the election was sending more troops into Afghanistan...a "surge" if you will.

Funny thing is, during the Bush years libs were complaining about how Iraq was a distraction and we stopped looking for Bin Laden etc. Well, if Obama decides to send more soldiers into Afghanistan we'll see if they change their tune or not.
 
Firecat said:
One of the major issues he discussed during the election was sending more troops into Afghanistan...a "surge" if you will.

Funny thing is, during the Bush years libs were complaining about how Iraq was a distraction and we stopped looking for Bin Laden etc. Well, if Obama decides to send more soldiers into Afghanistan we'll see if they change their tune or not.
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bah, they will

Liberals, PAH!:p
SmallLiberal.png
 
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wooflepoof said:
Combined with Bush's decision to not only take N.Korea off his 'axis of evil' list but also to try to start negotiations with them.
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Wait, he's the one who put them on there in the first place. I'm supposed to say "he's not so bad at foreign policy after all" for reversing something he started and quite obviously blew up in his face?

The Iraq war is starting to end itself thanks to a successful government finally starting to establish itself.
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After how many years, dead soldiers, and failed attempts now? And before you say "oh, it's the fault of the Iraqi's", remember that Bush's tagline for us being there in the first place was "it'll be easy!". I believe it was a "90 day surgical strike" and something about "greeted as liberators", yeah? Where was he getting that information, hm?

Afghanistan is the next target
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What the fuck, Afghanistan was the first target! :shakefist:

and with the lessons learned from Iraq Obama should have no problem with getting them up to speed, and unified against the Taliban with a competent government and security force. They will crumble as all organizations of the sort do if they don't have the support or fear, respect, etc from the locals.
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Obviously if there are lessons to be learned from Iraq, wouldn't that inherently suggest there would be some change in foreign policy? Otherwise, if he didn't have to learn anything from the way Iraq was handled, wouldn't that mean there won't be much change?

You're trying to tell me he's "done more good than people give him credit for", and then cited all of these supposedly good things that he made bad things in the first place. At best, he's almost broken even.
 
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Dogbert said:
Wait, he's the one who put them on there in the first place. I'm supposed to say "he's not so bad at foreign policy after all" for reversing something he started and quite obviously blew up in his face?
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He at least had the balls to admit his mistakes and in his second term, made vast improvements in his policy that have done wonders for assuring Americas position as a global power. Obama just needs to take that and expand it, make it better. The worst possible things he could do, as demonstrated by both Bill and George in the past, is to try and erase everything the previous president had established and start from a clean slate. Why change a good thing? Because Bush an evil Republican? Because your campaign was all about change so you should change crap just to do it? Because these achievements were set up by a man that many people dislike, most of which having no informed or intelligent reason to do so besides blindly following the picture or hm that the media has painted? Or just 'cuz its cool to hate Bush?"

Dogbert said:
After how many years, dead soldiers, and failed attempts now? And before you say "oh, it's the fault of the Iraqi's", remember that Bush's tagline for us being there in the first place was "it'll be easy!". I believe it was a "90 day surgical strike" and something about "greeted as liberators", yeah? Where was he getting that information, hm?
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Soldiers die in a conflict. It happens. Not to say the ends justify the means but a horrible dictator has been taken down and a legitimate competent government is setting itself up and for the first time in their history granting people some of their human rights. You have to talk to a military man who's been there and listen to the stories about how much better the people are doing and how the shit you hear on the news is just to make people hate the situation more(and to make money...mostly to make money). Even though it a was a huge fiasco involving WMDs etc etc, they're doing good things over there and hopefully Obama will wind the war down slowly and leave a nation that can sustain itself.

Dogbert said:
What the fuck, Afghanistan was the first target! :shakefist:
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Yeah, but the protocol has changed from find Osama Douche then kill, to establish a competent government and security force; to help one of the poorest countries grow economically, giving people the food and education they so desperately need, and to protect/ distance themselves from the Taliban.

Dogbert said:
Obviously if there are lessons to be learned from Iraq, wouldn't that inherently suggest there would be some change in foreign policy? Otherwise, if he didn't have to learn anything from the way Iraq was handled, wouldn't that mean there won't be much change?
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We're talking about strategic lessons learned(Surge strategy and the like), using this experience as a basis should determine how he can best deal with the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan

Dogbert said:
You're trying to tell me he's "done more good than people give him credit for", and then cited all of these supposedly good things that he made bad things in the first place. At best, he's almost broken even.
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What exactly did he "make bad" that wasn't already in a worse situation before he even came into office?

