Official 2010 SOTU discussion thread

[MKSheppard]

I just remembered. The president controls the executive branch too; so he can set priorities for it -- like for example, signing an executive order that fast-tracks the nuclear regulatory approval process for new nuclear reactors in regards with the DOE/EPA regulatory branches.

[The Romulan Republic]

So you openly admit that you will blame Obama regardless of his actions if Congress hinders his agenda?

In a way yes... he is the Democrat leader, he has the power to personal go up to congress and say "Pass this bill or I will kick MAJOR ASS" He can twist arms, prod butts and most important, use the "Bully Pulpit" IE appearing on TV, making speeches, etc to hammer over and over "You dems in Office, ignore the GOP and PASS this BILL."

But so far everytime the congress or senate fold and capitulate to the GOP's every wish, he mostly just sits back and twiddles his thumbs.

When I say I will judge him on his actions, I include making a real effort to get his agenda passed. If he does that, I will not blame him for Congress's idiocy, whatever the results.

Edit: Don't misunderstand me- I think Obama has fallen short of his responsibilities and what he could have accomplished on certain issues. My intent is not to paint an uncritical view of his Presidency. I don't think he has done enough to hold accountable the criminals of the Bush era, or (based on what I've read on this forum) to back away from their abuse of powers and detainee rights. I think he has hurt the space program (though that was expected), and that he could have done more on health care. I think he has made far too much effort to compromise and work with the Republicans, only to be abused, slandered, ignored, threatened, and called everything from partisan to a Nazi Communist anyway.

But at the same time, I am not going to blame him for not accomplishing everything instantly, nor will I blame him for the shortcomings of others.

[Count Chocula]

Don't hold your breath for high speed Tampa-Orlando rail. Charlie Crist may have a woodie over it, but he's a lame duck who's now in danger of losing his bid for Senate to Marco Rubio (Cuba Fuck Yeah!), and there's the little detail of the largesse from DC requiring matching payments from Florida to make the rail system a reality. I'm not sure where our legislature will get the funds for that, despite Tampa's and especially Orlando's footprint on the economy. We've been cutting to keep the budget kinda-sorta balanced, and there's not a lot of slack for multi-billion $$$ in matching funds.

As for the rest of his speech, feh. The private school educated, Ivy League degreed Obama all of a sudden turning populist just strikes a wrong, nay mendacious, gong in my brain's belfry. I don't think he means more than half of what he said.

P.S. No Shep, Nit doesn't live here...he's moved on to a higher plane of the mind...maybe Europe. Or Karl Marx's drawing room, for personal reasons I understand about as well as any 'net geek stranger can. Heinlein got irascible too when he had his health issues.

[Serafine666]

Highspeed rail, nuclear, and better infrastructure throuhg a jobs bill? Sounds like he's making a comeback. Only way this could get better is if he challenged us to get to Mars by 2020.

He's quite skilled at the rhetoric but I personally wouldn't call promises a "comeback" unless they start getting fulfilled or at least enjoy serious presidential firepower backing them up. I am very enthusiastic about these promises... high-speed rail is nice, putting more emphasis on improving infrastructure is desperately overdue, and the lack large-scale use of cheap plentiful and safe power generation is embarrassing; if Obama really means to do all of this, I think he'd get great independent and Republican enthusiasm. If he really means to do it.

[TC Pilot]

I was more astonished by the tone of the speech at times than anything he actually said. Has anyone cracked jokes or made the Congress laugh before?

[Patrick Degan]

I was more astonished by the tone of the speech at times than anything he actually said. Has anyone cracked jokes or made the Congress laugh before?

Presumably, Abraham Lincoln might have, as he was a bit of a humourist. Impossible to tell if he did so during an actual Congressional session, unless diarists recorded it.

[TC Pilot]

Possibly, but I was referring to a state of the union address, something Lincoln never did.

[Simon_Jester]

I don't want another Apollo 1. I vote we aim for 2030. A heavy lifter of enough size to carry a ship with habitation for over a year of travel inside is a major order, not to mention we can't pull a Moon trip on Mars. We have to have some level of settling in ASAP because the trip is so long.

I remember Robert Zubrin argued in one of his books against such a delay more or less because it was unlikely a long-term program would survive changes in political power. I don't know how much merit that position has, but maybe its worth consideration.

Given that this is already happening, I think Zubrin was right. The Constellation program drafted by the Bush administration seems to be at risk now, for whatever reasons. Who knows what could happen between now and 2030 to have the same effect on anything Obama proposes?

As for the other major example of a manned space program: Apollo really only lasted for two presidents. And one of them was already continuing a lot of the other's policies. Nixon was presented with a fait accompli because astronauts were already going to land on the moon within six months of his taking the oath of office; he couldn't afford to cancel that. Even so he cut back the post-landing program significantly.

[Vympel]

Greenwald on the incredibly idiotic and unprecedented display put on by supposed impartial Supreme Court Justice Alito

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Hopes rising...

Pentagon to Propose Steps to Lift 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen will testify before a Senate panel next week about how to repeal a 16-year-old law banning gay people from serving openly in the nation's military, the clearest sign to date of the Obama administration's determination to eliminate the "don't ask, don't tell" restrictions.

The two men will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday to testify about the steps the Pentagon will be taking in coming months to prepare for a possible congressional repeal of the controversial legislation. The hearing will mark the first time that senior defense officials make a detailed case for eliminating the law and lay out recommendations for how to do so.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that Mr. Gates and Adm. Mullen "have been and continue to work on an implementation plan for ultimately achieving the president's goal of repealing 'don't ask, don't tell.'"

"Next week they will share that plan with Congress," he said.

A defense official said the two men wouldn't provide Congress with a formal proposal for legislation repealing the controversial ban. Instead, the official said Mr. Gates and Adm. Mullen would outline the preparations the department was making so it would be able to offer guidance to Congress.

President Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to repeal the ban and reiterated that vow in Wednesday's State of the Union address. Still, it is far from clear that a repeal bill would have enough political support to pass the divided Congress. A current House bill that would repeal the legislation has 187 supporters, leaving it 31 votes short of the 218 needed to ensure passage. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D., Mich.) supports eliminating the restriction, but lawmakers have yet to introduce a Senate bill to repeal the law.