So what exactly do you think Obama should do differently that wont end up as a hideous mess?
 
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Well, for starters,

- Stay in a country until the job's completely done. Not go to one country, liberate the people, suck all the resources and attention out of that country, pump them into a neighboring country, and let the first country fall back into disarray. Except I guess if you tack "then go back to that country" at the end, you all of a sudden "do more good than people give you credit for".

- Not publicly rebuke and refuse to negotiate with a nation that not only has nuclear weapons, but didn't like us very much to begin with. But I guess if you go "just kidding lol" later, you "do more good than people give you credit for" in the end.

- Not keep hammering the same strategy in a country where it's obviously been failing, and certainly not maintain a smile and talking points saying "it's working". Blind luck, six years, 4,000-odd dead soldiers, many more civilians dead, and many more inspired to be terrorists later, and he finally got it right... and this is supposed to mean he's "done more good than I give him credit for"?

He's not fun to make fun of. He's easy to lambast, and only because of that last point; he made mistakes with a smile. Not until the very end of his Presidency did he ever say "this isn't working". He always maintained that whatever he did was the best course of action, and he was going to keep doing it until he struck gold or struck out.
 
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I just wanted to add that I think it's funny how woofleproof mentions the media mobilizing people against George W.

How about all the bullshit right wing media consisting of people like Bill O'Reilly and that blonde whore with the pointy face? Those guys are so much worse than the liberal media... at least the liberal media think they are making some sense in their mind; I can't even imagine most of the people on Fox News actually taking their own ideas seriously behind closed doors.

Also, I've been wondering if people like O'Reilly will have much of an audience anymore. What are they talking about these days and who is listening to them? Their brand of BS has to be a lot harder to buy when you have a Democrat in the big House.
 
Shawn said:
Also, I've been wondering if people like O'Reilly will have much of an audience anymore. What are they talking about these days and who is listening to them? Their brand of BS has to be a lot harder to buy when you have a Democrat in the big House.
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I imagine they'll turn on their own "we have to support the President" message they've been spewing for the past eight years, and cut Obama down every time they open their airholes. At least the far-right-wingers like Rush and Savage will.

It could also mean that shows like The Daily Show don't have as much material to work with anymore, too.
 
Dogbert said:
It could also mean that shows like The Daily Show don't have as much material to work with anymore, too.
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True, left wing farce shows like The Daily Show will probably suffer more under Obama than farce right wing shows like the O'Reilly Fuctor.
 
wooflepoof said:
The worst possible things he could do, as demonstrated by both Bill and George in the past, is to try and erase everything the previous president had established and start from a clean slate. Why change a good thing? Because Bush an evil Republican? Because your campaign was all about change so you should change crap just to do it?
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Where the fuck are you going with this? Are you really trying to suggest that Obama is going to say "Fuck you! Bush eventually liked you, so I'm going to hate your guts!" just because it was a Bush policy? That's the most ridiculous and laughable notion I've heard this week. Just because his message was "Change" doesn't mean that it's all of a sudden bizarro world in the White House.

Even though it a was a huge fiasco involving WMDs etc etc, they're doing good things over there and hopefully Obama will wind the war down slowly and leave a nation that can sustain itself.
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Oh yeah, lets just gloss over all the bold-faced lies and the human rights violations we've inflicted onto them and the sheer incompetence we've subjected an entire country (and ourselves) to with "etc etc". I guess it makes "soldiers die in a conflict" a lot easier to swallow when it isn't tainted with, y'know, the bad stuff.

Yeah, but the protocol has changed from find Osama Douche then kill, to establish a competent government and security force; to help one of the poorest countries grow economically, giving people the food and education they so desperately need, and to protect/ distance themselves from the Taliban.
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And, as of right now, how much of that has happened? Fucking none of it.

We're talking about strategic lessons learned(Surge strategy and the like), using this experience as a basis should determine how he can best deal with the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
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Well, had we just stayed in Afghanistan and not all but abandoned it, we wouldn't need to be talking about strategic lessons learned and how to deal with a counter-insurgency, would we?

What exactly did he "make bad" that wasn't already in a worse situation before he even came into office?
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Oh, I don't know... the blatant abuses he committed with all that "executive privledge" bullshit, turning civilians into terrorists watched under the USA PATRIOT act... and that's just staying within our own country.

So what exactly do you think Obama should do differently that wont end up as a hideous mess?
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Think before acting. Admit when things go wrong.
 
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